The Gold Bug and The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allen Poe was a master of the literary art. His use of symbolism is quite intentional, and nearly all of his stories are an allegory of some sort. "The Gold Bug" and "The Black Cat" are allegories of journeys, one into fulfillment and health, the other into madness and death.

The story of "The Gold Bug" is one of a treasure hunt told backwards. The reader, seeing through the eyes of the unnamed doctor, assumes he is on a wild goose chase with a madman, only to see him produce a treasure of gold seemingly out of nothing. Only once we have seen enough to believe are we told how he came about the realization that the treasure even existed in the first place.

The bug itself is symbolic of the find that makes a person believe that a fortune is nearby. In normal life it could be a rise in the stock market, the illness of a rich relative, or a real estate developer that wants to buy your land. The bug is not is not something of the person, like an invention, publication, or academic degree. Rather it is an opportunity that is open to anyone, but has been found by the holder. This creates a hurried but secretive obsession to turn the promise into reality.

It is interesting that only Legrand was "bitten" by the bug. This is an allegory to show that only he understood the significance of the map. Jupiter did not wish to be bitten by the bug out of fear. He did not want to look for the opportunity. Jupiter berated himself after they found the chest that he had not be

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ions of the tree showed a figure either climbing up or climbing down it, for, depending on its origin on earth or in heaven... (Barton) Likewise the skull is located on the seventh branch, a key number in alchemy. The Roman gods are part of the study, thus Jupiter's name. And naturally it is gold that the group seeks. The article suggests that the allegory with such a philosophical journey is quite intentional. Despite the popular depiction of Poe, he was a writer of great discipline and art. The symbolism is very specific, right down to a misspelling of the tree's Latin name. Even the growing, feverish energy experienced by the group as the treasure is finally dug up suggests "that a transmutation is happening" (Barton). Even more telling is the fact that the pirate used a substitution code to hide the clues to the gold's location. The story is not a manifestation of a psychological journey that Poe is taking, but rather a deliberate attempt to play out the transmutation process with an elaborate literary substitution code. The critics suggests that Poe is only familiar with the physical workings of alchemy, and that the parallel is simply with the physical process. Here I must disagree. The mental illness fro

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