Structure

“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” by Edgar Allan Poe is structured as a backstory narrative of a first-person narrator who is accounting some past events he was involved in. Consequently, the text starts in the present, announcing the events which took place before the time of the narration.

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Title

The title of the short story announces what the text is going to be about, without actually giving any details relevant to the plot. We find out that the story is going to be about M. Valdemar and his case.

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Beginning

The story starts with an introductory paragraph, in which the narrator motivates his narrative, without actually giving too many details about the facts he is about to narrate.

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Middle

The middle of the short story represents the main points of tension in the plot. The narrator structured these events chronologically, marking the main events. We find out the narrator is a mesmerist, and he has performed a hypnotic experiment on a man, M. Valdemar, who was dying.

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Ending

From the climactic point, seven months pass until the case of M. Valdemar reaches an end. After seven months of trance, the mesmerist and the doctors decide to pull the patient out of the trance.

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