Some also hold thematic significance for example, Machiavelli is best known for his discussion of how rulers should maintain their authority-i.e., The Nature and Exercise of Power. These allusions highlight Dupin’s intelligence and unconventional methods of investigation. He quotes and references the French cynic Chamfort, saying, “ Il y a parier que toute idée publique, toute convention reçue, est une sottise, car elle a convenu au plus grand nombre” (It is safe to wager that every idea that is public property, every accepted convention, is a bit of stupidity, for it has suited the majority) (17).

He also alludes to Rochefoucauld, La Bruyère, Machiavelli, and Campanella. He begins by alluding to the physician John Abernethy while speaking to emphasize the importance of taking advice. Poirot’s deliberate positioning of Sheppard as a substitute for his ‘Watson’ (Captain Hastings) is also a switch of a kind which allows the detective to ‘possess’ or keep him in a custody of sorts while. Dupin uses allusion to explain his methods of solving the case. In Poe’s ‘The Purloined Letter’, Dupin’s famous switcheroo allows him to gain possession of the Queen’s letter unnoticed. All three stories show Dupin’s unique method of crime solving which strongly binds his observations and conclusions by the principle of ratiocination showing that no matter how extraordinary a crime is its solution always adheres to the principles of cold logic.An allusion is a casual reference to another work of literature, a historical event, a piece of popular knowledge, etc. Auguste Dupin, his amateur sleuth without whom the world would never have had Sherlock Holmes or, one suspects, virtually any other fictional detective. The first tale is an example of a locked room mystery, the second portrays Dupin as an armchair detective, and the third introduces the motif of an unlikely perpetrator. ‘The Purloined Letter’ (1844) is one of three ground-breaking stories Poe wrote featuring C. In these stories, Dupin solves various crime mysteries with the aid of his unnamed helper. The character of the amateur detective Chevalier Auguste Dupin is featured in three of his stories, also known as The Dupin Tales: “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841), “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt” (1842-1843), and “The Purloined Letter” (1844).

Edgar Allan Poe’s influence on detective fiction writers has been so large that his fictional detective became the prototype for many later ones, most notably Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot.

The case of the purloined letter