Dupin becomes the "individual as the creature of history" (187) and the orangutan represents the "terror of a history secularized and devoid of design" (187). This pot was to usher in a new genre of plots that looked at the universe in a new way. The detective story, as a result, "responds to a new era of world history" (187). The crimes against the women can also be seen as symbols from Poe's own past as he lived through the deaths of the women he loved the most. Tragedy, of course, must make its way into Poe's fiction but the grisly murders of thee two women could easily be representations of the death of Poe's mother and cousin. Society was all the inspiration Poe needed. Terrance Whalen maintains that Poe's tales "arose from within the specific conditions of capitalist development which were then emerging in antebellum America" (Whalen 386). Poe's circumstances allowed him to write directly from his experiences with urban life, Whalen claims. This urban life was in an upheaval as "industrialization paralleled the rise of information as a dominant form of meaning" (389). "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" attempts to outwit the crisis of overproduction in the literary market by imagining the reverse situation -- a social crisis caused by a scarcity of information" (410). This technique is perfectly presented in the story. The narrator gives us most of the information we need to have the tale make sense. However, significant details are purposefully left out to make the reader conjure up some sort of explanation. The readers attempt to solve the mystery before the detective does. Poe's society was one of change. Society was changing, growing, and information...
However, we should also not forget in crediting him with the invention of the detective story. Poe was born with the uncanny ability to sense things unseen and to put into words the things that frighten and entertain us. If his stories were simply gruesome, they would have fallen by the wayside and been forgotten. As it is, Poe is more popular than ever and this is not because he was a rich or popular man while he was alive. Rather, he had his finger on the pulse of all this macabre. Dudley Hutcherson writes that Poe experienced a type of fame at home and abroad that no other American writer has since. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a story of "marvelous skill: it was the first of its kind and to this day it remains a model, not only unsurpassed, but unapproachable" (Hutcherson 226). Poe's emphasis on analysis is became a model for many detective stories because this style is one that works for both writer and reader. It is a form of entertainment that takes segments of reality, gruesome or not, and weaves them into a story that must be figured out. The genius of "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" lay in the mind of its creator, a man who understands that art represents life.
In this story, we find this terror, especially at the end of the story when Fortunato sobers up. Montresor tells us that the cry he hears as he places the final bricks in the wall is "not the cry of a drunk man" (Poe 94). The drunk man and the crazy man are pitted against once another in this tale and there is nothing Fortunato can do when he
There is an emphasis on harmony in this structure that shows a new way of thought, and this sense of harmony would be carried over into other works of art of the period and later periods, harmony now being seen as an important artistic virtue. The elaborateness of the decorations have become identified with the Gothic period. As can be seen from the column from Saint-Denis, this sort of
He traveled to Africa, Spain, and Germany and even studied in Russia, where he was exposed to Islamic art. The Dance is one painting that captures a new direction and style of Matisse's painting. Here Matisse is focusing on a single act of humanity. The style is more compact in it use of color. The interplay of human activity is one of the most significant changes we see in
Art The Painting Techniques of the Impressionists, Cubists, and Fauvists During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries art styles were changing rapidly in France. Impressionism, Cubism, and Fauvism were three of the styles developed during this time. The painters involved were using new techniques with oil paint to change what was accepted as fine art. Their new techniques reflected societal changes happening all around them. The Age of Industrialization, economic fears,
Art and Humanities From the time capsule containing art from the Renaissance, it would seem the capsule must contain two representations of some of the very best of the art of the Renaissance. Renaissance art is still some of the most well-known and appreciated art in the world, and Renaissance art is characterized by a great attention to detail, especially in the human form. Think of Michelangelo's "David" and Mantegna's "Adoration
Here Mars is asleep and unarmed, while Venus is awake and alert. The meaning of the picture is that love conquers war, or love conquers all." (Cole, xx) the purpose of the work during the renaissance was mostly likely for a prominent individual's bedroom furniture or a piece of wainscoting. Some art connoisseurs have considered that the detailed wasps at upper right may have been a link to the popular
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