摘 要

英国女性侦探小说家阿加莎·克里斯蒂被誉为“世界三大推理宗师之一”和“侦探推理女王”，并且引领英国古典侦探小说走向了巅峰时期。作为最受欢迎的侦探小说家之一，阿加莎·克里斯蒂近年来所受的关注仍是有增无减，对于其作品的相关文学研究也是数量众多。然而，在以往的研究中，多注重分析其作品独特的破案模式，案件设计或是人物形象刻画，而很少会关注阿加莎·克里斯蒂作为一名女性作家，其作品中不断显现的女性特点和女性意识，并且从分析其作品中女性犯罪动机的角度来探究作品中隐含的女性意识的文学研究更是鲜有。本文通过对阿加莎·克里斯蒂的经典侦探作品《尼罗河上的惨案》、《啤酒谋杀案》和《无尽长夜》中女性犯罪动机的对比分析，进而探讨阿加莎·克里斯蒂作品中显现的女性意识。分析结果表明，其作品反映出在当时的男权社会中，阿加莎·克里斯蒂的女性意识开始显现，但是由于当时社会环境中根深蒂固的男权文化影响，阿加莎·克里斯蒂的女性意识受到限制，从而处在一种觉醒和昏睡的浑沌边缘，最终呈现出一种矛盾的女性意识。分析结果表现了阿加莎·克里斯蒂作品中矛盾的女性意识，为读者认识和了解阿加莎·克里斯蒂提供了又一视角，有利于全面客观地理解和欣赏其作品。

关键词：阿加莎·克里斯蒂；女性意识；女性罪犯； 侦探小说

Abstract

The British detective novelist, Agatha Christie, is honored as one of three world reasoning masters and detective queen. Meanwhile, she led the British classic detective novel towards the peak. As one of the most popular detective novelists, Agatha Christie still enjoys the increasing attention from the public and literature scholars these years. However, most of the related studies emphasize on the unique detective pattern, case designs or characterization while few studies focus on the ever-present feminist features consciousness in Agatha Christie's works. Besides, there are even far fewer studies which explore the connotative feminist consciousness through the analysis on female criminal motives. Therefore, this paper will compare and analyze different female criminal motives in Death on the Nile, Five Little Pigs and Endless Night so that we can find a way to disclose the feminist consciousness in Agatha Christie's works. The analysis shows in that male-dominated society Agatha Christie's feminist consciousness began to awake, but it was limited by the deep-rooted male-dominated culture and tradition. Therefore, the feminist consciousness has always been lingering between awakening and slumber, and a kind of contradictory feminist consciousness was finally presented to all of us. The analysis of this paper provides readers with another view to understand and appreciate Agatha Christie's works objectively.

Key Words: Agatha Christie; feminist consciousness; female criminal; detective novel

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Analysis on Death on the Nile

2.1 The Relevant Plot of Death on the Nile 4

2.2 The Motive of Female Crime in Death on the Nile 4

2.3 The Awakening of Feminist Consciousness in Death on the Nile 4

2.4 The Limitation of Feminist Consciousness in Death on the Nile 6

3 Analysis on Five Little Pigs 8

3.1The Relevant Plot of Five Little Pigs 8

3.2 The Motive of Female Crime in Five Little Pigs 8

3.3 The Awakening of Feminist Consciousness in Five Little Pigs 10

3.4 The Limitation of Feminist Consciousness in Five Little Pigs 11

4 Analysis on Endless Night 13

4.1 The Relevant Plot of Endless Night 13

4.2 The Motive of Female Crime in Endless Night 13

4.3 The Awakening of Feminist Consciousness in Endless Night 14

4.4 The Limitation of Feminist Consciousness in Endless Night 15

5 Conclusions 16

References 18

Acknowledgements 19

The Awakening of Feminist Consciousness

— Analysis on Female Crimes of Agatha Christie's Works

1 Introduction

From the early 19th century to the end of the 20th century, there have been two feminist movements in the world. The first wave of feminist movements began in the second half of the 19th century and continued into the early 20th century. It focused on the requirement of gender equality, civil rights and political rights, and opposition to noble privileges and polygamy. Besides, the first wave of feminist movements also emphasized that men and women had no difference in intelligence or ability and strove for the same value of family and social labor. The second wave of feminism began in the 1960s and continued into the 1970s. The keynote was to emphasize the naturalness of the division of labor between the gender and to eliminate the phenomenon of unequal pay for men and women. These two feminist movements not only had a major impact on the society, but exerted great influence in literary creation. Therefore, the feminist movement promoted the creation of related literature, and literary creation also embodied the feminist movement.

As a female writer, Agatha didn't declare that she was a feminist, but the feminist consciousness shown in her works and life experience deserves our further analysis.

Agatha Christie, one of the three precursors of the detective literature, is famous for the breathtaking plot, unexpected ending and vivid characterization in her works. During her fifty-five years' writing career, Agatha created 87 detective novels in total and was honored as “the queen of crime”. In Agatha's writing, nearly half of detective novels emphasized on female crime and showed feminist consciousness. Although Agatha lived in the male-dominated society, feminist consciousness always existed in Agatha’s mind, which can also be seen in Agatha’s life experience.