The Gold Bug

“This IS a strange scarabaeus, I must confess; new to me; never saw anything like it before—unless it was a skull, or a death’s head, which it more nearly resembles than anything else that has come under MY observation.”

In this quote, the narrator is confused by what he thinks is Legrand’s drawing of the beetle but is actually Captain Kidd’s depiction of a skull. The skull imagery introduces ominous overtones into the story. With its traditional association with danger and death, the appearance of the skull presages challenging times for the characters, as Legrand wrestles with the encrypted message, and the narrator and Jupiter try to understand the other man’s strange behavior.

“In an instant his face grew violently red—in another as excessively pale. For some minutes he continued to scrutinize the drawing minutely where he sat. At length he arose, took a candle from the table, and proceeded to seat himself upon a sea-chest in the farthest corner of the room. Here again he made an anxious examination of the paper; turning it in all directions.”

Legrand realizes that the image on the parchment is not what he had drawn, and the discovery sends him into a frenzy of activity. The dramatic change in Legrand’s complexion from flushed red to extreme paleness emphasizes the sudden shift in his character. Legrand’s movement around the room reflects his racing thoughts as he attempts to make sense of what he’s seeing. Legrand’s choice to sit in the “farthest corner of the room,” away from Jupiter and the narrator, also symbolizes Legrand’s isolation and choice to keep his discovery a secret.

“Keeps a syphon wid de figgurs on de slate—de queerest figgurs I ebber did see. Ise gittin to be skeered, I tell you. Hab for to keep mighty tight eye pon him noovers. Todder day he gib me slip fore de sun up and was gone de whole ob de blessed day.”

Jupiter visits the narrator to tell him that Legrand is not well. The servant describes the cypher that his master keeps, covered in seemingly unintelligible figures. Poe builds a sequence of mysteries over what has caused Legrand to act this way, what the cypher is for, and where Legrand disappeared to. This series of unanswered questions increases a sense of curiosity and suspense. Jupiter’s admission that he is becoming “skeered” also produces an undertone of anxiety and tension, as he has known Legrand all his life and never know him to act this way.

“Since I saw you I have had great cause for anxiety. I have something to tell you, yet scarcely know how to tell it, or whether I should tell it at all.”

These lines are from the letter that Jupiter delivers to the narrator from Legrand. Letters have a literary association with secrecy, and Legrand’s decision to write to the narrator rather than visit him in person creates a further sense of anticipation. Legrand’s letter reveals little information, but it does provide an insight into his state of mind, which appears to be conflicted as he struggles to decide whether to confide in his friend.

“If you are afraid, Jup, a great big negro like you, to take hold of a harmless little dead beetle, why you can carry it up by this string—but, if you do not take it up with you in some way, I shall be under the necessity of breaking your head with this shovel.”

In these lines, Legrand shames Jupiter into carrying the gold bug up the tree. Legrand addresses Jupiter as “a great big negro,” characterizing him by his race and suggesting that there is something intrinsic about being black that should make him fearless. Legrand also casually threatens his servant with violence, treating him more like a disobedient dog than an afraid person. Such instances betray the racial discrimination that was prevalent at the time Poe was writing.

“In an instant, a treasure of incalculable value lay gleaming before us. As the rays of the lanterns fell within the pit, there flashed upwards, from a confused heap of gold and of jewels, a glow and a glare that absolutely dazzled our eyes.”

Poe uses light imagery to describe the moment that the men discover the treasure, with references to “rays,” “flashed,” “glow,” “glare,” and “dazzled.” As well as being a way to emphasize the impressiveness of the physical treasure and the almost miraculous discovery of the hoard, the light imagery symbolizes the resolution of the mystery surrounding Legrand’s strange behavior. However, the fact that the men are “dazzled” by the gold also suggests they are unaware of the more sinister activities, including the potential murder of two of Kidd’s crew, that were required to conceal it. Poe also hints that people are easily corrupted by the promise of wealth to the point they commit atrocious acts. At the end of the story, Poe trails the possibility that Legrand, like Kidd, will choose to do away with his accomplices and keep the hoard for himself.

“The mind struggles to establish a connection—a sequence of cause and effect—and, being unable to do so, suffers a species of temporary paralysis.”

