The Black Cat Link

"The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe

Emphasis and Alliteration

Emphasis- A range of techniques for stressing a word, phrase, or idea throughout a story. A writer may use repetition of a single word (He felt nothing but fear, fear, fear), by using different type-face (He felt nothing but fear), or by building a series of synonyms (He felt nothing but fear, terror, horror). An author may also repeat a unique word or phrase throughout a story to draw emphasis to a certain idea, characterization, etc.

"This I have known ever since I stretched out my fingers to the abomination within that great gilded frame; stretched out my fingers and touched a cold and unyielding surface of polished glass" (Lovecraft, "The Outsider" 321). 

Alliteration- When the initial sounds of a word, beginning with either a consonant or a vowel, are repeated in close succession: "Such a lot the gods gave to me-- to me, the dazed, the disappointed; the barren, the broken" (Lovecraft, "The Outsider" 316). Alliteration may accentuate the beauty of language in a given context, or unite and emphasize words or concepts through a kind of repetition.

Presentation Criteria

Presentation Criteria:

On the day we discuss your chosen text as a class, you will be responsible for starting the discussion in a 8-10 minute presentation. Your presentation should include the following components:

1. Provide a thematic summary of the day's reading; focus on recounting the text's major plot points through the lens of one of the story's main themes. This will allow you to keep your summary relatively brief and will also orient the class to the specific focus you will carry into the interpretation and discussion portions of the presentation.  


2. Select a scholarly article or book chapter from the library MLA database that discusses your chosen text. The scholarly article or chapter should be at least eight pages in length. The purpose of this part of the assignment is to familiarize you with professional literary arguments and help you understand critical lenses scholars use to analyze and interpret literature. Briefly summarize the author's argument for the class. What ambiguous issue is the author providing an interpretation for? What is the author's interpretation? Is it based on close reading, historical, biographical, social, or theoretical contexts, or a combination of several of these? You will email me a citation for your article or chapter in MLA format the day before your presentation is due. Example: Tomlinson, Niles. "Creeping in the 'Mere': Catagenesis in Poe's 'Black Cat' and Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper.'" ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance 56.3 (2010): 232-268. 


3. Finally, provide two questions to generate the day's discussion of the text. Although the elements you identified for the previous requirements do not necessarily have to lead up to these questions, the more related the elements of the presentation are, the better your presentation will be.

Presentation Selection Procedure:
You will sign up for a text on Thursday, January 30. You can select either a short story, or a portion of one of the novels. There will only be one presenter per text or novel section.  

Thematic Summary Examples:

"The Tell-Tale Heart” is about a neurotic man’s murder of an old man living in the same house because he finds the old man’s “vulture eye” unbearable to him. After spying on the sleeping old man at midnight for a week with the intention to kill him, the protagonist jumps into the old man’s room on the eighth night, murders him, dismembers the body, and buries it under the floor. When three policemen come to search the house, he hears the increasingly loud beating of the old man’s heart, and takes it that the policemen have also heard it but pretend not to have. He finds the policemen’s “dissembling” most unbearable and admits his murder. -- From Dan Shen's "Edgar Allan Poe's Aesthetic Theory, the Insanity Debate, and the Ethically Oriented Dynamics of 'The Tall-Tale Heart'" in Nineteenth-Century Literature.

The presence of Borel’s protagonist in Spain is not without controversy; the disappearance of several locals causes rumors to circulate about the nature of the scientist’s experiments. The aging Vésalius takes as his bride Maria, a young woman from a prominent local family, but their nuptials only add more grist to the rumor mill. Unable to consummate his marriage, the anatomist soon returns to his laboratory to re-immerse himself in his work. While he endeavors to further scientific knowledge, his neglected wife takes a series of lovers, each of whom disappears after a single night of passion. The stress of the disappearances takes its toll, causing Maria’s physical health to fail and leaving her a virtual invalid. Several months later, near death, she summons her husband to her bedside to confess her infidelities and to beg his forgiveness. The anatomist, unmoved by his spouse’s repentance, mercilessly drags her from her bed and takes her to his laboratory. There, he reveals that he is responsible for the disappearances, aided and abetted in his crimes by his former governess, who had become his wife’s chaperone. Maria’s lovers, Vésalius explains, were dissected because of his thirst for knowledge about the human body. Overcome by the gruesome sight of her lovers’ desecrated remains, the young woman faints dead away. The following morning, a coffin is removed from the home, ostensibly carrying the bride’s remains but which the undertakers realize has a curiously hollow sound. The narrator cryptically observes that if we only had access to Vésalius’s chamber of horrors, we would find a blond cadaver on his dissecting table, a not so subtle allusion to Maria’s grisly fate.-- From Kathy Comfort's "Lycanthropic Frenetism in Petrus Borel's 'Don Andrea Vesalius'" in the European Romantic Review.

