In Tom Stoppard’s skilfully delineated play, The Real Inspector Hound, he seeks to merely parody the traditional crime fiction genre. The play does not criticise or parody at the expense of the genre but it is simply poking affectionate fun at it. Stoppard identifies the classic techniques used in crime fiction and exaggerates it to such an extent that it causes the audience to laugh at the ludicrousness of the genre. He parodies the typical layout and the archetypal characters used in traditional crime fiction stories. Stoppard adds to the amusement of the play through the use of parallel plots that absurdly and unpredictably merge, creating a classic yet twisted denouement. The Real Inspector Hound is a play that cleverly fulfils all the expectations of a parody and causes the audience to view the jocularity of traditional crime fiction.
Stoppard imitates the classic layout of traditional crime fiction plays by exposing the typical beginning with a mysterious dead body in a quintessential isolated setting. Birdboot says “no one will leave the house…It’s a whodunnit man!-Look at it!” (pg. 11) suggesting that the layout of a crime fiction story is so archetypical that it is obvious even before the beginning of the play. Although the play is set in a theatre, the play within the play is set in Muldoon Manor, more specifically, “the drawing room of Lady Muldoon’s country residence one morning in early spring.” (pg.15). It is also revealed that this manor is moreover surrounded by “desolate marshes” (pg. 13), “deadly swamps and the fog” and near a “deserted cottage on the cliffs” (pg. 29). This exaggeration of the classic seclusion of characters is an unswerving parody of the required setting in crime fiction stories similar to Aga...
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...play within the play is Inspector Hound who is supposed to take on the Holmesian detective role. This is where Stoppard differs from the typicality of the characters as Hound seems to be clueless rather than knowledgeable. This is displayed when he exclaims “I’ll phone the police!” (pg. 34) and then realises that he is the police. Stoppard parodies and exaggerates our much loved stock characters in a way that makes them seem even more loveable.
Finally, Stoppard parodies the classic denouement of traditional crime fiction with a concluding plot twist. Throughout the beginning of the crime fiction play, Birdboot and Moon are constantly being side-tracked by their soliloquies about their personal concerns. Birdboot continually expresses his affection for his new found “love” Cynthia and Moon continually expresses his envy for Higgs’ superior professional position.
Christopher is a fifteen-year old boy with Aspergers Autism whose life is full of uncanny surprises. His main focus is on school, and his ability to take the maths A level exams. Unfortunately, that was his focus until he finds Wellington dead on Mrs. Shears’ lawn. Christopher wants to know who killed Wellington and why. He investigates and finds out not only who killed Wellington, but he discovers secrets about his mother and father. In the book “The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time”, the author, Mark Haddon, shows us how courageous Christopher is throughout his journey. According to Aristotle, a man is courageous when he sets himself free from his fears, pain, and poverty instead of running away from it. According to Aristotle’s theory, Christopher profusely shows courage when he investigates Wellington’s murder and travels to London to find his mom.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is told through the eyes of a fifteen year old boy named Christopher Boone. Christopher has a highly-functioning form of autism which allows him to understand complex mathematical problems, but also leaves him unable to comprehend many simple human emotions. His inability to understand metaphors, distinguish emotions, and his lack of imagination makes it possible to consider Christopher as functioning like a computer rather than functioning as a human being. Throughout the story, Christopher is faced with many challenges which he conquers using the stable and never changing system of mathematics. All of these factors suggest that Christopher does, in fact, function like a computer, but it is apparent early in the story that Christopher, regardless of anything else, is capable of independent thought which separates him from the programmed, dependent world of computers.
Devising the perfect murder is a craft that has been manipulated and in practice dating back to the time of the biblical reference of Cain and Abel. In the play, “Trifles” exploration is focused on the empathy one has for a murderer who feels they have no alternative from their abuser. As a multifaceted approach, the author Glaspell gives her audience a moral conflict as to whether murder should be condemned based on the circumstances rather than the crime. Presenting Mrs. Wright as the true victim of the crime of domestic abuse rather than a murderer gives Glaspell a stage which shows her audience the power of empathy.
