Study Guide

The Purloined Letter Characters

By Edgar Allan Poe

Dupin is a young, French, private detective, and the star of "The Purloined Letter." He's from a...

Monsieur G— is the prefect, or head, of the Paris police. Like Dupin and the narrator, he's...

The narrator is Dupin's friend and roommate. Like Dupin and G—, the narrator is in all...

The minister D— is the official villain of the piece. Just to point out: "Minister" here...

The royal lady is the victim, right? It's her letter that's stolen; she's the one being...

Okay, so here we're going to have a clear victim. The other royal person is the guy being lied to...

S— is one of the biggest mysteries of the story. This whole mess begins when he sends the...