The fulfillment of the promise to seek revenge forms the climax of the story. Indeed, Dupin develops an innovative mechanism to outmaneuver his opponent. However, their archaic surveillance methods are futile in comparison with the novelty of the detective. The Paris police conducts a thorough search without the Minister’s knowledge and keeps a close watch over his movements. Critic Richard Hull has noted that “Poe’s Prefect of Police is a panoptic detective, but he fails because he lacks Dupin’s poetic understanding.” (Hull 203) ‘Panoptic, h ere, implies the panoramic monitoring for the purpose of retrieving the letter. Dupin does not subject the Lady (queen) who has lost the letter to any form of supervision. While many detective fiction writers are convinced that surveillance is integral to a detective’s investigation of a crime, Poe rejects the idea. One must appreciate that the story departs from the dominant conventions of detective fiction.
While the Minister slyly stole the letter to intimidate and manipulate someone, Dupin employed his skill to rescue their honour. However, the reader should note that the intentions of both are diametrically opposite. His approach to solving crime replicates the Minister’s methodology of committing the crime. Dupin’s reference to the childhood games and his analogy underscores the need to inhabit the consciousness of the criminal. They cannot comprehend a crime from the criminal’s perspective. Dupin makes the assessment that the police cannot think beyond its standard procedures. Parisian Police’s careful scrutiny overlooks simple details. This observation can be deduced owing to their failure to retrieve the letter because of their conventional monitoring. The Prefect’s investigation of the Minister’s hotel has been labeled as unintellectual.
The relay of flashbacks occurs outside the narrative frame. The plot of “The Purloined Letter” is far from complex.
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