The Black Cat (Poe): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 11:16, 30 May 2023

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The Black Cat

1843

Summary of the Short Story

Microsummary: An alcoholic man, tormented by a black cat, commits heinous acts, including the murder of his wife, and ultimately seals his own fate when he inadvertently reveals his crimes to the police.

A man, known for his love of animals, married a woman who shared his passion. They had many pets, including a black cat named Pluto.

🙎🏻‍♂️

The Narrator — narrator; alcoholic, initially kind-hearted but becomes increasingly violent and remorseful.

👩🏻‍🦳

The Narrator's Wife — kind, animal-loving, and ultimately a victim of her husband's violence.

🐈

Pluto — black cat; initially the narrator's favorite pet, later becomes a symbol of his guilt and torment.

Over time, the man's temperament changed due to alcoholism, and he began to mistreat his pets and wife. One night, in a drunken rage, he cut out one of Pluto's eyes.

I took from my waistcoat-pocket a penknife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!

The next day, he felt remorse but continued to drink heavily. Eventually, he decided to hang the cat from a tree.

That night, their house caught fire, and the man, his wife, and a servant barely escaped. The next day, he discovered the image of a cat with a noose around its neck on a wall that had survived the fire. Haunted by the image, he sought a new cat to replace Pluto. He found a large black cat with a white patch on its chest, which he took home.

🐈

The Second Black Cat — black cat with a white mark; resembles Pluto and intensifies the narrator's guilt and fear.

The cat quickly became a favorite of his wife, but the man grew to despise it.

The man discovered that the new cat was also missing an eye, which only increased his hatred for it. The cat followed him everywhere, causing him great distress. One day, while in the cellar with his wife, the cat nearly tripped him, and in a fit of rage, he tried to kill it with an axe. His wife stopped him, but he turned the axe on her, killing her instantly.

To hide his crime, he decided to wall up his wife's body in the cellar. He carefully concealed the body behind bricks and plaster, confident that no one would discover it.

I had walled the monster up within the tomb!

