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10.2.09

Gotyk... (Część III)

POKAŻ/UKRYJ SPIS TREŚCI | POKAŻ/UKRYJ TREŚĆ NOTKI

The Distribution of Power Within and Without The Gothic Mode in Edgar Allan Poe's The Purloined Letter

PART III:
THE POWER OF POSSESSION AND KNOWLEDGE

Yet another instance of power in "The Purloined Letter" seems to originate from the letter itself. Lacan suggested that it is not the content of the letter, but the letter itself which enables its wielder to attain power. In the words of his commentators:

As the letter passes from the Queen to the Minister to Dupin to the Prefect back to the Queen, the content remains irrelevant, and the shifting parameters of power for the subjects concerned derive from the different places where the letter is diverted along this "symbolic circuit". If we transpose all this into Saussurian terms of the distinction between signifier and signified, it becomes clear that the "stolen" letter functions as a signifier whose signified (i. e. content) is irrelevant to the proceedings. (4)

Such a reading seems reinforced by the fact that the Prefect (...) proceeded to read aloud a minute account of the internal and especially of the external appearance of the missing document (460). Nevertheless, a more traditional reading of "The Purloined Letter" would rather state that it is neither the content of the letter, nor wielding the letter itself, but knowledge of the letter's importance which provides its wielder with power. What constitutes this power is that both the wielder of the letter and his victim — the exalted lady — know of the letter's potential power to ruin the relation between the lord and the lady; in the word's of detective Dupin, such power is an ascendancy which would depend upon the robber's knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber (456). Therefore, despite Dupin's words that it is the possession, and not any employment of the letter, which bestows the power (457), a closer reading indicates that it is neither possession alone, nor employment alone, but possession combined with knowledge of the letter's importance which bestows power.

Apart from Monsieur G—'s crude power as a Prefect of the police, the distribution of power in "The Purloined Letter" seems to proceed parallel to the distribution of knowledge, which stems from refined intelligence — reason = knowledge = power. To counteract the thief's influence (possession of letter = knowledge = power), Dupin applies a mode of reasoning which employs an identification of the reasoner's intellect with that of the opponent (463). Monsieur G— challenged Minister D—'s authority with his "reasoning" — and failed (monomania = no reason = no knowledge = no power). Detective Dupin, however, did succeed in attaining power through knowledge. His insistence on intellect is strengthened by the fact that otherwise, he is presented as a passive character. Not unlike Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, detective Dupin is not concerned with commencing a thorough, active search of the letter. Instead, throughout almost the whole tale he resides in the one room — a little back library, or book−closet (454) — resorting to intellect alone to solve the case. His power is the knowledge of practical experience (the game of "even or odd") and wisdom (hence the conversation takes place in the book−closet).

(4) Muller, John P. & Richardson, William J. " Lacan's Seminar on The Purloined Letter. Overview." The Purloined Poe... P. 57-58.

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