The text under consideration
is a novel by famous American author of the first half of XIXth century, who
represents dark romanticism. His best known fiction works are Gothic and dark,
emerging in the depths of terror; the most famous are “The Gold Bug”, “The
Black Cat”, “The Masque of the Red Death”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Cask of
Amontillado” etc. The author became the father of detective fiction (his tales
of terror intrigue with a unique detective plot and unexpected endings). He was
also a prolific poet, his poem “The Raven” which was an instant success at his
time, is still a popular sensation. Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle once said, "Each [of
Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has
developed....”. What’s more, his unique sense of literature earned him a
reputation of a mostly recognized literary critic of his age. Poe’s harsh and
detailed reviews led to the epithet “Tomahawk Man”. His favourite target for
criticism was famous poet Henry Longfellow, Poe even predicted the decay of the
poet’s fame and literary recognition.
Edgar Poe’s style of writing is really unique. His
best known fiction works are Gothic, and are considered to be a part of dark
Romanticism genre. Most his themes deal
with the issues of death and poisonous love. What’s more, the recurrent themes
for many of his novels are of Murder, Insanity, Obsession, Justice (compare at
least “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat”).
Symbolism in his writings is
set on a broad scale; his images often have symbolic meaning and are found in
many of his works. For example, a raven is a symbol of something dark, gloomy,
doomed and sinister (“The Raven”). An eye has a similar sense of something dark
and mysterious, which can doom and curse (“The Tell-Tale Heart”). A house is
viewed as a sinister place, not a place of love and hope, but a place where all
positive emotions are eradicated.
To cut it short, the life of
Edgar Poe captures the imagination as well as his bizarre and mysterious
characters. He is a man of legend, mystery and sensation. If you once come
across his story, it will never let you go without a sudden revelation.
The novel deals
with the so-called “sanity” of the narrator, his love for animals and his
favourite pet – cat Pluto. The narrator, whose death is approaching, has always
had a unique fondness of animals; he marries as a young man and shares his
desire with his wife. But soon, due to the devastating effect of alcohol, the
narrator flies into his tempers more frequent, and his animals suffers, even
his favourite Pluto. Then he kills Pluto in agony and hangs him, but a new cat
appears, who in the end leads the police to the corpse of the narrator’s wife,
whom he has killed and buries in the wall. The final scene reveals the decayed
corpse of his wife with a beasty cat sitting on her head.
The basic theme of the novel can’t be defined simply in few words. The
author touches upon several themes: the theme of a house as a place where you
live (home); the author is interested greatly in social and moral problems of
people, namely: alcohol addiction, home violence, pet’s abuse; the theme of
crime and punishment (or justice and judgment); finally, the boundaries of
“sanity” and “insanity”. The main idea
of the novel can be expressed in a rhetoric question: whether a person commits
crimes because of the dark forces, which suddenly take control over him; or, is
this a real nature of a human-being? The idea lies in the fact that people
should be always aware of those dark impulses in order not allow them to take
control over one’s mind. Minor ideas are that alcoholism leads to serious
consequences, people should also be aware of.
As for the setting, "For the most wild, yet most homely narrative
which I am about to pen..." that's how the story opens. The very beginning
sets the right tone and atmosphere for the entire story.
Poe is always very precise
with details and settings for his stories (recollect at least "The Fall of
the House of Usher"). But it's not the case with the story under analysis.
One may come across several settings while reading the story, but all of them
are not vividly described.
Firstly comes the narration
from the cell. The narrator himself is imprisoned and sentenced to death. He is
eager to release his burden and to reveal his story before he dies: "I
would unburthen my soul". He details his story from the cell as something
natural and something that must-have-happened "as a natural cause".
Then a vague description of
the narrator's house takes place. After the hanging of his favourite cat Pluto,
the narrator finds his house burning: "The curtains of my bed were in
flames. The whole house was blazing. The destruction was complete".
Judging by the description of the burning house, we may assume that the
narrator is rather well-off. He has a servant and his house is rather big and
old. No hints for defining the narrator's profession are provided. An important
detail is that the only wall that survives the great fire is "a
compartment wall, not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house,
and against which had rested the head of my bed". The fact is that all the
other walls "had fallen in". This wall is crucial - "the figure
of gigantic cat" is seen from the wall. In a new house a new cat (or the
old one - his third life) still appears to be found on the wall. The wall
possesses a special symbolic meaning (which will be revealed further).
The last setting is provided
by the dry description of the cellar, where the narrator kills and immures in
the wall his wife. The cellar is hidden under the new house and represents the
subconsciousness of the narrator, where his darkest secrets are hidden. The
process of plastering the wall remind me of the preparations of the other Poe's
protagonist from "Tell-Tale Heart" for hiding the corpse, when he
claims he is not lunatic proving the fact by his thorough preparations (the
process is nearly the same as in "The Black Cat").
To cut it short, there are
rather few details for the thorough analysis of the setting. Still, some
conclusions can be drawn out: there is a reason for such a vague description of
the house, as this house could be any house found in any place. Such generalized
image of the home contributes to the general tense and gloomy atmosphere of the
story.
From the point of view of presentation the text is the 1-st
person narrative: “My immediate purpose is …”; “To me, they …”; “most homely
narrative which I am about to pen”. The narrator himself is an active
participant of the events described and the protagonist of the novel. Such type
of narrative bridges the gap between the author and the reader and creates the
impression of the author’s presence in the text showing events and feelings
“from the inside”: “From my infancy I was noted for… I married early…”
Every story is a complicated
thing to analyze it from the viewpoint of the plot. The story starts with the introduction - "For the most
wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, neither expect nor
solicit belief." Such introduction prepares readers for the intrigue and
sets the tone for the whole story.
Then comes the exposition,
where the main character (the narrator) and the scene of the action (one of the
scenes) are introduced. We get to know that the nameless narrator is going to
die the next die. The narrator is going to reveal what has happened to him and
brought him to a cell.
The author's narration is
found later in the text, and it stands for the development of events. The
reader finds out that the narrator has been especially fond of animals from his
infancy, he marries early, and he has now a beautiful large cat - Pluto. Then
the main conflict is revealed, which leads to the gradual self-destruction of
the protagonist (the narrator): "But my disease grew upon me - for what
disease is like Alcohol!", "much intoxicated". The conflict
grows bigger and bigger, beginning from the sudden flashes of violence, and
finally ends up with the murder of the Pluto - "my favourite pet and
animal", "our friendship lasted". But the narrator not simply
kills Pluto - "I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb
tree". The doing is described as a result of "the spirit of
PERVERSENESS", that has taken control over the protagonist's soul. The
murder of the cat has strong biblical ties, the parallel between the original
sin and the cat's murder is very vivid: "a deadly sin that would so
jeopardize my immortal soul". The punishment is near - the house is
brought to ashes and CAT is standing on the only survived wall.
The denouement takes place
in the new house. When the narrator tries to kill the revived cat and the man's
wife tries to interfere - he kills her: "the image of a hideous - of a
ghastly thing - oh, mournful and terrible engine of Horror and of Crime - of
Agony and of Death". And then again we come across the theme of crime and
punishment and a sin in the eyes of God.
The narrator successfully, as he puts it, hides the corpse of his wife.
He doesn't bother himself with his wife's death, he is happy for the fact that
the cat has run away.
The conclusion is the final
part of the text, which conveys the author's message. In the final part of the
text the cat appears again. The narrator is convinced that the cat gas walled
himself on purpose to reveal the man's horrific secret. The story ends up with
"I had walled the monster up within the tomb!"
The story under analysis is
the 1-st person narration, where the narration is rather subjective and
emotional: "I looked upon my future felicity.."; "I said at
last."; "I quivered not in a muscle". From the very beginning
the narrator gives us a riddle: "I neither expect nor solicit
belief."; "Yet, mad am I not - and very surely do I not dream", It
cannot be said for sure if the narrator tells the truth or lies. The text
should be read between-the-lines, the true symbolic meaning is hidden.
There are several characters in the story, but the
central image is dedicated to the narrator of the story, who is the
protagonist. The narrator's image is rather complicated and dubious. He tells
his story from the cell and he is sentenced to death. He tries to convince the
reader in his sanity, stating that "Yet,…mad am I not - and very surely do
I not dream". Such narrator's idea is very similar to the one, expressed
in "The Tell-Tale Heart" by the narrator.
