Edgar All Poe’s short story, “The Purloined Letter,” is basically a detective story like his past work, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” However, unlike his other detective stories, this one significantly deviates from the action-based and intense plot to come up with a story that is intellectually-driven and uses non-conventional crime solving methods. This is already evident right at the beginning of the story where the narrator recounts the events of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” with his friend C. Auguste Dupin, who also solved the case in question.
During their conversation, the prefect of police, Monsieur G arrives and seeks the help of Dupin regarding an unsolved case in which a letter, which is believed to contain valuable information against a powerful individual, is stolen from a young lady by Minister D, who is an important government official. Meaning to say, right from the start, the main plot revolves around solving the case of a simple lost letter, unlike action-paced detective stories. In fact the title itself, which simply means “the stolen letter,” already indicates that it would involve a non-conventional detective plot. In other words, Poe, in this story, heavily explores the psychological aspects of crime-solving but without the presence of actual theories.
As mentioned above, the main evidence that shows that the story turns away from the action common in detective stories is the case of missing letter. The plot did not involve any murders or fighting nor did it involve following a blood trail leaved by the criminal. As shown in the story, the letter, which can potentially harm an influential person if its contents are disclosed, was stolen by Minister D from a woman and is using it to blackmail her. In this particular scene, it can be surmised that the consequences of revealing the letter will harm a person in power, which is in effect, may be equivalent to a conspiracy, although this was not really shown in the story. From this point on, the mind-games ensued and considering the time when the story was published, it can be argued that it more or less revolutionized the detective/mystery genre.
Generally, the story expounds not only on a non-conventional plot but also on the concept of unconventional crime-solving. This is shown through the story’s main protagonist, C. Auguste Dupin. The nature of Dupin’s character itself is complex yet provides a symbolism of the story’s major themes. As shown in the story, Dupin is not a professional detective. He has no formal training but he has a lot of experience in solving mysteries as seen in Poe’s previous works. Basically, Dupin mainly relies on intuition, analysis, and ensuring that he emotionally distances himself from the case he is trying to solve.
As seen in the story, Dupin’s skills are put into good use in solving the case of the stolen letter. During his first conversation with the Monsieur G, he listens to how the latter and his policemen searched Minister D’s apartment and even the suspect himself for the letter but to no avail. Dupin simply notes the Monsiuer G’s description of the letter and then retrieves it a month later. In the flashbacks shown in the story, it is depicted how he was able to solve the case without physically hurting anyone and without causing a mess, which is a strong indication that it was a non-conventional.
In his disclosure of how he we was able to get back the letter to his narrator-friend, Dupin said that he went to Minister D’s hotel room while wearing spectacles to hide the fact that his eyes were searching for the letter. Upon seeing a card rack with a torn letter which he believes to be the one that was stolen, he executed his plan of leaving something behind so that he would have a reason to come back the next day. However, in his return the following day, Dupin had already arranged from someone to cause a distraction outside and while the Minister wasn’t looking, he swiftly swapped the letter with a fake one and gave it to a very pleased Monsieur G.
Upon examining the case-solving strategy employed by Dupin in his retrieval of the purloined letter, it can be deduced that his process involves thinking like the suspect involved or simply thinking like someone else. For instance, Dupin might have asked himself where he would hide the letter if he were Minister D and answered the question as he went to the latter’s hotel room. The fact that Dupin found it in a card rack only looked at where the police would not bother searching— a location in plain sight. As shown in the novel, the prefect of police, Monsieur G, along with is men, searched the entire room for the letter but they were not able to find it. They also bodily searched Minister D himself but to no avail. The police unsuccessfully used their traditional method of searching while Dupin thought outside the box. He knew the Minister D would anticipate that the police would be searching for the letter in a complicated hiding place and so he hid it in plain sight, which was a place Dupin would look.
