The short story ‘The Black Cat’ by Edgar Allan Poe can be categorized under the sub-genre Psychological Horror as it is based on events and incidents that take place mainly due to the mental illness that the narrator, who refers himself throughout the story as ‘I’, is going through and has no control over. The story revolves around the idea of how a human mind has the unbelievable capabilities of doing dark and perverse acts that are beyond the imagination.
The narrator at the beginning comes out as being a normal person who loves animals and is spending a simple life with his wife. However, later the narrator gets caught in the bad habit of excessive drinking which turns out to be life threatening as he becomes schizophrenic due to immense indulgence in alcohol. The narrator’s belief in superstitions can also be described as he names his black cat, which he and his wife thinks is evil in disguise, as Pluto which is a term used in the Greek mythology for the god of dead.
As the story moves on the narrator becomes a possession of aggression and violence and ceases to care even for his beloved ones and all that he loves. The narrator’s bafflement of his situation and unawareness of his violent mental illness can be proven by laying an emphasis on the brutal ways he uses with his black cat and cuts out one of its eye. Although, inside his heart he feels deeply guilty and weeps while doing such merciless acts but being helpless of his situation he gets unstoppable and the urge of perversity start to get intense day by day.
Also, another evidence of the perplexity of his mental condition can be shown through the murder of his wife. While murdering his wife he shows no mercy rather he kills her cruelly with an axe with which he wants to kill the second cat in the house which comes after the Pluto he kills Pluto. He feels a psychological confusion and fear from the second cat causes that nervousness him which adds to his mental illness which starts getting worse as the story goes on towards the murder of his wife.
He gets hopeless and tremendously violent and also his mind set gets firm on the idea that he is possessed by an evil spirit which is making him do these sins and crimes and being unaware of his mental condition he begins to feel regretful and depressed. As the loss of losing all his loved ones starts to make his mental illness even worse and the guilt starts to kill him inside and take control of all his acts. He leads the police to the exact point of the wall where he has hidden his wife’s dead body that he had murdered which shows that when his mind thinks something he cannot resist from it and is not in control of any of his efforts and mind.
Furthermore, coming towards the conclusion it is proven that all the acts and crimes that the narrator takes place are highly in control of his mental illness which is caused by the drinking of alcohol. The story fits in the genre of psychological horror because the author has presented a paradigm of psychological disorder that resulted in brutal murders and mental perplexity of the narrator which involved killing of his own wife whom she loved unconditionally and the deteriorating of his love for animals which is shown when he kills his black cat. This story is a based on psychological issues that the story’s narrator underwent from the beginning till the end of this story by Edgar Allan Poe and that is what makes it recognizable under the category of psychological horror.
References
Junfeng Z. & Haiyuan L. (2012) The Conflicting Mind Reflected in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” and D. H. Lawrence’s “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter”. 16-17
