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Comparing The Black Cat And The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

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Comparing The Black Cat And The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe
In many of his short stories, Edgar Allan Poe uses a single eye as a symbol. The narrators in his stories often experience an intense abomination towards the eye of a particular character. Usually the object of pursuit, the eye ignites a violent reaction within the narrator who feels the need to destroy it. The symbol of a single eye is identified several times throughout Poe’s literature and each time provides a deeper insight into his characters. The symbolization of the eye leads to the reveal of the psyche and soul, an exposure that leaves Poe’s characters feeling uncomfortable and revealed. In “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, eyes are used as symbols to identify that the eyes are the windows to the soul. In “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator acts violently towards his cat for no particular reason. Although the narrator doesn’t state why, he always seems to be drawn to the cat’s eye in a negative way. The first incident in which the narrator abuses the cat is when it doesn’t react to his rage and looks into his eyes without fear. The narrator is extremely disturbed by the cat’s presence and deliberately tries to cut out its eye. “I fancied that the cat avoided my presence…I took from my waist-coat …show more content…
The narrator of the story has an incredible desire to kill an innocent man for no reason other than his eye. The narrator never stated why the old man’s eye made him so uneasy, only describing his immense hatred towards it. “Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me…I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture – a pale blue eye, with a film over it” (Poe 138). When the eye was direct towards him, the narrator felt disturbed and erotic. He identified the eye as “evil”, bringing him great distress that was too significant for him to
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