Line #19 Literature/CAugusteDupin


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c_auguste_dupin.jpg]]
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3	C. Auguste Dupin is the central character of three stories written by Creator/EdgarAllanPoe in the 1840s and recognized as pioneering works in the DetectiveFiction genre.
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5	* "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841)
6	* "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" (1842)
7	* "The Purloined Letter" (1844)
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9	The stories are narrated by Dupin's friend and roommate, whose name is never given.
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11	The 1932 film ''Film/MurdersInTheRueMorgue'' is based very loosely on the first story.
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13	Dupin is the hero of the ''VideoGame/DarkTales'' video game series, in which he investigates mysteries inspired by Poe's most famous stories (including a couple that actually did have him in them in the first place). He is also a significant figure in the ''Videogame/WorldsAlign'' series, also from [[Creator/ERSGameStudios AMAX Interactive]], which crosses ''Dark Tales'' with some of the developer's other properties. Dupine is featured in the miniseries ''Series/TheFallOfTheHouseOfUsher2023'', portrayed by Creator/CarlLumbly.
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15	!!These stories contain examples of:
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17	* AuthorTract:
18	** There's a passage of about a page or so in "The Purloined Letter" in which Dupin explains why mathematicians aren't very good at reasoning. This is tangentially related to the story, but one does wonder if it needed to be explored in such detail.
19	** There's a long digression in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" heaping scorn on the idea that chess is a measure of intellect. Instead, the narrator claims, whist and draughts(aka checkers) do a much better job determining the intelligence of the players
20	* CluelessMystery: In all the stories, Dupin's solutions depend on clues that aren't revealed to the audience until the summation, if then. In ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue'', for example, the only clue which Dupin and the reader ''both'' have is the testimony about "the shrill voice". Everything else that Dupin discovers, the reader has no way of knowing.
21	* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: The story is narrated by the nameless {{Sidekick}}.
22	* FriendlessBackground: Implied by the narrator's own commentary in the stories, which indicate that he and Dupin are one another's only friends.
23	* GamblersFallacy: The narrator expresses a belief in this fallacy in "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt".
24	-->Nothing, for example, is more difficult than to convince the merely general reader that the fact of sixes having been thrown twice in succession by a player at dice, is sufficient cause for betting the largest odds that sixes will not be thrown in the third attempt. A suggestion to this effect is usually rejected by the intellect at once. It does not appear that the two throws which have been completed, and which lie now absolutely in the Past, can have influence upon the throw which exists only in the Future. The chance for throwing sixes seems to be precisely as it was at any ordinary time--that is to say, subject only to the influence of the various other throws which may be made by the dice. And this is a reflection which appears so exceedingly obvious that attempts to controvert it are received more frequently with a derisive smile than with anything like respectful attention.
25	* GratuitousFrench: In the first story, the occasional french word/phrase is thrown in.
26	* GentlemanDetective:
27	** Dupin is considered the TropeMaker. He comes from a wealthy family, although at the time of the stories he has been reduced to a more humble lifestyle.
28	** Poe's own notes about him say the following: Holds the rank of Chevalier (Knight) in the ''Légion d'honneur''. Likes hieroglyphs. Can spell "ratiocination".
29	* GreatDetective: So much so that Literature/SherlockHolmes was based on him.
30	* HiddenInPlainSight: In "The Purloined Letter", a blackmailer's home was searched for an incriminating letter. Even though they searched under every rug, in every drawer, for loose paperwork in every book, and for hollow hidden compartments in the furniture, the searchers never found it because [[spoiler:they didn't bother to consider and look closely at a torn and crumpled letter, clearly visible in a card rack hanging on the mantelpiece]].
31	* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: In "The Purloined Letter", Dupin explains that this is the reason he can outwit the police and get his man. The police know who stole the document; the thief knows the police know. The difference between Dupin and the police is that Dupin knows the suspect knows the police know, and the police don't know that.
32	* InnerMonologueConversation: Probably TropeMaker. Dupin is famously capable of responding to his companion's inner monologue, by deducing from body language what he must have been thinking. In "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", Dupin shows off his general awesomeness by tracking the narrator's train of thought through fifteen minutes of silent walking and several mental topic shifts, and saying exactly the right thing at the end.
33	* KillerGorilla: [[spoiler:The "murderer" in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is, in fact, not a human but an escaped orangutan wielding a razor.]]
34	%%* LockedRoomMystery: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".
35	* LukeIAmYourFather: Certain critics think D, in "The Purloined Letter", is Dupin's father. Others think the two men may be brothers, as indicated by the reference Dupin makes to the ancient Greek twins Atreus and Thyestes. Still others say certain critics are completely nuts.
36	* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: In "The Purloined Letter", protagonist Dupin finds the titular item because he's the only person clever enough to try to think like the thief does.
37	* MiddleNameBasis: We never do find out what Dupin's actual first name is.
38	* NoNameGiven: Dupin's {{sidekick}}.
39	* PhoneInDetective: Dupin solves the mystery of Marie Rogêt by reading the newspaper accounts.
40	* PoliceAreUseless: In the first story, the police failed to make any progress in the case and smart detective Dupin has to save the day.
41	* {{Profiling}}: How Dupin figures out where the thief of "The Purloined Letter" hid the letter, and how he figures out the nature of the killer in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".
42	* ReplacedWithReplica: In "The Purloined Letter", after locating the letter, Dupin surreptitiously swaps it for a duplicate letter which obviously doesn't contain the incriminating information that would have allowed the villain to use it for {{blackmail}}.
43	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The murder of Marie Rogêt was inspired by the contemporary real-life mystery surrounding the death of a woman named Mary Rogers in New York. (Notice that "Marie Rogêt" is a Frenchified version of the name "Mary Rogers".)
44	* ShaggyDogStory: Although Dupin solves the case of "The Murder of Marie Rogêt", the audience isn't informed of more than Dupin's complex reasoning. This is partly because the story is inspired by real events, which themselves were never solved.
45	* SherlockScan: Helped establish this trope [[OlderThanTheyThink pre-Sherlock]] with his C. Auguste Dupin stories.
46	* {{Sidekick}}: The narrator of Dupin's stories.
47	* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Subverted in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". The story begins with a discussion on the difference between calculation and analysis (the latter being a "true" indicator of intellect), and uses chess as an example of the former, noting that in chess, the winner is typically whoever can concentrate longer, not whoever is smarter.
48	%%* TheSummation: "The Purloined Letter".
49	* TheWatson: The anonymous narrator.

Context Literature / CAugusteDupin