The black cat, a story by Edgar Allen Poe, present man whose inseparable love for his wife and pets turned into hatred. The narrator was known for being kind caring, tender and loving. He loves animal and enjoy taking care of them especially his favorite, a cat named Pluto. Afterwards, he started to drink, and his personality drastically change for the worse. Consequently, he started to verbally and physically abuse his wife and pets and later murder them in a cruel manner. But how does a person’s behavior go from tender, caring and loving to hatred and murderous? If so how does addiction contribute to the issue? By carefully analyzing the narrator language and tone, one can understand the extent at which plead of insanity can be used by cold
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However, his personality drastically when he started to abuse alcohol, as a result he mistreated and killed pets followed by his wife. Though alcohol is known to cause judgement impairments, it is important for the reader to accentuate on the manner at which the crimes were committed and the narrator’s attitude toward them. For instance, one night while being intoxicated he abused his cat in cold blood where he recalls the horrific scene with these words” I took from my waist-pocket a penknife, open it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of his eyes from the socket! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity” (The Black Cat 7). The readers provided a very detailed scene which he managed to remember every detail while allegedly being under the …show more content…
For every confession, he first justifies them then proceed with confessing his crime. For instance, prior to confessing the killing of his cat, he started with these words” who has not, a hundred time, found himself committing a vile or a stupid action for no other reason than because he knows he should not?” (The Black Cat 4). He then proceeds to confess every detail of the act. The narrator may be pleading insanity a defense principle that does not hold mentally challenged people accountable for their actions. According to psychology today “The legal definitions of insanity vary by state. In other words, someone who is found legally insane in New Hampshire might not be found legally insane in New York, even if the juries agreed on all of the facts” (Johnson). Though it can be said that the narrator was mentally ill, it is equally important to remember that mentally ill people have a distorted view of reality and lack good judgement, hence makes it impossible to plead insanity on their
However, his personality drastically when he started to abuse alcohol, as a result he mistreated and killed pets followed by his wife. Though alcohol is known to cause judgement impairments, it is important for the reader to accentuate on the manner at which the crimes were committed and the narrator’s attitude toward them. For instance, one night while being intoxicated he abused his cat in cold blood where he recalls the horrific scene with these words” I took from my waist-pocket a penknife, open it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of his eyes from the socket! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity” (The Black Cat 7). The readers provided a very detailed scene which he managed to remember every detail while allegedly being under the …show more content…
For every confession, he first justifies them then proceed with confessing his crime. For instance, prior to confessing the killing of his cat, he started with these words” who has not, a hundred time, found himself committing a vile or a stupid action for no other reason than because he knows he should not?” (The Black Cat 4). He then proceeds to confess every detail of the act. The narrator may be pleading insanity a defense principle that does not hold mentally challenged people accountable for their actions. According to psychology today “The legal definitions of insanity vary by state. In other words, someone who is found legally insane in New Hampshire might not be found legally insane in New York, even if the juries agreed on all of the facts” (Johnson). Though it can be said that the narrator was mentally ill, it is equally important to remember that mentally ill people have a distorted view of reality and lack good judgement, hence makes it impossible to plead insanity on their