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Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature 2014 Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Darina Slámová Murderers and Their Methods in Agatha Christie’s Detective Stories Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, Csc., M.A. 2014 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature I would like to thank my supervisors, prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, Csc., M.A., and PhDr. Věra Pálenská, CSc., for their advice, encouragement and guidance. Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................... 5 1 A Murderer in Lord Edgware Dies ......................................................... 7 2 A Murderer in The ABC Murders ......................................................... 13 3 A Murderer in Death on the Nile .......................................................... 20 4 A Murderer in And Then There Were None ......................................... 27 5 A Murderer in Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case ......................................... 35 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 43 Works Cited ................................................................................................. 50 Summary ..................................................................................................... 52 Resumé ........................................................................................................ 53 Introduction Agatha Christie belongs to the most famous British writers. She is an author of plays and novels but she gained her popularity thanks to her detective stories for which she is called Queen of detective stories. Her first novel was The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1921), in which she introduced her most famous character, a Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who is able to figure out even the most complicated cases and finds out who a murderer is with an aid of his little grey cells. However, Agatha Christie became famous after the publication of her masterpiece Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926). The work changed the whole concept of detective stories because of a surprising ending when a narrator is shown to be a murderer. The aim of the thesis is to explore murderers and their ways of committing murders in selected detective stories by Agatha Christie - Lord Edgware Dies (1933), The ABC Murders (1936), Death on the Nile (1937), And Then There Were None (1939) and Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case (1975) - and compare them from the different aspects. The thesis also suggests that various murderers are connected with an element that is typical of Agatha Christie‟s novels. A murderer is usually someone who is either the least suspect or has solid alibi. As many authors such as Alexander and Singer point out, Christie manipulates presented facts and together with many false traces makes readers think that a murderer is someone else. However, other authors, such as Delamater and Prigozy, think that her detective stories and murderers are often similar to one another and Christie just modifies them, which is evidence of her lack of creativity. The thesis is divided into five chapters. Each chapter examines one of the chosen murderers and their methods of committing murders. Each chapter starts with a description of murderer‟s personality and their motive. Another part of the chapter explores their ways of committing murders, mistakes they make and other 5 circumstances that help reveal their plan. The last part of each chapter focuses on Christie‟s way of manipulating readers and diverting attention from a real murderer. The conclusion compares the murderers from different aspects and shows their distinctions and similarities. 6 1 A Murderer in Lord Edgware Dies The novel is about a murder of Lord Edgware, a rich man, whose wife, Jane Wilkinson, is suspected of killing him but only until it is revealed that she has a solid alibi for the night of murder. Moreover, there seems to be no reason why she wanted to kill her husband. As investigation continues, it seems to be more and more likely that the murder was committed by a man. Jane Wilkinson is a young and beautiful woman, who thinks only of herself. As Zemboy emphasizes, “it doesn‟t occur to her that anyone else‟s needs or wishes even exist when she wants something.” (Zemboy 76) She is very cruel, selfish and is used to having everything she wants. Poirot estimates her character in the very beginning: “ „She appears to me of the type of women who are interested only in themselves.‟ ” (8) Her marriage with Lord Edgware is unhappy and Jane wants a divorce. She falls in love with The Duke of Merton, who is, however, an Anglo-Catholic, which means that he must not marry a divorced woman. The fact that Lord Edgware changes his mind and finally agrees with a divorce is thus pointless for her. Therefore, Jane devises a clever plan how to get rid of her husband before their divorce. Her ruthless character enables her to achieve her goal even though she knows in advance that she will have to murder two people. In the end, she kills three persons but shows no remorse at all. When Jane‟s plan is revealed, she just feels sorry for herself but does not regret her actions at all. Moreover, Mrs. Wilkinson is proud of herself and her clever ideas. Before her disclosure, Jane is very confident, since she does not believe that anybody could find out the truth, but when she starts to realize that Poirot detects her plan, she loses her head and confesses everything. The plan is daring and clever. Jane is so self-confident that she is not afraid of involving Poirot in her plan. She takes advantage of him and asks the detective to 7 persuade her husband to give permission to the divorce. It is necessary because she is believed to be informed by Poirot about her husband‟s agreement to the divorce. Jane thus ensures that nobody will suspect her of killing her husband, since if Lord Edgware also wants a divorce, there seems to be no reason why she would kill him. Therefore, it seems that a murderer must be someone else. The idea is strengthened by the lost letter addressed to Jane, in which her husband agrees with a divorce, which at first deceives even Poirot: “ „So we come to the fourth solution-that someone suppressed that letter.‟ … „Whoever suppressed it was someone who did not want that marriage dissolved.‟ ” (36) Apart from that, she ensures her alibi when she has said many times she would like to kill her husband to be free again: “ „She said that if he didn‟t give her her freedom she‟d have to „bump him off‟.‟ ” (46) Her intention is to persuade the police that someone who hates Lord Edgware and Mrs. Wilkinson takes advantage of her statements and murders him exactly in the same way as Jane said. The key to her murder plan is Jane‟s hidden cleverness. She is an actress and her acting skills play an important role in her plan. Jane manages to persuade everyone of her pretended stupidity, which leads to the fact that nobody believes that she is able to devise anything clever. This is well shown after confirmation that Mrs. Wilkinson was at the party at the time of murder. Before that, everybody was willing to believe that she really came to her husband‟s place and killed him. However, when it is revealed that Jane has alibi, she gets out of suspicion. Mrs. Wilkinson thus manages to persuade the others to think that she is stupider than she really is, which is supported by Bryan Martin‟s claim: “ „She hasn‟t any brains. Her idea of a murder would be to drive up in a taxi, sail in under her own name and shoot.‟ ” (16) The plan is full of deceptions. The first deceit is Mrs. Wilkinson‟s announcement that she will not go to the party but then she pretends to change her mind and goes there. In 8 effect, Jane asks another actress, Carlotta Adams, to go to the party instead of her and pretend to be Jane Wilkinson, who meanwhile, with ensured alibi, goes to her husband‟s house and stabs him in the neck. Before that, Jane calls Carlotta to make sure that nobody finds out that she impersonates her at the party. That fraud gives the impression that somebody who was convinced that Jane did not go to the party and therefore had no alibi dressed as Jane Wilkinson and killed Lord Edgware. Jane thus seems more as a victim rather than as a murderer. Jane ensures her alibi giving the impression of her being in two places at the time of murder. The police have two groups of witnesses, each group was in different place but each group claims that they saw Jane Wilkinson at night of murder. A butler and a secretary, Miss Carroll, were in Lord Edgware‟s house. Nevertheless, the butler has only been there for a few months, since he might have been wrong, but Miss Carroll has been working for Lord Edgware for years and she is absolutely sure that it was Jane Wilkinson, whom she saw that night: “ „Back of her head, her voice, her walk! It‟s all the same thing. Absolutely unmistakable!‟ ” (62) However, her testimony is in contradiction to another group of fourteen people who were with Jane Wilkinson at the party. Moreover, Poirot rebuts Miss Carroll‟s statement that she could see Jane‟s face. Agatha Christie thus manipulates readers with misinterpreted facts presented by characters in the novel. Everyone thinks that Jane was at the party and the woman who came to Lord Edgware‟s house was Carlotta. If readers believe that the facts as they are presented by the characters are all true, they are led to the wrong solution from the very beginning. Another deceit is Jane‟s decision to modify her plan when she reveals Carlotta‟s letter to her sister. Mrs. Wilkinson is still not safe, since she needs to get rid of her accomplice, Carlotta Adams, who could put two and two together and find out the truth.
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