The Plot And Setting Development In The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd

 Plot is a literary term defined as the events that make up a story, particularly as they relate to one another in a pattern, in a sequence, through cause and effect, or by coincidence. One is generally interested in how well this pattern of events accomplishes some artistic or emotional effect (Arianna). An intricate, complicated plot is called an imbroglio, but even the simplest statements of plot may include multiple inferences, as in traditional ballads. In a murder mystery an intricate plot is more important, in a Christie murder mystery, neatness not only counts, it is everything. As the genre’s undisputed queen of the maze, she laid her tantalizing plots so precisely and dropped her false leads so cunningly that few if any readers could guess the identity of the villain. Christie’s trademark style of mystery involved a murder being committed ‘impossibly’ that is, a deliberate murder where it is supposedly impossible for anyone to have entered or le the scene of the crime at the time.

Christie’s skill lies in providing either a series of many likely suspects or a situation where there is no obvious way in which the murder was committed, then throughout the story manipulating the presented information to reveal who is the killer and how it was done. Generally, one or more earlier pieces of information are shown to be somehow incomplete, mistaken, misleading or planted. novels and short stories Christie wrote, there is oen a similar structure a murder is committed, the detective is called in or is frequently already present, the detective analyses the evidence, interviews witnesses and suspects, and then almost always reveals the eventual solution in a dénouement with the interested parties and suspects present. Finally, the murderer oen confesses that the detective was correct in front of all the assembled witnesses, giving background information and endorsement to the detective’s reasoning – in this sense, the murderer is usually in awe of the detective for working out the ‘impossible’ solution, as indeed the reader is intended to be (Arianna). Christie forgoes detailed descriptions of the murder victim and lengthy explanations of characters’ grief in order to focus instead on clues about the murderer and details about all the suspects. This makes the murder a fascinating and interesting mystery, rather than a tragedy, which serves the genre Christie is writing in. In a murder mystery, the genre Christie perfected, the object is for the reader to have fun attempting to solve the murder along with the detective – too lengthy a diversion into the reality of murder would detract from this fun.

Christie implies that the right combination of personality and environment can create in man the impulse to kill. It is not necessarily simply a weak man, or a man put in a difficult situation, who might be moved to commit murder, but rather when a weak man is himself put in a difficult situation that the crime becomes more likely. In this same way, Flora’s weakness and need for money led her to steal, as did Ralph’s. Most of the critics are saying Christie’s masterpiece, the novel is nonetheless controversial for it’s stunning ending. Christie admitted she got the idea for the ending from her brother-in-law, James Watts, who mused on a detective novel in which the criminal turns out to be the “Dr. Watson” character, referring to Watson’s position in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series as the companion and chronicler of the brilliant detective.