3/5 Stars: ‘The Black Cat’ is an Ageless, Gothic Horror by Edgar Allen Poe; ‘The Black Cat’ follows a murderer who carefully conceals his crime and believes himself unassailable, but eventually breaks down and reveals himself, impelled by a nagging reminder of his guilt. The story is presented as a first-person narrative using an unreliable narrator, one of questionable sanity. He is a condemned man at the outset of the story. ‘The Black Cat’ includes Poe's strongest denunciation of alcohol. The narrator's perverse actions are brought on by his alcoholism, a ‘disease’ and ‘fiend’ which also destroys his personality. The use of the black cat evokes various superstitions, including the idea voiced by the narrator's wife that they are all witches in disguise.