A Thematic Analysis Of Agatha Christie's Nemesis In The Light Of Northrop Frye's Archetypal Criticism

Agatha Christie(1890—1976),who exerted a great impact on detective fictions,is one of the most prominent English novelists.During her whole life,Christie made a fantastic contribution to the garden of literature by creating more than one hundred works of literature.Nowadays,many of her works still enjoy a great popularity around the whole world.Therefore,the top honor “The Queen of Detective Fictions”has been bestowed on her.Published in 1971,Nemesis is the indispensable one for “Miss Marple Series”,which tells about a long and difficult journey that Miss Jane Marple and her companions detect a murder.However,the research on the novel both at home and abroad is far from satisfaction.This thesis tries to make a comprehensive analysis of the archetypal themes from the angle of archetypal criticism,aiming to probe the great significance of Nemesis.According to Northrop Frye's(1912—1991)definition of archetype,there exist archetypal images,characters and rituals,which play vital roles in the novel.The thesis is composed of three parts.The Introduction part firstly offers some information of Agatha Christie's life experience and her fiction Nemesis.Then comes the previous studies on her works.Finally it introduces Northrop Frye's archetypal criticism,which lays the theoretical foundation for the following interpretation.The second part is the main body,which consists of three chapters.Each chapter aims to explore one archetypal theme,which is respectively embodied in the archetypal images,characters and rituals in the novel.The three archetypal themes are explored one by one,and the archetypes in each chapter have their special meanings.The progressive interpretation of the archetypal themes corresponds with the whole process of the crime investigation.To be more specific,Chapter One mainly explores the first important archetypal theme— lapsing into fall and death,by analyzing the old garden,Polygonum,the one culprit and three victims.The images and characters symbolize killing,fall and death.Chapter Two focuses on the second archetypal theme of the novel,namely quest fortruth and justice,which is revealed in the process of investigating the murder and unveiling the suspense.Chapter Three probes into the theme of salvation and rebirth by exploring the archetypal images,characters and rituals.By employing an in-depth analysis on them,the profound meaning of the fiction would encounter us in the end.The last part is the Conclusion.It states the main purpose of the thesis and highlights the significance of the archetypes in Nemesis.It is doubtless that the three archetypal themes play vitally important roles in fulfilling the fiction.Based on Northrop Frye's archetypal theory,this thesis concentrates on the three themes in a bid to explore a more profound side of the novel.Therefore,the thesis both intends to achieve a thorough interpretation of the themes and provide a new angle for critics and readers to appreciate the detective fiction.