Agatha Christie once said, “Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions” (Christie). The reader may believe this quote goes with her book, Murder on the Orient Express very well and some may believe she used this quote as a thesis for the book. The idea of crime being revealing and the fact that crime is revealed through the actions that are taken suggests that murder is never really anonymous, no matter how hard the murderer tries to cover their tracks. In Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie shows how human flaws hinder murder investigations through making incorrect assumptions, holding onto the past, and cultural stereotyping.
First, Poirot, the lead investigator, shows that anyone could have committed the murder because of incorrect assumptions that are made about the passengers. The first assumption that is made is the person that kills Ratchett is a female. His first argument is the way the person stabs makes them a female. As stated in the novel, “’It is a woman.’ Said the Chef de Train, speaking for the first time. ‘Depend upon it, it was a woman. Only a woman would stab like that’ “ (Christie 52). The second argument made toward gender is the force used makes the murderer a woman. In the novel, Poirot states, “’She must have been a very strong woman,’ he said. ‘It is not my desire to speak technically—that is only confusing; but I can assure you that one or two of the blows were delivered with such force as to drive them through hard belts of bone and muscle’ “ (Christie 52). Poirot later assumes some of the blows Ratchett faced are done back-handed, as well as left-handed. He uses...
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... where to start, to not knowing whether to side with moral or legal justice. Incorrect assumptions, such as looking at the way a person is stabbed and the force used with the blow can lead investigators in the wrong direction. Another human flaw that hinders murder investigations is holding on to the past. Poirot was disliked by some people on the train because of mistakes that he made in the past, and eventually, his past caught up to him, as he was aboard the Orient Express. Lastly, the cultural stereotyping that took place on the Orient Express proved to be wrong for finding out who committed a murder. Murder on the Orient Express is a novel that shows that anyone can be guilty of committing a crime when you look at the incorrect assumptions, the past and who all it effects and the cultural stereotyping that takes place between certain people.
Actus Reus: It was never unclear if the accused was responsible for the act occurring. There were several eye witness testimonies placing her as the offender which was backed up by CCTV footage from a camera in the lane. Furthermore, at the beginning of the trial the offender pleaded not guilty of murder but guilty of constructive manslaughter and that it was caused by reckless driving on her behalf. By claiming manslaughter the offender immediately takes full responsibility for the act regardless of what charge they are handed.
After reading ‘The Murder of Helen Jewett” it gave me insight on how crime in New York City was in the 1830’s and another view on how life for men and women differed. The book starts off talking about Dorcas Doyen famously known as Helen Jewett and how she was highly thought of but then the news comes out of nowhere with several stories about her past some twisted to make her seem as bad as a prostitute who has bounced around a few times could be seen. But her actual story was that she was born in 1814 in Temple, Maine to a regular working family. She lost both of her parents at a young age her mother died when she was at the early ages of her life and he father who was an alcoholic died shortly after her mother. She was put in a home, orphaned
Murder at the Margin is a murder mystery involving various economic concepts. The story takes place in Cinnamon Bay Plantation on the Virgin Island of St. John. It is about Professor Henry Spearman, an economist from Harvard. Spearman organizes an investigation of his own using economic laws to solve the case.
In order to reasonably deduce who the murderer is we first need to use economic reasoning to understand who it is not. Spearman manages to use the economic concept of game theory to explain why two of the most incentivized characters in the novel and the confessors of the crimes, Ricky LeMans and Vernon Harbley, indeed admit to a crime they never actually commit. Game theory as explained by Eric P. Chiang in CoreMicreconomics is, “the study of strategy and strategic behavior and is used in any situation in which one must predict the actions of others and respond by choosing among more than one strategy, each resulting in a potentially
The human mind tends to have an immense fascination with things that are impossible to explain or comprehend or, in simpler terms, mysteries. Commonly, crime and detective television shows exploit the peoples’ enthrallment toward mysteries to captivate and maintain viewership. For example, the television show, Luther, is very complex and exciting show in that it approaches these mysteries in a unique way. Neil Cross, the writer of the show, employs the use of various traditional detective story devices, including but not limited to the presentation of a problem followed by the detective’s canny methods to the resolution of the problem. In the case of the television show Luther, the problem that is presented is the murder of Alice Morgan’s parents.
