Richard Anthony Torres

December 2,1998

English 240

Dr. Kirkham

 A Plain Mystery that is Simply Odd

"The thief is the Minister D, who dares all things, those unbecoming as well as those becoming a man" (Poe 772). In the short story, "The Purloined Letter", Edgar Allen Poe presents us with his perception of gothic psychology in the year of 1845. Though in appearance the story seems to be one of simplicity, the main question that should be investigated is carefully diluted in a creation of another overwhelming mystery story. Poe has dubbed his ultimate arch-nemesis the reader. With cunning maneuvering his plan to deceive is in full motion securing his true plight in the world of the mystery genre. This stylistic composition of intrigue reveals to the reader a possibility of a connection in relation to the identity of the antagonist and the protagonist. "But is it not possible"(Poe 773). When you evaluate the driving factors in this particular prose production, the rational mind can see the relational properties of the two characters of being similar in that almost capable of being the same unit. However, the mystery is arranged in such manners, as to allude your thought into another complication and that is the mystery of Dupin’s alleged recovery of the letter, from that of his equal Minister D. Yet, Poe’s multiple perception in words of the human mystery offers the reader a clue to a simpler mystery that most are duped away from because of Poe’s mysterious mind behind the work.

"In 1972 Liahna Babener suggested that Dupin and Minister D were more than doubles, that they ‘may constitute a singular composite being"(Blythe 311). Liahna Babener pushes the theory of a Jekyll-Hyde psychological factor upon the identity of the two characters. She pursues the aspect of their counterpoised lifestyles in her argument. This consisting of the relevant facts of how the characters our explained in their habits of daily routine. For example Dupin is a day person, meanwhile the Minister D is a creature of the night. Her conclusion after analyzing the evidence is "a study in the oneness of the pursuer and the pursued ….the double becomes a metaphor for the variant phases—hunter and hunted – of the human mind"(Blythe 311).

This presents the issues of one mind, that especially of Edgar Allen Poe. So how does Edgar Allen Poe really think when he creates and instills personalities upon his characters? Is it truly a factor when deciphering the real identity of the two characters of Dupin and Minister D? It appears to be a very significant issue to deal with in order to see where Poe wants the readers to stumble in the story. "He is absolutely concerned with the disintegration—processes of his own psyche"(Bloom 21). According to David Herbert Lawrence, Poe had two stages in order to keep rhythm in the "American art—activity". They consist of the disintegrating and sloughing of his old consciousness, then forming a new inner consciousness. (Bloom 21) Poe was attempting in life and through his literary works to destroy his darker self by shedding it in a snake like fashion of art. This path however, brought forth-possible complications to the writer and his perception. "Doomed to seethe down his soul in a great continuous convulsion of disintegration, doomed to register the process. For the human soul must suffer its own disintegration, consciously, if ever it is to survive"(Bloom 21). This Descartes process of self-analysis reveals the bitterest side of the human experience. The Poe mental experiences are portrayed through the two masterminds of "The Purloined Letter" when closely investigated.

"For years, critics have been struck by an uncanny similarity between the detective and the villain, for, in truth, it is difficult to read much of Poe without seeing double"(Blythe 311). The investigation of the characters in question reveals compelling information. Dupin and Minister D both share the same qualities of perception. Both are of a mathematical and poetic mind. This allows the two to see the world and its beings from the stance of abstract thought and concrete perception. The controlling factor of this truth is the Prefect and his way of logically thinking. We witness the Prefect being duped by not only the Minister D, but by Dupin his alleged ally. "We shall examine it to better purpose in the dark"(Poe 771). A question arises pertaining to the information the Prefect can actually offer the reader. He visits his friend in a world separate from the world where darkness is met with profound silence. In this domain the man who is to be hero dwells, giving the reader more mystery to unravel.

Who is the man called Dupin? We know he is a great detective that recently solved "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Mystery of Marie Roget", yet little information is offered on his background or his character. Dupin appears to be assumed as a man of mystery, in a world of hidden meaning and darkness. Hence, Poe keeps the theme of mystery and secrecy in balance. "Secret, for example, ought to remain the precise identity of the ‘exalted’ personages involved"(Schweizer 66). This secrecy serves as the identity for the players in the game of "The Purloined Letter". We can see that Dupin is incorporated into the secret investigation by the Prefect, who in turn goes to a man of mystery for a solution. The solution however, lies in the mind of another man of secrecy the Minister D.

