Edgar Allan Poe
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Epigraph- p.189- just because you are not told something directly- you can still
conjecture- what Dupin does.
Talking about the analytical organs. Analysing- ‘that moral activity which disentangles’
(p.189.)
The analyst- exhibits ‘a degree of acumen which appears to the ordinary
apprehensions preternatural’ (p.189.)
Draughts- tasks ‘the higher powers of the reflective intellect’ (p.189.) more than
chess.
Whist- ‘there is nothing of a similar nature so greatly tasking the faculty of analysis’
(p.190.) – have to bring imagination as well as a mechanical approach to the game.
The analyst makes ‘a host of observations and inferences’ (p.191.)
o i.e. looks outside of the game- at countenance of other players etc.
Analytical power not the same as ingenuity: ‘while the analyst is necessarily
ingenious, the ingenious man is often remarkably incapable of analysis’ (p.191.) and
‘the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than
analytic’ (p.192.) – Dupin uses his imagination.
P.191- talks of ‘the vivid freshness of his imagination’.
P.193- they walk the streets- observing.
Dupin’s ‘analytical ability’ (p.193.)- he seemed ‘to take an eager delight in its exercise’
(p.193.)- fever.
For Dupin, men ‘wore windows in their bosoms’ (p.194.) > can see right to the heart
of them.
When Dupin exercises analytical ability- he undergoes a change- he became ‘frigid
and abstract’ (p.194.) and his voice ‘rose into a treble’ (p.194.) > ‘the result of an
excited, or perhaps of a diseased intelligence’ (p.194.)
P.194+ Dupin reads the narrators mind- the narrator wants to know ‘the method’
which has enabled Dupin to ‘fathom my soul’ (p.195.).
o Observation to Dupin is ‘a species of necessity’ (p.196.)
o BUT mostly conjecture- guess-work- and largely unbelievable mind-reading.
P.197- Dupin uses the newspapers- the ‘Gazette des Tribunaux’- to look at all the
particulars of the case- also looks at the witness testimonies.
The police- cant solve the mystery- because it is extraordinary- cant approach it in a
purely methodical way- the police ‘are entirely at fault’ (p.203.)
Dupin- ‘seemed singularly interested in the progress of this affair’ (p.204.)
The police- have ‘no method in their proceedings’ (p.204.)- don’t apply different
methods for different cases- use same techniques for every mystery.
o E.g. Vidoq- ‘impaired his vision by holding the object too close’ (p.204.)- lose
sight of the whole- cant see it when your staring too closely.
Dupin not paid for his services- just wants to solve the mysteries- pleasure in doing it-
an ‘inquiry will afford us amusement’ (p.205.).
Like with whist ?? Dupin examines everything surrounding the building itself >
‘examining the whole neighbourhood, as well as the house, with a minuteness of
attention for which I could see no possible object’ (p.205.)
P.206- ‘Dupin scrutinized every thing- not excepting the bodies of the victims’
P.206- the extraordinariness of the crime is making it insolvable- when it should be
easier to solve > ‘this mystery is considered insoluble, for the very reason which
should cause it to be regarded as easy of solution’ (p.206.) > it is by the ‘deviations
from the plane of the ordinary, that reason feels its way’ (p.207.)
Nature of deaths- must have been murder of some kind- Dupin surmises from the
evidence. Also analyses the testimonies regarding the nature of the shrill voice.
o Regarding the voices- ‘legitimate deductions even from this portion of the
testimony- the portion respecting the gruff and shrill voices- are in themselves
sufficient to engender a suspicion which should give direction to all farther
progress in the investigation’ (p.209.)
Window- only option left- must prove that they escaped through this means- close
observation of nail etc which police overlooked.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Epigraph- p.189- just because you are not told something directly- you can still
conjecture- what Dupin does.
Talking about the analytical organs. Analysing- ‘that moral activity which disentangles’
(p.189.)
The analyst- exhibits ‘a degree of acumen which appears to the ordinary
apprehensions preternatural’ (p.189.)
Draughts- tasks ‘the higher powers of the reflective intellect’ (p.189.) more than
chess.
Whist- ‘there is nothing of a similar nature so greatly tasking the faculty of analysis’
(p.190.) – have to bring imagination as well as a mechanical approach to the game.
The analyst makes ‘a host of observations and inferences’ (p.191.)
o i.e. looks outside of the game- at countenance of other players etc.
Analytical power not the same as ingenuity: ‘while the analyst is necessarily
ingenious, the ingenious man is often remarkably incapable of analysis’ (p.191.) and
‘the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than
analytic’ (p.192.) – Dupin uses his imagination.
P.191- talks of ‘the vivid freshness of his imagination’.
P.193- they walk the streets- observing.
Dupin’s ‘analytical ability’ (p.193.)- he seemed ‘to take an eager delight in its exercise’
(p.193.)- fever.
For Dupin, men ‘wore windows in their bosoms’ (p.194.) > can see right to the heart
of them.
When Dupin exercises analytical ability- he undergoes a change- he became ‘frigid
and abstract’ (p.194.) and his voice ‘rose into a treble’ (p.194.) > ‘the result of an
excited, or perhaps of a diseased intelligence’ (p.194.)
P.194+ Dupin reads the narrators mind- the narrator wants to know ‘the method’
which has enabled Dupin to ‘fathom my soul’ (p.195.).
o Observation to Dupin is ‘a species of necessity’ (p.196.)
o BUT mostly conjecture- guess-work- and largely unbelievable mind-reading.
P.197- Dupin uses the newspapers- the ‘Gazette des Tribunaux’- to look at all the
particulars of the case- also looks at the witness testimonies.
The police- cant solve the mystery- because it is extraordinary- cant approach it in a
purely methodical way- the police ‘are entirely at fault’ (p.203.)
Dupin- ‘seemed singularly interested in the progress of this affair’ (p.204.)
The police- have ‘no method in their proceedings’ (p.204.)- don’t apply different
methods for different cases- use same techniques for every mystery.
o E.g. Vidoq- ‘impaired his vision by holding the object too close’ (p.204.)- lose
sight of the whole- cant see it when your staring too closely.
Dupin not paid for his services- just wants to solve the mysteries- pleasure in doing it-
an ‘inquiry will afford us amusement’ (p.205.).
Like with whist ?? Dupin examines everything surrounding the building itself >
‘examining the whole neighbourhood, as well as the house, with a minuteness of
attention for which I could see no possible object’ (p.205.)
P.206- ‘Dupin scrutinized every thing- not excepting the bodies of the victims’
P.206- the extraordinariness of the crime is making it insolvable- when it should be
easier to solve > ‘this mystery is considered insoluble, for the very reason which
should cause it to be regarded as easy of solution’ (p.206.) > it is by the ‘deviations
from the plane of the ordinary, that reason feels its way’ (p.207.)
Nature of deaths- must have been murder of some kind- Dupin surmises from the
evidence. Also analyses the testimonies regarding the nature of the shrill voice.
o Regarding the voices- ‘legitimate deductions even from this portion of the
testimony- the portion respecting the gruff and shrill voices- are in themselves
sufficient to engender a suspicion which should give direction to all farther
progress in the investigation’ (p.209.)
Window- only option left- must prove that they escaped through this means- close
observation of nail etc which police overlooked.
