FSU: Analysis of "Murder in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe (1841)

Positives:
+ Introduces the detective story genre to American literature.
+ Classic story of murder and detective procedures.
+ Keen insight into the analytical mind. He claims analysis isn’t simply intellect, but also includes a healthy bit of imagination.
+ Unconventional narrative layout that highlights Dupin’s detective skills.
+ Dupin’s method highlights the importance of literacy and the spoken word.

Negatives:
- The English is a bit archaic and can be difficult to read and understand.
- I don’t like the “Orangutan is the murderer” twist at the end. It is, for lack of a better word, a cop-out.
- The police are portrayed as idiots. I understand, though, that this is a necessary evil as it underscores Dupin’s logical thought process and procedures.
- The story is a bit intellectual as it extolls at length on Dupin’s various philosophical thoughts.

Thoughts:
~ The story is a metaphor for brains versus brawn with Dupin as the brain and the orangutan as the brawn.
~ A video game has been made of this title. I stumbled on it while looking for a copy of the story to refresh my memory. It’s not the kind of video game I’d first associate with the story, though. Instead of being an adventure game, it’s a hidden object game.
~ The level of horror this story would have brought in 1841 is infinitesimal by today’s standards. We’ve become quite jaded in the intervening 170 years.
~ It is claimed that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle patterned Sherlock Holmes after Dupin. Considering that they share a logical style of deduction, similar personal habits, and a friend who narrates their escapades to the audience, there may have been some influence.

Would Like:
* I’d love if more people read Poe. Although his works were created over a century ago, they still have a profound insight into the workings of the human mind.
* More action, less dialogue. Quite a bit of the dialogue could have been expressed as actions instead.
* I would have liked a different antagonist than the orangutan. A little more thought and Poe wouldn’t have had to resort to a wild animal as the perpetrator of the crimes. On the other hand, the orangutan would have been acceptable as the perpetrator if subtle hints of its possible inclusion in the pool of suspects had been made.
* I would have liked more general depth and backstory. There is a lot in the narrative that could be expanded upon, but it is glossed over in deference to Dupin’s deductions.

Credit where credit is due:
Poe, Edgar Allan. (1841). The murders in the rue morgue. Retrieved from http://poestories.com/read/murders