We're not knocking on Poe's genius by admitting that Dupin isn't fully fleshed out as a character. After all, he's not really meant to be a rounded character. He's most notable for the role he plays in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," for taking the many clues presented during the course of the story and assembling them into a whole. Remember, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a new kind of story, less interested in depth of character than in engaging the reader in logic games. (For more on this, see "In a Nutshell").