STAGE

The Murders in the

2 Rue Morgue
Edgar Allan Poe

Introduction

This ungraded summary is for the teacher’s use only

and should not be given to students.

The story
The story takes place in Paris in 1839. The narrator
makes friends with Auguste Dupin, a poor man from
a good family. The two young men share a great love
of books, and agree to share a small house so that
they can read and study together. They spend much of
their time reading, but also go for long walks, at night, Dupin realises that it would be possible for a very
through the streets of the city. During these walks the strong, agile person to climb up the outside of the
narrator begins to realise that Dupin has great powers house and into the window. If the person then left the
of deduction, with an ability to reach conclusions from house through the window it would close behind him.
the smallest of clues. He also discovers that the marks on the bodies are
One day the two friends read a newspaper report not made by a human hand – the fingers are much too
about the murder of a woman and her daughter. The long. Also some hair found in the older woman’s hand
two women were attacked in a large room on the is not human. Dupin thinks that the murderer could be
fourth floor at the back of the house. The daughter was an orang-outang. Possibly somebody has brought one
killed and pushed up the chimney, while the mother of these animals to France and it may have escaped.
was thrown out of the window. However, the police So Dupin puts an advertisement in the newspaper
found that the windows to the room were all closed, saying that he has caught an orang-outang and inviting
and the door was locked with the key on the inside. the owner to come and get it.
There is money in the room, but none of it has been A sailor comes to the house and tells them the true
taken, so it does not seem as though the reason for story. The killer was indeed an orang-outang that the
the murder was robbery. sailor had brought to Europe with him. It escaped, and
The next day there is more news about the murders although he followed it, he had been unable to prevent
in the newspaper, and Dupin is clearly interested. It the murders. When the true story is told to the police,
appears that the two women took a lot of money out Adolphe Le Bon is freed.
of the bank three days before their death, and a bank
clerk, Adolphe Le Bon carried it to their home – this background to the story
is the money that was found in the room. There are The Murders in the Rue Morgue is sometimes
reports of interviews with a number of witnesses, described as the first detective story, and, apart from
many of whom describe hearing a loud argument. A the horror of the actual murders, the story itself is
doctor tells how the two women’s bodies were badly unlike the horror stories with which Edgar Allan Poe is
bruised, and the mother’s throat had been cut with a usually associated. Auguste Dupin is clearly a sort of
razor. In his opinion these things could only have been early Sherlock Holmes, with the same knowledge of
done by somebody very strong. the world (which he has acquired from his reading) and
The police arrest Adolphe Le Bon. Le Bon was the same powers of deduction.
once very helpful to Dupin, and Dupin does not
believe that he can be the criminal, so he decides to
investigate the crime himself. The two friends visit the
house, and in the evening Dupin explains his thoughts
to the narrator. He points out that because this is a
very unusual crime, most people, including the police,
think that it will be very difficult to solve. But, in fact,
because it is so unusual it may be easier to solve.

98
 STAGE
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
2 Pre-reading activity

What’s going to happen?

This is a story about murder, and it CHAPTER 5 The mysteries of

happens in Paris in 1839. the voice and the YES NO
window
Look at these chapter titles and decide 1 We discover that the murderer
what happens in each of the chapters. killed people through a window.
CHAPTER 1 My friend Auguste Dupin YES NO 2 We discover that the murderer
1 The person who tells the story meets killed people and then jumped
Auguste Dupin for the first time. through a window.
2 Auguste Dupin murders somebody. 3 We discover that the murderer
3 Somebody murders Auguste Dupin. had a strange voice.

