外国语毕业论文-分析阿加莎克里斯蒂在其侦探小说《阳光下的罪恶》中的写作手法.doc

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1、 分析阿加莎克里斯蒂在其侦探小说阳光下的罪恶中的写作手法An Analysis of Agatha Christies Writing Skills in Her Detective Story Evil Under The SunWang HuayiUnder the Supervision of Mou LilinSchool of Foreign Languages and CulturesPanzhihua UniversityMay 2009ContentsAbstract.IKey Words.I摘要.II关键词IIIntroduction.1I. Unique Charm of

2、the Plot.31. Puzzles at the Center of a Plot.32. Puzzling and Complicated Plot.42.1 The Conflicts between the Suspects and the Murderee.42.2 The Conflicts between Motive and Alibi.52.3 Different Ways of Investigation between Poirot and the Chief Constable Colonel Weston53. Unexpected but Reasonable

3、End6II. Characterization81. The Deceptive Innocent Image82. The Deceptive Guilty Image8III. Conversation.101. Conversation as a Way of Characterization102. Conversation as a Way of Detection11IV. Murder and Investigation.121. Setting122. Murderer and Victim122.1 Murderer132.2 Victim133. Methods Used

4、 by the Murderer143.1 Hidden Characterization and Motive143.2 The Deception of Time143.3 Impersonation164. Method of InvestigationJig-saw.16Conclusion.17Acknowledgements.18Bibliography19AbstractAgatha Christie, the “Queen” of detective fiction, is famous for the uniqueness and charm of her detective

5、 novels. Evil Under The Sun is one of her representative works. It is a murder case taking place on a small island with wonderful plot and unexpected end. The thesis will analyze the writing skills of this novel. Agatha Christies arrangement of the plot is very unique. The puzzle often occurs at the

6、 center of a plot instead of at the beginning. She often uses various ways of characterization to promote the plot. In addition, using conversation as a way of detection is a character of this novel as well as the uniqueness of Agatha Christies writing skills. Moreover, the way of murder and investi

7、gation will also be analyzed. Through the investigation of this novel, Agatha Christies different ways of writing detective novels will be discovered. Her works are unique in the world of detective novels.Key Wordsdetective; murder; plot; characterization; conversation; investigation摘要阿加莎克里斯蒂，英国侦探小说

8、女王，以其独特且充满魅力的侦探小说著称于世。阳光下的罪恶是她的代表作之一，讲述了一个发生在小岛上的杀人事件，情节精彩，结局出人意料。本文将对阳光下的罪恶的创作手法进行探讨。阿加莎克里斯蒂的情节设置独树一帜，迷案总是发生在故事中期而非开头，她常利用各种方法塑造小说中的人物形象以配合整个小说情节的发展。除此之外，在阳光下的罪恶中，最有特色的是用对话作为破案方法之一，这也是阿加莎克里斯蒂的独到之处。最后本文还将探讨该小说中的犯案和调查方法。通过对该小说的研究，可以发现阿加莎克里斯蒂的侦探小说写作手法的与众不同，她的作品不愧是侦探小说中的一朵奇葩。关键词侦探；谋杀；小说情节；人物；对话；调查Intro

9、duction As long as human beings remain curious, it is certain that detective novels, in all their various forms, will continue to exert destined glamour. In Britain, the “Queen” of murder mystery novel is, without doubt, Agatha Christie. Although the writer herself died more than thirty years ago, h

10、er novels and short story collections are still sold in huge numbers. The attraction of Agatha Christies books, both in Britain and abroad, is not hard to understand. Each book of hers is cleverly constructed. She uses characters that are easily recognizable and her plots develop almost like clockwo

11、rk. But most importantly, all her stories set puzzles, the readers can enjoy themselves. For her talent of laying puzzles in her fiction, she was remarkably celebrated as the “Queen of Crime”, “Queen of Detective Fiction”, “Queen of the Mystery Genre”, “Queen of Maze”, “Mistress of Mystery”. And wha

12、t is more, she was appointed as “Dame of The British Empire” by the Queen of UK in 1971.Various researches have been made on Agatha Christies work. Most of them focus on the writing methods and glamour of her novels, and some are interested in her mysterious life. As a female writer, especially as a

13、 female detective writer, Agatha Christies female element in her novels is also discussed. Hercule Poirot came first to Agatha Christies fictional world in The Mysterious Affair at Styles in 1920 (first publishing year). This comic sleuth, who was proud of his “little gray cells”, enjoyed great popu