The identification of the Minister D in terms of character analysis appears as a mystery due to the lack of description given by Edgar Allen Poe. He is apparently the guilty party in the criminal case and the pulse of the problem. The man’s life consists of daylight movement and outside involvement. This is evident since he is accused of the crime, which occurred at the residence of the Queen. A man of the higher rank in reference to society, yet a man who when placed in a situation of power will compete for assured control for his own benefit. This man is labeled the villain considering the crime at the present time. However, when both men of mystery are put under an ethic microscope the apparent is revealed. The two men are in fact both criminals of a different kind or perhaps the same criminal mind.

"It is safe to wager that every idea that is public property, every accepted convention, is a bit of stupidity, for it has suited the majority"(Blythe 314). The statement that Dupin makes in relation to the majority mind is relevant that he in fact is stating the placement of his mind is that of a minority. How is he one of a minority? Simply by possessing the ability of mind saturation of the majority, he can become any other being by altering the mindset to fit the one in question. "Dupin can fathom seeming mysteries because he is able to think like someone else, much like the schoolboy whose principle of guessing…lay in mere observation and admeasurement of the astuteness of his opponents"(Freeland 124). This process of alternate identity challenges the issue of self-identification. "Therefore, the dangerous recipe for successful detection is to lose oneself in an identification with the perpetrator of the crime"(Freeland 125). If this occurs then would not the individual lose contact with the self, meaning, thoughts, opinions or even ethics. "He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed"(Freeland 125). This process of mind duplication can be related to that of Poe’s stages for a new consciousness. It appears that the character of Dupin can in fact be a mirror image of Poe as he is confronting the constant altercation of consciousness.

If this theory is considered then "Dupin risks becoming a "monstrum horrendum"(Freeland 127). However, the horrid beast he may in fact be, is that of Minister D. "Poe’s model for Dupin was Vidocq, who went from con man to detective then back to con man"(Blythe 312). This leaving the possibility of same body though different mind. If in fact the detective can become a con man and understand the necessities of being such, then why not become the ultimate man of crime that in which is a criminal not detected being involved in crime. The fallen aristocrat of Dupin is described by the narrator as of having the intellect of pulling off the crimes in which he solves. "Poe also has his narrator describe C. Augustine Dupin as capable of such a deception—and as possessing a motive"(Blythe 313). Why would Dupin want to attempt a hoax of this nature?

The answer is that of revenge. If the hoax were in fact successful, then Dupin would have a laugh over the higher class and be able to repay his friend, no longer needing the narrator for financial support. (Blythe 313) Yet, the hoax itself would have to be a secret kept even from that of his beloved partner. Now, if Dupin has planned this scheme then the question of how does he, comes to the surface.

"Daniel Hoffman’s speculation that Dupin is in fact both the author of the incriminating letter to her majesty and her lover is a good starting point"(Blythe 313). This theory offers the character the knowledge of the arrival time of the letter and the duplication of the letter in order to purloin the information of his creation. The tactical position by Dupin then opens another challenge of duping the Prefect in effect to be approached later for aid, since the investigation would undoubtedly be of secrecy and complication. Dupin, however, must also play the duped by not being over eager to the Prefect. "Proceed, said I . Or not, said Dupin"(Poe 772). Though Dupin seems reluctant, he knows that the Prefect will share the case because of his plight over the situation. Dupin then proceeds to raise the stakes a bit by giving the Minister D a character of being both a man of mathematics and poetry. "But then he’s a poet, which I take to be only one remove from a fool"(Poe 774). This installment of personality builds the Minister D to be an intellectual man with the ability to create a difficult situation for the Prefect in an attempt to recover the stolen article.

