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 admits that a
certain amount of luck was involved in finding the treasure. In the second part
of the story, for example, he directs the narrator's attention to some of the
accidental strokes that enabled them to arrive at the hidden fortune:
Do you observe how mere an accident it was that these events should have occurred upon the sole day of the year in which it has been, or may be sufficiently cool for fire, and that without the fire, or without the intervention of the dog at the precise moment at which he appeared, I should never have become aware of the death's head, and so never the possessor of the treasure?
By such statements, Legrand acknowledges that while he may have used his outstanding intuition (and background knowledge) or creative intelligence to make the necessary associations or connections and his analytical intelligence to educe meanings at each step along the way, absent certain accidents, he would never have realized that there was a puzzle to solve in the first place.
"The Gold Bug" is somewhat unusual in Poe's work in that it is set in an actual locale with which the author himself was personally familiar. During his years in the army, Poe had been stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island (like the lieutenant to whom Legrand lent the gold bug). Indeed, his detailed accounts of its terrain and foliage rendered through the eyes of an amateur naturalist proved to be one of the most appealing aspects of this story to Poe's readers. The story is also unusual in that it has a happy ending. The inclusion of the "devil bug" in the story is a somewhat misleading; readers may be disappointed at the absence of any horror dimension to the story. There are, however, the two skeleton, and the story ends with Legrand speculating: "But the labor concluded, he (Captain Kidd) may have thought it expedient to remove all participants in his secret. Perhaps a couple of blows with a mattock were sufficient, while his coadjutors were busy in the pit; perhaps it required a dozen---who shall tell?" No one of course can tell, but Legrand's clinical analysis highlights the gruesome character of Captain Kidd's crime. Lastly, there may be some objection to the inclusion of Jupiter as a stereotypically dense, uneducated, and superstitious black man. Poe does exploit Jupiter's comical qualities, notably his crude speech. But, Jupiter holds his own and proves an admirably loyal friend to his master.
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