Edgar Allan Poe The Black Cat Story Updated May 2026

The narrator was once a gentle, animal-loving child, and as an adult he and his wife kept many pets. His favorite was a large black cat named Pluto (after the Roman god of the underworld). The narrator’s personality changes due to alcoholism. He grows irritable, violent, and begins mistreating his wife and animals.

To hide the body, he considers cutting her up, but decides to wall her inside a cellar niche (behind a false wall). He uses bricks and mortar. He feels clever when the cat disappears – it was the cat he wanted to kill anyway. edgar allan poe the black cat story

Though ashamed the next morning, the narrator soon feels a “spirit of PERVERSENESS” – a desire to do wrong for its own sake. He hangs Pluto from a tree. That night, his house catches fire and burns almost completely. The only wall left standing has a strange image: a giant cat with a rope around its neck. The narrator was once a gentle, animal-loving child,

One day in the cellar, the cat trips him. Enraged, he grabs an axe to kill it. His wife stops his arm. In a fury, he buries the axe in her brain. She dies instantly. He grows irritable, violent, and begins mistreating his

One night, returning home drunk, the narrator feels the cat avoiding him. He grabs Pluto, who bites his hand. In a demonic rage, the narrator pulls a penknife and cuts out one of the cat’s eyes.

The narrator finds a new black cat in a tavern. It is identical to Pluto but has a white patch on its chest. He brings it home. His wife likes it, but the narrator grows to loathe it. The cat is affectionate, which annoys him. He notices the white patch slowly changing shape into a gallows .