International Journal of Arts and Sciences
4(1): 238-248 (2011)
CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934
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Patterns in Ten Little Indians
Filiz Özbaş, CIU, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze the basic patterns in Dame Agatha Christie’s
crime novel Ten Little Indians which are the use of space, time, characters, and events that
culminate in the solution of the murders. In order for people to live in peace and harmony and
not be under the shadow of doubt and more importantly for justice to rein, murder has to be
solved. In a society where there is fear that justice may fail to prevail all the time, detective/
crime novels constitute a guarantee against injustice. There is, also, emulation for a kind of
divinity, a kind of immortality in securing this guarantee against injustice.
Keywords: pattern, space, time, characters, events, solution
INTRODUCTION
Dame Agatha Christie, born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller (1889-1976), wrote seventy-six
pieces of crime fiction in her life time. The works of this “Queen of Crime Fiction” have been
translated into over forty languages and sold in staggering numbers all over the world. This
paper aims to analyze the allusions and basic patters she employs in her famous novel Ten
Little Indians: the use of space, time, characters, and events that culminate in the solution of
the murders. Space and time are especially important in that they are instrumental in
deliberately misleading the reader, in reaching a solution (solving the crime) or in determining
the way the murder is committed.
PATTERNS
Man lives in space. Just as we are tied to space, space is, at the same time, our reflection. As a
result of this reciprocal situation, people are integrated with space. “Existence is spatial”
(Marleau-Ponty 293). According to Leibniz, space “is not any state of objects but a series of
situational states enabling objects to follow each other” (Leibniz 8-9). Thus, these “situational
states” change in time. Order in space is disrupted when interpersonal conflicts are reflected
into space; shaped by man, space begins to shape man. Space is especially important in
Agatha Christie’s crime novels because every murderer planning the deed and every detective
solving the murder has to take into consideration spatial order. While the murderer tries to
remake the changes s/he has made in spatial order, the detective works in the opposite
direction to restructure the space and thus catch the murderer. Space is the main component of
the setting in a Christie novel in which characters are brought together in “narrow spaces”
where either nobody knows the others or everybody knows each other. In both cases space
has a technical function. It serves to reach a solution, to delay the solution and to determine
the way murder is committed.
Agatha Christie employs three different time dimensions in her crime novels. The first one
can be called the “today” dimension in which not the story of the murder but the solution of
the murder is given. The second dimension which can be called “yesterday” is the one where
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the story of the murder takes place. Apart from these two there is a third dimension we can
call the “previous days”. This is the story of the events which happened long before the
murder and which constituted the situation that causes the murder. While the “today” and
“yesterday” dimensions are given simultaneously and side by side in each novel, the
“previous days” dimension is given at the end when the murder is solved and it clarifies any
doubts with regard to the cause of the crime or crimes. Apart from these time dimensions, the
events in Agatha Christie’s crime novels can move from the beginning to the end, from the
end to the beginning and in media res. All in all time, just like space, time can serve to reach a
solution, to delay the solution or to determine the way murder is committed.
In Christie novels, the detective, the murderer and the victim are the three sides of the eternal
triangle of crime fiction. The detective is forced to be active in the face of events. S7he is
called upon to duty. The detective takes into consideration five factors which are opportunity,
means, character, capability and motive in order to solve the mystery of the murder(s). These
five factors are always there and they all support each other. The detective is superior to all
the characters and the reader in that for one thing s/he has the ability to see and understand
things nobody else is able to see or to understand. Even if the detective makes minor mistakes
in evaluating the murder cases, s/he is the only one who can discern the discrepancy between
appearance and reality. More importantly, “nothing happens to the detective for a rule of the
genre secures their immunity” (Todorov 1507). People who try to play the role of detective
are generally killed as it is a dangerous task for ordinary people.
The murderer kills for reasons such as to acquire money, to punish someone, to marry
another, or for self-protection or because s/he is psychotic. S/he is a dangerous person who is
capable of killing, if necessary, more than one person. It is only the detective who can outwit
the murderer. As for the victims, they are killed either collaterally or due to a characteristic
they possess. The latter group can be killed for money, or because they are obstacles for their
spouses or because it is merely accidentally. The murderer and the victim can be brought
together around family ties, love relationships, business relationships, or friendship ties; this
makes the story more believable and the reason for the murder more convincing..
