Abstract
Considering the rise of detective fiction in the twentieth century, it is clear that Agatha Christie plays a very important role in the development of detective novels. As a female author, she achieves producing distinctive works and creating remarkable sleuths. Although her works reflect the conventional characteristics of detective narrative, what makes her fiction distinguished is the female sleuth Miss Marple, who is an unconventional character in terms of her position in Christie’s writings. Particularly, in her The Body in the Library , the character, Miss Marple, comes to the fore as an amateur investigator, who surpasses the power of patriarchal society. Her appearance among the male sleuths changes the route of the investigation when she accomplishes attaining the truth about the murder and revealing the mystery of crimes. In this sense, in a male-dominated setting, Miss Marple establishes order and morality in society and proves that women are as intelligent, reasonable and challenging as men. In this paper, Christie’s contribution to detective fiction by means of her character, Miss Marple in The Body in the Library , will be highlighted. Moreover, the stratagems Miss Marple employs to solve the uncertainties about the criminal case will be explored so as to emphasize the conflict between women and men not only in society but also in the field of criminal investigations, therefore together with her talents in the field of criminal cases, her struggles with the patriarchal values will also be discussed in this study. Thus, in this paper, Miss Marple’s efforts to enlighten the murder, her overcoming the prejudice against women and her prevailing over male-domination will be analyzed.
Highlights
Agatha Christie, one of the most popular authors of detective novel, contributed to the development of detective fiction by means of her stories, mysteries, spy thrillers and novels
She achieves producing distinctive works and creating remarkable sleuths. Her works reflect the conventional characteristics of detective narrative, what makes her fiction distinguished is the female sleuth Miss Marple, who is an unconventional character in terms of her position in Christie’s writings
Agatha Christie, creating Miss Marple and giving her the power and the intelligence to compete with the professional male sleuths and even to surpass the talent of specialized male investigators, breaks the barriers in front of the females repressed by the male-dominated society
Summary
Agatha Christie, one of the most popular authors of detective novel, contributed to the development of detective fiction by means of her stories, mysteries, spy thrillers and novels. Miss Marple, one of the most popular detectives of Christie, comes to the fore in many novels of the author: One can recognize the female character, Miss Marple in Christie’s works such as in The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), The Body in the Library (1942), A Murder is Announced (1950), A Pocket Full of Rye (1953), The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1962), A Caribbean Mystery (1964), At Bertram’s Hotel (1965), Nemesis (1971), Sleeping Murder (1976) (Drabber and Stringer, 2007, p.134). The most significant aspect in these works is that the detective, Miss Marple attains success and solves the mysteries owing to her female identity. The stereotyped role of women as submissive, passive, distressed, waiting to be rescued by a male, which was created by the male-dominated nineteenth century society, will be questioned and rejected through the analysis of Miss Marple as a successful and powerful female detective. The binary opposition affirming the inferiority of women and superiority of men will be destroyed
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