The Black Cat

Edgar Allan Poe

Biography : E.A. Poe

Born: January 18, 1809. He received a good education: England, Richmond, University of Virginia 1831. 1835. he lived in Baltimore where he began a lifelong struggle with poverty, disappointments in love and addiction to alcohol. 1836. he married Virginia Clemm, and later moved in New York. He died on October 7, 1849.

Summary

Proclamation of sanity Description of life Descent to insanity and alcoholism, mood swings Killing of the animals Pluto's hanging House burns down Arrival of the new cat Murder Police arrival

Fantastic in The Black Cat

Tzvetan Todorov The fantastic explores the indefinite boundary between the real and the supernatural. The fantastic is a literary category that contains elements of both the rational and the irrational.

First person narrator Fantastic themes drugs, cruelty and violence, death Plot maintains suspense, produces a particular effect, a dense organization. The setting is in the world of living persons.

Symbols and motives

Animals a black cat The power of death over the living (Pluto over narrators life) Love and hate Alcohol

Connection btw. Poe and the main character/ narrator

Hard life Alcohol Death

Adaptations
The story was adapted several times 1934. a movie with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff , and the other also with Lugosi but this time with Basil Rathbone. Most faithful : Tales of Terror in 1962. Two evil Eyes 1990. The Black Cat 1981. In television: Masters of Horror

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mjq1Ni 4I9M&feature=related

Questions:

Do you think that Poe based the main character on himself? Why? What do you think is the main reason for characters insanity? The narrator is writing the story on the eve of his death, is that important??