The Murders In The Rue Morgue

Short Story Analysis: The Murders in the Rue Morgue “The analytical power should not be confounded with simple ingenuity; for while the analyst is necessarily ingenious, the ingenious man is often remarkably incapable of analysis” (475). This quote from The Murders in the Rue Morgue perfectly explains Poe’s position on crime solving and the hero of his story. The art of observing and following along with the narrator is essentially introduced by Poe in this story, as few authors before his time wrote in such a perspective, often choosing third person omnipotent rather than following a specific character. This allows Poe to introduce his audience to the bizarre scenes in his story one step at a time, and conceal the mystery of the murder itself until the very last possible moment, long after the main character has solved it. In the beginning of the story, Poe introduces the audience to his thoughts on human capabilities of analysis. He essentially states that humans are capable of a lot yet we seldom use our analytical minds to their full potential. With this in mind, the main character is introduced to us while he is reading about a bizarre crime that took place in Paris, his home. A mother and daughter were found violently murdered, with the mother cut in many places and thrown out a window …show more content…
He puts an ad in a paper read widely amongst sailors for a found orangutan, and sure enough a sailor shows up and explains that his orangutan got loose and was frightened and angered by the woman and her daughter when he found them, and reacted violently. Poe writes the explanation in a way where Dupin tells all of the important characters what he has discovered in a sweeping reveal that shocks both the characters and the reader. This is a style that is copied in many detective writings and is used by many characters from Holmes to