The Importance Of Animals In Poe's Poe

Often in Poe’s writings is the presence of animals that act in a manner almost supernatural. While it is easy to dismiss them as characters merely created with the intention to scare the audience, they actually have much deeper meaning in that they are used to speak more about the protagonist psychologically. In some such stories, like Metzengerstein, the tale is written with a detached narrator who witnesses the fall of the protagonist to darkness. In other stories, like in The Raven or The Black Cat, there is a narrator detailing his own experiences while leaving the possibility of unreliable narration in which his perspective becomes unintentionally twisted by his own fears. Regardless of the vantage point, all such stories masterfully …show more content…
At the beginning of the story, it is known that Baron Frederick is the last of the Metzengerstein family. He inherits a vast fortune, and it is hinted that this increases his already great desire for more power and affluence. Even from an early age, it is demonstrated that he is “Heartless, self-willed and impetuous from his childhood, he had reached the age of which [the narrator] speak[s] through a career of unfeeling, wanton, and reckless dissipation,” since he shows no concern when his mother dies (#). In fact, because of his disregard for human relationships and life, he is the main suspect of causing the fire that catches at the stables of the Metzengerstein family’s rival, the Berlifitzings. This is further supported when the baron finally looks out at the stables after being mesmerized by a painting of a horse, and his shadow falls directly in line with that of a murderer in his family tapestry. This horse soon manifests itself in real life, mysteriously donning the letters W. V. B. on its head, which are the initials of the Berlifitzing that perished in the fire (#). Frederick adopts the pet and spends all his time with the creature. He refuses invites from real people so that “invitations became less cordial- less frequent- in time they ceased altogether” (#). His horse becomes his entire world. One night, when the baron’s mansion catches on fire, the horse gallops toward the fire with his owner still riding it. Only at the end of the story, when the horse charges directly toward the conflagration, does the baron finally realize his mistake of focusing only on his obsession, which ends up taking him beyond the point of no return. Frederick dies in this fire not only physically, but also spiritually. His mysterious horse has been drawing him closer and closer to his