This week study focused on Allan Poe’s short story, The Purloined Letter. Allan Poe is acknowledged for his Gothic and American Romantic poems and short stories (Poe, Edgar, 4) Taking into consideration all the work done by Allan Poe, this is regarded the finest. This because the story does not have any gothic elements. From the letter, it is clear that the major theme focuses on the displacement and positioning of power. The two characters Lucan and Derrida are depicted with different levels of irony on the ownership of the letter. The struggle of power is re-enacted between the Minister D and Dupin himself (Poe, Edgar, 12) What comes out in this tale is that Lacan is not able to come up with symbolic difference between the feminine and masculi9ne. This was a very important differentiation of the status within the society.
In the story, none of the characters was able to reveal what the letter was all about. Therefore, the letter that had no content is an indicator without indication, and what of importance that occurs in the tale is the sheer play of displacement. This is the movement of the letter from one point to another which later became a signifying chain. Symbolically in the tale the Dupin is not able to create meaning on differences that exist between masculine and feminine. According to him, this is a very important for the differentiation of various social positions in the story (Poe, Edgar, 66) Poe’s story shows linguistic rather than biological variance. This was a clear depiction of “the way participants understood their inter-subjectivity..will model their very being on the movement of symbolizing chain that transverse them.” The movement of their signifier is a clear symbol of displacement.
This story is closely connected to a recent film that I watched recently titled The 12 Years of Slavery. The story was depicted the problem that American was going through during this time. According to the letter the major solution was to free the slaves. Despite this agitation, it is evident that it was an easy task. The reason for this is that there are individuals against it and are there to make slavery happen. From the tale there supporters of the Abolition of the slavery (The French Police and Dupin) who if they want to succeed ought to completely understand the individuals who are for slavery such as Minister D and find out ways to ensure that there is no loss related to labor offered by the slaves (Poe, Edgar, 78) This is clearly depicted in the tale by replacing the real letter using a fake one. This means that they could not worry or object giving out the letter on demand.
One of the critics of The Purloined Letter is Lacan. Based on the reading of his work, the major aim of Lacan is deeply investigate repetition automatism. To depict this he connects it to the acts of Freud. In his words he argues that in a situation where our actions were motivated by libido, one ought to be involved in repetitive, self-harming activities. In his argument lack of consciousness is not just a group of steer objects (Poe, Edgar & Gary, 78). Thompson. According to him, it is made of symbolic strings that are involved in the system that have their individual interest and therefore motivated. Taking the tale into consideration different characters are involved in activities that used to cheat the Queen of France The content of the letter is not unfolded to the reader and therefore described as a signifier. In my opinion, this critic is valid especially based on the fact that the content of the letter is not revealed to me in the text. Additionally it is evident that different characters are used to blackmail the queen. This is a clear indication of self-interest.
Work Cited
Poe, Edgar A, and Gary R. Thompson. The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe: Authoritative Texts, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2004. Print.
Poe, Edgar A. The Purloined Letter. Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia Library, 1990. Internet resource.
http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/2013/04/04/topic-for-75-lacan-derrida-on-literary-criticism-poes-the-purloined-letter/