The idea of a detective catching an elusive convict or solving an improbable crime has been prevalent in all corners of the world, spread throughout many cultures and societies. The detective genre is held as the idea that an individual has to solve a crime. This detective usually has nothing to gain from solving the crime, but they see it more as an obstacle. The detective doesn’t always take every case, as human beings, we are too often curious of the impossible; our natural instinct is to question why and how things work in this world. People crave mystery, to taste a bit of improbable, to see what the detectives see, to see what is overlooked by many. The idea of an intelligent witty, sharp “sleuth” with an obedient sidekick has been prevalent
In conclusion, the production of Trifles by Susan Glaspell will resemble the message and themes spoken of throughout the play. Written to portray the deprecation of women, this play uses the plot, setting, and symbolism to demonstrate the overall message and themes. Although the ending of the play is never stated, one never finds out the fate of Mrs. Wright or suspect involved in killing the bird, one thing will always remain clear: Susan Glaspell and her play will continue to go down in history being preformed to showcase that women are human beings and they all deserve equal treatment.
...e portrays through Alan acting during the sessions, suspense by showing that when Dysart begins to realize that he has no passion, nothing to worship in life he does not want to fully treat Alan, Shaffer also uses a sense of rebellion in Alan to create a greater sense of suspense. To create a sense of climax, Shaffer prolongs the revealment of why and what actually happened the night of Alan’s crime. At the beginning of the play Dysart was a psychiatrist who was not only unsatisfied with his home life, but also his work life, and through the process of treating of his Patients Alan Strang he was able to come to the realization behind his barren life, and how his life lacked passion, and worship. Through Alan he was able to live, and feel the passion and worship he so desperately desires in life.
Stoppard gives Rosencrantz and Guildenstern an existence outside ‘Hamlet’, although it is one of little significance and they idle away their time only having a purpose to their lives when the play rejoins the ‘Hamlet’ plot, after they have been called by the King’s messenger: “There was a messenger...that’s right. We were sent for.” Their lives end tragically due to this connection with ‘Hamlet’, predetermined by the title, but the role provided them with a purpose to their otherwise futile lives, making them bearable. Their deaths evoke sadness and sympathy leaving the reader grieving for them.
The birth of classic detective fiction was originated just in the mid nineteenth century, and was producing its own genre. Classical detective fiction follows a set of rules called the ‘Ten commandments of detective fiction’. The genre is so popular it can bee seen by the number of sales in any good book stores. Many of these books have been created a long time ago and there is still a demand for these types of books. The popularity is still ongoing because it provides constant entertainment, and also the reader can also have a role of detective trying to solve the crime/case committed. Classical detective fiction has a formula, the detective story starts with a seemingly irresolvable mystery, typically a murder, features the astute, often unconventional detective, a wrongly accused suspect to whom the circumstantial evidence points, and concludes with a startling or unexpected solution to the mystery, during which the detective explains how he or she solved the mystery. Formula that includes certain elements such as, a closed location to keep the number of suspects down, red hearings spread around the stories to keep the reader entertained yet interacted.
I. Article Summary: Suzy Clarkson Holstein's article, “Silent Justice in a Different Key: Glaspell's 'Trifles'” evaluates the play Trifles and how the difference between the men in the play mirror how a woman's perspective is very different from a man's. Trifles is about two women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, who show up at a house with their husbands and the county attorney to investigate a murder. The entire time the men are looking for evidence to implicate the accused wife, Minnie Wright, of killing her husband. Meanwhile, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are there to gather up some items to bring Minnie Wright in jail. While doing so, the women uncover evidence that would prove the wife is culpable but decide to hide it from the men in the last moments of the play. Trifles is evaluated on how the women are able to come up with the evidence unlike the men because they didn't approach it like a crime scene but rather a home, “By contrast, the women arrive at a home. Although neither they or the men realize it, they too are conducting an investigation” (Holstein 283). Holstein also notes they are able to find evidence because they use their own life experiences to relate to the accused murderer, Minnie Wright as shown here; “But the women do not simply remember and sympathize with Minnie. They identify with her, quite literally” (285). Holstein finishes the article by noting the women decide to hide the evidence because of the solidarity they feel towards Minnie Wright; “From Mrs. Hale's perspective, people are linked together through fragile, sometimes imperceptible strands. The tiny trifles of life –a neighbor's visit, a bird's song, the sewing of a quilt –have profound reverberations” (287).