Legrand describes his struggle to try and understand the meaning of the skull when he discovered it on the piece of parchment that he sketched the gold bug on. The apparently inexplicable appearance of the skull proved such a challenge to Legrand’s intelligence that it sent him into a temporary paralysis. The concept of cleverness appears several times throughout the story, whether it be jibes at Jupiter’s lack of intelligence or acknowledgement of Legrand’s “unusual powers of mind” (7). Legrand’s accomplishment in solving the puzzle is even more triumphant because of how he originally struggled to comprehend it.

“The skull, or death’s-head, is the well-known emblem of the pirate. The flag of the death’s-head is hoisted in all engagements.”

The introduction of skulls and pirates adds an element of danger to the story. However, for Poe, the skull is not only a symbol of death and mortality but conversely offers the possibility of fortune and opportunity. Captain Kidd uses skulls to mark the location of the gold on the treasure map and in the tulip tree, whilst the gold bug’s markings also bear a resemblance to a skull. Therefore, whilst danger exists in hunting for the treasure, great reward awaits those who successfully undertake the challenge.

“Do you observe how mere an accident it was that these events should have occurred on the sole day of all the year in which it has been, or may be, sufficiently cool for fire, and that without the fire, or without the intervention of the dog at the precise moment in which he appeared, I should never have become aware of the death’s-head, and so never the possessor of the treasure?”

Legrand reflects on the series of coincidences that led him to discovering the treasure. Coincidence and luck are motifs that appears repeatedly throughout the story, from the narrator’s chance meeting with Legrand to the unusually cool weather that required the fire that revealed the invisible ink on the parchment. The story hinges on chance and the tale’s resolution, Legrand’s acquirement of great wealth, seems to balance his original misfortune in losing his family inheritance.

“The following characters were rudely traced, in a red tint, between the death’s head and the goat:

‘53++!305))6*;4826)4+)4+).;806*;48!8]60))85;1+8*:+(;:+*8!83(88)5*!;46(;88*96*?;8)*+(;485);5*!2:*+(;4956*2(5*4)8]8*;4069285);)6!8)4++;1(+9;48081;8:8+1;48!85;4)485!528806*81(+9;48;(88;4(+?34;48)4+;161;: 188;+?;’”

Poe includes the whole cypher, which appears to anyone unacquainted with such puzzles as an unintelligible mix of symbols. However, Poe himself enjoyed codebreaking and secret writing was a popular trend in the mid-19th century. By including the code in its original form, Poe invites the reader into the story to look over the shoulder of the narrator. The inclusion of the cryptograph acts as a challenge to the reader.

“In the present case–indeed in all cases of secret writing–the first question regards the LANGUAGE of the cipher; for the principles of solution, so far, especially, as the more simple ciphers are concerned, depend upon, and are varied by, the genius of the particular idiom. In general, there is no alternative but experiment (directed by probabilities) of every tongue known to him who attempts the solution, until the true one be attained.”

Poe spends considerable time explaining how to crack the cypher. At the time, those that could solve such cryptograms were thought to possess superior intelligence and esoteric knowledge, or even supernatural powers. Poe includes details on the technical aspects of solving a cypher, including letter frequency analysis, which forms the basis of codebreaking. Therefore, the author invites the reader to apply their newfound knowledge by solving their own cryptographs, something Poe did for fun. “The Gold-Bug” contains the first documented instance of the term cryptograph, which Poe is often credited with coining.

“A good glass in the bishop’s hostel in the devil’s seat—forty-one degrees and thirteen minutes—northeast and by north—main branch seventh limb east side—shoot from the left eye of the death’s head—a bee-line from the tree through the shot fifty feet out.”

Poe includes the cryptograph in its decoded form. However, even when decoded, the treasure’s location is recorded as a riddle, rather than a straightforward set of directions. The references to bishops, devils, and death’s heads do not dispel the notion that the bug is linked to the supernatural but rather reinforce the mystery surrounding it. Legrand proves his intelligence twice, first by deciphering the cryptograph and then by solving the riddle of the gold’s location.

“Why, to be frank, I felt somewhat annoyed by your evident suspicions touching my sanity, and so resolved to punish you quietly, in my own way, by a little bit of sober mystification. For this reason I swung the beetle.”

Legrand admits that he allowed the narrator to think he had a mental illness as a punishment for doubting his sanity. Paradoxically, the revelation that Legrand was in control of his senses the whole time and yet intentionally chose to deceive his friend, causing him great distress, suggests something vindictive and unstable about Legrand’s personality.