Every book by Agatha Christie is the story of a murder or murders. This is a constant
repetition; yet events are also renewed in every book in that each murder takes place in a
different place, at a different time, among different people, and for a different reason. The
sequence of these events constitutes the “main plot” and the “sub plots” The former is the
story of the murder. It narrates how order is disrupted and restored, that is, how the murder is
committed and the murderer caught. The latter are incidents irrelevant to the main events, but
they have an important function. They serve not only to mislead the reader and for a short
while the detective but also to embellish the main plot. They serve to delay the solution,
making the story more exciting.
The setting (space), the time, and the characters of the main and sub plots intertwine and form
the events which are skillfully shaped to create a discrepancy between appearance and reality.
Agatha Christie employs six different tactics to divert attention from reality. The diversion the
murderer painstakingly prepares is the first one. The second diversion results when the motive
for the murder is not known and remains thus until the end of the novel. The third diversion
occurs in cases when the motive is known, and if there is more than one suspect. A fourth is
when little secrets in the personal lives of characters appear to be related with the murder.
Incidents that occur simultaneously with the murder but are totally irrelevant to it constitute
the fifth type of diversion. Last but not least, is the point of view technique. “This is the result
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of the relationship between the writer and the reader; the reader either faces the narrator and
listens to him or s/he faces the story and watches it” (Lubbock 86). Agatha Christie employs
the omniscient point of view, or narration by a minor or major character, or first person
narration, all of which are closer to the telling technique rather than the showing technique.
Sometimes she uses them together in the same work since “indirect narration is rarely pure”
(Friedman 125).
Events are shaped by the use of space, time, and characters. How is a solution delayed? In
order to better understand how Agatha Christie reaches the solution we need to refer to
Ferdinand De Saussure who is considered to be the father of structuralism. His notion of the
linguistic sign is composed of the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the letters on the
page or the sound that bounces off in our ears, and the signified is the concept that appears on
our brain when we read or hear the signifier. The bond between these two is arbitrary.
Therefore, it is possible to separate the signifier and signified, or to change the relationship
between them. This makes possible the idea of a single signifier which could be
associated with more than one signified, or vice-versa, which makes ambiguity and
multiplicity of meaning possible. Now, Agatha Christie reaches the solution by finally uniting
the correct signified with the signifier and thus resolves the mystery which was structured by
uniting the wrong signified with the signifier. It is the job of the detective to observe the
discrepancy between the appearance and reality thus formed and resolved in the world of
crime fiction.
So what is Agatha Christie’s pattern? Although known also as And Then There Were None,
Ten Little Indians is different from all the other Christie detective novels in that there is no
detective to solve the mystery of the murders; the solution is only reached in the epilogue
when the police receive a letter written by the murderer, this book has been chosen due to the
fact that it is considered to be one of Christie’s most famous books and an Agatha Christie
classic.
As to the firs component of the pattern, the characters, we meet them when the book opens.
Lawrence John Wargrave (a retired judge), Vera Claythorne (governess), Philip Lombard (ex
soldier), Emily Brent (spinster), General Macarthur (retired general), Edward George
Armstrong (doctor), Antony Marston (idle rich man), and William Henry Blore (ex Scotland
Yard inspector) set out, in different vehicles, for a place called the Indian Island. Wargrave
has been invited by Lady Constance Culmington, an old friend. Claythorne is employed as a
secretary by Una Nancy Owen (The name U. N. Owen is a ticket name, reminiscent of
UNKNOWN) whom she thinks is the wife of the island’s proprietor. Lombard is employed on
the island by an Isaac Morris. Brent is invited to the island by a letter signed U.N. from
someone who says they were together at a hotel a few years ago, but he cannot remember the
person very well. Macarthur is invited to the island by Mr. Owen to remember the good old
days. Armstrong, the doctor, is to treat Mrs. Owen who has a nervous condition. Marston is
invited to a party on the island to be given by the Owen’s. Blore is employed to guard Mrs.
