The Purloined Letter

In the opening of the story, the narrator and Dupin the detective sit in silence for an hour; during this time, the narrator has been "mentally discussing certain topics which had formed matter for...

You have asked a question about one of the earliest detective stories, upon which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based his famous detective Sherlock Holmes. One of the key ingredients in this genre is the...

In "The Purloined Letter," Dupin is strongly asserting that to find the letter, the detective must think both like a poet and a mathematician. Dupin believes there is no other way to find the...

As we're not told explicitly why everyone is uninterested in (or at least not mentioning) the contents of the letter, we need to use context clues to try to understand what is going on. These clues...

It is clear that Poe is none to complimentary regarding Monsieur G. of the French Police. From the start there are somewhat dismissive remarks made about his limitations. For example, consider how...

The main resolution of the story is Dupin's realization that the letter is "hiding in plain sight" in D.'s rooms and the trick he plays on D. to take the letter and replace it with a facsimile....

The real question should not be "Why does Dupin replace the real letter with a facsimile?" but "Why does Edgar Allan Poe have his character Dupin replace the real letter with a facsimile?" Dupin...

Any story must be dramatic in order to be interesting. The drama in a short story is almost always based on a single major conflict (although there might be minor conflicts that are incidental or...

Edgar Allan Poe's story “The Purloined Letter” is especially heavy in symbolism and irony but also contains examples of similes and metaphors. Let's look at each of these. Symbolism is prominent in...

As its name suggests, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Purloined Letter” tells the story of a letter—one that has been stolen from the royal apartments. Although the police know that it was stolen by...

Edgar Allan Poe's 1844 story "The Purloined Letter" is one of three of his tales to feature the detective C. Auguste Dupin. While Poe is best-known for stories that belong to the horror genre, this...

The short story "The Purloined Letter" by Edgar Allan Poe features C. Auguste Dupin, who also appears in other mystery stories by Poe. Although he is not a professional detective, he enjoys using...

Auguste Dupin is the detective and main character in this mystery story. He born to wealth but, at this point, has lost his money. Dupin has a genius for solving mysteries. This is based on his...

Edgar Allan Poe introduced the character Auguste Dupin in his earlier detective story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." In that story the narrator describes Dupin at great length and gives examples...

Poe's main reason for having the Prefect leave before Dupin explains how he recovered the missing letter must have been to emphasize that the problem and the solution are Dupin's and that he is the...

In Poe's classic detective story "The Purloined Letter," an unnamed narrator is used mainly as a plot device to move the story along and to serve as a foil for Dupin and as proxy (stand in) for the...

"The Purloined Letter" is one of three detective stories by Edgar Allen Poe, written after "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," considered the first modern detective story, and "The Mystery Of Marie...

In "The Purloined Letter," there is a striking difference in how the prefect of the Persian police handles the missing letter compared to Dupin. The focus of the police department is a desperate...

On the surface, the detective C. Auguste Dupin seems very different from Edgar Allan Poe. Dupin is French and lives in Paris; Poe was American and lived in Richmond and Baltimore. A side-by-side...

By plot map, I assume you mean a plot sequence chart. I’m not sure that e-notes yet has the capabilities of using graphics in questions. Your chart, however, should have: exposition which are...

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Purloined Letter" uses a first person narrator who, by definition, participates in the story and only knows his own motives, thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and emotions:...

If you’ve read Poe’s famous short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” you might be familiar with Dupin. He’s the detective who figures out who killed a mom and her daughter. In the “The Mystery...

I can give you a general idea of what the plot diagram would look like. If you need more specific details, use the story to fill them in. eNotes also provides a thorough summary of the story. The...

"The Purloined Letter" is not as intriguing as Poe's other detective story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." The problem with the story about the stolen letter is that it requires a great deal of...

Dupin is not telling Prefect G- that the answer to a problem is always obvious. What he is saying is that people often make problems more complicated than they actually are. The truth is often very...

"The Purloined Letter" is the last of three stories written about the detective character Dupin. To determine the possible inspiration for this story, we must go back to the first of the three...

Edgar Allan Poe was an early and influential contributor to the genre known as the American Gothic. It is precisely due to those conventions common to the genre which lead to your question...

In Edgar Allan Poe's story “The Purloined Letter,” a certain “illustrious personage” is in a particularly annoying and potentially disastrous predicament. This lady, apparently a member of the...

Considering that it was Poe's objective to "entertain" his reader, but most importantly, to work toward a preconceived "effect," and then use words and symbols and language to help the reader reach...

The key effect in Poe’s “The Purloined Letter” is ratiocination, or reasoning. In fact, on July 2, 1844, Poe wrote to the poet James Russell Lowell and said that “The Purloined Letter” was...