Dupin's Identification Of Joseph Stalin

The eroticism that such an identification holds even surpasses Dupin’s mental faculties, seeping into physicality as he attempts “to be even with” the Minister’s state of ennui, Dupin “complain[ing] of his weak eyes” and “lament[ing] the necessity of [his] spectacles” (The Purloined Poe 21). According to Dupin’s own methodology, imitating his opponent will give him an intellectual edge, however, immediately after doing so, Dupin mistakenly begins gravitating toward a “large writing table near which [D—] sat” (The Purloined Poe 21). “After [...] long and deliberate scrutiny,” he finds “nothing to excite particular suspicion” (The Purloined Poe 21). Dupin’s attempt to identify with D— is ultimately a failure. However, the act of identification still remains.

Derrick’s statement rings true; after all, by imitating the Minister’s physicality, Dupin would have to pay great mind to his lounging form. What does this demonstration of identification elicit, then, other than a explicitly homoerotic, though perhaps unintentional, move on Dupin’s part? By incorporating Dupin’s methodology into “The Purloined Letter,” Poe has given his protagonist a way of indulging in homoeroticism without marking his desire as deviant or non-normative. Instead, this matching of physical and mental faculties is expected by Poe’s audience, and given little resistance given Poe’s construction of the story thus far. Nonetheless, the normalization of such constructions, while consistent throughout the three stories discussed, could be said to culminate in the presentation of one final scene: the last scene of the “The Purloined