Term Paper on "Edgar Allan Poe's Masque of the Red Death & Black Cat"

Term Paper 4 pages (1314 words) Sources: 1+ Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Romanticism

In most of Edgar Allan Poe's stories, it is easy to see his fascination with the workings of the mind. His protagonists are usually driven by an emotion, such as anger, jealousy or guilt, and it very rare when their behaviors are clear-cut and easy to decipher. Literary critic Tony Magistrale (122) suggests that perhaps, "It is even possible to argue that many of Poe's individual characters contain and dramatize all at once the contradictory impulses of the human psyche." In fact, scholars still debate the psychological makeup of the characters in the two short stories, "The Black Cat," and "The Masque of the Red Death." In the end, the readers are left with questions to which they must supply the answers.

What made the narrator in "The Black Cat" suddenly strike out at his once beloved animals and actually try to kill the black cat? More importantly, what made him kill his wife instead of the cat? Was this act just a mistake in a moment of heated passion? Or was it pre-meditated, where something inside of him desired her death all along? These are questions that literary scholars have long had about Poe's story, "The Black Cat."

An article by Joseph Stark suggests that that perhaps Poe purposely made the narrator's psychological makeup and eventual motive for murder vague, in order to leave it up to the interpretation of the reader. "In other words, by depicting a motiveless murderer whose actions cannot be sufficiently explained, Poe 'place [d] before the world... without comment' difficulties in both scientific and religious thought and ironically upheld the mysterious nature of the human will in a time dominated by intellectual rationalism" (255).

As a result, says Stark, "Numerous critics have taken this puzzle as an invitation to discern the narrator's motive, with a wide range of suggestions..." Frushell comments on "the narrator's degeneration by stages into the condition of grotesque perversity" (43).

As in a split-personality, two sides of the narrator are fighting it out. "... The true 'animal' in him (his 'underworld,' the senses, appetites, affections, the non-rational) acts in at least two-thirds of the tale as his conscience, which longs to vex the aspiring, prideful half." At the end, says Frushell, the truth wins out, and in an act of self-betrayal the narrator admits to what he has done.

In order to determine motive, Piacentino analyzes the narrator's behavior from a psychobiography viewpoint: He says it is important to discern what happened to the narrator as a child, which traumatized him so much that he became an alcoholic and eventually turned to murder. Piacentino's suggestion: The narrator was laughed at as a child because of his "tenderness of heart" (possible homosexual leanings) and thus he internalized the personal hurt he felt from this ridicule. As Piancentino states: "While many of the critics of 'The Black Cat' prefer to see this murder as premeditated, I interpret the act as the culmination of deep-seated and suppressed anxieties that are contained in how the narrator retrospectively presents his childhood. As the narrator grew older, he denied this personal fault, until in 'the culmination of deep-seated and suppressed anxieties,' he killed his wife. Piacentino argues: "When anxiety and frustration threaten a person's security and self-esteem, as in the case of Poe's narrator, such a combination of repression-displacement -- though probably not to the extreme the narrator carries it -- may be regarded as a predictable natural reaction."

Other suggestions for the narrator's actions include the his temporary insanity, schizophrenia and the ultimate depravity of mankind. Is any one of these the true motive? No one knows, for sure. Perhaps, even Poe did not know when he wrote the story. Maybe writing his tales was his way of looking at the different types of human motivation leading to intended or unintended results.

A similar lack of information about motive occurs in "The Masque of Red Death." At first, the psychological motive… READ MORE

How to Reference "Edgar Allan Poe's Masque of the Red Death and Black Cat" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Edgar Allan Poe Term Paper

Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be one of the lesser known great artists of the 19th century. Orphaned at a very young age of 3, he nevertheless lived a… read more

Term Paper 4 pages (1778 words) Sources: 0 Style: MLA Topic: Aging / Death / Gerontology

---

Poe's Style, While Not Unique Research Paper

Poe's style, while not unique, is extremely masterful in creating various literary atmospheres and eliciting emotional reactions from readers. He employs several tools in both "The Black Cat" as well… read more

Research Paper 4 pages (1236 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Aging / Death / Gerontology

---

Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories. This Theme Term Paper

Edgar Allan Poe's short stories. This theme is "burial and redemption." Indeed, the theme of burial occurs in several of Poe's short stories. While expanding on this central theme, reference… read more

Term Paper 11 pages (4034 words) Sources: 10 Style: MLA Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

Compare Black Cat and Masque of the Red Death Term Paper

Poe

Through the creative and often garish work of Edgar Allen Poe many people have glimpsed symptoms of reality. Poe demonstrated an incredible sense of wordplay that could in fact… read more

Term Paper 3 pages (1108 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA Topic: Drugs / Alcohol / Tobacco

---

"The Black Cat Term Paper

"The Black Cat" appears to contain a number of themes that fascinated
its author Edgar Allan Poe, such as reincarnation, perversity (i.e. a form
of weirdness) and retribution and/or revenge.… read more

Term Paper 3 pages (1052 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>