Owen’s jewels.
All of these characters wonder about the island and think about the unpleasant events that
caused them trouble in the past. Finally they reach Sticklehaven, a village close to the island.
From there they reach the Indian Island by boat. The only people to meet them on the island
are the caretakers Mr. and Mrs. Rogers. The host and the hostess are not there, and neither the
guests nor the caretakers know them. The Rogers have been employed through an agency.
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The guests all settle in their rooms. There is a poem entitled “Ten Little Indians” hanging in
each room. After dinner the guests see ten little china figures in the shape of Indians on a table
in the parlor. Suddenly a Voice is heard which says you are charged with the following
indictments:
1. Edward George Armstrong, that you did upon the 14th day of March, 1925, cause the
death of Louisa Mary Clees.
2. Emily Caroline Brent, that upon the 5th of November, 1931 you were responsible for
the death of Beatrice Taylor.
3. William Henry Blore that you brought about the death of James Stephen Landor on
October 10th, 1928.
4. Vera Elizabeth Claythorne, that on the 11th day of August, 1935 you killed Cyril
Ogilvie Hamilton.
5. Philip Lombard, that upon a date in February, 1932, you were guilty of the death of
twenty-one men, members of an East African tribe.
6. John Gordon Macarthur, that on the 4th of January, 1917, you deliberately sent your
wife’s lover, Arthur Richmond, to his death.
7. Anthony James Marston, that upon the 14th day of November last you were guilty of
the murder of John and Lucy Combes.
8.9. Thomas and Ethel Rogers, that on the 6th of May, 1929, you brought about the death
of Jennifer Brady.
10. Lawrence John Wargrave, that upon the 10th day of June, 1930 you were guilty of the
murder of Edward Seton” (Christie 35).
After the accusations are over, the voice asks: “Prisoners at the bar do you have anything to
say to defend yourselves?” Mrs. Rogers faints. While trying to understand what is happening,
Lombard finds a gramophone in the adjacent room. There are a few holes made on the wall,
and Rogers has played this record upon the written instructions of Mr. Owens. On the record
is also a piece called “Swan’s Song” from a play. After this incident, some of the characters
defend themselves and all deny the accusations. Only Lombard, laughing, says he left twenty
one indigenous people to die by taking away all their food and water in order to defend
himself when he was in Africa. According to him, this is not even a crime for these people are
used to dying. After the “Defense” all the characters in the book are killed one by one in
accordance with the poem “Ten Little Indians”.
Ten little Indian boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were nine.
(Marston dies after eating his diner. He is thought to have choked on his drink.)
Nine little Indian boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.
(Ethel Rogers dies in her sleep and she is found dead in the morning)
Eight little Indian boys travelling in Devon;
One said he’d stay there and then there were seven.
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(The guests go out to look for Mr. Owen. The General is sitting on the shore. He does not
come to dinner. The others find his body when they go out looking for him.)
Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
(Thomas Rogers is killed with a chopper)
Six little Indian boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five
(Emily Brent is killed with a syringe, giving the impression she was stung by a bee in the
room)
Five little Indian boys going in for law;
One got in Chancery and then there were four.
(Judge Wargrave is found seated dead with a wig on his head, wearing the stolen bathroom
curtain)
Four little Indian boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
(Dr. Armstrong gets lost the night the Judge is “found dead”. The next day, his body is found
on the shore)
Three little Indian boys walking in the zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there two.
(The remaining three are paralyzed with fear. Being hardly human now, they may as well be
in a zoo. Blore is killed by being hit with the bear-shaped marble clock)
Two little Indian boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was one.
(Philip Lombard, on a sunny day, is shot in the heart by Vera Claythorne)
One little Indian boy left all alone;
He went and hanged himself and then there were none.
(Vera Claythorne hangs herself by putting the noose around her neck and kicking the chair, all
prepared for her)
With each death one of the Indian statuettes on the table disappears. Claythorne, in a symbolic
manner, breaks the last one right before she hangs herself..
