A Study Of The Archetypes In Death On The Nile

Death on the Nile, one of Agatha Christie’s detective fictions, written in the heyday of Agatha’s writing career, has been receiving appreciation since its publication in 1937. Though it was regarded as the representative of the detective fictions, it receives insufficient researches from critics and scholars both at home and abroad. This thesis tries to analyse the archetypal images, characters, and themes existing in Death on the Nile, thus to explain the popularity of this fiction, which can be ascribed to the archetypes. They correspond with the readers’“horizon of expectations”, creating an everlasting literary enchantment. Once the archetype is activated or recognized, the readers tend to resonate with the writer. At the same time, the connotation of this fiction is intensified.The thesis starts with the interpretation of three recurring images in the fiction: the star, the black colour, and the water. In his theory of archetypal meaning, Frye brings forward three kinds of imagery: the apocalyptic, the demonic and the analogical imagery. Three archetypal images in this paper rightly correspond to what Frye calls the“undisplaced worlds”in which there are full of apocalyptic and demonic images, and they are mentioned many times in the Holy Bible and Greek mythology. These three images create mysterious atmosphere, and promote the plot development by providing people hope, meanwhile, they also indicate death, disaster that will arrive sooner or later.Next, the thesis analyses the archetypal characters of three major types relating to two categories of analogical imagery : the analogy of innocence and of experience. The first type of character, the detective Hercule Poirot in this fiction is one of the members in the innocent world, carrying the archetype of Jesus Christ in himself. His motivation and behaviour resemble those of the heroes in the epic and romance. The displacement of the hero character in the modern literature indicates the common side of his personality. The second and the third type of characters, the culprits and the victims in the fiction fall under the analogical imagery of experience. The series of crime the two culprits commit accord with the original sin which Adam and Eve have committed. The smart culprits challenge the hero image of the detective, forming a dualistic opposition with him, and reflecting Agatha’s belief that sin is inborn. Besides, three archetypal women images are highlighted as those victims are what Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar call the siren type in literary works. Their archetype can be traced back to the scapegoat. They subvert the traditional female images, and violate social norms of the patriarchal society. Thus, the siren type is denied by the society with the ultimate death.Finally, the thesis further explores the archetypal themes in this detective fiction, including the detective’s endeavouring quest for truth and order, and justice ultimately prevailing by punishing the crime. These themes can be available in many Greek mythology and Biblical stories. The process of finding out the murder resembles the Knights of the Round Table’s searching for the Grail and Oedipus’questing for his identity. Their essences are the same as they all reflect human beings’spiritual needs of pursuing truth. The theme of punishing expresses the ideal of human beings’upholding justice from time immemorial.