The Purloined Letter
Edgar Allen Poe
Jade Witmer, Dakota Hill, Dylan Finn, Rebecca Shedrick,
Katie Griffith, Brandon Goodwin
Summary
One fall evening in Paris, France during 18--, the narrator
and his friend, C. Auguste Dupin, are talking when Monsieur G,
a Prefect for the Paris police, walk in and tells them of a recent
case that has been bothering the Prefect and he can not solve.
A letter was stolen from a lady by the Minister which contains
information that could destroy a person of a high influence in
Paris society. The Police have searched the Minister's place in
every possible "nook and cranny". A month later, the Prefect
tells the narrator and Dupin that he would pay 50,000 francs to
the person who found the letter. Monsieur G wrote the check
address to Dupin who produced the letter. Dupin stated that the
Prefect assumed the letter to be hidden out of sight, not laying
disguised in plain sight. On his first visit to the Minister's home,
Dupin finds the letter and on the second he steals it back!
Anti-Transcendentalism Theme
Poe stressed intuition and the flaws of humans. Dupin
mentioned several times that the Prefect had been focused on
going through his routine, not thinking in the mind of the
Minister.
"... what is it all but an exaggeration of the application of the one
principle or the set of principles of search which are based upon the
one set of notions regarding human ingenuity, to which the Prefect in
the long routine of his duty has been accustomed."
Anti-Transcendentalism Theme
Dupin also used intuition over numbers and logic alone. he
assumed that the Minister knew the Prefect's routine, and so he
would place the letter in the open to avoid the eye of the police.
"I felt that his whole train of thought would necessarily pass through
the mind of the minister. It would imperatively lead him to despise all
the ordinary nooks of concealment. He could not, I reflected, be so
weak as not to see that the most intricate and remote recess of his
hotel would be as open as his commonest closets to the eyes, to the
probes, to the gimlets, and to the microscopes of the Prefect."
This picture shows a letter in a historic setting with
a red seal as described by the Prefect. It has a
darker, mysterious feel to it, especially with the
way the light is hitting it.
Imagery
The narrator and Dupin were sitting a dark room filled with
smoke from the meerschaum pipes in the evening.
"At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18-, I
was enjoying the twofold luxury of mediation and a meerschaum... with
the curling eddies of smoke that oppressed the atmosphere of the
chamber."
This imagery creates a mysterious and slight eerie feeling
about the room, wondering what is going to happen next.
The smoke represents the smoke that filled
the chamber which the narrator and Dupin
sat while conversing with the Prefect. It
gives a clouded, spooky, and mysterious
feeling.
Tone
Poe's tone about the subject is almost sarcastic and teasing.
Dupin makes the Prefect seem like an idiot because the Prefect
is using all these tools such as "probes", "gimlets", and
"microscopes" to locate the letter. He only sees his routine. He
has been caught up on the minuscule details, not focusing on
the big picture. He uses logic and lacks the intuition that is a
major aspect of romanticism.
"'... we examined the rungs of every chair in the hotel, and, indeed
the jointings of every description of furniture, by the aid of a most
powerful microscope. Had there been any traces of recent disturbance
we should not have failed to detect it instantly, A single grain of gimletdust, for example, would have been as obvious as an apple.' "
" 'The measures, then,' he continued, 'were good in their kind, and
well executed; their defect lay in their being inapplicable to the case ,
and to the man.;"
Mood
In relation to the time period, Poe creates a sense of suspense
for the reader. They keep reading and reading in an attempt to
figure where the letter is and how Dupin was able to obtain it
almost effortlessly, while the Prefect had spent many months
on the search.
" I was astounded. The Prefect appeared absolutely thunder-stricken.
For some minutes he remained speechless and motionless, looking
incredulously at my friend with open mouth, and eyes that seemed
starting from their sockets..."
