Ghost Stories · Chapter
The Cat explained
Dick Alingham, a painter who recently achieved fame after a period of intense mental depression following a broken engagement, is painting a portrait of a woman.
What happens
Dick Alingham, a painter who recently achieved fame after a period of intense mental depression following a broken engagement, is painting a portrait of a woman. While working, he experiences a strange vision of a grey cat holding a thrush, which triggers a resurgence of his old anguish and a sense of horror. That night, he is found dead with his throat mangled, and his portrait is scratched and disfigured. The chapter explores the mysterious link between his psychological state, his artistic breakthrough, and his violent end.
Themes in this chapter
Psychology of Dreams and Perception
The chapter explores the altered perceptions and mental state of Dick Alingham, linking his artistic vision to a psychological break and the return of past trauma.
Supernatural and Occult
The mysterious appearance and behavior of the grey cat, its connection to the portrait, and Dick's violent death suggest a supernatural or occult influence.
Characters to notice
- Dick Peveril
The protagonist, a painter who experiences a resurgence of his past emotional trauma and a terrifying encounter with a cat.
- Lady Madingley
The woman who broke off her engagement with Dick, causing his depression; her memory is triggered by the cat's eyes.
- Jim Merwick
A friend and medical practitioner who discusses Dick's mental state and later writes a monograph on the case.
Key passages
“he painted them with quiet eager strokes, drawing the colour thinly over the background of white, and then looked long at that sketch of the eye to see if he had got what he wanted. Then he looked back at the cat which had stood so charmingly for him. But there was no cat there.”
He painted carefully, then checked his work, but when he looked for the cat that had been his model, it had vanished.
Describes the mysterious disappearance of the cat after serving as a model for the portrait.
“There on the sofa below it sat a large grey cat with yellow gleaming eyes. In its mouth it held a young thrush, still alive.”
He saw a large grey cat on the sofa, holding a live thrush in its mouth.
The cat's cruel behavior triggers Dick's horror and revives his past emotional pain.
“The portrait was there, it had been dragged back into position by the clematis, but it was covered with strange scratches, as if the claws of some enraged animal or the nails perhaps of a man had furiously attacked it. Dick Alingham was there, too, lying very still in front of the disfigured canvas. Claws, also, or nails had attacked him, his throat was horribly mangled by them.”
The portrait was found scratched and damaged, and Dick lay dead nearby with his throat torn, as if by claws or nails.
The violent end of Dick Alingham, linking the damage to the portrait with his own death.