If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?
I read many detective books in my life. These include all of Sherlock Holmes adventures, most of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple novels, among others. They all have something in common. They adhere to the groundwork established by Edgar Allan Poe. His rules for the literary genre appear in three of his most famous short stories. In them he introduces the amateur detective, although that word wasn’t invented at the time. Meet Auguste Dupin.
Le Chavalier C. Auguste Dupin lived in Paris. He was from a rich family. However, his prospects were reduced to more humble circumstances “by a variety of untoward events.” This is the starting point for meeting the unnamed narrator of the three stories. Dupin’s roommate is the prototype for the detective sidekick. He is akin to Dr. Watson for Sherlock Holmes. Similarly, he is like Captain Hastings for Hercule Poirot.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
In this case, the scenario became known as the locked-room mystery. A mother and her daughter are brutally murdered inside their room, which is found locked from the inside. The crime is committed by someone apparently invisible. There are few evidences of how the perpetrator got in or got out. Dupin, however, uses of “ratiocination” to get to the bottom of it. I will not give any spoilers, of course. But the murderer most likely isn’t who you might think. This will be evident while you are reading it.
“The analytical power should not be confounded with simple ingenuity; for while the analyst is necessarily ingenious, the ingenious man is often remarkably incapable of analysis.”
The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe
The Mystery of Marie Rogêt
In The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, Poe uses a real and famous case of disappearance and murder. Mary Rogers was an American girl and lived in New York City. He changed her name to Marie Rogêt and made her live in Paris. Dupin then commits himself to solve the mystery from a distance. He relies only on the accounts published in the newspapers. There is not too much action on this tale, but it introduces the concept of the armchair detective.
“The history of human knowledge has so uninterruptedly shown that brute force is never capable of accomplishing what has been once placed within the reach of intelligence…”
The Mystery of Marie Rogêt by Edgar Allan Poe
The Purloined Letter
Finally, in The Purloined Letter, although there’s no murder, we have a psychological analysis of the mind of the criminal.
“It is merely our own preconceptions that mislead us. The Minister is well aware that to conceal a letter in this manner is to place it out of the reach of the most astute police agency.”
The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe
These were the first ever detective stories, setting the rules for the ones that we know today. It’s a feat of intellectual skill by both Poe and Dupin. They use logic and analysis to get to solve the mystery. If I ever could be a character of literature, I’d like to be Auguste Dupin!
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