A few days later, the police came to investigate, but found nothing. In a moment of bravado, the man knocked on the wall where his wife's body was hidden, only to hear a horrifying scream from within. The police tore down the wall and found the wife's decaying corpse, with the black cat sitting on her head. The man had unknowingly walled the cat up with his wife's body, and its cries had sealed his fate.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 | Title = The Black Cat
 | Author = Edgar Allan Poe
-| Genre = short story
+| Literary form = short story
-| Year of publication = 1845
+| Year of publication = 1843
-| Microsummary = A man, fond of animals, became an alcoholic and mistreated his pets. After killing his cat, he accidentally killed his wife and hid her body. The cat's cries revealed his crime.
+| Microsummary = An alcoholic man, tormented by a black cat, commits heinous acts, including the murder of his wife, and ultimately seals his own fate when he inadvertently reveals his crimes to the police.
-| Wikisource = The Black Cat (Poe)
 }}
 {{Start of text}}
-A man, known for his love of animals, had a variety of pets, including a black cat named Pluto.
+A man, known for his love of animals, married a woman who shared his passion. They had many pets, including a black cat named Pluto.
 {{Character
-| Name = Pluto
+| Name = The Narrator
-| Description = the narrator's black cat; initially his favorite pet; becomes a victim of the narrator's violence and is killed by him
+| Description = narrator; alcoholic, initially kind-hearted but becomes increasingly violent and remorseful
-| Emoji = 🐈‍⬛
+| Emoji = 🙎🏻‍♂️
 }}
-Over time, the man became an alcoholic, which led to a change in his temperament. He became moody, irritable, and violent, often mistreating his pets. However, he still had a soft spot for Pluto and refrained from hurting him.
+{{Character
+| Name = The Narrator's Wife
+| Description = kind, animal-loving, and ultimately a victim of her husband's violence
+| Emoji = 👩🏻‍🦳
+}}
-One night, after a bout of heavy drinking, the man became enraged when he thought Pluto was avoiding him. In his anger, he grabbed the cat and, in the process, was bitten on the hand. This caused him to lose control and, using a pen-knife, he cut out one of Pluto's eyes.
+{{Character
+| Name = Pluto
-{{Quote|
+| Description = black cat; initially the narrator's favorite pet, later becomes a symbol of his guilt and torment
-I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!
+| Emoji = 🐈
 }}
-The next morning, he felt a mix of horror and remorse for his actions, but soon drowned these feelings in alcohol.
+Over time, the man's temperament changed due to alcoholism, and he began to mistreat his pets and wife. One night, in a drunken rage, he cut out one of Pluto's eyes.
-As Pluto recovered, the man's guilt and shame prevented him from physically abusing the cat further. However, his hatred for the animal grew, and he eventually decided to hang it from a tree. That same night, a fire broke out in the man's house, destroying everything he owned. He, his wife, and a servant barely escaped with their lives.
+{{Quote
+| Text = I took from my waistcoat-pocket a penknife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!
+| Context = The narrator, in a drunken rage, mutilates Pluto, his beloved black cat. This marks the beginning of his descent into violence and guilt.
+}}
-In the aftermath of the fire, the man discovered an image of a cat with a noose around its neck on one of the remaining walls. He rationalized this as a result of someone throwing the dead cat through a window during the fire, causing it to become embedded in the plaster.
+The next day, he felt remorse but continued to drink heavily. Eventually, he decided to hang the cat from a tree.
-Haunted by the memory of Pluto, the man sought out a replacement cat. He found one that closely resembled Pluto, except for a white patch on its chest. This new cat quickly became a favorite of the man's wife.
+That night, their house caught fire, and the man, his wife, and a servant barely escaped. The next day, he discovered the image of a cat with a noose around its neck on a wall that had survived the fire. Haunted by the image, he sought a new cat to replace Pluto. He found a large black cat with a white patch on its chest, which he took home.
 {{Character
-| Name = The Wife
+| Name = The Second Black Cat
-| Description = the narrator's wife; kind-hearted, animal lover; patient and uncomplaining sufferer of her husband's violent outbursts; ultimately killed by the narrator
+| Description = black cat with a white mark; resembles Pluto and intensifies the narrator's guilt and fear
-| Emoji = 👩🏻
+| Emoji = 🐈
 }}
-However, the man himself grew to despise it. He discovered that, like Pluto, this cat was also missing an eye, which only fueled his hatred.
+The cat quickly became a favorite of his wife, but the man grew to despise it.
+The man discovered that the new cat was also missing an eye, which only increased his hatred for it. The cat followed him everywhere, causing him great distress. One day, while in the cellar with his wife, the cat nearly tripped him, and in a fit of rage, he tried to kill it with an axe. His wife stopped him, but he turned the axe on her, killing her instantly.
-The man's hatred for the cat intensified, and he began to avoid it at all costs. One day, while in the cellar with his wife, the cat nearly tripped him, causing him to fly into a rage. He grabbed an axe to kill the cat, but his wife intervened. In his fury, he turned the axe on her, killing her instantly.
+To hide his crime, he decided to wall up his wife's body in the cellar. He carefully concealed the body behind bricks and plaster, confident that no one would discover it.
-{{Quote|
+{{Quote
-I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan.
+| Text = I had walled the monster up within the tomb!
+| Context = The narrator, after murdering his wife and hiding her body behind a wall in the cellar, believes he has successfully concealed his crime and the second black cat.
 }}
-To hide his crime, the man decided to wall up his wife's body in the cellar. He carefully removed bricks, placed the body inside, and then replaced the bricks, making sure the wall looked undisturbed. He felt confident that his crime would remain undiscovered.
+A few days later, the police came to investigate, but found nothing. In a moment of bravado, the man knocked on the wall where his wife's body was hidden, only to hear a horrifying scream from within. The police tore down the wall and found the wife's decaying corpse, with the black cat sitting on her head. The man had unknowingly walled the cat up with his wife's body, and its cries had sealed his fate.
-However, unbeknownst to him, the cat had been walled up with the body. When the police came to investigate the wife's disappearance, they searched the house thoroughly but found nothing. As they were about to leave, the man, in a fit of bravado, knocked on the wall where his wife's body was hidden. The cat's cries from within the wall alerted the police, who then discovered the hidden corpse. The man was arrested and confessed to his crimes.
 {{End of text}}