To expose unfair judging practices at a contest
I'm so sorry if this isin't the answer, please don't attack me!
I believe that your answer is the first option due to how late the crying is, and unlike in "The Tell-Tale Heart" where the heart is constant and represents the slow descent of madness, the cry of the cat only appears at the end.
The portion of the story where it shows the speaker's madness is actually his looking for and finding similarities in the second cat and wishing to kill it.
Hope this was helpful.
They can change the background or the set up of the play to change the mood
