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The Letter
The letter primarily signifies the royal lady’s infidelity. Although we don’t know whether the letter contains plans for a romantic tryst or for treason, it’s clear from context that the letter means that she has been somehow disloyal to her husband. Furthermore, within a monarchy a “queen” is not just a wife, but a role with power and symbolism as a national figurehead. Thus—if this royal lady is indeed the Queen—even if she has no political aspirations against her husband, even marital infidelity has a political dimension to it. This blurring of personal and political means that Minister D––’s theft of the letter for blackmail purposes is an inherently political act. Because of what the letter’s existence signifies, once Minister D–– steals the letter, it comes to represent his power over her. As long as Minister D–– has the letter and can threaten to reveal it to (presumably) the King, Minister D–– can force the royal lady to do his bidding. When Dupin retrieves the letter, he symbolically restores power to its proper place in a monarchical society, giving the royal lady the power to decide Minister D––’s fate politically without repercussions on herself.
The Microscope
The police’s use of a microscope, which here refers to a magnifying glass, is symbolic of their tendency to focus on small details over the big picture. Before he knows any particulars of the case, Dupin suggests to the prefect that the problem may be that the police are looking too hard at something, forcing it to require minute scrutiny instead of accepting that it’s simple. Indeed, their investigation conjures up the humorous image of police officers pouring over the apartment with a magnifying lens while the letter sits in front of their noses. This image is emblematic of a larger issue with the police’s investigative technique. After all, the use of a magnifying lens, new scientific technology at the time, to find something hidden makes logical sense. The problem is that the tool is misapplied to a situation where it doesn’t belong. Instead of considering how Minister D–– would likely hide something, the police focus on how something might be cunningly hidden. They lose sight of the big picture, that they are dealing with Minister D––, and wade through the details because they assume the answer must be impossibly complicated.
