EDGARD ALLAN POE
THE MURDERS OF THE RUE MORGUE
A DETECTIVE STORY
LET'S SEE
WHO IS THE AUTHOR?
EDGARD ALLAN POE
- He was born in Boston in 1809.
- In 1826 he started to gamble and drink very heavily, he quarreled with his foster-father about his debts.
- “The Gold Bug”, published in 1843, brought Poe widespread popularity.
- When his wife died of tuberculosis, the heartbroken author began to drink more heavily.
- He died in Baltimore in 1849.
Edgard Allan Poe (1809-1849)
A DETECTIVE STORY
A NEW GENRE
- It is considered by some critics to be the first ever detective story.
- The story introduces the character of C. Auguste Dupin, one of the earliest fictional detectives who inspires many other famous ones, such as Sherlock Holmes.
- It establishes many conventions of the genre: a brilliant investigator, a baffling crime, and a final rational explanation.
- It is also a locked-room mystery.
MAIN CHARACTERS
- C. Auguste Dupin: The Investigator
- A brilliant and analytical amateur detective who solves the mystery through logical reasoning.Perhaps Poe created Dupin as a pseudonym for a pioneering philosopher in Paris, Auguste Comte (Auguste Comte/ C. August Dupin).
- A friend, who expresses the views, doubts, and suspicions of the average reader. He properly acts, as they say in theater, as a "sidekick".
- Madame L’Espanaye: Fist victim, an elderly wealthy woman.
- Mademoiselle Camille L’Espanaye: Her daughter, the second victim.
- The Sailor: The owner of an orangutan, indirectly responsable for the tragedy.
THE MURDERS OF THE RUE MORGUE
THE INVESTIGATION
+info
#5
#3
#1
EPILOGUE
#4
EXTRAORDINARY MURDERS
+info
TESTIMONIES
#2
+INFO
+info
THE SOLUTION
+info
THE MURDERS OF THE RUE MORGUE
THE INVESTIGATION
+info
#5
#3
#1
EPILOGUE
#4
EXTRAORDINARY MURDERS
+info
TESTIMONIES
#2
+INFO
+info
THE SOLUTION
+info
MAIN FEATURES
THEMES
- Rationality vs. mystery – The triumph of logic and analytical thinking over confusion and fear.
- The power of observation – Careful attention to detail leads to truth.
- Violence and the grotesque – Typical of Poe’s gothic style.
- Isolation – Both physical (the locked room) and psychological.
- The limits of human understanding – The unusual solution challenges assumptions.
MAIN FEATURES
STYLE
- The chronological order of events
- The suspense and spannung
- Gothic horror's elements
Overall, Poe’s work blends mystery, horror, and psychological insight, laying the foundation for modern detective fiction.
CASE CLOSED!
we did it!
Monsieur Dupin decided to visit the scene of the crime to find the way the murders had escaped:
- Both doors facing the corridor were locked from the inside.
- The murders must have passed through the two windows in the back room, which were nailed shut (but one turned out to be broken, which meant that it only appeared to be locked).
- Less than one metre from this window there was a lightning rod, which ran to the ground (the shutters could provide perfect hand-holds, as long as the murders were agile and strong).
The 4.000 francs were still in the room.
- The next day Dupin showed his friend:
The piece of non-human hair he had found in Madame L’Espanaye’s hand and a facsimile drawing of the bruises and finger marks found on the throat of her daughter.
- Additional details of these mysterious murders later appeared in the newspaper provided by the testimonies of the neighbours and witnesses, the first people to know of the murders who had heard terrible screams coming from the hosue of the two ladies.
- The witnesses heard two voices arguing and they were not the voices of the victims:
- All the witnesses said the low voice was that of a Frenchman.- They all had different opinions about the other shrill voice and thought it was that of a foreigner.
In the end, the innocent person previously arrested was immediately released and the sailor finally caught his organ-utan and sold it to the city zoo for a very large sum of money.
- Dumpin began to explain the crime to his friend. He came up to the conclusions through three peculiars facts that he had discovered:
1. the strange foreigner voice;2. the incredible agility of the murders;3. the absence of any motive.
- Dupin solved the mystery: an orang-utan had killed the two women.
- He had escaped from the apartment of a Maltese sailor while he was trying to shaving himself. - It had climbed up the lightning rod and jumped into the room of Madame L’Espanaye on the fourth floor with the razor. - It aggresively killed the two women and then run away.
- In order to find the owner, Dupin had previously made the advertisement in the newspaper.
