PDF Critical Overview of The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe

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NARAJOLE RAJ COLLEGE

(NAAC Accredited B Grade Govt. – Aided College)

NARAJOLE: PASCHIM MEDINIPUR: PIN-721211 Department of English

Semester – III Paper – C-7-T Name of Teacher – Tanmay Kumar Goswami

Tanmay Kumar Goswami, Semester – III, C-7-T, The Purloined Letter.

A CRITICAL OVERVIEW OF THE PURLOINED LETTER BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

‘The Purloined Letter’ written by Edgar Allan Poe. An eminent American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, belongs to the new genre of mystery and detective fiction. Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be the pioneer of this new type. He introduced this technique which is quite alike to Feluda Series, Bomkesh Series etc. Poe wrote three stories in this sequence of which other two are ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ and ‘The Mystery of Marie Roget’. These stories are the beginner of this new art. He kept Dupin , the detective character same in all the three stories. The title of the story is appropriate and the characters are very vivid and on the other hand there have realistic elements also in the stories.

Here in this story the title is chosen after the thematic purpose. The letter which belongs to the queen is the principle object around which the entire plot revolves. Generally the title is considered appropriate when it applies to the theme, or protagonist, or some idea of great significance or some object which influences the main plot greatly. The letter from Queen’s lover is important here as it controls the every action of the plot and its development. That very letter was stolen and with this the plot is constructed after. It employs a narration technique. The incident is narrated by some unknown character who is evidently the author here. Though he is a minor character and has very loose connection with the main action.

At the very beginning of the story our author and his friend, Dupin the central character were enjoying the evening by sitting at tea table. Dupin was narrating the story of his previous investigations which he did in the case of Rue Morgue. The setting of the evening and their lively spirit was detailed in brief there. This scene is very common in detective stories. It may be found in the case of Bomkesh Baxi, and Feluda also. They are presented at tea table on some fine morning or evening with friends. It is an art before starting some serious affair to make the situation light and cheerful. Unlike this style Edgar Allan Poe introduced the beginning scenario alike.

In this situation the Prefect –G entered. This Parisian police officer was the second important character of the story whereas Dupin was the central character obviously as it is a detective short story.

Monsieur-G, the Prefect of the Parisian police was welcomed heartily there. He joined them and was offered a meerschaum. He took it and after some occasional conversation he came to the point for which he had come there to Dupin. Here we see that Dupin was taking a meerschaum. Actually this decoration which the author has given to his detective character Dupin was like Sherlock Holmes who also used to take pipe. It(meerschaum) was not the conventional object indeed: it was old enough at that time. In those days it was replaced by cigarette and other things.

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NARAJOLE RAJ COLLEGE

(NAAC Accredited B Grade Govt. – Aided College)

Now the Prefect has offered a case of a purloined letter to Dupin. He starts to tell him that the letter is very important and it comes from Queen’s lover so the content is very personal. It was so

important that the sender had send instruction to keep it carefully. He continued when the Royal Lady was reading the letter some men came for some unknown affairs and Minister-D was also among them. This minister-D had seen the letter and stolen it for some evil purpose. Then Queen had asked the officer to find out the letter as he was close to the queen and also hold a higher rank in the police administration. At the same time he was instructed to keep the case secret as Minister-D might took advantage of it. The main plot starts from this point. Later we shall see that every conversation is related to this letter and the stealing of it and searching for this purloined object. This object is as intertwined with the main plot that it influences every action. The story may be divided into two parts to discuss. The first part is consisted of the meeting of the Prefect and his description of investigation for the letter. On the other hand the second part is consisted of the rescue of the letter and Dupins analysis of the Parisian police.

The Prefect-G told Dupin that they had known the man who stole the letter. They searched for this minutely everywhere possible but in vain. He gave the details how Minister-D had purloined the letter. He also cleared it that the letter was still in his possession. Minister-D entered the queen’s chamber in course of some business and in a careless counterfeit swap the letter with a fake one. Evidently the Minister-D had purloined it. Then he explained briefly how he had launched his searching operation with professional and specially trained investigating officer for the letter. They had searched Minister-D’s all premises, his cabinet, his hotel the way to the hotel from the cabinet. They did it by square inch at the hotel , every room, every furniture one by one with a sharp look and examination. They did dismantle every table and furniture of each room of the premises. They put needle to feel whether there was any cavity in the furniture and in the wall and also in the floor. They checked the curtains, floor, covers of the furniture and everywhere. Dupin asked whether they had searched the library and the papers. He

answered they checked not only the books but also the every pages of it as they have enough opportunity to do it. In course of his description of the investigation he told Dupin that Minister-D was absent from his hotel frequently all over the night. It provided them scope for doing the search. Dupin reminded him of the way to the hotel. The Prefect replied that they had searched the way also. As the way was mostly made of concrete it was easy to investigate. If a thing is touched recently, it will have indications on it of touching. But there was no such indication of recent touch. So they were very sure of the fact that the letter was not in the way there. In this connection he added that the letter was still in his premises as there was no scope of shifting it to somewhere.

After narrating the whole fact in detail before Dupin he asked him for some suggestion. He

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NARAJOLE RAJ COLLEGE

(NAAC Accredited B Grade Govt. – Aided College)

expressed his great despair of failure in this case. In spite of long three months of searching devotedly without sleeping in night he got no result. Dupin suggested him to do re-search and this more sincerely.

Actually Dupin liked to prove himself a better investigator here. He told the techniques which Prefect adopted there was perfect and efficient but they could not reach the level of intelligence of the Minister- D. That is why there was no result of it.

Here the every details given by the Prefect was about the letter and the investigation of it. What the actions took place in the plot, directly or indirectly connected to the letter. As per the officer’s explanation the importance of the letter was getting higher as Minister –D took opportunity of possessing it: he might do blackmailing actually. Though the content of the letter was not discussed in the story, only it was cleared that something personal was there. Minister-D could take chance of that content which could be the matter of some disregard or insulting to the Royal Lady. Now in this discussion of first part we can feel the importance of the letter in the structure of the story. It plays the role of a character whereas it is an inanimate object only. The author has put it with great significance in the main plot. So it may be considered here that the title is appropriate.