The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Essential to the understanding of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is the sociopolitical constructs of the period. C. Auguste Dupin manifests in Poe’s imaginings precisely at a time when democratized nations were building their own civilian police forces. France institutionalized the first police force, and “the world’s first detective,” the colorful criminal-turned-private-eye Francois Eugène Vidocq, operated in Paris (Callendar, Newgate. “The world’s first detective.” New York Times, 1977). Vidocq influenced several writers, including Poe. It is not surprising that Poe chooses Paris, France, for his setting and selects criminal investigation as his mode (method) of literary operation. More specifically, Poe’s protagonists, Dupin and the unnamed narrator, meet in Paris’s Montmartre neighborhood. Historically, Montmartre is known as a vibrant cultural hub and center for artistic pursuits. Many famous creatives flocked to Montmartre for its tax-free wine and decadent nightlife. On the surface, this setting aligns with Dupin’s genteel and eccentric nature as well as the narrator’s desire to find worldly excitement.

At the time of the story’s publication in 1841, the Industrial Revolution had completed its last wave. Fueling the explosion of knowledge and mechanization of the period were all the theories, methods, tests, failures, and processes which preceded. In short, science ruled, and with it, public mobility surged. Not only was travel over great distances more easily accomplished, but profound job creation within metropolitan hubs drew workers in from rural as well as distant homelands. With mass migration in mind, Poe centers his readers’ focus on a fictional street in Paris: Rue Morgue (meaning Mortuary Street, or street of death). In the story, people of diverse nationalities reside in the neighborhood. Their collective agreement on language could have helped identify the murderer in Poe’s story, but none was achieved. On this point, Poe subtly denounces the communal fallout resulting from cosmopolitanism. Not only are people misheard, but they are also misrepresented. Neighbors fail to forge the kind of connection with one another to allow themselves to be known. In the industrial landscape, where rational scientific advancement governs human intercourse, people must manufacture two identities: the observable public persona based on occupation and the unobservable private self. Poe aptly frames his Parisian characters in terms of their anonymity or ambiguous identity. The murder victims are decidedly disengaged in industry; therefore, they lack the valuable persona necessary to protect them from death. Poe’s fictional murders compose a realist commentary on the unintended social and psychological losses that progress can bring.