First, The plot of these stories is similar in many ways. "The Black Cat" is Poe's second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt (the first being "The Tell-Tale Heart"); however, this story does not deal with premeditated murder. The reader is told that the narrator appears to be a happily married man, who has always been exceedingly kind and gentle. He attributes his downfall to the "Fiend Intemperance" and "the spirit of perverseness." Perverseness, he believes, is "...one of the primitive impulses of the human heart.

What makes this story different from "The Tell-Tale Heart" is that Poe has added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural. Now the story has an added twist as the narrator hopes that the reader, like himself, will be convinced that these events were not "...an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects."

Poe developed his own unique style that he used throughout his writing career. One of his traits is his use of symbolism, which can be found in both stories. Both stories involve a case of domestic violence that occurs as the result of an irrational fear. To the narrator in “Heart”, that fear is represented by the old man's eye. The belief in the evil eye dates back to ancient times, and even today, is fairly common in India and the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. In “Cat”, the focal point of the story, the black feline, symbolizes evil and witchery in many cultures. Appropriately, the narrator calls his cat, Pluto, who in Greek and Roman mythology was the god of the dead and the ruler of the underworld (symbolism). As in most Poe stories, biting and mutilation appear in both. Poe writes these stories from the perspective of the murderer. When an author creates a situation where the protagonist tells a personal account, the overall impact of the story is heightened. With his ex

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