爱伦坡《黑猫》英语作文.doc

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 suddenly on one morning the narrator hangs the first black cat by a noose from a tree. And finally the archetypal symb