Symbolism
The magnifying glass that the Prefect and the police used, or
the "microscope" as it was called through out the story,
symbolized that one must not rely on only statistics, logic, and
numbers to come to a conclusion. Critical thinking is usually
required to solve a problem.
" ' We also measured the thickness of every book-cover, with
the most accurate admeasurement, and applied to each the
most jealous scrutiny of the microscope. had any of the
bindings been recently meddled with, it would have utterly
impossible that the fact should have escaped observation. ' "
This is a great picture to show the magnifying
glass. It matches the quote about measuring the
thickness of a book and it emphasizes detail.
Motifs
One of the main motifs is comparing rationalism to
romanticism. Dupin showed intuition, which is romanticism,
while the Prefect referred to logic and science to attempt to
identify the letter. The Prefect sees the Minister as just
a mathematician and that tends to be narrow minded and sees
things also logically. Dupin sees the Minister as a
mathematician and a poet, realizing his poetic ability and
intuition helped him avoid being caught by the Prefect and the
Paris police.
" 'I mean to say,' continued Dupin,... ' that if the Minister had been no
more than a mathematician, the Prefect would have been under no
necessity of giving me this check. I know him, however, as both
mathematician and poet, and my measures were adapted to his
capacity, with reference to the circumstances by which he was
surrounded.' "
This picture was chosen
because the Eiffel Tower
shows the setting is in Paris,
but it also gives it a creepy and
enigmatic atmosphere.
This shows that the story took
place during autumn. The fog,
bare trees, and gray sky again
gives a eerie and mysterious
atmosphere.
The numbers characterize
the mathematician and his logical
reasoning. The black text gives it
a darker feel that one gets with
the Gothic style.
The cards do not mean much
to the story. It is the red
standing out that represents
how the letter was out in the
obvious, not hidden in the
place that one, such as the
Prefect would look. The black
and red cards give it a darker,
Gothic atmosphere.
The picture frame represents
the theme of seeing "the big
picture." The Prefect kept his
eye in the magnifying glass the
entire time he was searching
rather than starting broad and
then working his way to paying
attention to detail.
The masquerade mask was chosen because
the letter's appearance had been altered during
the story. The Prefect had the wrong vision in
his mind of what he was searching for because
he focused on only the description, thinking, not
imagining, that it could look different than it was
described. This, again, shows intuition over
logic. The black, red, and white color scheme
work well with the Gothic feeling.
This picture of Paris was
chosen to show that the
story took place here. It
also shows the antitranscendentalist idea that
cities are better than
nature.
A cliff was chosen because
some people use the term "cliff
hanger" at a suspenseful part of
a story. The mood, for this time
period, was suspenseful. The fog
adds to the mysterious feel of
the Gothic style.
The light on this train represents
the lone "spark" or idea of
imagination which leads to the
deeper level of thought that Dupin
was able to obtain through
intuition, a factor of romanticism.
The dark loneliness gives a slight
dark feeling that can
be associated with Gothic style. The needle and thread shows the
Prefect's character because he was
so specific and precise in his
search. He looked at every seam on
every piece of furniture, carpet, or
curtain possible to infer that the
letter was not there. Again, this
shows the attention to detail, rather
than seeing the whole picture. The
rustic look gives a mysterious,
Gothic, feel.
This picture is supposed to
symbolize Dupin's intuition, using
the term "women's intuition."
Dupin used intuition rather than
logic to find the letter. This black
and white image gives a
mysterious feel to it.
This schedule
represents Prefect's
routine and structured
character and how he did
the same thing in every
search the exact same
way as the last.
Mrs. Livaudais was chosen to
represent the tone of the
selection which was sarcasm.
Dupin kind of teases the
Prefect for being a
"mathematician" and using
numbers,tools, and logic to
solve a problem that requires
opinion, critical thinking, and
intuition. Dupin knew that it
would take the mind of a
"poet" to catch a "poet".
"I have a sarcastic sense of humor,"
- Mrs. Livaudais, first day of school
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