On December 18th 2015 Netflix aired with great popularity a 10 part documentary series called “making a Murderer” The documentary, written by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demo, present the case of Steven Avery; a convicted murderer exonerated on DNA evidence after serving 18 years for the assault and attempted murder of Penny Beerntsen. The writers present the series in a way that suggest that Avery was framed by the Manitowoc Country police department. and present that the police planted evidence to frame Steven Avery because he had been exonerated from the previous crime. The ethical problem with this as is presented by Kathryn Schulz in The New Yorker, is that the documentary argues their case so passionately that they leave out important
As the mists of tension fall around Indian Island and cold bodies settle into their resting places, blood does not run as a masked murderer skulks throughout a party of ten already guilty murderers. In Agatha Christie’s novel, And Then There Were None, Christie created her own ultimate justice system that examines the extremes required to break social stratification. Variant from the traditional justice structure, Christie creates a system that erases the human err commonly faced in criminal justice, such as bias towards a specific class or false judgement of a person’s character; however, the previous flaws are replaced by greater sin in the ultimate justice system established within the novel. Thus, the social constructs upheld by judgement and privilege are shown blatantly within
Agatha Christie depicts a descriptive, fictional murder mystery in the novel ABC Murders. With the help of the narrator, Captain Arthur Hastings, Hercule Poirot solves the murders of four victims who are killed in alphabetical order by Franklin Clarke, more commonly known as ABC. The story elicits copious high points but the rare low point as well. Examples of these aspects can be found within the plot, setting, characters, conflict, and theme of the book. According to Stanford’s Suggested Reading List, the book is considered a “must read.” ABC Murders definitely holds up to the reputation placed upon it by Stanford and would be a favorable choice for anyone wishing to read a well written novel.
Before the explanation of twelve passengers’ moral, the description of Ratchett’s background is essential. Ratchett’s real name is Cassetti. He kidnapped Daisy Armstrong and her parents paid 200,000 dollars for her return. However, the diabolical man murdered Daisy brutally because of his fun. From the obituary, Mrs. Armstrong gave birth to a dead child who was born prematurely and herself died and Mr. Armstrong shot himself. Daisy’s nursemaid named Susanne committed suicide suspected of some involvement with the crime. Ratchett was arrested, but he escaped the justice by using the enormous money and power. The twelve passengers: Mrs. Hubbard, Hector McQueen, Edward Masterman, Colonel Arbuthnot, Mary Debenham, Princess Dragomiroff, Countess and Countess Andrenyi, Cyrus Hardman, Antonio Foscanelli, Greta Ohlsson, Hildegarde Schmidt and Pierre Michel relate the Armstrong family. They determine to kill Ratchett. Morality of the murder is the problem of reading Murder on the Orient Express. The readers ask themselves that they have a rights to kill a man. The novel suggests that murder is allowed under the right circumstances. If the kidnapping case is hideous and Ratchett is too evil, it is fine to kill him. This is the risk for the Armst...
Hercule Poirot was widely known for his detective work due to the stories of the mysteries he solved in the newspapers but in this era, most people don’t care much about murders. The news stories nowadays often involve either politics or celebrity scandals. Since they wouldn’t write about Poirot, he would not achieve and therefore, would not have permission from the police to conduct his own private investigation. Without the protagonist, the story would drastically change and the murder might have gone unsolved like Patrick and Christine’s previous murder.
Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express in 1934 and based it on two events that actually occurred.
Agatha Christie is one of the most famous mystery novelists of all time. The reasons for her success directly relate to her life experiences, whether positive or negative. Without the hardships she faced and the adventures she experienced, her novels would not have the depth and diversity they do. With her success she set the standard for generations of mystery novelists to come.
Have you ever felt the sensation of curiosity, mystery, or confusion? Agatha Christie brings those emotions to life in her novels. Born on September 15, 1890 in South West England, Christie grew up with her American father homeschooling her. She absorbed children’s stories of her time which inspired her creativity. In “And Then There Were None,” ten strangers are invited to an island, all with a guilty secret to be revealed. As they start to be killed off one-by-one, they realize the killer is among them. Agatha Christie delivers a suspense-filled story with hints and unique patterns in dialogue.
The point of view in The Murder on the Orient Express is third-person omniscient, which is crucial to the book. The reader can see an example when Christie first introduces Mrs. Debenham. Christie tells all about Mrs. Debenham’s adventure up until that point and also gives a brief description of her thoughts and feelings about Hercule (Christie 6). Christie does not, however, reveal any of Mrs. Debenhams involvement in the murder. Knowing the thoughts of the characters is very important in keeping the reader interested and trying to figure out the murder without giving away. Critics supports this idea by saying, although the thoughts and feelings of all characters are given, the restricted information Christie leaves out, gives the readers a dramatic effect ("Murder on the Orient" 152). Christie’s style in The Murder on the Orient Express also included some stereotyping of individuals on the train. This stereotyping was shown when it was decided that the stab wounds seemed to be inflicted by a woman based on the lack of intensity (Christie 56). Another place stereotyping was concerned was when Antonio was suspected solely based on his Italian nationality (Christie 122). The stereotyping Christie includes in her book shows importance to the plot by distracting the readers from more valid evidence. This distraction is another tactic used to keep the reader intrigued in the story. Greg Wilson comments about Christie’s insensitive remarks and says she might use these shallow, stereotypical comments about the characters as a crucial part of the murder plot ("Murder on the Orient" 155). The author’s style draws the reader in by utilizing distracting elements to elude them from the
...t-out and cunning crime will not go unpunished. This notion plays on the idea that good always wins. An idea this simple is easy to overlook, but can have profound results. Subconsciously the reader takes in that “good always wins” and this will in turn reduce/lower their desires for doing evil. So by having the detective always solve the case, which happens in virtually all of detective fiction, the reader is left more fulfilled and less likely to commit a crime themselves.