Edgar_Allan_Poe

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allen Poe has been known for his themes of revenge and perversity. Two short stories that illustrate these themes are “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Black Cat”. Many critics have argued that these stories were not about revenge, but more about perversity and the cruelty of the human mind. Believe it or not, every human being is capable of murder, many do it out of revenge but there are still those who do it for no apparent reason. Poe portrays in each of the characters, the darker side of the human soul. In the short story “The Black Cat” the narrator of the story undergoes a significant change in his character. At first both husband and wife adores their cat very much. He soon became addicted to drinking making him more and more crazy by the day, which led to the dislike of his cat. Because of this, he decides to cut one of its eyes with a penknife. Later on as his drinking led him to reach insanity to its full extent, the narrator hangs the cat and explains his reason for hanging it by saying “I knew that cat, montresor, fortunato, revenge, because, someone, about, murder, maybe, it’s, cask, black, amontillado, wife, one, narrator, inside, characters, stories, reason, perversity, kill, human, being, been, alive, think, story, something, just, death, both, wall, two, person, out, natural, much, love, himself, first, critics, crime, in, way, walled, vault, time, themes, shows