Meaning to say, Dupin, despite not being a professional detective, mainly relied on his personal cunning and intuition to solve the mystery. Like a mathematician, he closely calculated the situation at hand and deduced the facts, possibilities, and solutions to crack the mystery of the stolen letter. He mainly emulated the train of thought of his adversary and was able to use it to his advantage. As stated by the narrator in the story, “It is merely an identification of the reasoner’s intellect with the opponent” (Poe n.p.).
Furthermore, the failure of the police to solve a simple case of a missing letter can be more or less interpreted as the author’s criticism of their abilities and their conventional methods. In fact, Dupin himself indirectly questioned the police’s strategies when he explained to his narrator friend how he retrieved the letter. During their conversation he noted that while he believes that the police are fairly competent in their ways of solving criminal cases, he thinks they underestimated Minister D and this is why they are unable to find the missing letter. In other words, Poe, who is also known to mirror himself in the protagonist of the stories, criticized the police’s mode of the investigation and showed in a very subtle manner that they were unable to think outside the box or outside their standard operation procedures like Dupin.
However, if the Poe’s indirect criticism of the crime-solving capabilities of the police is applied in modern context, it would appear seemingly outdated. For example, today, there are highly sophisticated ways to solve a crime such as using tracking devices, paraffin tests, and various forensic methods, among others. While the method used by Dupin the story seemed cunning, simple, and, most of all, bloodless, it wouldn’t be surprising to see someone like him in the real world.
In this regard, it is in Dupin’s characterization where flaws are seen in the story. As depicted by the author, Dupin is arguably a high-caliber detective, although he is not really one by profession. He mainly relies on his intellect and intuition, which not only help solve the case of the purloined letter, but other crimes that the police force was unable to solve as well. However, it is highly evident that Dupin’s character is flawed in the sense that he simply too perfect.
For example, in the story Dupin was able to solve the case of the purloined letter with relative ease and swiftness, although it took him for about a month to do so. He went in Minister D’s apartment and immediately saw the letter among a card rack despite the fact that its appearance is very different from the description that Monsieur G gave him. According to Dupin’s account, the letter was half torn and was no longer sealed with the S family’s ducal arms” (Poe, 2008) and was instead sealed with Minister D’s monogram with a new address. However as Dupin said in the story, “the radicalness of these differences, which was excessive; the dirt; the soiled and torn condition of the paper, so inconsistent with the true methodical habits of D–, and so suggestive of a design to delude the beholder into an idea of the worthlessness of the document” (Poe n.p.). Meaning to say, with one look, Dupin was able to figure out Minister D’s plan of deception in which the latter disguised the letter as if was an ordinary document.
While Dupin’s skills may seem fascinating considering the fact that he is not a true detective, it would seem that his character is simply too idealistic. In reality, a detective with his apparently flawless instinct and extraordinary perception is nonexistent. After all, like any detective, Dupin too is human and is prone to errors and mistakes. But then again, Poe’s work is a fictional story and this is why the protagonist becomes very likeable and noteworthy.
However, Dupin also showed his human side in handling the case of the purloined letter. As shown in the story, when he was able to locate the stolen letter, he replaced it with a fake duplicate letter that he crafted in order to prevent any suspicion from Minister D. But more than executing a flawless and inconspicuous plan, Dupin disclosed to his narrator friend in the end that he left fake letter in order to avenge the humiliation he suffered at the hands of Minister D in Vienna. He stressed that he wanted the minister to use the fake letter he created and be embarrassed to find out that it was not the real one. Meaning to say, Dupin’s act and justification of vengeance showed a human aspect to his character. It showed that despite having exceptional skills in solving crime skills, he is still prone to temptation and worldly sins just like all human beings are.
Over-all, Poe’s short story effectively illustrated a method of solving crime based on psychological warfare and intuitive aptitude. It also showed how ineffective some of the police’s crime-solving methods are. Despite having a relatively idealistic protagonist, the story was able to show a fairly a side of the mystery and detective genre that is not common in other stories of its kind.
References
Poe, E. A. (2008). The Purloined Letter. PoeStories.com. Retrieved April 24, 2009 from http://poestories.com/text.php?file=purloined.
