thus a terrible thing for this lady to hear the painter speak of his desire to portray even his young bride. But she was
humble and obedient, and sat meekly for many weeks in the dark, high turret-chamber where the light dripped upon
the pale canvas only from overhead. But he, the painter, took glory in his work, which went on from hour to hour,
and from day to day. And be was a passionate, and wild, and moody man, who became lost in reveries; so that he
would not see that the light which fell so ghastly in that lone turret withered the health and the spirits of his bride,
who pined visibly to all but him. Yet she smiled on and still on, uncomplainingly, because she saw that the painter who
had high renown took a fervid and burning pleasure in his task, and wrought day and night to depict her who so loved
him, yet who grew daily more dispirited and weak. ...” Patrick. F. Quinn, 1984 : 483
3.3.2. The Black Cat
At first, the narrator is a very kind and tender person who has humanity toward animals and all living kinds. He lives in a good and lovely
family because he is taught to be a good man. He loves animals so much that his house is nearly like a zoo; which consists of many kinds of animal. Then
his attitude changes firstly because of alcohol. So that he loses his ability to control his emotion and also himself and starts to become more moody,
more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. He also becomes rude to his wife and dares to give physical violence toward his wife.
The development of this rude attitude becomes worse and worse each and every day. He starts to deny his pets, tortures them every time they pass
by and has no feeling of regret or sorry after torturing them. This is the starting point of the narrator madness of this story. Furthermore, there is a
statement telling that he does this in the unconscious condition which might be controlled by evil spirit. However, he is shy to admit the brutality he has
made. As we can see from the quotation below: “Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years,
during which my general temperament and character -- through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance --
had I blush to confess it experienced a radical alteration for the worse...” Patrick. F. Quinn, 1984 : 598
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At the beginning of the story, his attitude that is considered as a form of madness is shown from the way he tortures Pluto, his most favourite pet.
His cruelty shows the madness of his. First, he tortures it by gouging one of its eyes from the socket. Second, he hangs it to the limb of the tree. And the
statement that he says when he hangs it shows his madness. We can see from this quotation below:
“One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; --hung it with the
tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; --hung it because I knew that it had
loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence; --hung it because I knew that in so doing I was
committing a sin --a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it --if such a thing were possible -
-even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God.”
Patrick. F. Quinn, 1984 : 599, 600 If a person who does a crime and says love as the reason of the crime,
it must be very crazy. In our daily live, in our environment and culture, nobody will accept this as a reason of doing a crime. We do the crime
basically is because of hatred, jealous or other reasons, but not love. Another evident to prove his madness is the statement about his consciousness about
the sin that he will get from killing it but he still does it. And he kills it because he knows he will commit a sin from it. He says so just like he is a
person who likes to collect sins in his life. And from here, he starts to hate God.
His madness grows by his own fear of the second black cat. The comforting of the black cat tortures him and makes him become crazier and
he can not enjoy his life anymore, even sleep, and it changes him into a man who loses his kindness. He feels that he is haunted by the cat and the more
he thinks about it, the crazier he is. He abandons himself as if he can run
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away from everything. In this time, his wife shows a typical type of Gothic female character who is always suffer from her husband’s madness.
“Evil thoughts became my sole intimates --the darkest and most evil of thoughts. The moodiness of my usual temper
increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind; while, from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a
fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas was the most usual and the most
patient of sufferers.” Patrick. F. Quinn, 1984 : 603
The next madness that is shown nearly in the end of the story is when he chops his wife’s head with his axe. A husband who has just killed his
wife or someone else should feel sorry, afraid or will decide to run away. But this person does not do that. He does not plan to run away but he thinks
of plans how to keep his wife’s body directly after the murder. The ways that he thinks of are very complicated where actually there is a simple way
to end this problem, such as hand over himself to the police and say that that is an accident. He thought he could handle his wife alone but he could not.
The ways that he thinks of give the feeling of madness to the reader, as we can see from the quotation below:
“...At one period I thought of cutting the corpse into minute fragments, and destroying them by fire. At another, I
resolved to dig a grave for it in the floor of the cellar. Again, I deliberated about casting it in the well in the yard -
-about packing it in a box, as if merchandize, with the usual arrangements, and so getting a porter to take it from the
house ...” Patrick. F Quinn, 1984 : 604
After him walling up his wife, he feels satisfied with his work. He is proud of his work that is very well constructed. From this way of thinking, it
proves that he has no moral and no humanity anymore. He is totally crazy. We can see from the quotation below:
“...When I had finished, I felt satisfied that all was right. The wall did not present the slightest appearance of having
been disturbed. The rubbish on the floor was picked up with the minutest care. I looked around triumphantly, and
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said to myself --Here at least, then, my labor has not been in vain....” Patrick. F. Quinn, 1984 : 604
After the murder, the black cat disappears mysteriously. He searches it everywhere but he could not find it. He feels very still about it and he can
sleep very well at night. We can see it from the quotation below: “... It did not make its appearance during the night --and
thus for one night at least, since its introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with
the burden of murder upon my soul ...”
Patrick. F. Quinn, 1984 : 605 The last and the craziest thing that he does is he attracts policemen’s
attention to the new wall that he made to hide his wife. He also does not know why he does so. But for the reader, it is absolutely a crazy action to do
in front of police. We can see it from the quotation below: “...--I may say an excellently well constructed house.
These walls --are you going, gentlemen? --these walls are solidly put together; and here, through the mere phrenzy
of bravado, I rapped heavily, with a cane which I held in my hand, upon that very portion of the brick-work behind
which stood the corpse of the wife of my bosom. ...”
Patrick. F. Quinn, 1984 : 605
3.3.3. Berenice
