Homoeroticism In The Murders Of The Rue Morgue

Perhaps the most incriminating move by Poe in regard to his construction of the narrator and Dupin’s relationship is his use of the Palais Royal as a setting in “The Murders of the Rue Morgue.” As previously discussed, Poe’s integration of homoeroticism in his Dupin stories operates through the consistent normalization of same-sex desire. The stroll along the Palais Royal in “The Murders of the Rue Morgue” play with the notion of deviant forms of desire without unequivocally calling attention to as much, similarly pointing to homoeroticism within the text while still not outright calling it out. Therefore, while the narrator and Dupin’s stroll alongside the Palais Royal seems relatively impersonal in the context of the story, Courtney Novosat

However, any mentions of such debauchery are seemingly absent from “The Murders of the Rue Morgue” altogether. Hence, while the location of Dupin and the narrator’s meeting is glossed over by Poe himself, the connotations held by the Palais Royal implicitly point to latent homoeroticization within the text, or non-normative representations of sexuality at the least. Like any previous insinuations of homoeroticism, though, the story does not call attention to as much or mark it as misplaced, simply allowing for its existence while continuing to discuss the stories and their respective investigations. Poe’s unapologetic integration of such subtle signifiers of homoeroticism, then, marks a variation of same-sex desire that is not defined by its necessary repression or

To begin, not only is the Minister’s victim of thievery a member of the aristocracy, but his move to steal the famed letter she holds essentially marks his attempt to usurp the aristocratic power she holds. Therefore, the power of aristocracy can be established as something desirable for the Minister. Despite the Minister’s seeming distance from aristocratic structures, Dupin offhandedly states that he has known him as “a courtier” and a “bold intriguant” throughout his lifetime, further placing the Minister in a continuum of feigned and achieved aristocracy (The Purloined Poe 19). Thus, Minister D— occupies a gray area, simultaneously attempting to fit within an aristocratic framework while attempting to infiltrate as much to strip figures of their power. By “learning to articulate an outdated version of aristocratic values,” Sedgwick claims, “[bachelors can] offer some critique—some ready leverage on—the bourgeois official culture” (Between Men 91). Minister D—, then, occupies such a space, simultaneously luxuriating in his ostentatious “Ministerial hotel” while attempting to unsettle and purloin certain powers within aristocratic structures (The Purloined Poe 21). He does not have