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The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe: Full Plot Summary | Short Story
The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
ABOUT THE STORY
The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
This horror short story “The Black Cat” was written by an American author Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the 19 August 1843 edition of The Saturday Evening Post. The story is about an unnamed alcoholic man who is driven by his addiction. He tortures and kills his cat, Pluto, and his wife. In the story, we find various themes like change, man's slide towards madness, ill effects of alcohol, belief in the supernatural, guilt, divided self, justice and truth etc.
FULL PLOT SUMMARY
The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
The story starts with an unnamed narrator on the eve of his death. He declares his sanity before sharing a story that happened in his life before. Though his story is so wild, he is going to convey. This story begins in earlier years, when the narrator was well-known and respected for his honourable personality. He confesses having a strong affection for cats and dogs. He believes that these pets show true friendship. The narrator gets married at a very young age. He introduces his wife to the domestic joy of owning pets. Among the birds, goldfish, a dog, rabbits and a monkey, he particularly loves his favourite one, which is a big and beautiful black cat named Pluto.
Even though the narrator loves his cat Pluto very much, he begins experiencing strong mood swings, mainly because of his habit of drinking too much alcohol. This habit affects not only the pets but also his wife. During this uncontrollable anger, he only spares Pluto. One night, after returning home very drunk, he loses his temper at Pluto. Thinking the cat has avoided him, he grabs Pluto angrily, and in return, Pluto bites on the hand.
As a vengeful act, the narrator takes out a small knife from his pocket and cuts one of the cat's eyes. The next morning, when he wakes up, he feels a bit sorry. But he can't stop the dark path he's on. The injured cat now tries to avoid him. This makes the narrator seek more revenge. Due to his wicked spirit, he starts doing harmful things most of the time just for the sake of doing wrong. One morning, he grabs Pluto and hangs from a tree branch.
The same night as Pluto's hanging, the narrator's family home catches fire. He doesn't think that there's any connection between the two events. The day after the fire, the narrator loses everything he owns. He sees a group of neighbours amazed by a remaining wall. When he investigates, he discovers an impression of a huge cat with a rope around its neck on the surface of the wall.
The narrator tries to explain the impression on the wall logically but finds himself haunted by this confusion for several months. One night, the narrator finds a black object on a big barrel of alcohol while being drunk. A new black cat, similar to Pluto, has appeared. But the cat has a bit of a white splash on its fur.
Like Pluto, the narrator is really fond of the new mysterious cat that no one has seen before. The cat becomes a beloved member of the family. The narrator's wife even loves the cat. But following the earlier pattern, the narrator again starts feeling hatred towards the cat. These murderous feelings grow stronger in the narrator when he notices that the white fur on the cat has mysteriously formed the shape of a gallow, the structure for hanging. The white fur of the new cat shows how Pluto was executed. The narrator promises to get revenge.
One day, while moving down to the basement with his wife, the narrator almost trips over the cat. This makes him really aggressive. He immediately grabs an axe to attack the cat. His wife tries to protect the cat. This particular act of interference by his wife makes the narrator even more angry. He then directs his anger towards his wife. He hits her in the head with the axe. Now, faced with the evidence of his crime, the narrator thinks about various options to get rid of the body. He wonders whether to chop or bury the body.
The narrator finally decides to use the wet walls to hide the body in the basement. He plans to seal it behind the plaster. He easily builds a hidden space in the wall to conceal the body and erase any signs of the murder. When he looks for the cat, he doesn't find it there. It's gone somewhere. He thinks that it ran away because of his anger.
On the fourth day after the murder of his wife, the police unexpectedly show up at the narrator's place. The narrator stays very cool and calm in that situation. He guides them around the place. He even takes them to the basement, where the crime happened. Despite being there at the crime scene, the police don't seem curious and get ready to leave the residence. However, the narrator keeps trying to ease the police's suspicions. While admiring the sturdy construction of the house, he taps on the same wall where his wife's body is hidden with a cane. When he taps it, a long, loud cry comes from behind the wall. Eventually, the police break down the wall. They find the hidden corpse behind the wall. On the head of the corpse, there is the missing cat.
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