Paris, 19th century
- Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin and his friend learnt about the murders of Madame L’Espanaye and her daughter Mademoiselle Camille in the Rue Morgue by reading a daily newspaper.
- The apartment was in great disorder:
- Bloody lengths of human hair laid in the fireplace;- On the floor there were two bags containing 4.000 francs in gold;- Mademoiselle Camille‘s dead body was found in the chimney. It had several dark bruises and finger marks on the throat which suggested a strangulation; - Madame L’Espanaye’s dead body was found in the small garden at the back of the house, completely mutilated, her throat was completely cut and her head had fallen off.
- On a chair there was a razor covered in blood.
Monsieur Dupin decided to visit the scene of the crime to find the way the murders had escaped:
- Both doors facing the corridor were locked from the inside.
- The murders must have passed through the two windows in the back room, which were nailed shut (but one turned out to be broken, which meant that it only appeared to be locked).
- Less than one metre from this window there was a lightning rod, which ran to the ground (the shutters could provide perfect hand-holds, as long as the murders were agile and strong).
The 4.000 francs were still in the room.
- The next day Dupin showed his friend:
The piece of non-human hair he had found in Madame L’Espanaye’s hand and a facsimile drawing of the bruises and finger marks found on the throat of her daughter.
- Additional details of these mysterious murders later appeared in the newspaper provided by the testimonies of the neighbours and witnesses, the first people to know of the murders who had heard terrible screams coming from the hosue of the two ladies.
- The witnesses heard two voices arguing and they were not the voices of the victims:
- All the witnesses said the low voice was that of a Frenchman.- They all had different opinions about the other shrill voice and thought it was that of a foreigner.
In the end, the innocent person previously arrested was immediately released and the sailor finally caught his organ-utan and sold it to the city zoo for a very large sum of money.
- Dumpin began to explain the crime to his friend. He came up to the conclusions through three peculiars facts that he had discovered:
1. the strange foreigner voice;2. the incredible agility of the murders;3. the absence of any motive.
- Dupin solved the mystery: an orangutan had killed the two women.
- He had escaped from the apartment of a Maltese sailor while he was trying to shaving himself. - It had climbed up the lightning rod and jumped into the room of Madame L’Espanaye on the fourth floor with the razor. - It aggresively killed the two women and then run away.
- In order to find the owner, Dupin had previously made the advertisement in the newspaper.
Paris, 19th century
- Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin and his friend learnt about the murders of Madame L’Espanaye and her daughter Mademoiselle Camille in the Rue Morgue by reading a daily newspaper.
- The apartment was in great disorder:
- Bloody lengths of human hair laid in the fireplace;- On the floor there were two bags containing 4.000 francs in gold;- Mademoiselle Camille‘s dead body was found in the chimney. It had several dark bruises and finger marks on the throat which suggested a strangulation; - Madame L’Espanaye’s dead body was found in the small garden at the back of the house, completely mutilated, her throat was completely cut and her head had fallen off.
- On a chair there was a razor covered in blood.
THE MURDERS OF THE RUE MORGUE
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Transcript
EDGARD ALLAN POE
THE MURDERS OF THE RUE MORGUE
A DETECTIVE STORY
LET'S SEE
WHO IS THE AUTHOR?
EDGARD ALLAN POE
Edgard Allan Poe (1809-1849)
A DETECTIVE STORY
A NEW GENRE
MAIN CHARACTERS
- C. Auguste Dupin: The Investigator
- A brilliant and analytical amateur detective who solves the mystery through logical reasoning.Perhaps Poe created Dupin as a pseudonym for a pioneering philosopher in Paris, Auguste Comte (Auguste Comte/ C. August Dupin).- The Friend Narrator
- A friend, who expresses the views, doubts, and suspicions of the average reader. He properly acts, as they say in theater, as a "sidekick".THE MURDERS OF THE RUE MORGUE
THE INVESTIGATION
+info
#5
#3
#1
EPILOGUE
#4
EXTRAORDINARY MURDERS
+info
TESTIMONIES
#2
+INFO
+info
THE SOLUTION
+info
THE MURDERS OF THE RUE MORGUE
THE INVESTIGATION
+info
#5
#3
#1
EPILOGUE
#4
EXTRAORDINARY MURDERS
+info
TESTIMONIES
#2
+INFO
+info
THE SOLUTION
+info
MAIN FEATURES
THEMES
MAIN FEATURES
STYLE
- The chronological order of events
- The suspense and spannung
- Gothic horror's elements
Overall, Poe’s work blends mystery, horror, and psychological insight, laying the foundation for modern detective fiction.CASE CLOSED!
we did it!
