Guilt and remorse are emotions that are often experienced by humans in general, and the emotional and physical response to these emotions can be very powerful and misleading. In "the Black Cat", Edgar Allen Poe spins a wondrously horrific plot that consists of a quilt deranged man driven to persecute the object of his offense. The man's ruthless compulsion to ease his guilt through destructive means leads ultimately to his own demise. The murder of Pluto, the appearance of the second black cat, and the ruthless slaying of an innocent woman are the series of significant events that are interweaved to create Poe's bloodcurdling tale.

Overwhelming and demented feelings of guilt compulsively drive the narrator of the story to brutally slay his companion cat. After the man removes Pluto's eye with a knife, he is remorseful, but his feeling of guilt quickly manifests itself as irritation (para. 9). The cat's fear of the man is a constant reminder of the horrible deed that he has performed, and he begins to project his hatred of self onto his disfigured cat

Work Cited: "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe

Finally, driven to the brink of insanity by the pressure of immense guilt, the narrator brutally murders his innocent wife. Tormented by his feelings of repulsion for the cat, the man succumbs to his rage and attempts to take its life, but his wife interferes and is rewarded with the burying of an axe in her head (para. 23). Guilt has finally taken a sick man and turned him into a complete monster. Once again the man attempts to alleviate his guilt by concealing the object of his offense, however his attempts are foiled when he raps on the brick wall that contains his wife's corpse (para. 22). The narrator gives us the following description of the reply to his rapping on the wall:

The narrators description of the cat's cries can be likened to the wailing sound of the guilt in his own conscious.

The appearance of the second black cat casts a spellbinding power over an already guilt sickened mind. At first the narrator is very pleased by the affection bestowed upon him by the second cat, but little by little he begins to dread and loathe its mere presence (para 16-17).

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Approximate Word count = 764
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)