Examples Of Insanity In The Black Cat

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“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe is a short story that portrays a man a victim to insanity in his own life. Insanity is not being able to distinguish fantasy and reality and if charged could release the culprit from the death penalty. This unnamed narrator tells the story as he and his wife are open and loving to all animals. On page four, he introduces his favorite of them all, a black cat named Pluto. Throughout the story, he suffers from attacks within him, causing him to abuse his own pets, which he says he loves, and killing his wife. I believe that the narrator is in fact not guilty because he could not distinguish fantasy and reality, or right and wrong, because he was in a mentally ill state. The narrator is a victim to insanity, …show more content…
They explain he is in his right mind and is not a good person, and has no one to blame but himself. As he says, “But my disease grew upon me—for what disease is like Alcohol!” on page five, he can tell that he isn’t in alcoholic and it is much more. That is why he is insane and not a sane alcoholic. This has altered their viewpoint because he says his disease is like alcohol but it is really much more, and not alcohol. He is a known alcoholic but as well as an insane criminal. What he did is a horrible thing both sides agree on, but he was not only under the influence like one said, but also suffering from something on the inside. The narrator had the choice like all, right or wrong, but the illness had chosen wrong. The insanity of the narrator was brought to a new level when killing his wife and thinking of her as nothing but another animal. If he really cared and loved her, he wouldn’t kill her, but as shown she was killed. Maybe the narrator does love her, but you cannot tell since he was falling to insanity. He could not get into his reality, like a room with one locked door. Insanity had stolen the key to the door. In conclusion, he had suffered from insanity within him, stealing his wife
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