 

Allusion, Atmosphere, Imagery, and Metaphor

Allusion: A brief reference to a person, place, thing, event or idea in history or literature. Allusions are often indirect or brief references to well known characters or events, and are often used to summarize broad, complex ideas or emotions in one quick, powerful image. Allusions imply reading and cultural experiences shared by the writer and reader, functioning as a kind of shorthand whereby the recalling of something outside a work supplies an emotional or intellectual context. 

"I made mention of certain mutual friends, and generally gave her news of London life, speaking particularly of the theatre (for I knew Maude had loved it) and describing Mr McReady's farewell appearance as Macbeth at the Haymarket" (Russell, "Sardonicus" 441). 

Atmosphere: The mood of the narrative, created by means of setting (locale and surroundings in which the narrative takes place), attitude (of the narrator and the characters in the narrative), and descriptions.

"Atmosphere is the aura of mood that surrounds the story. It is to fiction what the sensory level is to poetry. In fact, it is often said that a story that has as its strongest element a mood or atmosphere is a "poetic" story. Such narratives were perhaps more popular in the past, especially in the Gothic fiction of the nineteenth century, than they are in the twentieth century. Gothic literature emphasizes the enigmatic, the dark, the distorted...The mood story attempts by descriptions and emotive means to influence the perceptions of the reader, to call into play sensations and emotions. The setting of the story will have a great deal to do with these evocations of mood. What would a ghost story be without an old Victorian mansion with creaking doors, an ancient castle full of cobwebs or some other such Gothic setting?" (Turco, The Book of Literary Terms 50-51). 

Imagery: A word, phrase, or figure of speech (especially a simile or a metaphor) that addresses the senses, suggesting mental pictures of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, or actions. Images offer sensory impressions to the reader and also convey emotions and moods through their verbal pictures.

“The stained-glass windows were lit up from within, casting their light obliquely across the dark façade of the house opposite, so that in the gloom it seemed to be sprinkled with fires and burning nets, and with tracery of gold… The walls were, to put it fancifully, in their carnival dress, all bedecked with and tricked out with tapestries, velvets, and glittering candelabra” (Borel, "Andreas Vesalius" 70).

Metaphor: A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, without using the word "like" or "as." Metaphors assert the identity of dissimilar things. Metaphors can be subtle and powerful, and can transform people, places, objects, and ideas into whatever the writer imagines them to be. An implied metaphor is a more subtle comparison; the terms being compared are not so specifically explained. An extended metaphor is a sustained comparison in which part or all of a poem consists of a series of related metaphors. 

“The response was a renewed uproar: They clattered away with bells, knives, and pans, raising a thunder that was agonizing, deafening, a whole symphony of murder” (Borel, "Andreas Vesalius" 72).

Characterization, Point of View, and Foreshadowing

Characterization: The process by which a writer makes a character seem real to the reader. Authors have two major methods of presenting characters: showing and telling. Showing allows the author to present a character talking and acting, and lets the reader infer what kind of person the character is. In telling, the author intervenes to describe and sometimes evaluate the character for the reader. Motivated action: the audience is offered reasons for how the character behaves. 

"Violence of temper approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger" (Doyle, "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," 267).  

"He stepped swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands" (Doyle, "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," 274).

Point of View: Refers to who tells the story and how it is told. What we know and how we feel about the events in a work are shaped by the author's choice of point of view. The teller of the story, the narrator, inevitably affects our understanding of the characters' actions by filtering what is told through his or her own perspective.

• Person- A story can be narrated in the first person singular ("I saw what happened") or first person plural ("We saw what happened"). It can also be narrated in the second person ("You saw what happened"). The story can also be told in the third person ("He saw what happened").
• Perspective- In the single perspective, only the actions of one character are followed; only what occurs in that person's presence is narrated. From the multiple perspective what occurs in the presence of two or more characters is narrated. From the omnipresent perspective, the narrator has access to actions everywhere in the story. 
• Access- The narrator might have only objective access to occurrences, being able to narrate only actions seen or heard, or the narrator might have subjective access, being able to narrate not only actions and words but the thoughts and emotions of characters as well. 

Foreshadowing: The introduction early in a story of verbal and dramatic hints that suggest what is to come later.  