14、larity in the detective history. In this thesis, based on the analysis of Agatha Christies representative worksEvil Under The Sun, the glamour and writing skills of Agatha Christies detective novel will be discussed. Evil Under The Sun is Agatha Christies famous detective story. It is a story which

15、takes place on a small isolated island. Some people, including a fat Belgian detective named Hercule Poirot, come to this island to spend their holiday. The characters have some subtle relationships. As the story goes on, one of the visitors Arlena Marshall is murdered. Oddly enough, the suspects in

16、volved in the case all have motives to kill Arlena, but each of them has apparent alibi. Hercule Poirot, with his “grey cells”, uses a quite different way to solve this case and reveals the murderer. The story is exciting and the ending is unexpected.There are four main parts in the thesis. The firs

17、t part focuses on the arrangement of the plot. The second part, including deceptive image of the innocence and guiltiness, discuses the ways of characterization. In the third part, conversation as a way of characterization and detection is investigated. The fourth part will analyze the ways of murde

18、r and investigation.The purpose of the thesis is to discuss the unique writing skills of Agatha Christies detective novel. Through the investigation of this novel, Agatha Christies different ways of writing detective novels will be discovered. Her works are unique in the world of detective novels.I.

19、 Unique Charm of the PlotAgatha Christies detective fiction has her own unique features. Anyone who has read just one of Christies novels will definitely be puzzled and then be deceived, but he will also look for another book of Christies and will be deceived for another time. Over and over again, t

20、he puzzles of Christies mysteries have caught many on her conjured trap, which, not surprisingly, is the magic power of her works and lies on her uniqueness of plotting. The uniqueness will be shown in the following aspects: puzzle at the center of a plot, puzzling and complicated plot, and unexpect

21、ed but reasonable end.1. Puzzles at the Center of a PlotThe detective fiction of Agatha Christie distinguishes itself (also exclaimed by many critics) as a “cross puzzle”, in which the focus of all is the “murder puzzle” and hence the detection by the sleuth around the murder. In most classic detect

22、ive novels, puzzles are often set in the very beginning. The victim may have been murdered, or some strange or horrible things have happened in the beginning, then the investigation is undertaken. But in Evil Under The Sun, the puzzle unfolds in the middle chapters as the scenario goes on. There are

23、 thirteen chapters in this novel. In the first chapter, Agatha Christie introduces the derivation and geographical situation of the Jolly Roger Hotel on the island of Leathercombe Bay. And then she writes many conversations among characters through which readers can have an impression of the guests

24、in the hotel. From chapter two to chapter four, the story develops without any exciting or strange things, and there are still many conversations. The murder happens at the end of chapter four when Arlena Marshalls body is found on the bench of Pixy Cove. Many readers who first read Christies work o

25、ften feel unaccustomed to this arrangement of plot, and sometimes even feel bored in first chapters. This happens in many of Christies novel, but wise as she is, she knows that the readers do not always keep enthusiasm. Just when the readers fell relaxed as nothing happens, the murder is undertaken.

26、 This arrangement of plot can gain a dramatic effect. 2. Puzzling and Complicated PlotPlots of Christies novel are usually concentrated on the process of finding the culprit. After the murder takes place, the detective tries his best to find useful clues. Although there are some misleading clues, th

27、e most important clues would be found at last. Through investigation, every character is suspected but the culprit turns out to be the one who has the least possibility to commit the crime. During the detectives process of finding out the criminal, Christie arranges many enigmas and traps, which lea

28、d the investigation into a vague condition. In order to achieve her trapping, the writer uses several conflicts.2.1 The Conflicts Between the Suspects and the Murderee After the murder happens, several people are suspected because they all have some subtle relationships with the victim Arlena Marsha

29、ll. The fist suspect is her husband Kenneth Marshall. Arlena Marshall is a beautiful woman who has strong allure to man, and she is notorious for this. On the island, she spends a lot of time with Patrick Redfern, a handsome young man whose wife is Christine Redfern. Without doubt, Patrick Redfern i

30、s Arlenas lover. As Arlenas husband, Kenneth Marshall must be very angry about the affair of Arlena and Redfern. Moreover, he is the only heir of Arlenss fortune if she dies. Meanwhile, Christine Redfern who seems totally ignored by her husband also has the reason to hate Arlena. Linda Marshall, Ken

