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MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO

Faculty of Education

English Department

THE PORTRAIT OF ENGLISH SOCIETY

IN SELECTED NOVELS

OF AGATHA CHRISTIE

Bachelor thesis

Author: Eva BlaŽková

Supervisor: Mgr. Lucie PodrouŽková, Ph. D.

Brno 2006

Declaration

I declare that I have compiled this final thesis by myself and that I have used only the sources listed in the bibliography.

List of Contents

1. Introduction.................................................................................................1

2. Whodunit.....................................................................................................3

3. Women and Women"s Issues......................................................................4

4. Family Life................................................................................................11

5. Servants.....................................................................................................18

6. Conclusion ................................................................................................30

7. Resume......................................................................................................32

8. Bibliography..............................................................................................33

9. Appendix...................................................................................................34

1 1. Introduction

The detective stories by Agatha Christie are my big love. I have read almost all her novels and short stories, I even dreamed about becoming a great detective. I just could not decide, whether I would be more like Miss Marple or Mr. Poirot, her two most popular detectives. What makes me like them so much? The character of the great detective, who comes and solves everything at the end of the book by intellectual thinking, exposes the evil and represents the order, is a phenomenon which brings security into our lives and leaves us with the hope for justice. Although the main motive of crime novels is money, the background of these stories is much more diverse. It is the society itself, its relationships and delicate invisible web of consensus and rules which must be obeyed as well as the character and temperament of the people, which forms the complete picture of a crime story. As the title of my thesis indicates, I would like to focus and more deeply comment on some interesting features of the English society as reflected in the works of Agatha Christie. My work is based on the information gathered from her novels Crooked House (1949), There is a Tide (1948), Hercule Poirot´s Christmas (1939), Five Little Pigs (1942), The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) and The Moving Finger (1942). Agatha Christie is the best selling author of any genre and of all time. Her books have sold over two billion copies in the English language and another billion in over

103 foreign languages. She is famously known as the "Queen of Crime" and is the most

important and innovative writer in the development of the English detective fiction. She published over eighty novels and stage plays, many of these featuring one of her main series characters - Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. Most of her books and short stories have been filmed, her play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest run ever in London and it is still running in 2006 after more than 20,000 performances. In 1971 she was granted the title of Dame Commander of the British Empire. I consider her one of the most successful women in the world. Her private life was not that happy. Her father died when she was only a child, her first marriage was an unhappy one and was divorced in 1928. However, they had a daughter Rosalind, named after one of Shakespeare"s heroines. During World War I Agatha Christie worked in a hospital and then a pharmacy. This job influenced her

2 detective stories, as many of the murders in her books are committed with the help of

poison. Her life carries one big mystery - her disappearance for eleven days in 1926. Her car was found abandoned and in the end she was discovered in a hotel in Harrogate, she herself later claimed to have suffered amnesia due to a nervous breakdown following the death of her mother and her husband"s infidelity. A fictionalised version of the disappearance was recreated in a film Agatha (1971), starring Vanessa Redgrave as Christie and Dustin Hoffman as a journalist who finds her. In 1930 she remarried to Sir Max Mallowan, a British archaeologist, who was fourteen years younger. This marriage was very happy, although even nowadays the relationship between an older woman and a younger man is seen as something very suspicious and unconventional. I see in this her big courage as well as independent spirit. They visited together the Middle East and several of her novels took place there. She died in 1976 at the age of eighty-five and is buried at St. Mary"s Churchyard in Cholsey, Oxon. The aim of this thesis is to examine social aspects of British society between the two world wars as described in her novels, especially the role and nature of the family, the role of women and portrait of social classes and to compare the social background depicted in Agatha Christie"s novels with the available historical facts. I divided my work into four chapters, which concentrate on the typical features of English society between the World War I and World War II. In the first chapter "Whodunit" I want to introduce the classical detective story of "Golden Age" of detective fiction, the typical setting - the English countryside and society which is described it the novels, mainly upper class and upper middle class and also the two main detective characters - Miss Marple and Mr. Poirot. Agatha Christie knew these classes and she depicted very precisely the main features of them - strong sense of possessiveness, deep prejudices and hypocrisy. In the chapter "Women and the Women"s Issues" I would like to discuss the role of a woman in the society and the changing attitude towards women in the first half of the twentieth century. This chapter will also introduce some women characters depicted in Christie"s novels. The third chapter "Family Life" will deal with the picture of a family in Agatha Christie"s books. The family is considered a foundation stone of the society, and the change from the Victorian model of the family to a modern one as we know it nowadays is very interesting. Next chapter, "Servants", will show the working class - teachers, maids and governesses, their role in Christie"s novel and changes in the society connected with them.

