The Black Cat by Poe. A Comparison between the movie and the book

Essay by Scott GutshallCollege, Undergraduate February 1997

download word file, 2 pages 3.3

There are major differences between the film we saw in class and The Black Cat by

Edgar Allen Poe. The film had added effects to get the viewer's attention. The film also

let out important parts that were in the short story. The short story gave the reader a

better background for character analysis. Although the story was much more enticing

because the reader knew the main character better.

In the short story the man(abusive husband) is described as a loving and caring

husband, who is very fond of animals. He describes to the reader how his obsession with

alcohol is like a disease. He gets more irritable everyday because his cravings for alcohol

become greater and greater. He was often physically abusive to his wife. One night the

man came home very drunk and violent so Pluto(the black cat) scratched him out of fear.

then the man lost his temper and cut out the cat's eye with his penknife.

One morning the

man hanged the cat from a tree limb with a noose around its neck. That night his house

burnt to the ground. In the morning he found a petrified white cat with a rope around its

neck in the charred remains. A few days later the man saw a black cat with a white chest

and he liked it so much he let the cat follow him home. The cat made itself at home but

the man avoided it because of a sense of shame for his former deed. The next day the man

noticed that the cat was missing an eye just as Pluto. His wife pointed out that the white

spot on its chest resembled the Gallows! The cat made the man trip in his basement one

day. So he picked up an ax...