The black cat: riassunto e analisi in inglese

The black cat (Il gatto nero): riassunto dettagliato e analisi, in inglese, del racconto scritto da Edgar Allan Poe, con vita e opere dell'autore (3 pagine formato doc)

Appunto di echelon91

THE BLACK CAT: RIASSUNTO

The Black Cat of Edgar Allan Poe. On the eve of his execution, an unnamed narrator opens the story by confessing himself.

From his in-fancy he was noted for his docility and humanity. He was a sweet person. He has always loved animals and he had lots of them, but his favourite was a large and beautiful black cat, named Pluto. Then he in-troduces his wife saying she also is an animal lover.

When the narrator began to suffer from violent mood swings due to the influence of alcohol he took to mistreating his animals and also his wife. During his uncontrollable rage, he spared only Pluto but one night after returning home drunk, believing Pluto has avoided him he grasped the cat but he was bitten on the hand.

The narrator has a demonic reaction so with a penknife he cut out one of the cat’s eyes. Although he has a feeling of remorse, he is overwhelmed by a spirit of perverseness. One morning he hangs Pluto on a tree.

On the night of Pluto’s hanging, the narrator’s family’s house burns down. The day after the fire, which destroys all the narrator’s possessions, a group of neighbours collected around a wall that remained standing. The narrator discovers the impression of a gigantic cat with a rope around its neck on the sur-face of the wall. He attempts to explain rationally the existence of the impression, but he finds himself haunted by this phantasm. One night, in a tavern, he discovers a new black cat placed on a large barrel of alcohol. He resembles Pluto but with a splash of white on his fur.

THE BLACK CAT: RIASSUNTO BREVE

The narrator took him home and he became part of the household, much adored by his wife as well. However, he soon cannot resist feelings of hatred for the cat. These murderous feelings intensify when the narrator discovered that the cat’s splash of white fur has mysteriously taken on the shape of the gal-lows. The white fur revealed the mode of execution adopted for Pluto’s killing.

One day, descending into the cellar of the building with his wife, the narrator almost tripped over the cat. Enraged, the narrator grabbed an axe to attack the cat, but his wife defended the animal. More an-gered by this interference, the narrator turned his rage against his wife and buried the axe in her head killing her. Then he decided to entomb the body behind the plaster of the wall in the basement. He eventually created a perfect hiding place that leaves no traces of his murder. When he turned to the cat, it wasn’t there, and he concluded that it has been frightened by his anger.

On the fourth day after the murder, the police arrived. The narrator led them through the house, even into the basement. When the police was next to leave, the narrator, however, kept trying to allay their suspicion. He tapped on the wall, where behind there was his wife’s body, and in response to the tap-ping, a long, loud cry was emanated from behind the wall. The police broke down the wall discovering the hidden corpse. The missing cat sat upon its head.

Il gatto nero: riassunto e commento del racconto di Poe

THE BLACK CAT ANALYSIS

Analysis. “The Black Cat” is an horror story. It’s a story of pain and shocking insanity, unusual and unbelievable. We find macabre terms, for example “unburthen”, “tortured”, “destroyed”, and allusions to the world of dead (Pluto, the cat’s name, is also the name of god of the underworld); all these words create just the atmosphere that Poe desired in the story. There are allusions to the popular notion that all black cats are witches in disguise and that cats have nine lives, this is at the base of the reincarnation of the dead Pluto in the second cat, that it’s a sort of resurrection.