3 2. Whodunit

The question "who has done it" is a basic concept of the detective novel from so called Golden Age Mystery novel, where the puzzle itself is the most important thing and where the reader gets many clues from which the murderer can be identified before the solution is revealed in the final pages of the book. The character of the great detective and the mystery which he is solving is the central motive of the detective story, the rest around is reduced to a minimum. (HilskÞ 1992: 165) The return of a natural and lawful order of the countryside life is the end of the narrative. In the Golden Age of detective novel the writers followed some clichés, which later became unacceptable and ridiculed, for instance very popular was a locked room mystery. It is a particular kind of whodunit, where the crime is committed under impossible circumstances a where the victim was found in a room which was at the time of crime impossible to enter and leave without being seen by the others. The writes also followed distinct rules, where some topics like increasing unemployment, the General Strike of 1926, the Great Depression of the 1930s, the rise of European dictatorships or sexual relationships between the characters of the story are totally excluded (HilskÞ 1992: 165). Accordingly, the famous rules published in 1929 by Ronald Knox, known as Ten Commandments, Christie followed only partly. In some stories she did not comply with them at all, like in her famous novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, where the narrator of the story is revealed to be the murderer itself. The rules were following:

1. The criminal must be mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone

whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow.

2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.

3. Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.

4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a

long scientific explanation at the end.

5. No Chinaman must figure in the story.

6. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable

intuition which proves to be right.

7. The detective himself must not commit the crime.

8. The detective is bound to declare any clues upon which he may happen to light.

4 9. The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal from the reader any

thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.

10. Twin brothers and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly

prepared for them. According to Knox, a detective story "must have as its main interest the unraveling of a mystery; a mystery whose elements are clearly presented to the reader at an early stage in the proceedings, and whose nature is such as to arouse curiosity, a curiosity which is gratified at the end." In this chapter I would like to deal with some specific attributes of Christie"s books: typical setting, her famous detectives and the typical society which she writes about in her novels. The British countryside is a term which brings in the mind places away from the influence of large cities and towns, a typical village with a church, full of local people interested in gossips, a typical English gentleman in tweed, large green fields, lakes and woods. Surely our concept of living in the country is also influenced by reading the books of queen of crime, whose stories are very often closely connected with the countryside. What does this typical village of English country look like? We can assume from the description in The Moving Finger: Lymstock had been a place of importance at the time of the Norman Conquest. In the twentieth century it was a place of no importance whatsoever. It was three miles from a main road - a little provincial market town with a sweep of moorland rising above it. Little Furze was situated on the road leading up to the moors. It was a prim, low, white house with a slopping Victorian veranda painted a faded green. (p. 8) The society living there is also a typical one for Christie"s novels, and its description perfectly fits into our image of upper middle class society and living in the country, which is totally different from living in the city. The comparison of habits of people from the city and the ones from the country is often funny, but probably very true. In The Moving Finger, the narrator of the story moves from London to a tiny town Lymstock to recover after the accident - a bad flying crash and comes to live there with his sister Joanna, who represents a young modern woman from the city, determined to

