Edgar Allan Poe is a famed Gothic writer from the 18th Century made popular by his short stories and essays that depict the dark and twisted elements of the human psyche. Poe contradicts the transcendentalist belief that men are inherently good in nature by exposing the subdued sadistic impulses of his characters that he refers to as the "spirit of perverseness" (Poe 237). Poe believed that these impulses lay buried in our subconscious but eventually leak out into our consciousness affecting our outward actions. This is evident in the narrator's sudden shift in behavior towards his wife and his pets in the short story, "The Black Cat." Poe utilizes the narrator to emphasize that madness can manifest itself into an otherwise rational human being.
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Poe's represents the mind as easily susceptible to madness which is evident in the narrator's slow deterioration of his mental state. His horrific actions are justified by his skewed rationality that allows the narrator to shift the blame from himself. The narrator's desire to find a rational explanation in his irrational actions initiates a domino effect that fully submerges the narrator in his delusions. In "The Black Cat," Poe delves into the mind of a repressed psychopath who attempts to rationalize his actions under the guise of reason to represent the fragmented nature of the human mind.
It is important to understand that at the time of the publication of "The Black Cat," Phrenology was widely practiced and popular science. In the 1840s, Phrenology was a comprehensive and profound science that focused on a …show more content…
The subconscious cannot be removed from the individual's outward actions no matter how hard they might try to dissociate the two. After gauging one of Pluto's eyes out, the narrator by the way of twisted reasoning, decides he has an obligation to consummate the injury he had inflicted on Pluto by slipping a noose around its neck and hanging it outside (Poe 274). Even though the narrator was fully aware of the gruesome act as he was committing it, he did not bring himself to stop what he was doing. He reflects on his acknowledgement that this action was illogical and partly motivated by the perverse rationality that it is something he should not do. He also justifies this action by saying it was necessary to finish what he had started. The cat is no longer a breathing and living thing but an object at the mercy of the narrator's perverse inclination to do and see twisted things. In the article, "Edgar Allan Poe: 'The Black Cat,' and Current Forensic Psychology," Emily Segir and Vicki Hester believe that the unnamed narrator has all the makings of a genuine psychopath primarily due to his characteristic lack of both empathy and responsibility (Hester and Segir 187). When he hangs Pluto, the narrator cries because he
Poe's represents the mind as easily susceptible to madness which is evident in the narrator's slow deterioration of his mental state. His horrific actions are justified by his skewed rationality that allows the narrator to shift the blame from himself. The narrator's desire to find a rational explanation in his irrational actions initiates a domino effect that fully submerges the narrator in his delusions. In "The Black Cat," Poe delves into the mind of a repressed psychopath who attempts to rationalize his actions under the guise of reason to represent the fragmented nature of the human mind.
It is important to understand that at the time of the publication of "The Black Cat," Phrenology was widely practiced and popular science. In the 1840s, Phrenology was a comprehensive and profound science that focused on a …show more content…
The subconscious cannot be removed from the individual's outward actions no matter how hard they might try to dissociate the two. After gauging one of Pluto's eyes out, the narrator by the way of twisted reasoning, decides he has an obligation to consummate the injury he had inflicted on Pluto by slipping a noose around its neck and hanging it outside (Poe 274). Even though the narrator was fully aware of the gruesome act as he was committing it, he did not bring himself to stop what he was doing. He reflects on his acknowledgement that this action was illogical and partly motivated by the perverse rationality that it is something he should not do. He also justifies this action by saying it was necessary to finish what he had started. The cat is no longer a breathing and living thing but an object at the mercy of the narrator's perverse inclination to do and see twisted things. In the article, "Edgar Allan Poe: 'The Black Cat,' and Current Forensic Psychology," Emily Segir and Vicki Hester believe that the unnamed narrator has all the makings of a genuine psychopath primarily due to his characteristic lack of both empathy and responsibility (Hester and Segir 187). When he hangs Pluto, the narrator cries because he