The Black Cat
E39438
"The Black Cat" is a classic Gothic short story by Edgar Allan Poe that explores themes of guilt, madness, and the supernatural through a narrator’s violent obsession with his pet.
Statements (51)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Gothic fiction work
→
horror fiction work → short story → |
| author | Edgar Allan Poe → |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
→
surface form:
United States
|
| exploresConcept |
effects of alcohol abuse
→
moral degeneration → murder → psychological terror → violence toward animals → |
| featuresAnimal |
black cat
→
second black cat with white patch → |
| featuresCharacter |
Pluto
→
narrator's wife → |
| firstPublicationForm | magazine publication → |
| firstPublicationYear | 1843 → |
| firstPublishedIn | The Saturday Evening Post → |
| genre |
Gothic fiction
→
horror fiction → psychological fiction → |
| hasAdaptation |
film adaptations
→
radio adaptations → television adaptations → |
| influenced | later Gothic and horror literature → |
| language | English → |
| literaryDevice |
foreshadowing
→
irony → symbolism → |
| literaryMovement | American Romanticism → |
| literaryPeriod | 19th century literature → |
| narrativePerspective | first-person narration → |
| narratorType | unreliable narrator → |
| originalMedium | print → |
| partOf | Edgar Allan Poe's horror stories corpus → |
| plotElement |
cat's cry reveals the crime
→
corpse concealed in a wall → narrator kills his wife → narrator mutilates his cat → |
| protagonist | unnamed male narrator → |
| setting | the narrator's home → |
| symbol |
black cat as symbol of guilt
→
white patch as image of gallows → |
| theme |
alcoholism
→
conscience → domestic violence → guilt → madness → the supernatural → |
| tone |
dark
→
macabre → suspenseful → |
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Edgar Allan Poe