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Edgar Allan PoeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
The person telling the story remains a mystery. The reader has no knowledge of the narrator’s gender, age, name, or relation to the victim. It is tempting to assume the crime was committed by a younger man, but there is no textual proof to support such an assumption. Scholars like Gita Rajan actively argue that the murderer is a woman, but the fact that the narrator is able to dismember the body and personally brings chairs for the policemen into the bedroom suggests a man, not a woman. In the mid-19th century it was unlikely that three policemen would stand around waiting for a woman to move the furniture. Nevertheless, if Poe had wanted to clarify the matter of gender, he could easily have done so by including some telling detail. Consequently, the narrator is meant to be completely anonymous, possibly to allow a wider range of readers to step into their shoes. This choice also suggests that women, as well as men, are capable of displaying sociopathic tendencies and committing gruesome crimes.
Additionally, the narrator repeatedly states that they suffer from “nervousness” caused by a disease that sharpens the senses. Such an ailment is often associated with Poe’s characters, such as Roderick Usher in “The Fall of the House of Usher.
By Edgar Allan Poe
A Dream Within a Dream
A Dream Within a Dream
Edgar Allan Poe
Annabel Lee
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
Berenice
Berenice
Edgar Allan Poe
Hop-Frog
Hop-Frog
Edgar Allan Poe
Ligeia
Ligeia
Edgar Allan Poe
Tamerlane
Tamerlane
Edgar Allan Poe
The Black Cat
The Black Cat
Edgar Allan Poe
The Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe
The Conqueror Worm
The Conqueror Worm
Edgar Allan Poe
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
Edgar Allan Poe
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher
Edgar Allan Poe
The Gold Bug
The Gold Bug
Edgar Allan Poe
The Haunted Palace
The Haunted Palace
Edgar Allan Poe
The Imp of the Perverse
The Imp of the Perverse
Edgar Allan Poe
The Lake
The Lake
Edgar Allan Poe
The Man of the Crowd
The Man of the Crowd
Edgar Allan Poe
The Masque of the Red Death
The Masque of the Red Death
Edgar Allan Poe
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Edgar Allan Poe
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
Edgar Allan Poe
The Oval Portrait
The Oval Portrait
Edgar Allan Poe