爱伦坡《⿊猫》英语作⽂
Symbolism in The Black Cat
As an important writer in the 19th century history of American literature, Edgar Allan Poe exerted certain international influences.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat, symbolism is used to show the narrator’s capacity for violence, madness, and guilt. The symbolism of the first black cat (Pluto), the second black cat, and the white spot illustrates the narrator’s expanding capacity for evil and perverseness.
The most important symbol of the story is the first black cat. The first black cat is symbolic of the narrator’s evil heart. It starts out in the story as the narrator’s favorite pet and playmate named Pluto, which is the name of the Underworld. On night, after returning home the narrator gets much intoxicated, so his love for the pet seems to fade away. Since the narrator is drunk. The first black cat avoids him. This bothers the narrator to the point where he picks up the cat and frightens it. Afraid of his master, the cat slightly wounds the narrator on the hand with his teeth. Because of the cat’s reaction to his picking him up, the narrator pokes out one of the cat’s eyes. The eye of the cat which is poked out by the narrator is symbolic of the narrator not wanting the cat to get a clear perception of his evil heart. Then su
ddenly on one morning the narrator hangs the first black cat by a noose from a tree. And finally the archetypal symbol associated with the first black cat is its color, black. The color black is associated with the well known superstition that black is
symbolic of evil and darkness. The first black cat is the victim of the narrator’s evil and violence.
The second black cat is symbolic of the narrator’s guilt. The night after the narrator’s house catches on fire, he goes to a bar where he sees the second black cat. The second black cat resembles the first black cat in every aspect except one. The finding of the second black cat is symbolic of the night on which the narrator comes home from a bar intoxicated. When the narrator begins to leave the bar, the second black cat begins to follow him and this is symbolic of the guilt that follows the narrator. The narrator notices that the second black cat resembles the first black cat in every aspect except one. And the similarity of the second black cat to the first black cat is symbolic of the guilt that the narrator is carrying. The narrator notices that at night the second black cat sits on his chest, just as the narrator’s guilt is doing.
Finally, the white spot found on the second black cat’s chest is symbolic of the burden that the narrator carries on his heart. The second black cat has s splotch of white covering nearly the whole region of its
breast, which at times changes forms. The color of the spot, white, is an archetypal symbol that has a universal meaning of purity and light. This white spot on the heart of the second black cat is symbolic of the purity of the first black cat’s heart. The white spot changes to the form of gallows, which is symbolic of the guilt of the narrator. So basically the white spot
serves as a punishment to the narrator inflicted by the second black cat.
The first black cat, the second black cat and the white spot are the three most important symbols in this story. Each one of these symbols represents the evil and perverseness of the narrator. The first black cat lets the reads get a clear understanding of the narrator’s evil heart. The second black cat gives the readers an insight of the narrator’s guilt for what he has done to the first black cat. And the white spot helps the readers to realize what type of the punishment the second black cat is inflicting on the narrator. The basic function of the first black cat, the second black cat and the whit spot is to illustrate the narrator’s increasing capacity for evil and his descent into madness.黑猫与牛奶
Symbolism applied in this story strengthens the artistic effect and symbolic meanings help the readers gain a deeper understanding of Edgar Allan Poe’s intentions of creating such kind of short stories. In a word, Symbolism used in Poe’s stories has greatly reinforced the effect of the stories.