A Madness by Any Other Name: Poe Review

Poe’s stories still chill me after all these years after reading them. They were more so macabre after understanding them better as an adult than a teenager. As a teen, Poe struck me as disturbing for all the right reasons. It isn’t until later one, I understood why.

The Black Cat: I haven’t read this until now. True to Poe’s form, this follows linguistic and plot structures that chill to the bone. I can see how and why Lovecraft got the idea from the Cats of Ulthar. As with any of Poe’s stories, there a refined quality to the language of madness he employs. Even when the narrator acknowledges his evil thoughts, there’s the gentleman-like quality to the narration. The story follows the narrator as he descends into madness. Poe’s use of the supernatural in this tale is worth noting. The supernatural is subtle, yet it is not. The narrator builds his case for his own sanity, but he does it with such flowery prose a reader instantly knows they are dealing with a madman. One aspect of madness that Poe championed is a madness so complete it is near instantaneous. Or is it? The tale starts off pleasant—too damned pleasant. The presence of the cat itself is supernatural, or could be read as such. The cat itself is something the narrator cannot comprehend and thus goes mad. Perhaps even the cat’s name, Pluto, was an unintended allusion to the supernatural? On a surface level, it works as foreshadowing (Pardon the pun). In Poe fashion, the ending is gruesome and satisfying.

Cask of Amontillado: I loved this story when I first read it. Understanding how Poe makes madness almost reasonable is probably the most macabre aspect of this writing. This story is no exemption. This tale has more characterization through interaction than the others. Normally, Poe has little in the way of personal interactions by way of dialogue. This story, uses dialogue in a rather realistic fashion. Fortunado’s drunken banter does resonate. True to Gothic fashion, the underbelly of the narrator’s home holds ancestor’s bones and the corpse of a nemesis. This story is one of Poe’s more famous tales. Revenge is a staple in Gothic literature, but perhaps with Poe, it is more so as madmen will go to great lengths to “right a wrong”.

The Tell-Tale Heart: If there is one thing Poe understands it is madness. Madness manifests many ways in Poe’s fiction that many authors don’t quite grasp. Now, the narrator displays a tell-tale sign of a psychopath: obsession with something or someone. Further, he contradicts himself: he loves the old man, but killed him anyway. To pay attention to the rambling and attempt to reasonably justify his murder, is to also understand how madness functions. There is often a breaking point, whether internal or external. This story has a combination of both. The narrator, either through guilt or by reaching his breaking point, confesses to the deed.

In summary, Poe’s tales offer a glimpse into a madman’s mind. Not many are touched by genius without being caressed by madness. With these stories, the deeper you go, the more you regret it. One you understand how the darkness of the human mind works, you’re never quite the same again. With Poe, the saying, when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks into you, holds true. But consider that the human condition is an abyss all its own.