"Upon closer and more concentrated perusal, I at length concluded to be no more than a single 'S', but an 'S' whose writhing curls seemed almost to grin presumptuously at one, an 'S' which seemed to be constructed of little else than these grins" (Russell, "Sardonicus" 435). 

"True!--nervous--very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell" (Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart"). 

Sardonicus: From Short Story to Screenplay

"Sardonicus," one of Ray Russell's earliest works, initially appeared in the January 1961 issue of Playboy. Soon after its publication, horror director William Castle purchased the rights to the story and employed Russell to write a screenplay for a film adaptation of the story, which was renamed Mr. Sardonicus. The film version was quickly produced on a low budget and was released in October of the same year. Although "Sardonicus" is set in the 19th century, the tale appealed widely to Ray Russell's contemporary popular audiences. What about this story is modern despite its distant setting?

The "Punishment Poll" advertised on the film's poster (top right) was the director's decision to involve the audience in Sardonicus' ultimate fate. Depending on how the viewers responded to Sardonicus, they could either vote to have him spared or punished according to his crimes. Audience members were given a glow-in-the-dark card with a thumbs up, signaling that Sardonicus should live, or a thumbs down, signaling death. According to the consensus the corresponding ending would be shown, although it is rumored that very few, if any, audiences voted to show Sardonicus mercy.

Common Sources: Andreas Vesalius and The Merchant's Tale

As discussed earlier, gothic texts often have common sources based in medieval texts upon which gothic writers build their narratives for their contemporary audience. In addition to creating a fictional tale around the historical Andreas Vesalius, Petrus Borel's "Andreas Vesalius the Anatomist" reflects a common narrative featured in several medieval texts, including Chaucer's "The Merchant's Tale."

In Chaucer's version, an old and wealthy knight named Januarie marries a young bride, May, and Januarie is ultimately made a cuckold by her and his squire, Damyan. Januarie loses his sight not long after the marriage and driven mad with suspicion keeps May close to him at all times. However, she and her lover find a moment alone in a pear tree where the blind Janurie waits below for his fair wife to descend. While he waits, Januarie miraculously recovers his sight and sees May and Damyan having sex in the tree, but the cunning May is able to convince him that the gods promised they would restore Januarie's sight if she committed the adulterous act.

Chaucer, like Borel, describes a laughable and somewhat grotesque wedding night between the married couple:

"With thikke brustles of his berd unsofte,
Lyk to the skyn of houndfyysh, sharp as brere...
He rubbeth hire aboute hir tendre face,
And seyde thus, "Allas! I moot trespace
To yow, my spouse, and yow greetly offende...
The slakke skyn aboute his nekke shaketh
Whil that he sang, so chaunteth he and craketh.
But God woot what that May thoughte in hir herte,
Whan she hym saugh up sittynge in his sherte,
In his nyght-cappe, and with his nekke lene;
She preyseth nat his pleyyng worth a bene." (Chaucer, ll. 1824-1854)

Chaucer's tale is ultimately more comical than tragic, as the blind husband finds his sight restored and May and Damyan find pleasure but avoid punsihment. How does this compare to Borel's version? How does he take this comical source and turn it into the tragic gothic?

Reading Schedule: Jan 28 - Feb 8

Science, Psychology, and the Gothic

January 28, Tuesday:                

                                              “Andreas Vesalius the Anatomist,” Borel; pp. 70-81. GT

                                              “Sardonicus,” Russell; pp. 435-65. GT

January 30, Thursday:              Short Assignment #1 Due: Finish a Fragment

                                               “Blood Disease,” McGrath; pp. 502-18. GT

                                               “The Outsider,” Lovecraft; pp. 175-181. GT

February 4, Tuesday:               “The Black Cat,” Poe; link.

                                              “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Perkins Gilman; GT

February 6, Thursday:             “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” Doyle; pp. 264-285. GT
                                               The Hound of the Baskervilles, Doyle; Chapters 1-5
February 8, Tuesday:              The Hound of the Baskervilles, Doyle; Chapters 6-15

Short Assignment #1: Finish a Fragment

Objective: Increase your understanding of literary elements within gothic texts by finishing a fragment using the characteristics of gothic fiction to revise the ending into your own short creative fiction narrative.