The murder of the ten people and the resolution of the crimes are spread into sixteen parts and
an epilogue. The first is the part that narrates the “setting out”. Four of the ten people in
question set out by train while the other four by car. We are not told how the Roger’s have
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reached the island. The “setting out” is symbolic. The train, because it has to go on rails, and
the car, because it cannot leave the road, are “limited” or “restricted” vehicles on land. All of
the ten people reach the island they will be seeing for the first time by boat. The boat, on the
other hand, is a vehicle that can move in an “unlimited or “unrestricted” direction on the
water. So, the characters get on restricted/ limited vehicles and reach the “unknown” by an
unrestricted/unlimited vehicle and of their own free will. Thus, the “unknown” begins in this
part as everybody is curious about the Indian Island and “connection” is established with the
island.
“Part Two” is “reaching the island”. The ten people meet each other here and everybody
settles in his/her own room. Meanwhile, each and every one of them is thinking about the
crimes they have committed in the past.
“Part Three” is where the “charges” are made, the part where, so to speak, the prosecution
reads the indictment. The “Swan’s Song”, which means the best thing a person does before
s/he dies, is played here. One of these ten characters devises and carries out these murders.
The execution is carried out, symbolically, with a trial and a trick of “theatre”. The “voice”
comes from outside the stage just as it is done in plays.
“Part Four” is where a connection is established with the court. The cases are defended here.
Seven of the characters defend themselves while Brent does not condescend to defend
himself. He is cock-sure. This is the first confession. The first execution, the death of Anthony
Marston, takes place here.
“Part Five” is where the characters think about their “crimes”. In this part it is understood that
the accusations made are not totally unfounded. Tension begins to rise as the second
execution, the murder of Ethel Rogers, is carried out in “Part Six”.
“Part Seven” is the point when a connection is established or broken with the other four parts.
A “connection established with the outer world”, is likely to break. In the story it is when the
much needed and expected boat does not arrive in the morning.
“Part Eight” is the where the unknown permeates. The surviving eight characters search the
island and the building but cannot find any strangers or anything suspicious. The second
“confession” made four parts after the first confession takes place here. General Macarthur
confesses to Vera that he did send his wife’s lover to his death.
“Part Nine” is where everybody is suspicious of everybody else. Since there are no strangers
on the island, the murderer is one of them, but who? A third murder that of General Macarthur
is committed here.
Another connection with the outside world breaks in “Part Ten” when a horrible storm breaks
out, and transportation to the island is impossible. The fourth murder that of Rogers, the
butler, is committed here.
Consistent with the pattern, four parts elapse and there is another “confession” in “Part
Eleven”. Blore confesses to Lombard a murder he committed in the past.
In “Part Twelve” where one of the six surviving characters, Miss Brent, is killed, the
remaining five decide to stick to each other at all times and search each other’s room.
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“Part Thirteen” is the third from the last. The theatre trick where the “Swan’s Song” was
played was performed in the third part. Thus the author remains consistent and another theatre
trick is repeated here. Judge Wargrave is found dead wearing a bloody wig on his head and
the red shower curtain which was stolen in “Part Ten”. The doctor who examines him
pronounces the Judge dead. Because he will be believed to be dead till the epilogue, the
surviving four people become more panicked. After the connections in the first, fourth,
seventh and tenth parts, there is another connection here. With the death of Rogers, not only is
there nobody to cook but with the electricity cut, “connection with civilization” breaks.
“Part Fourteen” is where a person goes missing. Dr. Armstrong disappears here. Of the
confessions made four parts after the accusations, the third confession is in “Part Fifteen”.
Claythorne confesses his crime to Lombard. The last connection, “connection with life” is
broken in “Part Sixteen” when all the ten people who came to Indian Island are dead.