While both detectives from “Chee’s Witch” and “Devil in a Blue Dress” have exceptional knowledge about their community, Easy still struggles to solve the case because of the racial tension within the white community while Chee solves the case free of racial conflict. Both stories demonstrate how racial tension and identity play an important role in a detective’s success. A contrast and comparison between the detectives in the play “devil in a blue dress” to his community is as follows. Firstly, from the novel, we can tell that both Easy and his community members view and treat the white man as different species from themselves. Easy and other members of the society are quick to point out a white man from a mile off and not only by use of the skin colour but from other intermediate factors such as the smell or dressing.
In the 19th Century, women had different roles and treated differently compared to today’s women in American society. In the past, men expected women to carry out the duties of a homemaker, which consisted of cleaning and cooking. In earlier years, men did not allow women to have opinions or carry on a job outside of the household. As today’s societies, women leave the house to carry on jobs that allow them to speak their minds and carry on roles that men carried out in earlier years. In the 19th Century, men stereotyped women to be insignificant, not think with their minds about issues outside of the kitchen or home. In the play Trifles, written by Susan Glaspell, the writer portrays how women in earlier years have no rights and men treat women like dirt. Trifles is based on real life events of a murder that Susan Glaspell covered during her work as a newspaper reporter in Des Moines and the play is based off of Susan Glaspell’s earlier writing, “A Jury of Her Peers”. The play is about a wife of a farmer that appears to be cold and filled with silence. After many years of the husband treating the wife terrible, the farmer’s wife snaps and murders her husband. In addition, the play portrays how men and women may stick together in same sex roles in certain situations. The men in the play are busy looking for evidence of proof to show Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. As for the women in the play, they stick together by hiding evidence to prove Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. Although men felt they were smarter than women in the earlier days, the play describes how women are expected of too much in their roles, which could cause a woman to emotionally snap, but leads to women banding together to prove that women can be...
George Herbert throughout his poem “The Collar” puts his thoughts, feelings and complaints on paper on freedom restrictions. He resolves to break free from the binds fastening him to the life he fights to be free from. In various ways, countless things hold down and confine us from doing certain things daily. All the way through history people fought for the rights that tied them down for what they believed in. Herbert explains in his poem that one requires some restrictions even if we cannot understand the motive behind it.
If Mystery drama and a god plot interest you then The series of books written by a wonderful author Daniel Handler are a must read. Under the pen name Lemony Snicket, Handler wrote the Series of Unfortunate events. This is a twelve book series of misfortune, humor and really any and every emotion on can have. The series is based around a family of three wealthy children who loose the parents and fortune in a mysterious fire. Violet who is the oldest sister and has a mind for inventions that time and time again get the siblings out of trouble, the there’s Clause the middle brother whose knowledge precedes that of his older sister and read every book in his family’s extensive library. Last but not least there’s the baby sunny who already has
In Trifles, the play takes place at an abandon house at a farm where John Wright and his wife, Minnie Wright lived. John was killed with a rope around his neck while his wife was asleep. The neighbor, county attorney and sheriff came to the crime scene for investigation. Along with them came their wives, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters; they were told to grab some belongings for Mrs. Wright that she may need while she’s in custody. Once they all entered the home the men dismissed the kitchen finding it as unimportant. The three men focused more on legal regulations of the law. The play was mostly revolved around the women, discovering the motive through “trifles” and other symbolic things that had significance to Minnie’s guilt. When Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters understood the reason behind the murdering they hid the evidence from their husbands, and kept quiet. Many readers would visualize this play as a feminist point of view due to women’s bonding in discovering Minnie’s oppressive life after marriage. However Glaspell, provokes two ethical paradigms that have different perspectives of justice. Glaspell uses symbolism to characterize women’s method in a subjective way, by empowering themselves through silence, memories of her and their own lives as well as having empathy about her sit...
One way Stoppard distinguishes Classical thought in the play is through characters who advocate reason, order, and science. Lady Croom provides an exemplary demonstration of someone who represents Classicism. Lady Croom is a powerful and wise woman who portrays tyranny in the play. She is intelligent and witty yet, she is commanding and hardly allows anyone to have a voice or opinion. She dominates Sidley Park as if it is her own kingdom, and she is perceptive of all doings that occur on the estate. Lady Croom acts promptly if a character behaves in a way she does not desire. She states that “Your friend has gone before you, and I have dispatched the harlot Chater and her husband - and also my brother for bringing them here … for choosing unwisely in your acquaintance. Banishment” (Stoppard 69). Mrs. Chater and