The Drive Towards Insanity Essay -- Character Analysis

The descent into madness is never a pretty road to travel. The journey involves multiple paths which are staggered into twists, turns, a fork in the road, and sometimes a glimmer of hope before reaching complete insanity. Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Black Cat† is one such story of a man who has stepped fully into the realm of madness. The end result of the narrator’s actions due to his mental state involve the maltreatment of his beloved pets, the hanging of his prized cat, and the eventual murder of his caring wife. The protagonist begins the tale by reassuring the recipient of the letter that he is perfectly sane, and that the entire ordeal was not a dream by any means. Many figures in history and in fiction have stated the same claim while performing evil acts. Christopher Nolan’s â€Å"The Dark Knight† shows one such character the Joker, played by Heath Ledger, who also claims to be perfectly sane while performing heinous crimes. He openly murde rs innocent civilians, causes destructive-mayhem, and openly tries to convert other characters into his cult of madness while believing himself to be fully sane. The Joker explains to Batman that â€Å"madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push† (Ledger). Poe uses carefully chosen language, flawless imagery, and gothic characteristics in â€Å"The Black Cat† to show that beneath every individual the drive toward insanity can explode into a reality. Poe masterfully uses carefully chosen language to make the narrator seem like a regular human being with some destructive tendencies. He playfully suggests that each individual â€Å"himself [committed] a vile or silly action, for no reason than because he knows he should not? Have we not a perpetual inclination [†¦] to violate that which i... ...985. Print Foerster, Norman. American Criticism: A Study in Literary Theory from Poe to the Present. New York: Russell & Russell, 1962. Print Ledger, Heath, perf. The Dark Knight. Warner Brothers Pictures, 2008. Film. Magistrale, Tony. Student Companion to Edgar Allen Poe. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2001. Print. Ruiz, Don Miguel, and Janet Mills. The Voice of Knowledge. San Rafael: Amber-Allen Publishing, 2004. Print. Oliver Jr., Lawrence J. "Kinesthetic Imagery And Helplessness In Three Poe Tales." Studies In Short Fiction 20.2/3 (1983): 73. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. "Pluto, In Greek Religion And Mythology." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. Turvey, Malcolm. "Vertov: Between The Organism And The Machine." October 121 (2007): 5-18. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.