Melanie Alvarado

Midterm essay, English 2001

Oct 26, 2020
                                                                  Remorse


            Something natural in human beings is to feel guilt or remorse when you act negatively towards another. But what happens when that feeling of remorse is not present? How does a person stop the feeling of guilt from eating them? The writer Edgar Allan Poe, author of the story “The black cat” and the writer William Faulkner author of “A rose for Emily” manifest two Gothic stories that present examples of people not feeling remorse despite their actions.


            In the story “The black cat”, the narrator as the main character, because of the alcohol, has a violent behavior towards his cat and wife, ending in the end with the life of his wife, by an act of spontaneous rage. To later bury it in the wall of his basement. This Gothic and macabre story presents an act of irony, throughout the story we can witness how the narrator expresses an unconditional love towards animals, however he also acts violently with his cat, until he ends up killing it. The irony is present when he ends up killing his cat when he expressed his love for animals. The narrator when killed his cat “I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched” developing the spirit of perverseness. This actively illustrates that the narrator commits an act where he knows it is wrong, regardless he does it anyway, because he does not care about the consequences, because of his lack of remorse.


            The story “A rose for Emily” Emily as the main character, possess a difficulty in overcoming or accepting the death of a loved one, since in the story we see when her father dies, she denies his death for three days. Thus, the conclusion of that memory makes her to avoid going through the same situation, in consequences she killed her fiancé so that he would be with her forever. According to the story “- I want arsenic. The druggist looked down at her. She looked back at him, erect, her face like a strained flag. -Why, of course- the druggist said. -If that’s what you want. But the law requires you to tell what you are going to use it for.- Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic and wrapped it up”. The reason for this occurrence is to show how Emily knew that she could not tell her true reasons for buying poison, because her intentions were to kill her fiancé. Therefore, Emily shows the spirit of perverseness by killing out of selfishness and without feeling guilt.


            Both stories as it has been possible to read in the previous paragraphs, the main characters lack remorse. However, a significant contrast between the two is the reasons why they commit their actions. Emily killed her fiancé as a symbolic act of undying love. As death for her did not make people leave, on the contrary death for her meant that he would always remain by her side, for that reason she wanted to keep the body of her beloved in bed with her. “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” this quote proves that the strand of hair is a reminder of love lost and the often perverse things people do in their pursuit of happiness. On the other hand, the main character of “The black cat” killed his wife for an act of rage blaming his cat, without expressing love for his wife, an example of this is how he quickly looked for a way to get rid of the body of his wife. “Goaded by the interference into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot without a groan. This hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body” This quote proves it. Making in contrast both murders, one for love and another for rage.


            Another contrast is how in the story “A Rose for Emily” Emily planned in advance the death of her fiancé, she knew how and when she was going to kill him. With cold blood she poisoned her husband to keep his love, a counterproductive fact, because Emily wants his eternal love, when in real life you cannot have a romantic relationship with a dead person. On the other hand, the story “The black cat” the narrator did not think to kill his wife, it was a spontaneous act, a situation in which you act first and then you think. One murderer was planned and another spontaneous.


            To sum up everything that has been stated, the lack of remorse in the characters causes them to commit incoherent or heinous acts that have devastating consequences for the surrounding people. The spirit of perverseness is present in every story.