The Man of the Crowd

“The Man of the Crowd” has a fairly simplistic plot: a man becomes intrigued by a mysterious stranger and follows him through the streets of London in an attempt to discover his secrets. Compared to some of Poe’s other short stories, where murderers confess their deeds, men are buried alive, and women presumed to be dead rise from their graves, the ending of “The Man of the Crowd” is relatively anticlimactic. The tension that drives the story comes entirely from the narrator’s curiosity and the suspense created by his seemingly never-ending pursuit of the old man into the darkest depths of the city.

Unlike a lot of Gothic fiction, “The Man of the Crowd” does not include murders, ghosts, monsters, or other horrific revelations. Instead, this story centralizes on the fear of the unknown. At the beginning, the narrator is characterized as an intellectual: He opens with philosophical musings on the nature of secrecy and guilt, and he repeatedly alludes to authors, artists, and scholars as he tells his tale. His diction and syntax are often complex, and he prides himself in his ability to see and understand things that others cannot, such as recognizing pickpockets. These qualities imply that the narrator sees himself as a man of knowledge and learning. His preoccupation with categorizing members of the crowd and his obsession with learning more about the old man further suggest that he is uncomfortable with uncertainty and expects to be able to easily understand the world around him. The narrator’s characterization is central to developing the themes of Unknowable Secrets and The Complexity of the Human Mind, since he craves knowledge that is ultimately too complicated or horrific to be revealed.

Poe uses both the setting of the story and the characterization of the old man to further highlight these themes. To the narrator, London seems full of confusing and unfamiliar streets. As he pursues the old man, the narrator states that they “ran with incredible swiftness through many crooked and people-less lanes, until we emerged once more upon the great thoroughfare whence we had started” (Paragraph 18). The narrator seems to have no knowledge of where the “crooked” streets lead and simply “emerge[s]” in new locations once he reaches the end of them. He is swept along by his own curiosity about what secrets the old man holds.

Poe’s writing style often mirrors the endless maze of London streets, sweeping readers along through the city with long, flowing sentences:

He crossed and re-crossed the way repeatedly without apparent aim; and the press was still so thick that, at every such movement, I was obliged to follow him closely. The street was a narrow and long one, and his course lay within it for nearly an hour, during which the passengers had gradually diminished to about that number which is ordinarily seen at noon in Broadway near the park—so vast a difference is there between a London populace and that of the most frequented American city (Paragraph 15).

The multitude of clauses in these two sentences imitate the seemingly random wandering of the old man through long city streets, heightening the story’s suspense and mimicking feelings of disorientation. This stylistic choice amplifies the story’s exploration of secrets and mysteries by making the city itself feel large and difficult to navigate.

London’s vast size further contributes to the story’s theme of Unknowable Secrets, since it is portrayed as a place of endless depth. The vast crowds that roam the city streets leave little room for individual expression, and the narrator’s ability to understand each person is limited. The passing glances he catches are only enough to categorize them by “class” or “tribe” (Paragraph 6). Their identities and complex psychologies must remain a mystery. In this way, the story advances the theme of the Anonymity of City Life while also suggesting that this anonymity is unsettling, since it is tied to the Unknowable Secrets at the heart of the narrator’s obsession with the old man.

Part of Poe’s exploration of The Complexity of the Human Mind is his depiction of how the narrator’s obsession with the old man consumes him. This all-consuming fixation gives psychological depth to the narrator, and Poe’s first-person narration only adds to the narrator’s complex personality. For example, upon seeing the old man for the first time, the narrator describes his “craving desire to keep the man in view” (Paragraph 13). This intense, almost hungry, description paints a vivid portrait of the narrator’s desperation, adding to the story’s psychological realism.

While the depth of the narrator’s psychology lends realism and intrigue to the story, the complexity of the old man’s mind is a source of anxiety and suspense. The narrator becomes so wrapped up in understanding the old man that he does not rest for an entire day and eventually becomes “wearied unto death” (Paragraph 20). His desire to know more of the old man threatens both his health and safety as he exhausts himself while following the old man through dark and dangerous environments. Further associating the old man with evil, the narrator likens the old man’s appearance to illustrations of “the fiend” (Paragraph 13). By comparing the old man to the devil, the narrator implies that the desire to know more about him is dangerous. Through the mystery of the old man’s psyche, Poe suggests that not only is the human mind complex, but there is also an element of danger involved in attempting to fully understand it.

The narrator’s own enigmatic background only adds to the sense of mystery, suspense, and potential danger in the story. Although the narrator is a round character, he gives the reader very little insight into his own occupation, activities, and history. While he seems interested in learning these things about the people he observes, he seems uninterested in divulging that information about himself. In this way, he is similar to the old man, as both are shrouded in secrecy. With this juxtaposition, Poe implies that understanding the depths of the narrator’s psyche might be just as dangerous and unsettling as understanding the old man’s. The tension and fear that drive the story are grounded in what can never be known or understood.