By offering this insight the problem becomes more baffling to the Prefect and increases the desire for the article, thus adding to the fee for recovery. Dupin is therefore, ridiculing the Prefect for trying to achieve free advice in the art of investigation. This is seen by the fact that the Prefect checked the premises of Minister D once more, even though he found nothing the first time. Dupin with full knowledge does nothing for the Prefect initially, considering the Prefect will not find the letter, because Dupin at this time probably has the letter in his possession, instigating the prolonging of the investigation.(Blythe 314)

"How much was the reward offered, did you say?"(Poe 776). Was money the only motive in this mystery? One might want to return to the theory of the psychological. If Dupin was that of Minister D, then why not just keep the letter for its own worth in terms of power? Though Dupin by changing mindset has become what he preys upon, he must return to his own state of passiveness to succeed in the overall plan. "Because of the power that derives to the Minister from the holding of the letter depends on the non-use of that power, his is forced willy-nilly into the passivity of the second position"(Hopkins 63). The Minister D proceeds to change positions to the altar identity of Dupin after the supposed recovery from Minister D.

"There is in actuality no real Minister D, and the reader who fails to perceive this point misses "the very simplicity" of the story and is as guilty as the Prefect of overlooking the obvious"(Blythe 313). The obvious would seem that the other is playing the knowledgeable detective. "Certainly the opportunity exists. At no time are the Minister and Dupin seen together; their meetings are only reported –by Dupin"(Blythe 313). Edgar Allen Poe has used the perception of the narrator as a means of duping his readers in this situation. This by keeping the voice of the narrator in a state of blindness.

Poe leaves clues in his effort to confuse the reader with extreme difficulty. For example the misquote that Dupin makes when restating the Prefect to the narrator. While another lies in the algebraic equation, when in reality the math makes no sense according to higher calculations. (Blythe 314) "Isn’t it possible that once again the clever author employs purposeful improbability so that the perceptive reader will question the credibility of Dupin’s testimony?"(Blythe 315). Poe in an attempt to achieving new consciousness has performed a hoax to his characters and the reader.

"Poe has carefully crafted a Chinese box that builds outward from Dupin’s paradigm of children’s games, to Minister D’s theft by deception, to Dupin’s duplication of that deception, to Dupin’s scam of Parisienne society, and ultimately to Poe’s attempt to fool the majority of readers"(Blythe 315). The author presents the reader an interesting spool of angles to investigate, after reading "The Purloined Letter". Following the identification of Poe’s psychological influence of the story through character representation and transformation, the reader can realize the author’s consciousness altercations. The stage of consciousness in Poe’s art draws the aspect of consciousness placement into the situation.

If Poe was in a state of destruction then one could conclude that Dupin was destroying himself from being Minister D, in order to rid him of the darker consciousness. Then the possibility of becoming a victim of full circle comes into the situation. If Poe is searching for a new sense of being, then by achieving new being, he proceeds to discover yet another consciousness, through the destruction of the old. Poe could then also be in the state of a new inner consciousness, but once more the regeneration process concludes a cyclical nature. However, the nature of Poe could be in relation to the ending Greek myth quote. "—Un dessein si funeste, S’il n’est digne d’Atree, est kigne de Thyeste"(Poe 783). Meaning that Poe within his mind cunningly with much wit conquered the other in progressive form, in such an achieving manner that the other was brutally vanquished. This struggle within the author presents a truly clever and deceptive hero, which amidst the darkness plays a game of simplicity, but one which many are duped astride from due to Poe’s realization of his opponent the reader. "Poe suggests a very simple solution to his tale, but one he is certain will catch those not easily caught because of its simplicity"(Blythe 315). The simplicity of the story is that of secrecy in which the reader is overwhelmed with the mystery itself that they are blinded by the inner hidden aspect underneath. That mystery being the mind of Edgar Allen Poe.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Views: Edgar Allen Poe. New York: Chelsea

House, 1985

Blythe, Hal and Charlie Sweet. "The Reader As Poe’s Ultimate Dupe in ‘The Purloined

Letter." Studies in Short Fiction 26.3(1989): 311-315.

Freeland, Natalka. "One of an Infinite Series of Mistakes’: Mystery, Influence, and

Edgar Allen Poe." ATQ 10.2(1996): 123-137.

Muller, John P. and William J. Richardson, eds. The Purloined Poe: Lacan, Derrida and

Psychoanalytic Reading. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1988.

Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Purloined Letter." Anthology of American Literature Volume 1:

Schweizer, Harold. "Nothing and Narrative ‘Twilighting’ in‘The Purloined Letter."

Literature and Psychology 37.4(1991): 63-69.