The Rue Morgue Analysis

In the opening of Poe’s tales we are introduced to detective Dupin through a description of his character in ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’, and by a description of his character’s actions in ‘The Purloined Letter’ by the narrator, the detective’s partner, who in this case remains nameless. Immediately after that we are made aware that a crime has been committed. To solve the crime one must have the ability to put oneself in the criminal’s mind and understand things from their perspective. In the instance of both ‘The Rue Morgue’ and ‘The Purloined Letter’ we are already aware of the detectives capabilities to uphold this role by the establishment of his observational and analytical nature through the depiction of the games. However, this …show more content…
This is achieved by the detective by remaining emotionally detached from the crime and focusing on the surroundings of the crime, as opposed to the victim(s). This often places the detective in conflict with authorities such as the police, as they become emotionally attached to the case and blinded by it. Therefore, the police are unable to solve the crime as they cannot see the clues left at the scene and the detective can. This is clearly evident in Morrison’s ‘Mr. Jacob Mason’ when the police are unable to capture the criminal. This is depicted in Inspector Plummer’s conversation with Hewitt when he states, ‘not a scrap; time wasted; and the few off-chance clues I tried have led nowhere, so that I'm where I was at the start’ (Section I). This is further emphasised in Poe’s ‘The Rue Morgue’ when the police are unable to solve the crime as looking too closely and not considering the bigger picture. This is shown in relation to Vidocq who ‘impaired his vision by holding the object close’ and by doing that he ‘lost sight of the matter as a whole’ (137). It is also evident in Doyle’s ‘A Case of identity’ through the ineffective police report as it is mainly concerned with ‘the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter’ (27). This is because papers only write what they consider important and this disregards details which may actually be important. This is similar to what the police do and it affects their ability to solve the crime as they focus only on certain aspects, ones they consider important. As a result they end up over looking important aspects, which the detective establishes and allows him to solve the crime. The fact that the autorites are unable to solve the crime depictis them as morally corrupt and rigid; unable to break