The narrator’s speech is
very elaborate, he uses high-flown vocabulary and speech units: “the docility and
humanity of my disposition”; “fibre of my frame”; “fiendish malevolence”; “the
bitterest remorse at my heart”. The narrator uses complicated syntactical
constructions and complex sentences. His speech contains many religious terms
as “High God”; “evil”; “immortal soul”; “sin”; “demon”; “Fiend Intemperance”.
Even highly poetic words are found in the narrator’s speech; “Alas!”;
“unburthen my soul”. Such usage of
sophisticated vocabulary and complicated speech patterns creates a discrepancy
between the narrator’s speech and his dreadful nature. He views himself as a
man of reason, but in fact he is a madman, who tries to convince everybody in
his sanity.
The narrator’s image is
created primarily through indirect characterization, though cases of direct
characterization are also found within the story. A lot of characterization is
provided directly by the narrator himself. He meditates about his childhood,
marriage and adult years. He claims that from his early years "I was noted
for the docility and humanity of my disposition". It means that in his
childhood the narrator was a very sensible, kind and gullible child. But then
two of his addictions arise: the uncontrollable love for animals and
alcohol-addiction. At the first sight his love for animals cannot be viewed as
something wrong. But if look deeper, animals could be the only creatures, who
didn't judge him and played tricks on him while he was a child. From this point
of view, he could experience a set of abuse while being a child and therefore
he "spent most of my time" with his numerous animals and "never
was so happy as when feeding and caressing them". This is an important
presumption as the readers may assume that the narrator grew more and more
insane since his childhood and he doesn't turns into a madman and a killer
overnight.
Nevertheless, the narrator
gets married. His addiction for animals doesn't prevents him from getting
married, and this is a really strange fact. The only assumption can be provided:
his marriage wasn't happy and that's why he chooses to reduce himself to heavy
drinking. That's when his true nature reveals: he starts blaming his favourite
Pluto for all the deadly sins. The narrator provides explanations for his cruel
behaviour: "And then came... the spirit of PERVERSENESS." At first he
tries not to give himself to the spirit: "I had so much of my old heart
left". So, the narrator states that the reason for his behaviour lies in
the alcohol, which leads to the perverseness of his kind heart.
But then the narrator begins
to understand the essence of his acts: "into a rage more than
demoniacal", when he kills his wife. It wasn't his doing, it was the doing
of the darker side of his soul. And then he brings into life a well-thought
plan. To put is simply, it's a common fact that only a truly insane person can
bury a close person in such a perverse thought-out way.
So, the narrator is not
omniscient, he is an active participant of the events described, but he is
nameless. The only reason for such no-name technique can be found in the fact
that the author tries to convince the reader that the spirit of perverseness
can be found in each of us. There can be found no objective reasons for some
dreadful doings; this is a common human experience, which hides in the dark
side of our souls. What's more, I try not to judge the protagonist, but simply
observe his story and tries to make conclusions for myself. People should be
aware of dark impulses, which can arise from our souls; some instincts cannot
be eradicated, so is with the case of the narrator of the story.
Another protagonist is the
narrator’s wife. There is no enough description of the wife; her image is
created primarily through indirect characterization. She is a positive
character in the novel. Her description is given through the eyes of the
narrator: “and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with
my own.” From the very beginning, their marriage was happy, as the wife shared
her husband’s hobbies. There are no descriptions of her background (unlike the
narrator), her previous life before she meets the narrator. The circumstances
in which the two are met are also omitted. The reader doesn’t know either how
she looks like, only her vague mental picture is given: “my wife, who, as I
have already said, possessed, in a high degree, that humanity of feeling which
had once been my distinguishing trait, and the source of many of my simplest
and purest pleasures.”
What’s more, there are some hints
of the wife’s love of animals. Actually, she was the one, who bought “birds,
gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat” as we can read
between the lines. Her obsession is
reverse from the narrator: narrator gradually becomes an animal-hater and a
killer, while his wife sacrifices her life in sake of the cat. But all in all,
the wife appears to be a victim, she dies but her death does not release the
main conflict.