5 assimilate, but her trying is influenced by her ideals about living in the country. The

manners of people from Lymstock are totally unexpected for her: As soon as we had been given e few days to settle down, Lymstock came solemnly to call. Everybody in Lymstock had a label _ "rather like happy families" as Joanna said. There was Mr. Symmington the lawyer, thin and dry, with his querulous bridge playing wife. Dr. Griffith - the dark, melancholy doctor - and his sister who was big and hearty. The vicar, a scholarly absent minded elderly man and his erratic eager faced wife. Rich dilettante Mr. Pye of Prior"s End, and finally Miss Emily Barton herself, the perfect spinster of village tradition. Joanna fingered the cards with something like awe. "I didn"t know," she said in an awestruck voice, "that people really called - with cards!" "That," I told her, "is because you know nothing about the country." (p. 9) Not only the behaviour what is expected is strange to Joanna, also her looks does not fit there. She is trying hard to assimilate, but because she has always lived in a city, her trying is influenced by fashionable magazines. Her brother makes fun of her: Joanna is very pretty and very gay, and she likes dancing and cocktails and love affairs and rushing about in high powered cars. She is definitely and entirely urban. "At any rate," said Joanna, "I look all right." I studied her critically and was not able to agree. Joanna was dressed (by Mirotin) for le sport. The effect was quite charming, but a bit startling for Lymstock. "No," I said. "You"re all wrong. You ought to be wearing an old faded tweed skirt with a nice cashmere jumper matching it and perhaps a rather baggy cardigan coat, and you"d wear a felt hat and thick stockings and old well-worn brogues. Your face is all wrong, too." I added. What"s wrong with that? I"ve got on my Country Tan Make-

Up No. 2."

"Exactly," I said. "If you lived here, you would have just a little powder to take the shine off the nose and you would almost certainly be wearing all your eyebrows instead of only a quarter of them." (p. 9) As it was said, the description of the village life may seem funny, but it holds deep truth inside, the country is less spoiled than a city. In Christie"s stories its peace is disturbed by a crime, which is then revealed by a detective who is basically restoring the

6 natural and lawful order of country innocence (Story, Childs, 1997: p.11) It means, that

when in The Moving Finger the town is taken by surprise by the anonymous letters and later on with the death of one of the ladies from upper middle class, a detective amateur - Miss Marple - appears and solves the mystery. Miss Marple was the second detective created by Agatha Christie, she appeared for the first time in the novel The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930 and then proved her intelligence and knowledge of human characters in another eleven novels and twenty one short stories. She is described as a tall, thin elder lady with pink and wrinkled face, blue eyes and white hair, always knitting. Her looks is puzzling, and it often misleads people who do not know her, because she is using her spinster stereotype to her advantage. She is living in a small village of St. Mary Mead, and the life there brings her the opportunity to observe every evil trait in human nature. (Reddy, 2003: 193). Agatha Christie once said that when creating her, she used some characters of her grandmother"s friends and also the grandmother"s character itself. She said about her: "She expected the worst of everyone and everything and was with almost frightening accuracy, usually proved right." So Miss Marple, drawing parallels between the lifetime stories she witnessed through her life and the crime which she, usually by accident, investigates, and at the end she finds out the truth. Her appearance at the place of the crime is usually explained by one sentence, she is often visiting some of her numerous acquaintances or family friends. Our afternoon at the vicarage was really one of the most peaceful we had spent. It was an attractive old house and had a big, shabby, comfortable drawing room with faded rose cretonne. The Dane Calthopes had a guest staying with them, an amiable, elderly lady who was knitting something with white, fleecy wool. We had very good hot scones for tea, the vicar came in, and beamed placidly on us while he pursued his gentle erudite conversation. It was very pleasant. I don"t mean that we got away from the topic of the murder, because we didn"t. Miss Marple, the guest, was naturally thrilled by the subject. As she said apologetically: "We have so little to talk about in the country!" She had made up her mind that the dead girl must have been just like her Edith. "Such a nice little maid, and so willing, but sometimes just a little slow to take in things." Miss Marple also had a cousin whose niece"s sister in law had had a great deal of annoyance and trouble over some

7 anonymous letters, so that, too, was very interesting to the charming old lady. (p. 135)