Monsieur Dupin decided to visit the scene of the crime to find the way the murders had escaped:
- Both doors facing the corridor were locked from the inside.
- The murders must have passed through the two windows in the back room, which were nailed shut (but one turned out to be broken, which meant that it only appeared to be locked).
- Less than one metre from this window there was a lightning rod, which ran to the ground (the shutters could provide perfect hand-holds, as long as the murders were agile and strong).
The 4.000 francs were still in the room.- The next day Dupin showed his friend:
The piece of non-human hair he had found in Madame L’Espanaye’s hand and a facsimile drawing of the bruises and finger marks found on the throat of her daughter.- Additional details of these mysterious murders later appeared in the newspaper provided by the testimonies of the neighbours and witnesses, the first people to know of the murders who had heard terrible screams coming from the hosue of the two ladies.
- The witnesses heard two voices arguing and they were not the voices of the victims:
- All the witnesses said the low voice was that of a Frenchman.- They all had different opinions about the other shrill voice and thought it was that of a foreigner.In the end, the innocent person previously arrested was immediately released and the sailor finally caught his organ-utan and sold it to the city zoo for a very large sum of money.
- Dumpin began to explain the crime to his friend. He came up to the conclusions through three peculiars facts that he had discovered:
1. the strange foreigner voice;2. the incredible agility of the murders;3. the absence of any motive.- Dupin solved the mystery: an orang-utan had killed the two women.
- He had escaped from the apartment of a Maltese sailor while he was trying to shaving himself. - It had climbed up the lightning rod and jumped into the room of Madame L’Espanaye on the fourth floor with the razor. - It aggresively killed the two women and then run away.Paris, 19th century
- Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin and his friend learnt about the murders of Madame L’Espanaye and her daughter Mademoiselle Camille in the Rue Morgue by reading a daily newspaper.
- The apartment was in great disorder:
- Bloody lengths of human hair laid in the fireplace;- On the floor there were two bags containing 4.000 francs in gold;- Mademoiselle Camille‘s dead body was found in the chimney. It had several dark bruises and finger marks on the throat which suggested a strangulation; - Madame L’Espanaye’s dead body was found in the small garden at the back of the house, completely mutilated, her throat was completely cut and her head had fallen off.Monsieur Dupin decided to visit the scene of the crime to find the way the murders had escaped:
- Both doors facing the corridor were locked from the inside.
- The murders must have passed through the two windows in the back room, which were nailed shut (but one turned out to be broken, which meant that it only appeared to be locked).
- Less than one metre from this window there was a lightning rod, which ran to the ground (the shutters could provide perfect hand-holds, as long as the murders were agile and strong).
The 4.000 francs were still in the room.- The next day Dupin showed his friend:
The piece of non-human hair he had found in Madame L’Espanaye’s hand and a facsimile drawing of the bruises and finger marks found on the throat of her daughter.- Additional details of these mysterious murders later appeared in the newspaper provided by the testimonies of the neighbours and witnesses, the first people to know of the murders who had heard terrible screams coming from the hosue of the two ladies.
- The witnesses heard two voices arguing and they were not the voices of the victims:
- All the witnesses said the low voice was that of a Frenchman.- They all had different opinions about the other shrill voice and thought it was that of a foreigner.In the end, the innocent person previously arrested was immediately released and the sailor finally caught his organ-utan and sold it to the city zoo for a very large sum of money.
- Dumpin began to explain the crime to his friend. He came up to the conclusions through three peculiars facts that he had discovered:
1. the strange foreigner voice;2. the incredible agility of the murders;3. the absence of any motive.- Dupin solved the mystery: an orangutan had killed the two women.
- He had escaped from the apartment of a Maltese sailor while he was trying to shaving himself. - It had climbed up the lightning rod and jumped into the room of Madame L’Espanaye on the fourth floor with the razor. - It aggresively killed the two women and then run away.Paris, 19th century
- Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin and his friend learnt about the murders of Madame L’Espanaye and her daughter Mademoiselle Camille in the Rue Morgue by reading a daily newspaper.
- The apartment was in great disorder:
- Bloody lengths of human hair laid in the fireplace;- On the floor there were two bags containing 4.000 francs in gold;- Mademoiselle Camille‘s dead body was found in the chimney. It had several dark bruises and finger marks on the throat which suggested a strangulation; - Madame L’Espanaye’s dead body was found in the small garden at the back of the house, completely mutilated, her throat was completely cut and her head had fallen off.