"The Black Cat" Study Guide

Vocabulary and Gothic literary elements flashcards for Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" English 10 assessment preparation.

Allusion

A quick reference to a famous person, place, story, event, or god that readers know.

Foreshadowing

A clue or sign that the author gives about what will happen later in the story.

Narrator

The person who is telling the story (in "The Black Cat", an unreliable narrator).

Alteration

A major change in appearance, nature, or personality.

Disposition

A person's natural mood, personality, or character.

Conceal

To hide something.

Dispose

To get rid of or deal with something.

Sagacious

Wise, intelligent, or having good judgment.

Superstition

A belief in magic, luck, or supernatural powers instead of logic or facts.

Unreliable Narrator

A narrator who suffers from alcoholism, madness, and guilt whose story cannot be fully trusted.

Doppelganger

A double or copy of another; in "The Black Cat", the second cat acts as a double of Pluto, haunting the narrator with his past actions.

Revenant

A dead creature coming back to life or returning to haunt someone (exemplified by the second cat appearing to return in place of Pluto).

Revenge (Gothic Element)

In "The Black Cat", when the cat indirectly gets retribution against the narrator by causing him to reveal his crime to the police.

Macabre

Disturbing, violent images of death (e.g., the decayed corpse clotted with blood).

High, Overwrought Emotion

Extreme feelings of panic, regret, and hatred ("I blush, I burn, I shudder…").

Metamorphosis / Transformation

The radical change of the narrator from a kind youth to a violent, angry killer.

Pursued Protagonist

A character who feels constantly followed and tormented by a creature or force (such as the narrator being pursued by the second cat).

The Devil / Evil (Gothic Element)

Evil actions driven by destructive forces, represented in the story by the influence of alcohol ("Fiend Intemperance").

Fiend Intemperance

Alcoholism, which causes a radical alteration in the narrator's personality and drives his evil actions.

Pluto

The narrator's first cat, named after the god of the underworld as an allusion foreshadowing death.