The narrator as a psychopath in Edgar Allan Poe’s "Black Cat"

The narrator as a psychopath in Edgar Allan Poe’s

Author: Christian Schwambach

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2019-11-28

Total Pages: 8

ISBN-13: 3346072509

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Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, http://www.uni-jena.de/ (Institut für Anglistik), course: Academic Writing, language: English, abstract: This paper will argue that the narrator in "Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe is a psychopath. Edgar Allen Poe is well-known for his short stories and his gothic style. He was born in 1809 in the USA and died in 1849. After studying languages at the University of Virginia he went to the army in the end of the 1820s and started to write short stories in the 1830s. The narrator of "Black Cat" has been analyzed by different authors. Fisher, for instance, has the intention to figure out the motivation of Poe. His book analyses different short stories with diverse topics. For "Black Cat", he chooses a psychological view. This focus is close to the topic of that work. However, the analysis of Fisher is superficial, because he comes to the conclusion that the narrator is emotionally fragile, without giving a deep argumentation. The most detailed work is given by Susan Amper and Harold Bloom. Different topics are analyzed; strategies for the interpretation of "Black Cat" were given and different approaches to understanding the narrator are mentioned. That means the story could be read supernatural, psychological or skeptical. Even so, the argumentation could be deeper. For this reason, the psychological analysis of the narrator with a psychological test could be seen as desideratum. Filling that gap, by analyzing him on a psychological way, is the main target of this work.

The Black Cat

The Black Cat PDF

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

Publisher: Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing

Published: 2020-08-01

Total Pages: 18

ISBN-13:

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"The Black Cat" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19, 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. It is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". In both, a murderer carefully conceals his crime and believes himself unassailable, but eventually breaks down and reveals himself, impelled by a nagging reminder of his guilt.

Perverseness in Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart and Black Cat

Perverseness in Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart and Black Cat PDF

Author: Anja Einhorn

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2002-07-23

Total Pages: 14

ISBN-13: 3638134954

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Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3 (A), Ruhr-University of Bochum (English Faculty), 8 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This term paper deals with Edgar Allan Poe ́s short stories "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart", which are both examples of men who give in to a strange inner force which Poe himself calls "perverseness". His notion of this term is explicitly used in what could be called his "short-story-essay": "The Imp of the Perverse". First of all it is neccessary to explain what Poe meant by this certain force, apart and beyond the ordinary understanding of "perverseness". After that his two tales of terror mentioned above will be compared according to their common themes. First a short summary of each will be given, followed by the point-of-view-technique Poe uses for a certain purpose. Then the victims of the stories and the narrators ́ causes of fear will be explored. Both tales obviously deal with the causes of domestic violence that occur as the result of an irrational fear (either superstition or ancient belief). Then both protagonists will be characterized as perverse criminals who give in to their dark side and annihilate themselves. Furthermore there ́s a discussion of narrative style and images and the ending of the stories. At last especially "The Black Cat" is explored considering its content of truth. So the reader may see that Poe gave us two little masterpieces in human psychology to think about: The "spirit of perverseness" is lurking in everybody...

The Black Cat (Annotated)

The Black Cat (Annotated) PDF

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

Publisher:

Published: 2020-08-31

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13:

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"The Black Cat" is a short story Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19, 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. It is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with...

Drink

Drink PDF

Author: Iain Gately

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2008-07-03

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13: 1440631263

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A spirited look at the history of alcohol, from the dawn of civilization to the modern day Alcohol is a fundamental part of Western culture. We have been drinking as long as we have been human, and for better or worse, alcohol has shaped our civilization. Drink investigates the history of this Jekyll and Hyde of fluids, tracing mankind's love/hate relationship with alcohol from ancient Egypt to the present day. Drink further documents the contribution of alcohol to the birth and growth of the United States, taking in the War of Independence, the Pennsylvania Whiskey revolt, the slave trade, and the failed experiment of national Prohibition. Finally, it provides a history of the world's most famous drinks-and the world's most famous drinkers. Packed with trivia and colorful characters, Drink amounts to an intoxicating history of the world.

The Protagonist’s Insanity and Unreliable Narration in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”

The Protagonist’s Insanity and Unreliable Narration in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” PDF

Author: Alexander Lauer

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2019-05-21

Total Pages: 17

ISBN-13: 3668942129

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Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Tubingen (Englisches Seminar), course: Proseminar I: Introduction to Literary Studies, language: English, abstract: Edgar Allan Poe published his short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" in 1843 when there was an ongoing discussion about the insanity defence in the United States. The notion of "moral insanity" or "partial insanity" was proposed, being a type of insanity that twists a person’s moral faculties only, not their intellect. This new legal definition of insanity made it possible to exculpate those who had committed a crime in a rationally planned way but were unable to comprehend its moral depravity. In this paper, the terms "insanity" and "madness" are used with respect to the protagonist of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and are presupposed to refer to the idea of moral or partial insanity. The quintessence of the arguments put forward is that the reader’s belief in the protagonist’s insanity is created by unreliable and subjective narration. To begin with, the narrative situation of the story is analysed by applying different established categories of narratology and by identifying the narrator as unreliable. Then, the narrator’s unreliability is interpreted with regard to his intention of wanting to appear sane, his subjectivity caused by that intention, and his unconsciously conveyed insanity.

The Black Cat Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe

The Black Cat Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe PDF

Author: Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe

Publisher:

Published: 2020-03

Total Pages: 30

ISBN-13:

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"The Black Cat" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19, 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. It is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". In both, a murderer carefully conceals his crime and believes himself unassailable, but eventually breaks down and reveals himself, impelled by a nagging reminder of his guilt.

Is there an unreliable narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”?

Is there an unreliable narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”? PDF

Author: Lena Spiekermann

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2011-11-08

Total Pages: 11

ISBN-13: 3656050058

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Essay from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, Ruhr-University of Bochum, language: English, abstract: Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” is not a “whodunit - we know right from the start who the murderer is.” (Benfey 29). The narrator describes in detail how he prepares and commits the murder of an old man, he lives together with. All of the time he “bases his plea upon the assumption that madness is incompatible with systematic action” (Robinson 94) and emphasises that he is not mad. “His plot is motiveless” (Hoffman 227), he only murders the old man because of his “Evil Eye” (Poe 278) and hides his dismembered body under the roofs of his room. After that he welcomes three police officers in the house and allows them to search the house. He still feels safe because he has perfectly hidden all indications for the deed. But then his own madness makes him go crazy, he thinks to hear the beating of the old mans heart so loud that it will betray him and finally he makes a confession of the murder. The reader does not get to know much about the narrator of this story, he never learns his name, his job, in what town he lives (Benfey 32). There are various texts which try to explain this or the narrators trains of thought. This paper is meant to analyse the general kind of narrator, if there is an unreliable narrator or not and find proofs for the assumptions made.

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