Poe's Stories brief biography of edgar allan poe

Dupin thinks they should have known that the Minister would be too clever not to expect to be stopped and searched. The prefect says that though the minister is not a fool, he is a poet,
which is a very similar thing. Dupin admits that he too is a bit of a poet.
The Prefect’s idea of poetry being equal to foolishness is a significant
misconception that bothers Dupin – whose revered intelligence is
said to be both poetic and mathematical, just like the Minister
(establishing the minister as a kind of double to Dupin).
The prefect describes his method of investigation, how he looked over every inch of the apartment. He knows very well how to uncover
“secret” spaces, like parts of drawers blocked off, and chair legs that have been hollowed and stuffed with wadding so that the wood seems to have the same density.
They studied every rung in the hotel with a microscope to detect any hint of dust, and then the bedclothes and every item of furnishings, and then scrutinized the walls and surfaces of the house in the same way. They did this not just to the minister’s building but to the two adjoining buildings too, and the paved grounds.
The police have searched literally every square inch of the Minister’s
apartment. The long description of each process in the search goes
into microscopic detail. The direct and systematic way that the
police are able to carryout their search removes the story fora iimoment from the idea of crime – danger seems far away.
The narrator of "The Purloined Letter" is astonished, but the prefect again reminds him of the large reward. The narrator asks if he checked every single document in the minister’s library, and the prefect assures him that they did, and not only that, they checked between every single page of every volume.
When the prefect is done with his exhaustive list of investigated areas, the narrator thinks that it must follow that the letter is not after all within the apartment. The prefect agrees. He now asks Dupin for advice but all Dupin can say is to search the apartment again. He asks if the prefect has a description of the letter itself, and the prefect eagerly gives one in minute detail from a notebook. He then leaves, feeling at a loss about the whole case.
At this point the prefect needs Dupin to give him advice but Dupin
only tells the prefect to keep doing what the police have already
unsuccessfully tried. Knowing how superior Dupin’s analytical mind
is, his dismissal of the prefect with so simple a suggestion shows the
humorous side of Poe’s detective story.
The prefect returns the following month and, when asked about the purloined letter, is disappointed to admit no further developments. He made another thorough search but found nothing. Dupin asks how much the reward is and the prefect says that he will personally pay fifty thousand francs to anyone who can bring him the letter. Dupin suggests that there are still further avenues of investigation to go down, and mentions a man called Abernathy, a physician, who, when asked by a miser what to take fora hypothetical condition, told him to take advice”.

Download 0.58 Mb.

Share with your friends: