The Assignation By Edgar Allan Poe

The Assignation by Edgar Allan Poe is a short gothic and mystery story published with the title The Visionary in 1834 in the monthly magazine “Lady’s Book.” In 1845, Poe published the novel again with the new title The Assignation in the “Broadway Journal”. 

The Assignation By Edgar Allan Poe – The First Murder Mystery Story

The Assignation is considered the first murder mystery novel in literature. The story takes place in Venice, and on a night of unusual gloom, the child of the beautiful Marchesa Aphrodite slips from her arms, falling from a window into the dark canal. A mysterious cloaked man eventually saves the child. In the book, there are no explanations regarding how the mysterious saviour was standing close to the Marchesa, and her husband did not show any care about the tragic event. As the Marchesa and enigmatic stranger touch each other’s hands, she blushes and says a bizarre sentence: “Thou hast conquered – one hour after sunrise – we shall meet – so let it be!” The eyewitness is the story’s narrator, and he is invited by the mysterious man who saved the child in his luxurious and magnificent house full of rare artworks. 

Art And Mysteries

Once in the mysterious stranger’s lavish residence, the man shows the narrator the most precious and unique artworks filling his exquisite house. The conversation is centred around art. Suddenly the story takes a strange path with an unusual final twist, and everything becomes mysterious. The residence has a lot of darkness and brightness to symbolize the life’s essence of this mysterious unnamed man; moreover, it is particular to find the juxtaposition of dissonant furniture styles in the luxury house. Before the tragedy, the stranger shows his guest a full-length portrait of the Marchesa. Indeed, this detail lets the reader understand the stranger’s obsession with his lover. The beauty of art and the passion of love are intertwined with death and gloominess. Reading this unusual novel, many questions arise, and they do not find any explanation. The beauty of this novel might also depend on its mysterious aura.