The “Unknown” is disclosed in the epilogue when sailors find a letter written by Judge
Wargrave in a bottle in the sea and send the letter to Scotland Yard. Thus, after the sixteen
parts that constitute the novel, the epilogue is where everything is explained. Just as the other
sixteen parts are indispensable, it is not possible to reach a solution to the murders without
this part. It is disclosed that the Judge carried out the “Theatre Trick” by making a deal with
Dr. Armstrong. He talked Armstrong into helping him by saying if he appears to be “dead”,
he can move about the house freely and catch the murderer. It was also Wargrave who killed
Claythorne by arranging her chair to guarantee that she hang herself.
One of the most important explanations in the letter is the way the Judge dies. He loosely
attaches, to his eyeglasses a length of elastic black cord and lays the weight of his body on the
glasses. He then loops the cord around the door handle and attaches it to a revolver. He
presses the trigger, protecting his hand with a handkerchief. The revolver, pulled by the elastic
cord, recoils to the door and jarred by the door handle, it detaches itself from the elastic and
falls. The elastic cord, released, hangs down innocently from the eyeglasses on which his
body is lying. Hence, he is found dead, neatly laid on his bed, shot through the forehead in
accordance with the record kept by the others. Thus emerges the relationship of each part with
the others and with the whole. The parts form the “Whole” with a rhythmic repetition like a
melody among themselves in a symmetrical structure.
In the utopia tradition Thomas More brings to literature with his book Utopia, it is argued that
the “island” is a far better place than the “world”. Akşit Göktürk says,
With its characteristics of being static, closed to the outer world, and
limited only to itself, the island forms an opposition to the outer
world, and this makes the island suitable for the aims of writers of
utopia. Being limited acquires a sense of being well-organized, tidy or
presentable… As to being closed to the outer world, this quality of the
island provides the security of the model society against all the
destructive effects of attacks coming from the outside world. The
static state due to its structure of being broken away from the whole
provides continuity, permanence/ stability beyond the common
historical flow of time in the model society ideal (Akşit 18).
In fact, the Indian Island possesses “utopian” characteristics for Judge Wargrave. He can
bring criminals who cannot be punished in the outer world to justice here. However, for the
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other characters the characteristics of the island gain an opposite meaning, that of dystopia.
For the nine people on the island the closed environment is not security but captivity and
abeyance is not “constancy” but death; “like every environment, the dream island carries a
trace of people’s lives, a connection with people. Thus, it can have different meanings for
different people” (Akşit 204).
The “island” in Ten Little Indians is a good example to Wellek’s “Setting”. “The setting
where the event takes place is a limiting “element” beyond the control of the individual”
(Wellek 220-21). Thus, the island is a source of the no-exit, the knife-edge and death. The
island setting employed here is categorized as a “narrow setting where nobody knows the
others”.
Due to the fact that events are given in a chronological order, time is linear in this work.
Events move from the beginning to the end. Because there is no detective and no process to
reach a solution, there is no “today” dimension in this work. In this respect, Ten Little Indians
is different from all the other Agatha Christie novels. “The previous days” dimension which
forms the sequence of the murders is found in the epilogue. Time has another quality in this
work. All the events in the novel take place in four days. In this chronological sequence, on
the first day (August 8 which covers five chapters) is one murder, on the second (August 9
which covers five chapters) are two murders, on the third (August 10 which covers three
chapters) are three murders and finally on the fourth day (August 11 which covers three
chapters) are four murders. Thus, as the events gain momentum tension increases, which
provides excitement for the reader. Excitement and curiosity is the main focus of Agatha
Christie books. Her crime novels are just like puzzles which provide clues that enable the
reader to solve the problem. Being the means and not the end, crimes are not important in
themselves. What is important is the process of finding out the criminal(s) by evaluating
psychological and substantial clues.
Along with Fred Narrcott (the captain of the boat), Sir Thomas Legge and Maine, the
Scotland Yard inspectors who appear in the epilogue and the guests on the Indian Island, there
are thirteen characters in the book. This is not a coincidence in a work teeming with the
motifs of sin and retribution. As the number thirteen is reminiscent of Jesus Christ’s last
supper, in law this number represents a jury of twelve and a person on trial.
