THE BLACK CAT
855
chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up, and made to resemble
the rest of the cellar."
Thereupon the murderer dislodges the bricks, props the body, stand–
ing, against the inner wall, re-Iays the bricks and, preparing a
plaster "which could not be distinguished from the old," carefully
covers the new brickwork. Then, with minutest care, he picks up all
the rubbish on the floor and, finally, feels satisfied all is right.
"The wall did not present the slightest appearance of having been
disturbed. . . . I looked round triumphantly, and said to myself,
'Here at least, then, my labor has not been in vain!' "
In other words, translated into terms of the unconscious:
At last the
woman, that castrated monster, will never reappear. The castration–
fear is walled up forever.
That this is the underlying idea, what follows confirms:
"My next step was to look for the beast which had been the cause of
so much wretchedness; for I had, at length, firmly resolved to put it
to death."
The animal, however, cannot be found. Possibly it had fled in alarm
from his violence. In any case,
"It is impossible to describe, or to imagine, the deep, the blissful sense
of relief which the absence of the detested creature occasioned in my
bosom. It did not make its appearance during the night-and thus for
one night at least, since its introduction into the house, I soundly and
tranquilly slept; aye,
slept
even with the burden of murder upon my
soul!"
So might a man feel who imagined that, once and for all, he had
rid himself of the dread of castration.
We may compare this indifference, this apparent lack of remorse
after his "crime" of murdering his wife, with his feelings when hang–
ing Pluto.
"I ... hung it," he says: "with the tears streaming from my eyes, and
with the bitterest remorse at my heart...."
Above we see only the pure hate-affect, though with Pluto the hate
still mingled with filial affection. But, all through this tale, there is
