A Psychological Tale

In Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Black Cat" the narrator experiences a mental and moral breakdown. This breakdown and its consequences are revealed through the story's two parallel structures. The first structure, divided into three sections, reflects the narrator's mental and moral collapse. Likewise, the second structure, also divided into three sections, reflects the consequences of that collapse. Each structure relates the three common elements to both his breakdown and to the consequences of his …

…structure comes to an end by reflecting the consequence of that collapse. In conclusion, the cat, the atrocity and the expose are the three common elements related to each structure. These structures reflect the narrator's mental and moral collapse along with the consequences of that collapse. In Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Black Cat" the narrator experiences a mental and moral breakdown. As a result, that is why "The Black Cat" is a psychological tale.