A Comparative Analysis of Detective Fiction: Poe and Doyle's Works

This essay provides a comparative analysis of two seminal works of detective fiction: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." The essay explores the common elements of detective fiction, highlighting the emphasis on mystery and clues. It delves into the characters of C. Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes, examining their deductive techniques, observation skills, and ability to interpret human behavior. The comparison focuses on how both detectives utilize details, such as fingerprints and the study of human behavior, to solve crimes. The essay also discusses the influence of Poe on Doyle, emphasizing the similarities in their narrative styles and character traits. Ultimately, the analysis underscores the enduring impact of these stories on the development of the detective genre.

assignment
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The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “The Case of the Speckled Band”
Introduction
It has been analyzed that the detective fictions always include the same elements. ‘The murders
in the Roe morgue’ is written by Edgar Poe and ‘The adventure of the speckled band’ is written
by Conan Doyle. As these stories were written many years apart, they still share the similar
elements. In detective fiction more emphasize is given on the mystery of the crime. The story
revolves around the clues. Doyle was born in 1859 in and Edgar was born in 1809 in Boston.
Further, both the stories are connected, and the comparison is based on the text ‘The murders in
the Roe morgue’ and ‘The adventure of the speckled band’ both the stories had a very significant
information which was common as in both the stories an animal was involved which was locked
in a room.
The characters which will be discussed further are Holmes from Doyle's story as he was popular
for his innovative techniques of deduction. He was a master in disguise because his expressions
were changed according to his cloths. He had a knowledge of reading facial expressions,
footprints, wounds, dust, etc. Dupin from the Poe's story was very humble in life. He was not a
detective by profession, but he did that for pleasure. He had knowledge of mathematics, and he
also knew the tricks to imitate the handwriting of a person. Further, by comparing Holmes and
Dupin, the source for the story of Doyle will be ostensible.
Connection Related to both Texts
The detectives of both the stories have the capabilities in order to solve the mysteries just by
looking the details. For instance, Dupin gets the nail in the window which is assumed to be shut,

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but after investigation, he identifies that the window can also be remain opened as that was the
passage to escape the room. Similarly, Holmes also focuses on the details like Dupin, as he
identified that the death was a suicide and was actually committed by three men. He identified
this by looking the butts of the cigar which were found at the crime scene. He found that various
types of cigars were used (Ledermann D, Walter). Therefore, both the stories have the
connection as both the detectives focuses on the small details in order to solve the mysteries.
Another instance, in ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ the description of Orang-utan was given
which was gathered by combining the reports of the eye witnesses. They said that they saw a
killer with a strength of superman and was not having human hair, his voice was similar to
humans, but the language was not recognizable. The detective got the fingerprints of him at the
scene. Similarly, Dupin used the thumb prints in order to frame the person which was taken from
a copied seal with wax and after that blood was mixed to the wax and the print was forcefully
pushed against the wall (Bertman, S). Therefore, both the stories have the connection as both the
detectives used finger prints in order to identify the killer and solve the mystery.
Another instance, both the detectives has the ability to study the human behavior as this helped
them in finding the missing person and understanding the behavior of the antagonist. Poe stated
that the best place to hide the object is to leave on the table as not an important item. Further,
Dupin has the capability to read the mind of the companion by observing him closely (Mura, G.
and M. Vanzi). Similarly, Holmes pretense the momentary expression, a small glance of an eye
or twitch of muscle. Holmes depends on the predictability of the behavior of human in order to
identify what will happen next and what will be the course of action (Reed, J.). Therefore, both
the stories have the connection as both the detectives have the capability to read the human
behavior.

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The reader should understand that ‘The adventure of the speckled band’ is written after ‘The
murders in the Roe morgue’ but still, there was a connection between both the stories. It can be
understood that all the mystery stories have some connection with each other. The reader should
understand that the characters which have taken in the instances are both the detectives and have
so many similarities in order to solve the mysteries. Therefore, the rewriting of the story in small
instances helped in understanding the connection more deeply between both the texts.
Conclusion
There were enough evidence in the stories that showed Holmes relied to Dupin. Both the
detectives had so many things in common, and Doyle also named Dupin in his work. So, it can
be said that Poe’s stories were inspirational for Doyle. Both the detectives had similar traits of
the character, and they had knowledge in all types of interpretations, and they were very sharp in
finding clues unlike others in order to solve the mystery. Both the stories also had a similar type
of narrators and had similarities in maximum areas. Furthermore, Doyle admitted that Bell was
just an instance for him, but the similar reasoning had been used by Dupin of Poe as well. Bell
was just an addition to Doyle, but it was not the complete foundation at which Holmes was
developed. There were some differences as well between both the detectives because of the new
and innovative techniques which were implemented during the time of Doyle’s writing so used
different techniques as compared to Poe. Therefore, both the stories overlap each other in many
aspects, and it can be said that Dupin of Poe was used as re-working for Doyle’s Holmes.

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REFERENCES
Bertman, S. ""The Murders In The Rue Morgue": Edgar Allan Poe's Evolutionary Reverie".
Nineteenth-Century Literature, vol 50, no. 2, 1995, pp. 168-188. University Of California Press,
doi:10.2307/2933690.
Ledermann D, Walter. "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes Y Las Enfermedades
Infecciosas". Revista Chilena De Infectología, vol 27, no. 5, 2010, Scielo Comision Nacional De
Investigacion Cientifica Y Tecnologica (CONICYT), doi:10.4067/s0716-10182010000600010.
Mura, G. and M. Vanzi. "Failure Analysis Of Failure Analyses: The Rules Of The Rue Morgue,
Ten Years Later". IEEE Transactions On Device And Materials Reliability, vol 7, no. 3, 2007,
pp. 446-452. Institute Of Electrical And Electronics Engineers (IEEE),
doi:10.1109/tdmr.2007.907428.
Reed, J. "Arthur Conan Doyle: The Many Faces Of Sherlock Holmes". Advances In Psychiatric
Treatment, vol 18, no. 4, 2012, pp. 289-291. Royal College Of Psychiatrists,
doi:10.1192/apt.bp.111.009258.