Every character in the book has committed one of the “Seven Deadly Sins” according to
“Catechism”, the basic teaching of Christianity. These sins are Pride, Avarice, Lust, Envy,
Gluttony, Wrath and Sloth. Because all sins stem from these, they are also called cardinal
sins. Consequently, the ten characters who commit these sins are punished. The interesting
fact is that nine of these characters are “criminals” although their crimes cannot be proven
while one of them, Judge Wargrave, becomes a criminal although he has committed no crimes
before, and his crimes are declared at the end of the story.
The ten characters also are, in a number symbolic of the “Ten Commandments”. The fifth
commandment is “Thou shall not kill”. Disobeying the fifth commandment, Judge Wargrave
“dies” as the fifth character in line.
Anthony Marston, the first character killed, was addicted to fast driving. What lies beneath his
crime is “Sloth”. An archaic meaning of this word is “to neglect”. He accidentally ran over
two little girls by “neglecting” to obey the traffic rules. Because his crime is, compared to the
crimes of the others, relatively less serious, he is killed first and painlessly, by being poisoned.
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“Avarice” lies beneath the crime of Ethel Rogers who is killed after Marston. She assisted her
husband who, instead of giving the bedridden patient under his care medication on time, took
his time to get the doctor and hence caused the death of the patient. The Roger’s committed
this “murder” because of their “Avarice” for money. Ethel Rogers dies in her sleep, without
suffering because her role in the murder was only assistance.
The crime of the third character, General Macarthur, is due to “Envy”. An archaic meaning of
the word is a “malicious act”. The General sent his wife’s lover under his command on an
impossible mission, that is, to death. Yet, because he also suffered due to this incident, he is
killed, by being hit on the back of the head with a stone, which is not a very painful way of
dying.
Emily Brent is the fourth character who is killed. Emily was so vain that she sent away her
maid who had become pregnant out of wedlock and thus caused her to commit suicide. Her
sin is “Pride” in that she refused to show compassion to a person she deemed so low morally.
She has time to think about her crime while the other characters are being killed; and
understanding the teachings of the Bible she reads before she is killed, she is full of remorse.
Her death is painless; she is killed by being poisoned.
Thomas Rogers “killed” a bedridden patient under his care, making his wife accomplice due
to his “Avarice”. Although his sin is the same as that of his wife’s, he is basically responsible.
Therefore, he is killed by being hit, ruthlessly on the head with a chopper.
Dr. Armstrong is the sixth character “punished” by being killed. What lies beneath his crime
is “Gluttony”. Unable to control himself, he drank too much alcohol and killed his patient at
the operating table due to his drunkenness. This is a serious crime. Armstrong is killed by
being drowned in the sea after experiencing the fear of death. This also has poetic justice to it.
A man who drinks too much dies in a liquid.
Blore, the seventh character in the book, has sinned by “Avarice” just like the Roger’s. He
conspired with a gang for money; when this was about to be found out, he slandered his friend
and thus caused his death. Therefore, he is killed after experiencing the fear of death a little
longer than the others and by being chopped in the head.
Another character who, like the Roger’s and Blore, has sinned by “Avarice” is Lombard.
However, his crime is much more serious. He abandoned twenty-one Indians, taking away
their food and water and thus leaving them to die at a place where the whole group got lost.
Therefore, he is killed on the last day after experiencing the fear of death a little longer than
Blore.
The ninth character, Vera Claythorne’s crime and punishment are the most severe. She killed
a little child under her responsibility in order to be able to marry the man she loved. Her lover
was the uncle of the little child who was an obstacle to the money the uncle would inherit.
Being the governess, Vera deliberately left the child to be drowned in the sea. She feels the
fear of death the longest as punishment for the “murder” she committed in the name of
“Lust”. She commits suicide by putting the noose prepared for her around her neck and
kicking the chair she stands on. (Agatha Christie’s first marriage ended when her husband fell
in love with his secretary. In all her novels, the third party who causes the separation of
couples or enters an illicit relationship is severely punished. This is probably not
coincidental.)
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The sin of the tenth character, the only one who was not guilty, is “Wrath”. Assuming the
roles of the district attorney, the lawyer, the judge and the executioner, Wargrave traced these
nine people, whom justice could not lay its hands on for years, and he put his plan into
operation due to the wrath he felt towards them. The manner of his death is also symbolic.
