The war between Id and superego in Poe’s “The Black Cat”

【Abstract】“The Black Cat” is one of Edgar Allen Poe’s famous short stories about the psychology of guilt and madness. Previous study mainly focuses on the madness， self-hatred and self-destructiveness in the story. While the relation between id and superego is rarely researched. This paper concentrates on the analysis of the war between id and superego in “The Black Cat”. The study finds out that the war between the id and the super-ego is evident throughout the whole story and in the story there are three battles between id and superego.

【Key words】“The Black Cat”; id; superego

【作者簡介】黎萍（1992.07-），女，汉族，贵州黔西人，贵州医科大学外国语学院教师，助教，硕士研究生，研究方向：语言学。

1. Introduction

Published in 1843， Edgar Allen Poe’s “The black cat” remains one of his mystifying tales. In the story， a murderer carefully conceals his crime and believes himself unassailable， but eventually breaks down and reveals himself， impelled by a nagging reminder of his madness. “The black cat” is distinctive among his tales in being one of very few that concerns a narrator who is an alcoholic. The narrator’s motive for murdering his wife has elicited much speculation from critics. Poe is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole， and he is one of the country’s earliest practitioners of short stories. Writers and critics analyze Poe’s works continuously in different perspectives. In the twentieth century， with the introduction of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory， scholars started to combine Poe’s works closely with his life and character. “The Black Cat” is one of Poe’s famous short stories about the psychology of guilt and madness. Previous scholars concentrate on the madness， self-hatred and self-destructiveness in the story， the correlation between id and superego is rarely discussed. So this paper focuses on analyzing id and superego in “The Black Cat”.

2. Freudian Theory of id and superego

For Freud， the superego， id and ego are closely related to each other.  According to him， super-ego is a combination of both the ego ideal “by which the ego measures itself， which it emulates and whose demand for ever greater perfection it strive to fulfill” and conscience “which performs the task of seeing that narcissist satisfaction from the ego ideal is ensured”（ Freud，1975）. The super-ego functions “self-observation， of conscience and of maintaining the ideal”. It is the representative of every “moral restriction， the advocate of a striving towards perfection—it is， in short， as much as we have been able to grasp psychologically of what is described as the higher side of life”（ Freud， 1975）.

According to Freud， the id is “filled with energy rendering it from the instincts， but it has no organization， produces no collective will， but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinct needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle.” Id is primitive and irrational. It is the dark， inaccessible part of our personality and it knows no judgements of value.

For Freud， the ego “is the part of the id which has been modified by the proximity and influence of the external world， which is adapted for the reception of stimuli and as a protective shield against stimuli， comparable to the cortical layer by which a small piece of living substance is surrounded.” The ego is the organized part of the personality. however， “the ego must on the whole carry out the id’s intentions; it fulfills its task by finding out the circumstances in which those intentions can best be achieved.”

Freud holds that the ego serves three masters—the external world， the super-ego and the id， and does what it can to bring their demands into harmony with one another. The super-ego is contradictory to the id. The super ego needs to act in a socially accepted manner， while the id only wants instant self-gratification. The ego has to carry out the id’s intentions， but at the same time under the supervision of the super-ego.

3. The war between Id and superego in “The Black Cat”

We can see battles between the id and the super ego is developed in “The black cat”.

Cutting out the eye of the cat is the first battle between the id and the super ego. The narrator is quiet and tender in his infancy， who has preference for animals over human beings. After marriage， his wife has a disposition congenial with his. Life for him was all but soft and gentle. However， as the cat fully dominates in his life， “he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets”， the rebellious side of his mind shows in life. Then the friendship “had experienced a radical alteration for the worse.” The narrator fancies that “the cat avoided my presence”， and decides to get rid of it. The narrator’s first action upon the cat is removing its eye， which caused the narrator a sentiment half of horror， half of remorse. The result of this is that the cat is slowly recovered. The narration shows that the superego makes the ego feel guilty， but the impulse of the id is very strong. The narrator consistently suppresses his awareness of the specific nature of this dark， threatening side of his personality， and in cutting out the eye of the black cat， perhaps he is also irrationally seeking to “root out” and deny his own unacceptable insights into his nature. He is expressing that mingled guilt and hatred of the unacknowledged dark powers in his own nature which he generalizes into the principle of perverseness， the “unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself---to offer violence to its own nature”.

After the failure of his first attempt to rebel， the narrator carried out a second attack upon the cat. He hangs the cat but still fails to get rid of him. For this time， the superego enforces his ego to repress the impulse of the id successfully. After he hangs the animal， he fears he has committed an ultimate sin， unforgivable even by the infinite mercy of God. The crime haunts him， “For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat” and “I went so far as to regret the loss of the animal， and to look about me， among the vile haunts which I now habitually frequented， for another pet of the same species， and of somewhat similar appearance， with which to supply its place.” This time the narrator is almost determined to leave the cat， but still paradoxically， seeking comfort from a replacement.

The power of his super ego is reflected through the revenge of the cat too. At the night of the day when the narrator hangs the cat， the whole house is burned， and “the destruction was complete”. His entire worldly wealth is swallowed up and he resigns himself to despair. When the narrator finally finds another cat， he “soon finds a dislike to it” arising within him. Like Pluto， the cat has only one eye， but this cat is more demanding than Pluto. Though the narrator avoids the creature， it follows his footsteps. “Whenever I sat， it would crouch beneath my chair， or spring upon my knees， covering me with its loathsome caressed. If I arose to walk， it would get between my feet and thus nearly throw me down， or fastening it long and sharp claws in my dress， clamber， in his manner， to my breast.” This time the cat dominates again， but it results in great horror in the narrator rather than an amiable ambience.

In the narrator’s final attempt to rid himself of his burden by attacking the symbol of his distress， his wife interferes， his feelings of hatred turn from the black cat to his wife， and the narrator’s inner demons perform their fatal deed. When the narrator walls up the corps of his wife and the cat disappeared in his life， he felt relaxed and he states that “once again I breathed as a freeman. The monster， in terror， had fled the premises forever！ I should behold it no more！ My happiness was supreme！” In fact this is just an illusion， for the cat still hides itself in the depths of his unconscious and finally guides him to reveal himself. The feeling of guilt and self-hatred， evident throughout the narrative， become dominant after the murder， and in the final scene the narrator thus helps to bring about his own punishment and destruction. The super ego wins the battle against the id in the end.

4. Conclusion

The war between the id and the super-ego is evident throughout the whole story. Cutting out the eye of the cat is the first battle， in which the superego makes the ego feel guilty， but the impulse of the id is very strong. The second battle is the narrator’s hanging of the cat， in which the superego enforces his ego to repress the impulse of the id successfully. Having the narrator accidentally wall up the black cat after killing his wife and reveal himself in the end， the story suggests that the super ego wins the third battle.

References：

[1]Freud， Sigmund. New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis Strachey James Trans[M]. New York： Dover Publications，1998.

[2]Robert Shulman. Poe and the powers of mind[J]. ELH，1970（37）： 245-262.

[3]Yang Bo. Terror of the soul—on the themes of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination[D]. Wuhan： Central China normal university，2002.