Cantos by Ericka Koehler

“Deconstruction involves the close reading of texts in order to demonstrate that any given text has irreconcilably contradictory meanings, rather than being a unified, logical whole (Mambrol, 2016).”

In the story of Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Purloined Letter,” we can apply a Deconstructivist analysis and observe that binaries are present. In the story, a royal lady was reading a letter. When a royal man enters the room, she hides the letter. Then a third person, a minister, enters. The minister sees the letter, steals it, and exchanges it for another one. The content of the letter itself is unknown for everyone. We assume it is from the lover of the royal lady. Also, we assume she is the Queen of France, but what if she is not? Maybe it’s just someone else that belongs to the royalty, or maybe it is someone that is treated as a queen. The information in the letter could be bad or good. But, since there is secrecy around it, most believe it contains something serious and bad. But, what if the letter contains nothing wrong, and it is just routine information for the royal lady. She asked for the help of the Prefect of the Paris Police who is named G. This man searched for C. Auguste Dupin who is a smart person as a detective. The Minister D stole the letter of the royal lady. In the reading, it is understood that the lover of the royal lady sent that letter. But, what if it is Minister D who is the lover and wants the letter back?

That letter is the main topic of the whole story, and it generates curiosity. A month passed and the Prefect of the Paris Police didn’t find it, so he asked Dupin for help. He offered money to the person who finds it. Dupin asked him for the money in advance. Once he got the money, he delivered the letter to the Prefect of Paris Police and explained how he found it. Dupin has a reputation for solving hard cases. But, is it possible that maybe he conspired with the minister for getting a reward?

At the end, the letter is what caused division, and many possibilities of meaning exist for the loss and the finding of that letter. There are even more possible meanings than those listed here. The letter itself has value for the owner. If not, it will just be an ordinary piece of paper.

                                                       References

Mambrol, Nasrullah (2016). Deconstruction. Retrieved from:

Deconstruction

Poe, Edgar Allan (1845). “The Purloined Letter.” Retrieved from:

https://poestories.com/read/purloined