The Black Cat in the Mirror of Freudian Psychoanalysis

Abstract

The present discussion is a textual analysis of a short story The Black Cat, written by   an American short story writer Edgar Allan Poe in the perspective of Freudian Psychoanalysis. The aim of present analysis is to depict Intrapsychic Conflict of main character in the story who loses sanity in an effort to make conscious what is unconscious. The main character stands as helpless victim to surging tug of war amongst three mental forces that is Id, Ego and Super-ego. This tug of war results into symptoms of painful anxiety, nagging depression, compulsive acts and inhibition of mental functions. And such symptoms in the main character finally lead to the failure of defense mechanism, thus at the end of day the main character of the story is left obsessed, confused, psycho and diseased.