There is one more
protagonist in the story, though not a human-being, but a cat. The cat is the
most mysterious character in the story, as he reappears twice in the novel
after being killed. There is a case of direct characterization of the cat in
the novel: “a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and
sagacious to an astonishing degree.” What’s more, there are indicators of
Pluto’s, the cat’s, intelligence: “his intelligence… allusion to the ancient
popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.” In such
a way, the cat possesses deep mysterious and magical properties, as he has some
secret knowledge. Initially, there are strong ties between the narrator and his
cat, which “was my favorite pet and playmate”. The cat was the man’s regular
companion, followed him in that doomed house and even through the streets. Their
friendship lasts for several years, but as the narrator grows more and more
irritable and insane, he begins to mistreat his animals. The only exception he
makes for Pluto: “I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from
maltreating him”. The reason for this could be in that, that the man is in fact
afraid of the cat’s mysterious and wise nature. Pluto tries to resist the wild
nature of the man, to stop him from drinking, to warn: “cat avoided my
presence”; “he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth”. That’s
why the narrator commits the first of his horrific doings: he cuts out one of
the cat’s eyes. The case is very similar with “The Tell-Tale Heart”, where the
narrator also cannot stand the other protagonist’s look.
To cut it short, the image
of the cat changes dramatically throughout the story: from the beloved pet to
the abused animal. He is blinded and later on murdered, the narrator proves the
idea that Pluto is really “a witch in disguise”, as Pluto transforms from the
one cat into another, more mysterious. The cat’s image can produce allegories
for other images: the cat can represent an image of ill-treated child (as the
narrator and his wife have no children in fact). What’s more, the cat becomes
finally a symbol of the protagonist’s actual punishment.
In order to portray the
characters and to render the general gloomy mood of the novel vividly and
convincingly the author uses various expressive means and stylistic devices.
Lexical stylistic devices are of great importance here, as they are especially vivid
and meaningful. Metaphors are
commonly found in the text and present striking images. The narrator’s
psychological anxiety is rendered through the use of such metaphors: "I
had walled the monster up within the tomb!"; "But at length
reflection came to my aid.". The narrator’s alcohol addiction is rendered
by such metaphor: "And soon drowned in wine all memory of the dead.".
His evil intensions at last develop into a bright devilish character of the
narrator: "Many projects entered my mind." The murder of the cat and
the intensifying fact of the cruel deed is highlighted by the following
metaphor: “The corpse… stood erect before the eyes of the spectator.” What’s
more, the narrator is convinced that the cat is guilty of hi crimes: “.. the
hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder…whose informing voice had
consigned me to the hangman.”
Personifications
in the texts are of great interest and they create the mysterious and symbolic
layer of the novel. The narrator animates the object, which take control of his
soul: "the spirit of PERVERSENESS", which leads to the horrific
deeds: murders of the cat and the wife.
The narrator tries to find explanations to the nature of his doings: "My
original soul ... seemed to take a flight from my body.." But he cannot
resist his evil nature, though his soul struggles to save the moral purity: "Evil
thoughts became my sole intimates." Alcohol is also animated in the novel,
because the narrator blames his alcohol addiction for the decay of his soul:
“But my disease grew upon me -- for what disease is like Alcohol !”
Similes are found
within the text, the author uses them heavily to emphasize the likeness between
things of symbolic meaning. For example, to draw special attention to the
mysterious and doomed nature of the cat the author uses such simile: "All
black cats as witches in disguise". The decay of the narrator's soul is
heighten by the following simile: "The spirit of PERVERSENESS as if my
final and irrevocable overthrow". Other similes in the novel: "..as
if graven it has relief.."; "...packed in a box, as if
merchandize."; "a voice.. like a sobbing of a child.", which
contribute to the tense and dramatic atmosphere of the novel.
The descriptive epithets are employed by the author to
project vivid imagery of the novel. The cat is describes as "a crafty
animal"; "a hideous beast”. But to emphasize the moral degradation of
the narrator such epithets are used: "immortal soul"; "deadly
sin"; "damnable atrocity"; "demonical interference";
“irrevocable overthrow”; “dark deed”; “primitive impulses” and so on.
