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William Wilson
A close friend of Auguste Dupin. Though the narrator does not possess Dupin's genius, in The Murders in the Rue Morgue he begins to share Dupin’s eccentric way of life, and they go out strolling at night through the Paris streets. The narrator responds to Dupin’s tricks and solutions with admiration, especially when Dupin seems to inhabit the narrator's own consciousness and know exactly what he’s thinking. He joins Dupin in helping to solve the case at the Rue Morgue, though he appears in the narrative as more of a lens through which to observe Dupin’s method. The narrator plays a similar role in The Purloined Letter.
Narrator (The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Purloined Letter) Quotes in Poe's Stories
The Poe's Stories quotes below are all either spoken by Narrator (The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Purloined Letter) or refer to Narrator (The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Purloined Letter). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Murders in the Rue-Morgue
Quotes
Had the routine of our life at this place been known to the world, we should have been regarded as madmen – although, perhaps, as madmen of a harmless nature. Our seclusion was perfect. We admitted no visitors.
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The modes and sources of this kind of error are well typified in the contemplation of the heavenly bodies. To look at a star by glances -- to view it in a side-long way, by turning toward it the exterior portions of the retina (more susceptible of feeble impressions of light than the interior), is to behold the star distinctly -- is to have the best appreciation of its lustre -- a lustre which grows dim just in proportion as we turn our vision fully upon it.
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Narrator (The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Purloined Letter) Quotes in Poe's Stories
The Poe's Stories quotes below are all either spoken by Narrator (The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Purloined Letter) or refer to Narrator (The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Purloined Letter). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Murders in the Rue-Morgue
Quotes
Had the routine of our life at this place been known to the world, we should have been regarded as madmen – although, perhaps, as madmen of a harmless nature. Our seclusion was perfect. We admitted no visitors.
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Explanation and Analysis:
The modes and sources of this kind of error are well typified in the contemplation of the heavenly bodies. To look at a star by glances -- to view it in a side-long way, by turning toward it the exterior portions of the retina (more susceptible of feeble impressions of light than the interior), is to behold the star distinctly -- is to have the best appreciation of its lustre -- a lustre which grows dim just in proportion as we turn our vision fully upon it.
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