For my two stories, I choose “ The Black Cat” by Poe and “ The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman.

Similarities:

  • Both Characters experience a form of the spirit of perverseness 

For this essay, I choose the stories “The Black Cat” by Poe and “The Yellow Wallpaper by Gilman in both of these stories over time the spirit of perverseness can be seen almost corrupting their actions leading them to do things they know aren’t right. In the Black Cat, the Man starts off being violent towards animals, for example, his cat Pluto at first it’s just a slight annoyance that builds into hate over time and during this time the man manages to first take an eye from the cat then, unfortunately, kill the cat then the spirit of perverseness continues to take over the man’s being and commits murder killing his wife, although very gruesome the spirit of perverseness consumes him leading him to continue doing violent and inhumane things just for the sake of doing it even though he knows it’s beyond wrong. As for “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the spirit of perverseness is a little more subtle one can even say the character shows it more mentally than physically unlike the man in the “The Black Cat”.