The Gold Bug | Critical Discussion
Legrand's solution to the mystery of Captain Kidd's treasure is certainly complicated enough, and Poe's readers plainly enjoyed the mental exercise of following his reasoning. Like Poe's famous French detective C. Auguste Dupin, Legrand proceeds on the assumption that any mystery that one human being can devise can be solved by another. The trick is to combine mechanical reasoning (such as that entailed in solving the cryptogram), with intuitive leaps (associating the parchment near the abandoned long boat with pirate treasure and the symbol of the young goat with Captain Kidd). Legrand...
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