Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Black Cat' Assessment Review

Vocabulary flashcards covering key literary terms, Gothic elements, character descriptions, and central themes from Edgar Allan Poe's short story 'The Black Cat'.

Pluto

The narrator's first black cat, named after the Roman god of the underworld to foreshadow that the animal will be associated with death.

Fiend Intemperance

The narrator's metaphor for severe alcoholism, which drives the radical and violent alteration of his character and temperament.

Sagacious

Smart and intelligent; the adjective used by the narrator to describe Pluto's remarkable understanding and nature.

Allusion

A literary device making an indirect reference to a person, place, or concept from history or mythology, such as naming the cat Pluto after the god of the underworld.

Foreshadowing

A literary device providing hints of future events, exemplified by the wife's reference to the ancient superstition regarding all black cats as witches in disguise.

The Second Cat

A cat discovered by the narrator that looks identical to Pluto—including missing an eye—except for an indefinite white splotch of fur upon its breast.

Gallows Mark

The distinct shape formed by the white patch of fur on the second cat's neck and breast, symbolizing the narrator's crime and impending execution.

Pursued Protagonist

A Gothic trope where a character is relentlessly followed and haunted by a force or creature, demonstrated by the second cat obstinately following the narrator everywhere.

Revenant

A Gothic element referring to a being that returns from the dead to haunt or seek retribution, embodied by the second cat appearing as Pluto's vengeance.

Doppelgänger

A Gothic motif featuring a ghostly double or counterpart, represented by the second one-eyed black cat closely mirroring Pluto.

High, Overwrought Emotion

A Gothic convention depicting heightened emotional instability and agony, illustrated by the quote: 'I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.'

Macabre

A Gothic element centered on gruesome, horrifying representations of death, exemplified by the quote describing the erect, decaying corpse clotted with gore.

Metamorphosis / Transformation

A Gothic theme reflecting a radical change in form, morality, or personality, seen in the narrator shifting from kind and gentle to violent and murderous.

Cellar Wall Entrapment

The narrator's method of concealing his wife's murdered body by bricking it up behind the plaster and masonry of the cellar wall.

Unreliable Narrator

A narrator whose credibility is compromised by madness, guilt, and alcoholism, penning a confession from a jail cell the day before his execution.

Central Theme of 'The Black Cat'

The literary message that unchecked addiction and guilt will lead to severe moral degradation and self-destruction.