Role of the City in Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue and Hoffmann’s Mademoiselle de Scudery

“Beneath the gore and smoke and loam, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow. In the end it is a story of the ineluctable conflict between good and evil, daylight and darkness, the White City and the Black.” (xi) This shows the contrast between the White City and the Black City. One, perfect, beautiful, magical, the other dark, filthy, evil. The two work together yet against each other in the battle to win over the hearts of the people who visit, and those who decide to stay

The author uses more mysterious diction and phrases in this quote to portray a sense of darkness amongst the city. By using words like blackness and comparing the city to a funeral this shows how the

The body, as well as the head, was fearfully mutilated…” This raw imagery gives the readers mixed emotions, all while they try to analyze the evidence. They are faced with the same problem that plagued the Prefect of Police: they only look at the obvious evidence, overlooking any other possibilities. The imagery that Poe uses in the Murders in the Rue Morgue puts us in the place of Auguste C. Dupin and the Prefect of Police, challenging us to solve the crime as we are berated with fact, possibilities, and our own human

After reading and watching both the book and the 1932 film ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue.’ It is evident that the film went mostly it’s own way, taking only small bits from Poe’s actual story, discarding many important details.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a goosebump-evoking tale that follows one man’s twisted plot for revenge. Although carnival season is in full-swing above ground, Fortunato finds himself being lead to his death underground in the catacombs. His “past insults” will ensure that he will never again participate in such feasts and merriment; Montresor, his “frenemy”, will make sure of that. As if the story isn’t creepy enough, Poe uses dialogue and sensory details to produce a mood that is both suspenseful and dark.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, a crucial statement is declared about how he views the inner workings of men, as well as how men interact with women in society. The narrative is based around the horrific murder of two defenseless women, which seems to have been committed by a mystery “beast”. Poe demonstrates the primitive violent forces that exist within people, particularly men, which have the ability to escape in shocking ways, often against a woman. Poe uses violence as a negative, inhumane act, in order to reinforce the innate brutal impulses that are just under the surface of all male beings.

The main themes of Edgar Allan Poe’s works are death, perversity, revenge and destruction. The settings he employed in the given short stories, especially in The Fall of the House of Usher and The Black Cat are Gothic. Therefore, naturally the mood of these stories would be dark and sepulchral. However, this is not a trivial employment undertaken to put the reader in a certain kind of zone.

Edgar Allan Poe is the most morbid of all American authors. Poe made his impact in Gothic fiction, especially for the tales of the macabre of which he is so renowned for. “How can so strange & so fine a genius & so sad a life, be exprest [sic] & comprest in on line — would it not be best to say of Poe in a reverential spirit simply Requiescat in Pace [?]” — (Alfred Lord Tennyson’s reply to the Poe Memorial committee, February 18, 1876). Poe’s own life story sheds light on the darkness of his writings.

Statistically, for every 100,000 people in the U.S., there are roughly 5.1 intentional murders. While intentional murders don’t relate very much to writing, they do relate to “The Cask of Amontillado”. More specifically, the tone of Poe’s story. Throughout the story, the tone is slightly obscured, which means it requires more in-depth analysis. The tone appears to be more gloomy and sinister. Reasons such as word choice, descriptions, and the use of certain phrases help make the tone more evident. Analyzing the tone to the story can help provide both a more in-depth understanding, and it can help in understanding more of Poe’s works in the future.

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most celebrated literary authors of all time, known for writing very suspenseful, dramatic short stories and a poet; is considered as being a part of the American Romantic Movement, and a lesser known opinion is he is regarded as the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. Most recognized for his mystery and macabre, a journey into the dark, ghastly stories of death, deception and revenge is what makes up his reputation. The short story under analysis is a part of his latter works; “The Cask of Amontillado”, a story of revenge takes readers into the mind of the murderer.

In Charles Rearick’s book, Paris Dreams, Paris Memories, he describes the various ways in which Paris is “represented” through various images he identifies as the City of Light, Old Paris, the Capital of Pleasures, and Paname. Rearick further writes how and why these images of Paris came of importance and how they shaped the geographical layout of the city we know today. All of these images together have likewise produced the city of Paris while also providing the framework of Parisian events and experiences.

While American and British authors developed the two distinct schools of detective fiction, known as “hard-boiled and “golden age,” simultaneously, the British works served to continue traditions established by earlier authors while American works formed their own distinct identity. Though a niche category, detective works reflect the morality and culture of the societies their authors lived in. Written in the time period after World War I, Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and “The Gutting of Couffignal”, and Raymond Chandler’s “Trouble Is My Business” adapt their detectives to a new harsh reality of urban life. In “hard-boiled” works, the detective is more realistic than the detective in “golden age” works according to the

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is told in the first person point of view,

What makes a short story great? Great characters? A great plot? Whatever it is, it does not have as much time to develop as a novel does. However, in limited space, author Edgar Allan Poe creates a brilliant, suspenseful, and brain wracking story. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" begins by comparing the analytical mind to the game of chess. Eventually, Poe ties in the occurrences of a bizarre incident with a flashback to 18--. Through analyzing the scene and using clues and witnesses' testimonies, a character of great analytical power solves a murder mystery that no one else can even remotely get a grasp on. The story may sound ordinary at first, but upon the completion of the novel, a doubtful reader can change his mind. Edgar Allan Poe's

The “City of God” is an eloquently written challenge, from Saint Augustine, for human society to choose which city it wishes to be a part of, the city of God or the city of man. As described by Augustine, the city of God is a metaphorical place where the citizens love, glorify, worship, and praise God. They find their strength and authority through mutual servitude with Yahweh. This city is then compared to the earthly city where the people love themselves, glorify themselves, find strength in themselves, and worship themselves or created things. The earthly city seeks praise from people and strives for domination. These two cities are the crux of Augustine’s novel which entails people to be worthy citizens of the City of Heaven, despite the devastating fall of Rome. Many people questioned whether Christianity was at fault for Rome’s demise, claiming that the pagan gods were angry that Christianity became the dominant religion in Rome, thus the pagan gods were thought to have left, leaving Rome vulnerable to attack. Thereby, Augustine sets out to dispute these beliefs by stating that God initiated all of creation, and in such a grand plan, the fall of Rome is rather insignificant. The more important issue is to choose a life in the city of man or the city of God, of which Augustine marks the parameters with compelling metaphors that beg the reader to choose the everlasting city because it provides the achievement of peace, the achievement of a purposeful ending, and the