Method

1. Choose either "Raymond: A Fragment" or "Sir Bertrand: A Fragment" as the text you will extend into your own piece of fiction. 
2. Extend the ending of the story based on the characteristics of gothic literature we have discussed and observed so far. Remember that authors often both include tropes of gothic fiction while innovating on their function and meaning, so while you will need to show that your ending clearly follows the gothic tradition, you have the freedom to be inventive and subversive within these boundaries. In addition to displaying your understanding of the gothic genre, you will also need to employ literary devices in your extended ending, such as plot, dialogue, symbolism, description, etc. While we will be identifying and discussing many literary devices in class, the Bedford St. Martin LitGloss website contains an extensive list you can explore. Your extended ending should be no shorter than two pages, typed and double spaced, but there is there is no specific word count for this part of the assignment. 
3. Explain the choices you have made. Provide a short explanation (250-300 words) discussing the narrative devices you used, including why you selected specific devices, what they contribute to the piece, and what aspects of the initial story you hoped to highlight through them. Also briefly describe which parts of the gothic tradition you based your ending on.

Due Date: Thursday, January 30th

* This assignment will not be graded on your talent as a creative writer, but rather your attempt to thoughtfully incorporate common elements of gothic fiction and use literary devices in your piece. You will be asked to critically write about these devices in your midterm and essays later on in the semester, and this exercise will increase your awareness of authors' strategies to give their fiction depth and interest through literary devices. 

Symbol, Ambiguity, and Personification

Symbol- A person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of additional meaning beyond and usually more abstract than its literal significance. There are two main types of symbols: conventional and literary/contextual. Conventional symbols have meanings that are widely recognized by a society or culture. A literary or contextual symbol can be a setting, character, action, object, name or anything else in a work that maintains its literal significance while suggesting other meanings. Such symbols go beyond conventional symbols; they gain their symbolic meaning within the context of a specific story.

"The melodious harmony of the nightingale, which at intervals floated with dulcet sweetness on the evening air; the universal silence which prevailed, and seemed (if I may so say) 'to waft the soul to realms unknown' together with enthusiasm which he had never before experienced. When the sweet notes of the night-bird echoed along the dreary expanse, he caught the harmonious sound, and when it died away expectantly waited for a repetition" (Juvenis, "Raymond" 23). 

Ambiguity: Allows for two or more simultaneous interpretations of a word, phrase, action, or situation, all of which can be supported by the context of a work. Deliberate ambiguity can contribute to the overall effectiveness and richness of a work.

Personification- A form of metaphor in which human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things. Personification offers the writer a way to give the world life and motion by assigning familiar human behaviors and emotions to animals, inanimate objects, and abstract ideas.

Example: "It was one of those nights when the moon gives a faint glimmering of light through the thick black clouds of a lowering sky. Now and then she suddenly emerged in full splendor from her veil; and then instantly retired behind it, having just served to give the forlorn Sir Bertrand a wide extended prospect over the desolate waste" (Aikin, "Sir Bertrand" 3). 

Reading Contexts for Raymond

Early gothic fiction was often regarded as primarily a woman's genre in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. "Raymond; A Fragment" by Juvenis first appeared in the February 1799 The Lady's Magazine or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex. Below is a list of the texts that appeared alongside of "Raymond" in the February edition of the Magazine to provide information about how the original audience received the text:

1. On Singularity
2. A Query
3. Description of the Town of Brighthelmstone. [With a view of the Prince of Wales Marine Pavilion, elegantly engraved]
4. The Last Scene of the Comedy Lover's Vows, Act V. Scene II
5. Description of the City of Washington in America. [Extracted from a letter written by an English Gentleman settled there to a friend in England, June 20, 1798] 
6. Raymond; A Fragment by Juvenis.
7. Emily Verrone; or The Perfidious Friend, a Novel (continued).
8. An Account of the Voyage and Embassy of his Excellency the Earl of Macartney to China (continued).
9. The Golden Mirror; or the Kings of Schescian. [From the German of M. Weiland] (continued).
10. The Fatal Elopement; A Tragedy. [From the German of G.E. Leffing] Act I, Scene VI.
11. A Landscape in Switzerland. [From Miss William's Tour].
12. On National Pride, founded on imaginary Valour and Power. [From Zimmerman's essay an National Pride].

   

Reading Schedule: Jan 23

January 23, Thursday:            “Sir Bertrand: A Fragment,” Aikin; pp. 3-6. GT

                                              “The Poisoner of Montremos,” Cumberland; pp. 7-11. GT

                                              “Raymond: A Fragment,” Juvenis; pp. 23-26. GT

                                              “Raymond” contexts- Review Periodical Contents:

                                              The Lady’s Magazine, Vol. 30, 1799

Style, Tone, and Diction

Style- the language conventions used to construct the story; style is the distinctive and unique manner in which a writer arranges words to achieve particular effects. A fiction writer can manipulate diction, sentence structure, phrasing, dialogue, and other aspects of language used to create style. Style combines the idea to be expressed with the individuality of the author.

