Dark Tales Edgar Allan Poe 39-s The Black Cat Verified Site

Poe did not believe evil was always logical. In fact, he argued that humans are driven by a paradoxical impulse to violate their own self-interest. In "The Black Cat," the narrator doesn’t kill the cat because the cat offends him; he kills it because he knows it is wrong. This “spirit of perverseness” is the engine of the plot. It is the reason we stand on a cliff edge and feel the urge to jump. Poe turns this abstract psychological concept into a tangible engine of horror.

The horror escalates when a second cat appears, nearly identical to Pluto but for a white patch of fur on its chest that slowly takes the shape of the gallows. The narrator’s hatred for this second beast leads to a botched attempt to kill it, resulting instead in the murder of his wife. Key Themes and Symbolism 1. The Perverse and the Unconscious dark tales edgar allan poe 39-s the black cat