CHAPTER 2 The murders YES NO

CHAPTER 6 A madman YES NO
1 Somebody discovers a murder. has done this
2 Somebody discovers more than one murder. 1 One of the murdered people
is a madman.
3 The police arrest a murderer.
2 The murderer is perhaps
4 The police arrest Auguste Dupin.
a madman.
CHAPTER 3 What the witnesses said YES NO 3 Auguste Dupin is a madman.
1 Auguste Dupin talks to some witnesses.
2 The newspapers talk to some witnesses. CHAPTER 7 A visitor for YES NO
3 Some witnesses say that Auguste Dupin Auguste Dupin
is the murderer. 1 A friend of one of the dead
4 Some witnesses say that another man is people comes to see Dupin.
the murderer. 2 The murderer comes to see
Auguste Dupin.
CHAPTER 4 Auguste Dupin visits YES NO 3 Somebody who knows the
the Rue Morgue
murderer comes to see
1 Auguste Dupin talks to some witnesses. Auguste Dupin.
2 Auguste Dupin sees the dead people. 4 The police take the murderer
3 Auguste Dupin finds the murderer. to prison.

To the teacher

Aim: To familiarize students with the ideas behind a to look at the chapter titles and decide which things
detective story might happen in each chapter. Do not give them the
Time: 15–20 minutes correct answers to their predictions as you will want
Organization: Give one copy of the worksheet to each them to discover these as they read.
student or each group of students. Ask the students

99 © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS PHOTOCOPIABLE

 STAGE
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
2 While reading activity

Being the detective

Look again at the witnesses in Chapter 3 and fill in the table.

You cannot fill in all the spaces.

NAME WHERE DID WHERE DID THEY DID THEY KNOW WHAT DID WHAT DID
THEY LIvE? COME fROM? THE WOMAN? THEY HEAR? THEY SEE?
DP^
Pauline Dubourg * * 1Z]_S]PPdPL]^ * *

Pierre Moreau

Isidore Muset

Henri Duval

Jan Odenheimer

Jules Mignaud

Adolphe Le Bon

William Bird

Alfonzo Garcia

Alberto Montani

Paul Dumas

To the teacher

Where: At the end of Chapter 3 a copy of the worksheet. Tell them to complete the
Aim: To give students the chance to collect and table, but ensure that they understand that they will
analyse the evidence not be able to fill in all the spaces. If time allows it
Time: 15–20 minutes may be a good idea to move on to a discussion of the
Organization: Give each student, or group of students, possible interpretations of this evidence.

PHOTOCOPIABLE © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 100

 STAGE
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
2 After reading activity

Character crosswords

Make character
 .  A = = 4 0 /  8 : 9 0 D
 B : = 6 0  D 4 9  ? 3 0  - , 9 6
crosswords

for > ,B  9 : - O / D  4 9  > ? = 0 0 ?
these characters.
  L  0 1 ?  8 , / , 8 0  7 À 0 > ; 4 9 ,D 0  ,?  3 0 =  / : : =
 >09? ?:P= 4>:9
  H 0 7 ; 0 /  / @ ; 4 9
 ,==E>?0/-D;:74.0

 / @ ; 4 9  B, 9 ? 0 /  ?:  3 0  L  ;  3 4 8
 ,  1 = 0  E  8 , 9  ,?  ? 3 0  0 9 /

 B,96 .7 0=6
 ? O : 6  1 : @ =  ? 3 : @ > , 9 /  1 = , 9 . >  ? :  = @ 0  8 : = 2 @ 0
 4 N 9 : . 0 9 ?

......................... T .......................
......................... H .......................
......................... E .................................

......................... S .......................
......................... A .......................
......................... I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .
......................... L .......................
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. . . ...................... U ...................... . . . . . . ......................... R ............................
. . . ...................... G ...................... . . . . . .
. . . ...................... U ...................... . . . . . .
. . . ...................... S ..................... . . . . . . . ......................... O ............................
. . . ...................... T ..................... . . . . . . . ......................... R ............................
. . . ...................... E ..................... . . . . . . . ......................... A ............................
......................... N ............................
. . . ...................... D ...................... . . . . . . ......................... G ............................
. . . ...................... U ...................... . . . . . .
. . . ...................... P ..................... . . . . . . . ......................... O .........................
. . . ...................... I ....................... . . . . . . ......................... U .........................
. . . ...................... N ...................... . . . . . . ......................... T .........................
......................... A .........................
......................... N .........................
......................... G .........................

To the teacher

Aim: To revise some of the characters in the story a copy of the worksheet. Ask them to add as much
Time: 15–20 minutes information as possible in the spaces around the
Organization: Give each student, or group of students, names.

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