Analysis Of The Murders In The Rue Morgue

715 Words2 Pages

Myresha Ellis
Mr. Griggs
English 1002, CRN 60502
1 April 2014
Observe to Absolve

The Murders in the Rue Morgue is a mysterious short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It is about a shockingly, drastic murder of a woman, Madame L’Espany, and her daughter, Mademouiselle Camille L’Espany. In the story, the police looks at the obvious and does not bother to really go in-depth to observe the situation, but arrest the clerk, Adolphe Le Bon, because he is last to see them alive. It goes to show that even the little things need to be accounted for when it comes to justifying and judging a crime.
The story has many characters, but the major ones are: Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin, the Narrator, the Prefect of Police, the Sailor, and the Ourang-Outang. A few minors are: Madame L’Espany, Mademouiselle Camille L’Espany, Adolphe Le Bon, Jules Mignaud, etc.
At first, everything was looked up on as an inside man did the crime because windows were locked from the inside and nailed down, doors were locked from the inside, there was a nailed down trap door, nobody could climb up the wall and the only person ever been up there was Adolphe. Dupin stepped in:
"We must not judge of the means," said Dupin, "by this shell of an examination. The Parisian police, so much extolled for acumen, are cunning, but no more. There is no method in their proceedings, beyond the method of the moment. They make a vast parade of measures; but, not unfrequently, these are so ill adapted to the objects proposed, as to put us in mind of Monsieur Jourdain's calling for his robe-de-chambre - pour mieux entendre la musique. The results attained by them are not unfrequently surprising, but, for the most part, are brought about by simple diligence and activity. When these qu...

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..., creative and balanced. He looks over the police work and reason that they got the wrong guy.
By selecting an animal killer it throws the question of "justice" because an Ourang-Outang is not going to learn the difference from right and wrong. Dupin is not at all interested in figuring out the case until a guy he a favor was in jeopardy. In other words, he has his own program of righteousness, but he is not doing this for theoretical reasons like defending the world or safeguarding the law. Neutralizing the question of justice gives Poe more of a license to turn his story into a puzzle. There is no strict lesson to be learned, unless leaving your lights on at three in the morning is bad.

Work Cited Page
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe." The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe @ Classic Reader. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.

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