What’s more, epithets
contribute to the general gloomy, tense and mysterious atmosphere of the novel:
“evil thoughts”; “mournful and terrible engine”; “hideous and ghastly thing”…
Paradoxically enough, but
there are numerous cases of irony in
the text, despite it is written in the Gothic genre. For instance, the narrator
claims his story to be "an ordinary one", though he narrates it from
his prison cell and his act is a murder: "My immediate purpose is to place
before the world, plainly, and without comment, a series of mere household events".
What's more, the narrator claims himself to be not a madman, which is also a case
of irony: “Yet, mad am I not -- and very surely do I not dream.”
To create a diversity of
thought in the text, and to render the two-side view on the narrator’s nature,
cases of oxymoron are present in the
novel: "the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God" – the narrator still
hopes that his crime will be redeemed though his deadly sin is unforgiving. Yet
the diversity of thought and the narrator’s insanity is highlighted by the
following oxymoron, which also sounds really ironic: "most wild, yet most
homely narrative".
A litotes is introduced by the author: "not uncongenial",
which is used while describing the marriage between the narrator and his woman,
and sounds also ironic, as supposing that the narrator would be much happier
without a wife at all, but still, her present seems not to disturb him.
Syntactical stylistic
devices are also of great importance. Various
repetitions are the brightest in the
text, they contribute to the atmosphere of gloom and horror in the novel.
Anaphoric repetitions are very vivid:
"Some intellect may be
found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place - some intellect more
calm, more logical..."
"These walls are you
going, gentleman? - these walls are solidly put together.."
Chain repetition : "I
am almost ashamed to own - yes, even in this felon's cell, I am almost ashamed
to own.."
Repetitions are very common
in the novel, much examples can be introduced:
"But my disease grew
upon me - for what disease is.."
"...more moody, more
irritable, more regardless.."
"This dread was not
exactly a dread of physical evil".
Repetitions are of great
importance in the novel because they render the gradual emerging of the
narrator into a complete insanity.
Parallel constructions
are also found in the novel, they highlight the psychological anxiety of the
narrator on the one hand and render the psychological tension in the novel on
the other hand:
"Hung it with the tears
streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; - hung it
because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no
reason of offence; hung it because I knew that..."
Polysyndetons and asyndetons contribute more to growing feeling of terror in the
novel. Such cases of polysyndeton can be found:
"...of an object...of
the monster..of a hideous - of a ghastly thing - of the Gallows...of Crime - of
Agony and of Death!"
Asyndetons: "I blush, I
burn, I shudder.."; "I took
from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the
throat."
Cases of inversion are not numerous, though it
is worth mentioning:
"Yet, mad I am
not". Such syntactic construction contributes to the narator’s elaborate
manner of speech.
Cases of climax are very vivid; they contribute
to the understanding of the decaying soul of the protagonist, whose acts are
becoming more and more dreadful while his soul grows to be covered with dark
impulses:
"A cry, at first
muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into
one long, loud and continouos scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman - a howl -
a whaling shriek..."and so on.
Climaxes are of great
importance as they describe the inner change of the narrator, his gradual moral
decay: "a sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outburst of a fury".
Firstly, his outbreaks of wrath were sudden and uncontrollable and frightened the
narrator: "these events have terrifies - have tortured - have destroyed
me", because there still were light impulses in his soul. But as the days
rolled on the man “experienced a radical alteration for the worse. I grew, day
by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others.”
Phonetic means are of
special attention, as they make the language of the novel sound in the reader's
mind so distinctly and true-to-life. Alliteration reveals itself in the
repetition of the sound "s":
"sooner",
"sunk", "silence", "answered", "voice"
Assonance is evident in the
repetition of the sound "u" and "o":
"u":
"sooner", "tomb";
"o":
"blows", "voice"
Graphic means seem to be of
great importance for the author, as he implies very often capitalization of
nouns, which is the sign of personification:
"of the Gallows...of
Crime - of Agony and of Death!"
"the Most Merciful and
Most Terrible God"
"PERVERSENESS"
"Night-Mare"
"Rest"
"mere Humanity"
Summing up the analysis of
the given extract one should say that Edgar Allan Poe brilliantly uses numerous
devices such as parallelism, repetition, metaphor, personification, irony and much
more. All of the elements contribute to the creating of the atmosphere of the
novel: gloomy, tense, mysterious, heightened. What's more, stylistic devices
reveal the inner struggle of the narrator of the story.