31、neth Marshalls daughter, does not like her stepmother, to be more exact, she hates her. Linda thinks her days become dark because of Arlena. Rosamund Darnley, Kenneth Marshalls friend, persuades Marshall to divorce Arlena but fails. She loves Marshall and thinks Arlena is a bad existence to both Cap

32、tain Marshall and Linda. 2.2 The Conflict Between Motive and AlibiMurder without reasons does not exist in the classic Christies novels. Captain Marshalls motive to kill Arlena is for jealousy and money. Linda wants to kill her stepmother because she hates her. Rosamund Darnley, out of her love for

33、Marshall and Linda, has motive to commit the crime, let alone Christine Redfern. But after the inquiry, all of them have apparent alibi. As the doctor concludes, the murder must happen during the period from 11:00 am to 11:45 am. During this time, Captain Marshall is writing letters by typewriter wh

34、ich can be proven by a servant in the hotel. Linda and Christine Redfern are together in Gull Cove, and Linda can prove Christine leaves for tennis in 11:45 am, so both of them have no time to kill Arlena who is in Pixy Cove at that time. As for Rosamund Darnley, she says she is reading books in Sun

35、ny Ledge during that time, and this can be proven by Emily Brewster and Patrick Redfern because they see her when they are boating.Motive is always a key to an investigation, but in this case, the suspects who have apparent motives all have alibi, which makes the plot become more and more complicate

36、 and puzzling. The conflict between motive and alibi makes the whole investigation full of mysteries.2.3 Different Ways of Investigation Between Poirot and the Chief Constable Colonel Weston In the development of the plot, Christie makes use of the different ways of investigations between Poirot and

37、 Colonel Weston to make the plot more complicated and puzzling. Colonel Weston, who stands for the readers the police, usually focuses his attention on the superficial fact such as the alibi, motives and every clue he finds. He even comes to a conclusion that the murder has relationship with a dope

38、gang because some heroin is found in Pixy Cove. From the aspect of evidence, his ratiocination is acceptable. However, Poirots way is quite different. When Colonel Weston holds his inquisition, Poirot just observes the suspects silently and then he conducts his own unofficial inquiry. He pays all hi

39、s attention to some small details such as a pair of scissors, a broken pipe stem, and a bottle thrown from a window, a green calendar, and a packet of candles and so on. By mixing these two ways up, the writer, on the one hand, makes the plot full of enigmas and traps, on the other hand, makes the p

40、lot fluently develop to the unexpected end. 3. Unexpected but Reasonable End Agatha Christie is good at devising this kind of plot and unexpected end. She would never let the readers know the criminal till the last few pages. Even in the end, Christie never forgets to create mystery. In addition to

41、the attempt to figure out the crime, the readers are also puzzled by the detectives activity since Poirot has come to understand what is going on. His actions of testing his hypotheses and entrapping the criminal become new mysteries to the readers.The culprits of Christies fiction are often a prete

42、ntiously married husband (Death on the Nile, the Mysterious Affair at Styles), or a frivolous actress (Lord Edgware Dies, Cards on the Table), or an excusable maniacs (By the Pricking of My Thumbs), or a jealous archeologist (Murder in Mesopotamia), or a talented child (Crooked House). Similar trick

43、s are tried over and over again. In Evil under the Sun, the embittered wife of the murderer is totally ignored by him, but is proven to be the conspiracy of the crime. The climax comes when Poirot reveals the culpritsPatrick Redfern and Christine Redfern. The readers have to rearrange their logic be

44、cause the culprit is not one person but two who seem to be unable to commit the crime. Although Christine Redfern has strong motive to kill Arlena, she is a weak woman with little strength, and most importantly, she has strong alibi. As for Patrick Redfern, he acts like a foolish young man who is lu

45、red by Arlena. He is strong enough to strangle Arlena, but he has no motive and time to do this, because he is the first person who finds Arlens death, and before that, he is boating with Emily Brewster. Moreover, the readers can never image that the “body” found by Patrick Redfern and Emily Brewste

46、r is not Arlena but Christine Redfern who disguises herself as Arlena. The readers are shocked by the truth, but will accept it because it is so reasonable although so incredible.In Evil Under The Sun, there is no sign of whatsoever of unraveling, and the readers would like to hit their face in the

47、end, because they are bluffed more than twice by the “tricky” author. But all in all, these features are extremely tightened together to point at a same direction: the murder itself is the magnet of the whole plot, around which Christie composes her puzzles and schemed out her murder plans. But a murder plot, whether complicated or not, has to interpret itself logically, yet to be detected by the apt sleuth, and to exh