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Edgar Allan PoeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section references animal cruelty and alcohol addiction.
The text makes use of Christian ideas about hell and damnation, as well as The Sources of Sin. In the Bible’s first book, Genesis, the fallen angel Satan tempts Adam and Eve to taste of the forbidden fruit of knowledge. This results in humanity’s expulsion from Eden as well as an inherited propensity to do evil—i.e., “original sin.” Evil is therefore both external and internal in Christianity; demonic figures may try to tempt humans into doing wrong, but humans are also inherently flawed. This is what makes Jesus’s atonement necessary, as it redeems humanity from its fallen state, making salvation possible.
“The Black Cat” unfolds within this context, but while the narrator describes God as merciful as well as terrible, the narrator’s damnation seems a foregone conclusion by the time he hangs Pluto on the tree. Although the narrator at times expresses regret for his actions, he doesn’t fully repent of them; in fact, he increasingly attributes them to malign outside influences, describing the second cat as a representative of hell. His failure to grasp his own sinfulness contributes to the
By Edgar Allan Poe
A Dream Within a Dream
Edgar Allan Poe
Annabel Lee
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Berenice
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Hop-Frog
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Ligeia
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Tamerlane
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The Cask of Amontillado
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The Conqueror Worm
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The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
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The Fall of the House of Usher
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The Gold Bug
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The Haunted Palace
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The Imp of the Perverse
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The Lake
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The Man of the Crowd
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The Masque of the Red Death
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The Murders in the Rue Morgue
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The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
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The Oval Portrait
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The Philosophy of Composition
Edgar Allan Poe