Im Doing a paper on The Purloined Letter and I was wondering if there was any signifigance in the question of whether Dupin was clever or wise in refrence to him fiinding the letter? If so please give me a little run down of how you beleive I could best answer this question..Thanks a lot

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2001

Answers

Truly, Poe's character Dupin is a most clever one. His mind exists upon a level that is very analytical, often affording him psychological advantage, in that he uses observation and simple conjecture rather than searching to no end to generate conclusion. The letter in the mentioned work was found to be in no such place of seclusion, nor was it ingeniously hidden from the mind of even Dupin. The police made the ascertation that the letter would be most cleverly hidden (this providing reason for their contraptions and long laborious hours) upon prima-facie, and due to their pre-disposed supposition, they were led to no avail. However, Dupin, sharing a cleverness of the mind with the letter's concealer, knew that by no means would the letter be so painstakingly kept away, but rather he found that it would make the most sense if it were in a place so obvious that it would be readily overlooked by most men. This was the belief of the culprit, but Dupin's non-pariel ability to place himself precisely in the mind of the criminal, found the letter to be precisely where he thought it to be. Respectfully, P A Regan

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2001