The female detectives were not at all common, in fact Christie"s first detective was a well known Mr. Poirot, it means a male. He was introduced in her very first detective novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which was published in 1920, while Miss Marple was created ten years later. The reason may be following the stereotype of a male detective or awareness of not a big success of detective stories with a female one. (Reddy, 2003: 193) It is remarkable, that Christie got really tired of Mr. Poirot and wanted to get rid of him, but the readers liked him and so she kept on writing about him. I have not found any similar remark about Miss Marple. In any case, Hercule Poirot is not an ordinary man: Firstly, he is not English, but Belgian, he is not a hero type of detective, but small, elderly little man, he does not uses his muscles, but his "little grey cells". Before his escape to England during WWI, Poirot, a retired Belgian police officer, was a celebrated private detective in Europe. During these years he became acquainted with Arthur Hastings, an Englishman, who would later become his trusted friend and the occasional narrator of his investigations and plays the role of "Dr. Watson". Poirot"s appearance is really remarkable; the description of him is given by Hastings himself in The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Poirot was an extraordinary looking little man. He was hardly more than five feet, four inches, but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. The neatness of his attire was almost incredible. I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound. Yet this quaint dandyfied little man who, I was sorry to see, now limped badly, had been in his time one of the most celebrated members of the Belgian police. As a detective, his flair had been extraordinary, and he had achieved triumphs by unravelling some of the most baffling cases of the day. He pointed out to me the little house inhabited by him and his fellow Belgians, and I promised to go and see him at an early date. Then he raised his hat with a flourish to Cynthia, and we drove away. "He"s a dear little man," said Cynthia. "I"d no idea you knew him."

8 "You"ve been entertaining a celebrity unawares," I replied. And, for the rest of the way home, I recited to them the various exploits and triumphs of Hercule Poirot. (p....)

Although the characters of Miss Marple and Mr. Poirot may seem totally different, their methods have similar elements: asking a lot of questions, watching people and their behaviour as well as their knowledge of human thinking and nature help them to find new connections between what has been said and what has been done. I see their resemblance also in their extraordinary characters, but while Poirot is an outsider, using his knowledge of psychology and analytical way of thinking, Miss Marple is an integrated member of the community and solves the crime with the folk wisdom, an ordinary understanding of human nature, because all the crimes she investigates resemble the events and gossips from her home, the village of St. Mary Mead. As it was said, the novels take place very often in the country, in the society called upper middle class. This is a term from sociology that describes wealthier and more privileged members of the middle class. Because Christie herself came from the same class, she knew it very well and could give us a vivid picture of it. It can be defined as a class consisting of well educated professionals with graduate degree and comfortable income. But in England, the personal wealth is not a necessary criterion of belonging to upper middle class, but accent, language, education - usually in a good public school, family background and certain expected behaviour and taste became the defining characteristics of this class. In one word, the member of this class can be described as a gentleman, although he does not come from a landowning family. Very often its members have the occupation as a scientist, a lawyer or a medicine doctor, but the occupation can be also not traditional at all, so very often they are writers or painters. The resemblance of upper middle class and upper class in Britain is obvious, but while one can actually become a member of upper middle class, it is almost impossible in Britain to attain upper class status, except by marriage or, in some circumstances, the granting of the title. Traditionally the term "upper class" is only accorded to the British and continental titled aristocracy and landed gentry, it means that their wealth and position were based on property and title. In other words, a bankrupt, even homeless lord would stay upper class, while a plain, uneducated millionaire with a working class background would stay a working class, despite his or her money. (www.wikipedia.com) Even nowadays the rich, brilliant entrepreneurs, who have truly earned their money by hard work, are considered outsiders by the upper

9 class. (Story, Childs: 2003: 215). The example of one upper class family is by the

solicitor of the Crales from Five Little Pigs: "Our firm, of course, has known many generations of the Crales. I knew Amyas Crale and his father, Richard Crale, and I can remember Enoch Crale - the grandfather. County sqires, all of them, thought more of horses than human beings. They rode straight, liked women, and had no truck with ideas. They distrusted ideas. But Richard Crale"s wife was cram full of ideas - more ideas than sense. She was poetical and musical - she played the harp, you know. She enjoyed poor health and lookedquotesdbs_dbs23.pdfusesText_29

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