Just like Cane on whose forehead God placed a mark because he killed his brother (King
James Version of the Holy Bible, Genesis 4:15), Wargrave shoots himself in the middle of his
forehead.
Thus, the murder of these nine people who had a flaw in their characters and who deserved to
be killed by a murderer who can be considered to be a psychopath constitutes the main plot.
There are no sub plots in this novel. While the pattern is formed, the diversion is attained by
means of the scenario the murderer prepares and the point of view the author employs. The
point of view enables the judge’s crime and death to appear real. While the author conveys the
thoughts of the judge as he surmises the past, the reader thinks the judge is an ex-criminal.
Judge Wargrave is accused of influencing the jury’s decision about an Edward Seton, an
innocent accused by making a speech that presents Seton as guilty and thus committing
murder when the jury decides Seton is guilty. Edward Seton WAS guilty and he DID deserve
the death penalty; but as the thoughts that flow through the Judge’s mind are narrated the
emphasis is actually on how innocent he “appears” not on how innocent he “was”. Actually,
the Judge is also thinking about how innocent Edward Seton “looked”. Thus, with the use of
the point of view, the impression that the Judge is guilty is created, and this “diversion”
constitutes the whole pattern in the book.
As to the solution, throughout the book the “signifier” that all the ten people who come to the
island are killed forms an “implicit sign” by uniting it with the “wrong signified” that one of
the characters who remains alive can be the murderer or that there may be a stranger on the
island. In the solution, the “implicit sign” that the Judge is sitting motionless with a wig on his
head and with the red bathroom curtain which is believed to be lost over him turns into an
“explicit sign” with the explanation that he was acting.
CONCLUSIONS
As a result, in order for people to live in peace and harmony and not be under the shadow of
doubt and more importantly for justice to rein, murder has to be solved for there is no escape
from justice, and crime does not pay in the world of Agatha Christie’s crime novels.
Criminals who avoided punishment for one reason or another are eventually captured and
punished. EVERYBODY is capable of evil and EVERYBODY can commit murder. Yet,
although evil exists, it is goodness and justice that rule the world. In situations when justice
cannot legally be possible Agatha Christie sees to it that the criminal either has a fatal illness
or s/he commits suicide.
Agatha Christie is tantamount to Nemesis, the daughter of Night and Chaos and the goddess
of retribution in Greek mythology (Rouse 190). As a concept, Nemesis represents divine
justice. She does not punish specific crimes for her activities are more within the limits of a
“cosmic level”; in this respect she is the catastrophe that befalls the tragic hero in Greek
tragedies and unlike the Nemesis factor in the Christie novels. While the mortal who disobeys
the rules is punished by the gods who set the rules in Greek tragedies, the self-righteous
murderers in Agatha Christie novels punish their victims by disobeying the rules (the law) and
by regarding their anger justified. In other words, what happens in Christie novels is the
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reflection of what man does to his fellow-men. Hence, Nemesis acquires a social meaning in
the works of Agatha Christie.
In a society where there is fear that justice may fail to prevail all the time, detective/ crime
novels constitute a guarantee against injustice. There is, also, emulation for a kind of divinity,
a kind of immortality in securing this guarantee against injustice. Murderers, the agents of
death cannot harm the detective, which gives the detective a symbolic immortality and the
reader a sense of security. Furthermore, the process of finding out by whom and how the
murder(s) were committed is a symbolical fulfillment of a dream to reach truth by means of a
quest. The concept of quest is one of the oldest themes in literature. The detective has a
calling to go on a quest for truth so that justice can prevail. Another long standing theme in
literature is the discrepancy between appearance and reality. The detective starts out from
appearance and reaches reality as a result of the quest he undertakes. Sometimes the detective
may have to continue his quest despite the police. With this quality the creation of the
detective is a kind of sign for mistrust against the state and the police. Hence, the detective
and the crime novel is a romantic creation due to a need for excitement, safety and
immortality.
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