The Murders in the Rue Morgue

From the onset of their meeting, the narrator and Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin are never referenced apart from one another. Using textual support, make a case for these two characters as dual aspects of the same person or prove that they are, in fact, separate individuals.

The Ourang-Outang commits violence against the old lady in response to her struggle and screams. It commits murder immediately after having seen its owner’s face in the window. What do these actions suggest about the animal’s motive and moral conscience? Were the murders random and without cause?

Most scholars would argue in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that her character, Dr. Frankenstein, is at least partially responsible for the violence his monster perpetrated. When interrogating the sailor about the Ourang-Outang, Dupin states that there is “nothing […] which renders you culpable” (31). Does Dupin believe his own statement? Does Poe intend for the reader to believe Dupin?