I Confess!

1. I Confess! “Thou Art the Man,” by Edgar Allan Poe

3. 1. Presumption of Guilt: • This formula suggests that all criminals experience guilt • a. It assumes that the criminal knows that they have done something wrong.  In this case, the criminal must feel guilt, even if it is only subconsciously. • b. Signs of guilt are always present, if the detective is clever enough to notice them. 

4. 2. The detective has psychological insight:  • the detective (the one who is able to get the confession) has knowledge of what those signs of guilt might be.  • The criminal may have everyone else fooled, but the detective can see through the act and decipher the criminal's guilty conscience through small actions and details.

5. 3. Contest of Wills: • There is often a contest of wills between a detective, • who has an un-provable gut-feeling, • and the criminal, • who may only be tricked into confessing.

6. 4. The Detective knows the exact way to get a confession: • the psychological insight that the detective has allows him/her to convince or trick the criminal into a confession. 

7. They may: • bring the criminal back to the crime scene, • catch them in their own web of lies, • show them a piece of previously unknown evidence, • or create some evidence

8. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/05/james-washington-death-bed-confession_n_2076932.html?utm_hp_ref=email_sharehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/05/james-washington-death-bed-confession_n_2076932.html?utm_hp_ref=email_sharehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/05/james-washington-death-bed-confession_n_2076932.html?utm_hp_ref=email_sharehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/05/james-washington-death-bed-confession_n_2076932.html?utm_hp_ref=email_share

9. "Thou Art the Man," by Edgar Allan Poe

11. Characters: • Charles Goodfellow: Mr. Shuttleworthy's neighbor • Mr. Pennifeather: Mr. Shuttleworthy's prodigal nephew • Mr. Shuttleworthy: Wealthy Man & Victim

12. Red Herring: Mr. Pennifeather • Circumstantial Evidence:  • Appears after his uncle disappear and knows all about the case •   Mr. Shuttleworthy threatened to disinherit him, and they had argued about it the day the uncledisappeared. • Mr. Pennifeather knew about the money Mr. Shuttleworthy was bringing to the bank. • He was deer hunting in the woods by the pool that day.

13. Planted Evidence: • His velvet waist coat at the bottom of the pool • The bloody shirt hidden in his room • The bullet found in the horse was from his gun • Mr. Shuttleworthy's leather case • Pennifeather’s knife

14. Signs of Guilt: Mr. Goodfellow • Convinces the townspeople to not search for Mr. Shuttleworthy (even though his horse returned on its own with a bullet hole through it). • Lends suspicion to Pennifeather’s knowledge of the case • Leads the search party to the pool • Suggests draining it to find the evidence he’s planted

15. Condemns Pennifeather by calling him the “sole heir” while trying to defend him. • Reveals Pennifeather’s knife that he “found” in the grass and tried to “hide” • Confesses to overhearing an argument about Penniworth being disinherited on Shuttleworthy’s trip to town • Finds the bullet in the horse that matches the rifle

16. Detective: Narrator • The detective is the narrator, who happens to be another person in the town. • He solves the crime and then tricks Goodfellow into confessing.

18. He finds the body • Sticks a whale bone down it’s throat • Bends it down into the wine crate • Obligingly opens it at the party • Uses ventriloquism to make the body seem to say to Goodfellow “Thou art the man!”