Agatha Christie’s “The idol house of Astarte” Essay

The level the divinity offer of Astarte is just cardinal of the stories that appeared in Dame Agatha Christies The bakers dozen Problems (1932, 2000)( in any case published as The Tuesday Club Murders. ) Ms. Jane Marple, one of Christies most near characters is the village old maid who has a knack for observing parallels amidst situations (Bargainnier 42). She along with her playwright nephew Raymond western, the artist Joyce Lempriere, Scotland Yards Sir Henry Clithering, the cured man of the cloth Dr. Pender and the solicitor Mr. Petherick are featured telling accounts of puzzling situations and crimes they cause examined (Christie 1).To each story, the storyteller withholds the solution to the how the crime was solved and how it was committed. The altercate to the listeners is to guess the upshots to the question of how the murders or crimes were committed and by whom. (2) The Idol House of Astarte (15-30) is the story shared by Dr. Pender. In it, he recalls the exper ience he had and the murder he witnessed at a ships company at the dramatics of a Sir Richard Haydon on Dartmoor. The support itself, while unremarkable in appearance, was say to be built on a location full of history including that of the Neolithic hut dwellers, the Druids, Romans and early Phoenicians.On the grounds is a peculiar(a) piece of land with a dense crop of trees, which Haydon thought to be the sacred grove of a Phoenician goddess of the moon, Astarte. The sight and eerie atmospheric state of the grove inspired one of the guests, an actress called Diana Ashley to suggest a Fancy get up or costume party for that evening. In the course of the evening, the house party dressed in their costumes once again venture to the grove and take a chance a surprise in the form of a fully dress Diana Ashley who was acting the part of a priestess at the goddess temple.In excitement, Sir Richard Haydon attempts to approach Diana, stumbles and indeed falls forward. When he doe snt get up, his cousin Elliot investigates what happened and announces that Richard was dead seemingly from a stab wound. Despite searching for a weapon or possible reason for Haydons death, none could be found. The next day, Elliot Haydon was likewise found stabbed but alive in the same position as Richard was. The difference was that a dagger was left in the wound. According to him, something phantasmal happened in the grove and that his wound was inflicted by something he could non explain.The story goes on to detail the umpteen solutions Ms. Marples party offers up for the deaths. about of which considered the supernatural and superhuman. Of them all, only the lawyer Mr. Petherick and Ms. Marple offered solutions that completely discounted the supernatural. In the end, it was Ms. Marple who came upon the correct answer to Dr. Penders mystery. There were many factors that made the story mystical. The story itself carries many suggestions of supernatural things such as magic and ghosts.Much mention has also been given to the atmosphere of the grove, which was often described as spooky or creepy. There was also of course the setting, which was in a unclutter in a dense crop of trees and the time at which the murder happened which was a night with a rising moon (20). There was also the eerie dark punctuated with whispers and sighs, and the small summerhouse or temple at the clearing itself where a stone statue of the goddess Astarte was enshrined. The atmosphere of perversive and foreboding enveloped the characters in the house party.Ms.Marples group was also invariably influenced by the eerie character of the story and Dr. Penders description of how he felt on visual perception the grove as well as the events as they unfolded. I come back this very atmosphere itself plus the mere fact that a clergyman such as Dr. Pender could be affected by such evil atmosphere, hindered the characters in the house party including some members of Ms. Marples group in their objective and sober assessment of the facts. In fact, I believe Ms. Marple utter it best when she said I dont see how anyone else could get to done itI mean if, as Mr.Petherick so wisely says, one looks at the facts and disregards all that atmosphere of heathen goddesses which I dont think is very nice. (Christie 29) I also found it interesting that the more than artistic in Ms. Marples group such as Raymond West and Joyce Lempriere, were more susceptible to thinking up solutions of a supernatural constitution such as seances and superhuman strength used in throwing a javelin. Sir Henry Clithering, while not completely taken in by the supernatural, did consider the possibility of murder done by a passe-partout and exceptionally talented dagger of knife thrower.(27) Owing to his profession as a solicitor, Mr. Petherick was more trained to evaluate facts without the influence of atmosphere. Ms. Marple, besides being a matter-of-fact sort of person, has the wealth of her e xperience and observations of living in a village that she can build her judgment on. Profession and experience seem to be used as indicators and measures of each characters objectivity and imagination. Both Ms. Christie and the character Dr. Pender are wonderful storytellers.The description of the grove and the feelings it created in those who visited it shows just how important atmosphere can be not only in a story (Bargainnier 28) but also in influencing how people think, feel, and view things.Works Cited Bargainnier, Earl F. The Gentle Art of Murder The researcher Fiction of Agatha Christie. Bowling Green, OH Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1980. Questia. 4 Nov. 2007 <http//www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=101091059>. Christie, Agatha. The Idol House of Astarte. The long dozen Problems. New York Signet, 2000. 15-30.