This article will focus on the plot of the story "Golden Beetle". The summary of the work will introduce you to a man who, thanks to his ingenuity and faith in the validity of ancient legends, was able to return the lost wealth.
Forced Hermit
The main character of the story - William Legrand - is a descendant of an ancient aristocratic family. He is haunted by constant setbacks. In the end, he loses his fortune and plunges into poverty. To avoid ridicule, William leaves his native New Orleans and settles on a deserted island off the Atlantic coast. Legrand builds a hut in the thickets of myrtle grove and lives in it together with the black man Jupiter and a huge Newfoundland. The forced hermitage of a young man brightens up reading and walks along the coast, during which he quenches his long-standing passion for entomology. He manages to collect a unique collection of rare insects. During the next promenade in the vicinity, a golden bug was caught. A brief summary of the work tells what this rare find has led to.
Unusual find
In Legrand's modest dwelling, his comrade often comes - the Narrator of the story. Once he found the inhabitants of the hut in high spirits. The master and servant, interrupting each other, talked about the golden bug. The narrator noted that William considers his prey a happy omen and thinks that he will get rich soon. The servant Jupiter is very concerned about the behavior of the owner. According to him, Legrand often goes away from home and always considers something.
Legrand's strange behavior
Soon the Storyteller receives an invitation from William to come to him on a very important matter. The frantic style of the note makes him hurry. He comes to a friend the same day and finds Legrand extremely excited. The topic of conversation is again the golden bug. The summary of the story cannot give an idea of how the Storyteller was alarmed by the state of his friend. After all, he began to claim that the captured insect is really made of pure gold! In addition, Legrand began to convince him to immediately go on the road. According to William, something very interesting awaits them in the mountains on the mainland. The expedition will not take much time, and by sunset all will again be at home.
Travel to the mainland
Convinced of the madness of a friend, the Storyteller agrees to make this strange journey. About four hours, friends go on the road. The servant Jupiter carries a shovel and a scythe, and Legrand - a golden bug, tied to the end of a long cord. Having reached the cape, travelers board the boat and get to the mainland on it. There they climb onto a high shore and wander for about two hours along a deserted plateau overgrown with blackberries. Finally, a tulip tree of great height appears in the distance. By order of the owner, Jupiter clears the path to the plant, and then climbs onto it, taking a beetle with him. Both the servant and the author of the story are completely convinced that Legrand is out of his mind. A summary of the story The Golden Beetle tells us that they cannot hold back tears from concern for Legrand’s fate.
Precious mining
Suddenly, friends hear Jupiter's frightened cry: he saw a skull nailed to a tree bitch. This incident brings William to an extraordinary delight. Legrand gives another ridiculous order: to pass the cord with the bug through the left eye socket of the human skull. The servant implicitly submits to the owner, because it is better not to argue with the crazy. After that, Legrand pushes a peg where the golden beetle fell. A summary of the story will soon explain why he did this.
William begins to dig a hole near a clogged peg. The narrator begins to help him with this, confident that Legrand has overcome the usual mania in the south of masonry. After an hour and a half, their work is interrupted by the menacing bark of Newfoundland. The dog jumps into the pit and finds two human skeletons there. A couple more blows with a shovel - and friends see an iron ring peering out from under the ground. A summary of the story The Golden Beetle brings us to the most interesting part of the story. Excited companions soon get a wooden chest out of the pit . Treasure hunters find gold coins and jewelry in it. The return trip with heavy luggage on the shoulders was not easy. In the hut, companions carefully examined and appreciated the treasure. According to the most conservative estimates, its value pulled by one and a half million dollars.
Mysterious Parchment
Until the very end of the story, Edgar Poe intrigues his readers. The Golden Beetle, a brief summary of which is presented in this article, only at the very end tells how Legrand learned about the hidden treasure. Seeing the companions burn with impatience, William began his story. It turns out that when he caught a golden bug, he immediately bit him. On the shore, Jupiter picked up a piece of paper and handed it to the owner. William wrapped an insect in her. At home, he noticed that the scrap found was a scrap of parchment. Under the influence of heat, a skull appeared on it, which greatly interested the scientist. The summary of the story “The Golden Beetle” can give an idea of how inquisitive mind Legrand possessed, and how many correct conclusions he had to make in order to guess the contents of parchment. He began to warm the paper further and saw that a drawing of a kid appeared on it. After that, William no longer doubted that he had stumbled upon a map of a treasure buried by Captain Kidd on the Atlantic coast.
After that, Legrand saw the figures that spoke under the influence of heat on parchment. The scientist decided that it was a pirate code. Complex mental work allowed him to pick up the key to the mysterious writings. In the end, he read an obscure text that included strange names: "good glass," "bishop's inn," "damn chair," "dead head," and so on.
The ultimate clue
Here is such a complex chain of conclusions in his story, Edgar Allan Poe. The Golden Beetle, a brief summary of which will be interesting to every adventurer, tells how William Legrand deciphered the mysterious text on parchment. He learned from the locals that “The Devil's Chair” and “Bishop's Inn” are figurative names of certain rocks and cliffs. A "good glass", most likely, is binoculars. Overlooking the surroundings in this direction, Legrand noticed a tulip tree. After that, he no longer doubted that he would find a skull on him. When the Narrator asked about the role of the golden beetle in the whole story, William laughed. He stated that his friends were so angry with his distrust that he decided to teach them a lesson and repaid them with this little hoax.
Conclusion
We very briefly set out the plot of the story, conveyed its very brief content. The Golden Beetle must be read long and thoroughly, without losing a single thread of narration. And then a wonderful world of adventures will open before you, which is presented to its readers by Edgar Allan Poe. Enjoy reading!