"Time for bed! A time of ecstasy, throbbing with shame and rapture, when souls unite, and desire is aroused and then drowned! Bedtime with all its delights and deceptions! Time of painful paradox, which is sometimes the hour of our death " (Borel, "Andreas Vesalius" 75).

Tone- The attitude of the story towards its subject matter. Tone is the author's implicit attitude toward the reader or the people, places, and events in a work as revealed by the elements of the author's style. Tone may be characterized as serious or ironic, sad or happy, private or public, angry or affectionate, bitter or nostalgic, or any other attitudes and feelings that human beings experience.

"There is one end of the room where it is almost intact, and there, when the crosslights fade and the low sun shines directly upon it, I can almost fancy radiation after all,--the interminable grotesques seem to form around a common center and rush off in headlong plunges of equal distraction.
It makes me tired to follow it. I will take a nap I guess.
I dont know why I should write this.
I don't want to.
I don't feel able.
And I know John would think it absurd. But I must say what I feel and think in some way-- it is such a relief!" (Perkins Stetson, "The Yellow Wall-Paper" 255)

Exercise: The style and tone of this passage shift as the narrator recounts the murder of the old man in "The Tell-Tale Heart." How would you characterize the style and tone in this passage? What language and structure features does Poe use to produce these effects? 

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eye. Meantime, the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder, every moment!-- do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me-- the sound would be heard by a neighbor! The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I thew open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once-- once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did  not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more. (Poe 2)

Diction- A writer's choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning. Formal diction consists of a dignified, impersonal, and elevated use of language; it follows the rules of syntax exactly, and is often characterized by complex words and lofty tone. Middle diction maintains correct language usage, but is less elevated than formal diction; it reflects the way most educated people speak. Informal diction represents the plain language of everyday use, and often includes idiomatic expressions, slang, contractions, and many simple, common words.

"If Boerhave and Albinus are to be credited, Andreas Vesalius perished a victim of the constant ridicule with which he mocked the ignorance, fripperies, and the immorality of the Spanish monks and of the Inquisition-- which was only too glad of the opportunity to rid itself of this troublesome scholar. Andreas Vesalius's great work on anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica, was published in Basel in 1562, embellished by illustrations attributed to his friend Titian" (Borel, "Andreas Vesalius" 81). 

The Tale-Tale Heart Link

The following link will take you to the text for your first reading assignment, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart:"

"The Tell-Tale Heart"

For Tuesday's class, you will read this story twice as a way to begin thinking about critical reading. Read through the story once casually (as you would read for entertainment), then read the story through again. On the second read, underline or take notes on aspects you notice that did not stand out during the first read. You may have a specific area you choose to pay more attention to (such as characterization, tone, plot structure) or you may track the trajectory of your reading experience. We will discuss observations about the reading process along with the story Tuesday; come prepared to share your findings. 

What is Gothic Fiction?

Neil Cornwell's definition of early gothic literature in A Companion to the Gothic:

"What we may now see as 'classical Gothic' then will normally involve dynastic disorders, set at some temporal and spatial distance and in a castle or manorial locale; defense or usurpation of an inheritance will threaten (and not infrequently inflict) violence upon hapless (usually female) victims amid a supernatural ambience. Often (but not always) the heroin will be saved, the villain unmasked, and the supernatural phenomenon dispersed (explained or confirmed)” 

When creating our own definitions and categorizations of the gothic, look for similar structure, style, setting, themes, characterization, and common sources.

Dualistic clashes represented in gothic literature:

• Supernatural -- Natural
• Mysticism -- Materialism
• Faith -- Reason
• Religion -- Science
• Life -- Death
• Victim -- Villain 
• Forgiveness -- Vengeance 
• Inheritance -- Usurpation 
• Desire -- Repression

Early Gothic Texts:

Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, published in 1764, was the first English novel to be marketed as "Gothik," a term which had been previously applied more exclusively to art and architecture.

The plot of this novel reflects many of the aspects stated in Cornwell's definition of early gothic literature: A deposed heir returns to reclaim his rightful rulership from an illegitimate usurper, virgins have their chastity threatened by the villain, the setting features both a castle and monastery, and seemingly supernatural occurrences shape the events of the story.

This novel's popularity ushered in more gothic texts, including most prominently Anne Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho and Matthew Lewis's The Monk: