Talk:Miss Marple

message: Moved Jane Marple to Miss Marple because that's what she's better known as. -- Lee M
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thread_title: Talk on Miss Marple

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message: Mention may be made of the contrasts between Miss Marple and Agatha Christie's other famous detective - Hercule Poirot. One could even say that Miss Marple is in fact Christie's signet character, since aspects of Poirot are a humorous caricature of Sherlock Holmes.
While Poirot is a financially well-off professional, Miss Marple is a few shades away from genteel poverty. In They do it with mirrors Miss Marple plays the part of a hard up elderly spinster, and that she does it convincingly is not because she is a great actor. 
Where Poirot is vain and boastful, Miss Marple is quietly confident behind her "Oh, I'm so sorry" diffidence. It is my personal regret that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd did not feature Miss Marple, certainly the 'best' Christie villain deserved the better Christie detective!
Poirot often needs the Watson-like Hastings to serve as his foil, while Miss Marple operates by herself, betraying none of her confidences to those around her.
Yet, behind these contrasts, both Poirot and Miss Marple are individuals with strong belief systems of right and wrong, best summed up in the words of Mr.Rafiel.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.149.201 (talk • contribs) 
: I agree with you entirely about these contrasts (although on thinking about it, wasn't Poirot in a fairly bad financial state when he first arrived in England?), but it's important to remember that Wikipedia isn't here to provide direct comments and criticism. Our opinions, as editors, are irrelevant. See the page about Original Research for some more information. --JennyRad 19:21, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  Poirot apparently had been forced to depart Belgium for England in rather a hurry, ahead of the invading Germans in 1914. Few war refugees have good finanical resources, and Poirot had been living on the salary of a Police Inspector up until that time. the wealth he acquired later was from the work he did as a private investigator in England, exercising his "little gray cells" for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful in distress. THEN he entered the retirement that enabled him to travel to extensively. As for Jane Marple's "genteel poverty", the question I pose below may provide an insight -- or it may be that, in the Christie tradition, the producers of the new TV series have provided a tantalizing but misleading red herring. Michael Hopcroft 07:23, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Comparisons

message: One thing I have noticed about the new Grenada TV series is that most of the episodes I have seen have included a distinctive lesbian subtext. The Stilltford Mystery even features a young protege of Miss Marple who, at the end of the story, comes out as lesbian after her apprenticeship in amateur detective work. Is this something the producers inserted for their own reasons, or do serious Christie scholars see something similar in the original stories? Michael Hopcroft 07:17, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't remember much about The Sittaford Mystery except that it bore barely any relation to the book!  However, the lesbian relationship in A Murder Is Announced is certainly implied in the novel - it's not a new element introduced by the screenwriters.  (And I do like the phrase "serious Christie scholars".)  Tobelia 21:13, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Subtext in The McEwan Series?

message: "Despite never having been married, The Murder at the Vicarage sheds light on a young Miss Marple. She reveals that she once loved a married man who wanted to leave his wife for her. He was called to World War I and Miss Marple made him promise not to have a divorce. He was killed in the war and Miss Marple never married." I do not recall any such passage in this book, which I re-read as recently as 6 weeks ago. Can anyone verify this?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dgcuff (talk • contribs) 16:32, 15 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Source for claim about past

message: Amazon.com has the book "Thirteen Clues for Miss Marple" listed here:
http://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-Clues-Marple-Agatha-Christie/dp/0440187559
This title is not listed in this article nor in the Agatha Christie article. Looking at her other titles led me to suspect it is yet another name for "The Thirteen Problems (from the Miss Marple series)" aka "The Tuesday Club Murders." Googling "Clues for Miss Marple" brings up several pages that describe it as a collection of short stories, such as this one:
http://www.loc.gov/nls/bibliographies/minibibs/achristie.html
With this info I have very little doubt this is the same book, but can someone say for sure?Benbradley (talk) 04:40, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unlisted book title: Thirteen Clues for Miss Marple 

message: Deleted attempt to rationalise her age as late 50s in the first book.   Text was 
"About thirty years pass between her first and last mysteries ... . It would be safe to assume that Miss Marple was only about fifty or sixty in A Murder at the Vicarage, which would not be old by modern standards but would have been considered elderly in the 1930's. This would make Miss Marple about eighty or ninety in her final mysteries." 
Actually it's 38 years from the first story in a magazine to At Bertram's Hotel, even discounting Sleeping Murder.  And Christie wrote that she made a mistake making her so old, so I think it's safe to assume she was (genuinely) elderly at the start, at the youngest mid 60s (standards of age have not changed that much.)    In any case, barring citation I don't think this text is reasonable  and anyway it seems like original research. 
--81.179.228.169 (talk) 14:33, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Age 

message: The article says that characters who had previously been killed off by Christie appear alive in this book. Which characters are these? I don't recall noticing it. Stratford490 (talk) 20:04, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Since nobody has answered and the article isn't more explicit and I really don't recall any living characters in Sleeping Murder who had previously died, I'm going to remove it. I don't claim to be 100% sure, but if anyone wants to put it back, please state which characters they are. Stratford490 (talk) 16:47, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

text: Thanks for your reply, which I have slightly edited, just to make the wikilink work. Funnily, though I don't doubt what you say, I have no recollection of Colonel Bantry being mentioned in Sleeping Murder, and I can't find my copy right now. Anyway, he's only one character, and seems to be just referred to rather than being a major character, so it's probably not important enough to be in the article about Miss Marple. If necessary, I think it could go in the article on Sleeping Murder. Cheers. Stratford490 (talk) 00:34, 19 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sleeping Murder 

message: This page makes no reference to the BBC series 1984-1992 featuring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. The Wikipedia entry for Joan Hickson refers to this part of her career. A link between the Joan Hickson page and an update of this page to include Joan Hickson's T.V. portrayal of Miss Marple would be very helpful. I don't wish to rush in to do this if someone else is planning to do so. Proxxt (talk) 07:53, 5 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: The third paragraph under the "Television" heading seems to discuss this material.  Accounting4Taste:talk 19:49, 5 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Joan Hickson 

message: The article previously stated when referring to the American TV series Murder, She Wrote: "The character was based in part on Miss Marple and in part on another Christie character, Ariadne Oliver." There is no attribution for this statement and, as a matter of law, it cannot be correct. Even the Murder, She Wrote article here at Wikipedia notes that the rights were refused: "Murder, She Wrote was originally pitched as an American version of the Agatha Christie character Miss Marple, but the owners of the rights to that character refused to allow it." If the copyright holder refused to grant permission for a subsidiary right, as a matter of copyright law, it is not based on Miss Marple. I replaced the sentence with the somewhat less dubious one from the MSW article which nonetheless needs attribution: "The character of Jessica Fletcher is thought to be based on a combination of Miss Marple, Agatha Christie herself, and another Christie character, Ariadne Oliver, who often appears in the Hercule Poirot mysteries." 71.175.4.207 (talk) 02:14, 7 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Incorrect Murder She Wrote claim

message: I just removed a badly formed template link that should have worked as a picture of Julia McKenzie in the role. The removed text was:
It would improve the article if a valid link could be added for this purpose. DFH (talk) 22:05, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Julia McKenzie 

message: The sentence, "The main theme has a distinct 1960s feel to it and is known to be a highly complex piece of music due to the quick playing of the Violin"., strikes me as POV and/ or original research. I suppose the first part is alluding to the use of amplified or electric bass with an orchestra, but I’m not sure that actually constitutes a “Sixties” thing in and of itself. Likewise, I’m not aware of a scale of speed of playing as an measure of the complexity of a piece of music; can a player suggest if there is such a thing, or if it even warrants a mention with regards to the music being discussed here? I don’t play the violin myself, but I wouldn’t have thought that they were being played particularly fast; it is entirely possible that the fingering of the particular notes, or sequence of notes is difficult to accomplish - but again, would that be appropriate for inclusion in this article on Miss Marple, when it might be better in something about Ron Goodwin, or playing the fiddle. Jock123 (talk) 16:46, 8 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rutherford film music… 

message: In the article, the following is stated:
"Miss Marple has never worked for her living. She is of independent means, although she benefits in her old age from the financial support of Raymond West, her nephew (A Caribbean Mystery, 1964). She is not herself from the aristocracy or landed gentry, but is quite at home among them and would probably have been happy to describe herself as "genteel"; indeed, a gentlewoman. Miss Marple may thus be considered a female version of that staple of British detective fiction, the gentleman detective. She demonstrates a remarkably thorough education, including some art courses that involved study of human anatomy through the study of human cadavers. In They Do It with Mirrors (1952), it is revealed that Miss Marple grew up in a cathedral close, and that she studied at an Italian finishing school with Americans Ruth Van Rydock and Caroline "Carrie" Louise Serrocold."
The first issue - and probably the most pressing - is the statement that Miss Marple never worked for her living.  I am almost positive that she used to be a schoolteacher, though.  I realize this may very well not have been her entire source of income, but can anyone confirm or deny my memory of her referring to having been a teacher?
This connects to my issue with referring to her as a female version of "the gentleman detective".  From my reading, I get the impression that gentleman detectives are "gentlemen" in the old English sense.  This is NOT the same as what an American might mean when they say that a person is a gentleman or a gentlewoman.  There used to be a very clear distinction in the terms, and a gentleman specifically referred to landed gentry.  Miss Marple seems to occupy a very comfortable space economically, but I'm not so sure about using the term "gentlewoman".  Having studied at finishing schools on the continent does not equal landed gentry.Terra Leigh (talk) 04:44, 19 August 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: I must disagree with some of these assumptions. Even in Britain, "gentleman" would not necessarily refer to landed gentry. It might mean anyone of independent means, so any income derived from shares, government bonds or annuities would fit. Someone might also be a gentleman through membership of a profession e.g. solicitor, or surgeon. (Sherlock Holmes, for example, started his career as a dropout medical student.) An ordained clergyman e.g. Father Brown, anyone who had achieved an Oxbridge degree or had been a commissioned officer in the armed forces would also be regarded as a gentleman, by manners if not by wealth. The only "landed gentleman" detective I can think of is Lord Peter Wimsey. HLGallon (talk) 08:52, 10 September 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Marple's history, specifically professional/financial 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Every now and then an editor will add Miss Marple's first name, Jane, to the very first reference, in bold. Normally this would be correct - full name on first reference - but the article title is "Miss Marple" and the character is very widely known by that name alone, so the consensus thus far is to keep first reference as "Miss Marple" and give "Jane Marple" on the second reference. As a parallel example, Tommy and Tuppence uses only those characters' first names and not their last names on first reference because that is how they are widely known. Consensus can, of course, change. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 00:27, 13 January 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  First name on first reference 

message: The Infobox color (#FF5F5F) of black text on a red background means that it is almost unreadable by anyone who is color blind.  I would change it, except that someone has obviously consciously chosen the color.  Thoughts from the community on changing it? Christopher Rath (talk) 19:45, 22 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I looked at a few other British detective characters, and most of them, including Hercule Poirot, don't specify a color, so the bands are gray with black letters. The instructions for Template:Infobox character specifically state that if a another color is chosen, it "must meet AAA compliance standards outlines on WP:COLOR". Indyguy (talk) 20:01, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

text: I've removed the color. Christopher Rath (talk)  — Preceding undated comment added 13:25, 23 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Infobox color 

message: — Assignment last updated by Happygirlyay21 (talk) 05:56, 29 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Education assignment: Detective Fiction