The portrayal of the Theme of Guilt and search for Redemption in “The tell- tale heart” and “The black cat”

C. Laura Shirley

Vol-9,Issue-2,March - April 2024

Author: C. Laura Shirley

Keywords: Guilt, Murder, OCD, Crime, Obsession.

Abstract: The paper deals with the Theme of Guilt and the search for Redemption. Throughout the short stories “The Black cat” and “The Tell -Tale Heart”, both the narrator demonstrates their Guilt of Murder. They are obsessed with unusual things like the black cat and the old man’s evil eye. This shows that both the characters have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Poe tells the readers that no one can escape from the guilt. In the short stories, they feel extreme guilt and they justify themselves by repenting towards the sin that they have committed. The guilt that is tormenting the narrators can be justified by two perspectives of guilt, one is guilt as a moral emotion and the other is, as a social emotion.

Article Info: Received: 12 February 2024; Received in revised form: 21 Mar 2024; Accepted: 30 March 2024; Available online: 06 April, 2024

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.92.20