Structure

...

Beginning

The exposition presents the narrator directly addressing the reader. The narrator argues that he is not mad, although what he is about to narrate might seem strange and it might be hard to believe. “For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it…” (ll. 1-2). This acts as a narrative hook, as it catches the readers’ attention and creates reader expectation. It also confers a confessional nature to the story. His mention that he is going to die (l. 3) foreshadows the crime he commits. Furthermore, by hinting that the cat could be a witch in disguise (l. 18), the narrator foreshadows the unexplainable influence the cats have over his temperament.

Through a backstory from his childhood, the narrator introduces himself as a person with “tenderness of heart” (ll. 12-13) and a fondness for animals. He also…