The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie - Agatha Christie Synopsis The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side One minute, silly Heather Badcock had been gabbling on at her movie idol, the glamorous Marina Gregg. The next, Heather suffered a massive seizure. But for whom was the deadly poison really intended? Marina’s frozen expression suggested she had witnessed something horrific. But, while others searched for material evidence, Jane Marple conducted a very different investigation – into human nature. She had a great power of love and hate but no stability. That's what's so sad for anyone, to be born with no stability. Miss Marple, The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side More about this story The last of Agatha Christie classic English village mysteries, St Mary Mead is no longer what it once was. The 1960s see a widowed Dolly Bantry (of The Body in the Library ) forced to sell her manor to a rich movie star, who brings a deadly mix of glamour and torment into the now developing community.

Observing the social changes following the Second World War, Agatha Christie and Miss Marple do what they've always done - solve the mystery through the habits of the people involve and the village they live in. Agatha Christie had long been fascinated by the tastes of new 'developed' houses on the estates around her home in Wallingford, Oxfordshire and she saw an opportunity to explore these in The Mirror Crack'd. The title came from the poem The Lady of Shalott, by Tennyson. The last of the true English village mysteries in Christie's output, and one of the best of her later books. Robert Barnard In 1980 Hollywood adapted the novel into a film starring Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple alongside Elizabeth Taylor as the beautiful Marina Gregg. They shortened the title to The Mirror Crack’d. In 1992 The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side was the last Miss Marple novel to be adapted by the BBC and star Joan Hickson in the title role. It wasn't until 2009 the novel was again adapted, this time with Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple, Joanna Lumley reprising her role as Dolly Bantry and Lindsay Duncan as Marina Gregg.

June Whitfield starred as Miss Marple in the August 1998 broadcast of BBC Radio 4's dramatisation. Film director and screenwriter Rituparno Ghosh created a Bengali language version of Christie's story, titled Subho Mahurat (2003), which reset the story in the film industry of Kolkata (Calcutta). Did you know? The plot was inspired by Agatha Christie's reflections on a mother's feelings for a child born with disabilities and there can be little doubt that Christie was influenced by the real-life tragedy of American actress Gene Tierney. Buy The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side ⌺Read The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side | Agatha Christie Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side 338pages on Share Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected.

Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 12 November 1962 and in the U.S. by Dodd, Mead and Company in September 1963 under the shorter title of The Mirror Crack'd and with a copyright date of 1962. The UK edition retailed at fifteen shillings (15/-) and the US edition at $3.75. It is set in the fictional English village of St. Mary Mead and features Miss Marple . It was dedicated by Christie: "To Margaret Rutherford , in admiration." Contents Edit Miss Marple investigates the murder of Heather Badcock, who consumed a poisoned cocktail apparently meant for American film actress Marina Gregg, Heather's idol. As Marple investigates, she discovers dark secrets in Marina's past, secrets which also link to other seemingly innocent citizens of St. Mary Mead. Explanation of the novel's title The title of the novel comes from the poem The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

It is referred to by name several times in the novel, with these lines being frequently quoted: Out flew the web and floated wide- The mirror crack'd from side to side; "The curse is come upon me," cried The Lady of Shalott. At the end, Miss Marple quotes the last three lines: He said, "She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of Shalott." Edit Marina Gregg is a famous, temperamental, much loved movie star who has come to settle down in the village of St. Mary Mead after the death of Colonel Bantry, who used to live at Gossington Hall where Marina has taken up residence with her husband Jason Rudd. Heather Badcock, an ordinary albeit annoying woman, dies after drinking a cocktail at a party hosted by Marina. Shortly before her death, Heather was in conversation with Marina, giving her a long boring account of how she had met Marina many years ago - getting out of bed despite her illness and putting on lots of makeup, in order to seek Marina's autograph.

Marina is seem with a 'frozen'look on her face for a moment while Heather talks to her; a look likened to the Lady of Shalott, as though 'doom has come upon her'. It then comes to light that Marina had handed her own drink to Heather after Heather's drink was spilled. Therefore it is surmised that Marina must be the intended victim. As a famous star who has married five times, she is a far more likely murder target. Suspicion is cast on many people including Marina's seemingly devoted husband, a big-shot American TV producer who is a former admirer, and an American actress who was previously Marina's rival in love. (Both Americans turn up unexpectedly at the party). It also comes to light that an arty photographer at the party is actually one of three children that Marina had adopted in the past for a while and then 'got tired of' (Marina does not recognize her as such at the party). It is known that 11-12 years before the events in the book, Marina desperately wanted children of her own but had difficulties conceiving.

After adopting three children, she became pregnant but her baby was born mentally handicapped and abandoned to a lifetime of institutions, leaving Marina emotionally scarred. This misfortune was due to Marina contracting German measles in the early stages of her pregnancy. While police search for clues, two other murders take place - one of Marina's social secretary and the other of Marina's butler (both of whom were serving drinks at the party). SPOILER ALERT! DON'T READ AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK! Finally, Miss Marple deduces what Marina had instantly realised at the party, that Heather is the woman who was responsible for infecting Marina with German measles all those years previously when she put on make up to cover the rash and went to meet Marina for her autograph. Overcome by rage and grief at seeing her unwitting tormentor looking so happy and proud of her act, Marina impulsively poisons her own glass and hands it to Heather after making Heather spill her own drink. At the end of the book, Marina is found dead from a drug overdose.

Literary significance and reception Edit Francis Iles (Anthony Berkeley Cox) was somewhat muted in his praise in his review in The Guardian of 7 December 1962 when he said, "she has of course thought up one more brilliant little peg on which to hang her plot, but the chief interest to me of The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side was the shrewd exposition of what makes a female film star tick the way she does tick. And though one could accept a single coincidence concerning that married couple, the second and quite wildly improbable one tends to destroy faith in the story – still more so since it leads nowhere at all." Maurice Richardson of The Observer of 11 November 1962 summed up, "A moderate Christie; bit diffuse and not so taut as some; still fairly easy to read, though." Robert Barnard : "The last of the true English village mysteries in Christie's output, and one of the best of her later books. Film milieu superimposed on the familiar St Mary Mead background.

Like most Marples this is not rich in clueing, but the changes in village life and class structure since the war are detailed in a knowledgeable and fairly sympathetic way." References to actual history, geography and current science Edit There can be little doubt that Christie used the real-life tragedy of American actress Gene Tierney as the basis of her plot. Tierney described the event in her autobiography (Self-Portrait, New York: Wyden, 1979), but it had been well publicized for years previously. In June 1943, while pregnant with her first child, Tierney came down with German measles, contracted during her only appearance at the Hollywood Canteen. The baby, Daria, was born prematurely, weighing only 3 pounds, 2 ounces, and requiring a total blood transfusion. The infant was also deaf, partially blind with cataracts, and severely retarded and ultimately had to be institutionalized. Some time later Tierney was approached by a female fan for an autograph at a garden party. The woman revealed that she had sneaked out of quarantine to the Hollywood Canteen while sick with German measles in order to meet Tierney.

The incident, as well as the circumstances under which the information was imparted to the actress, is repeated almost verbatim in the story. Film and television adaptations Edit The novel was adapted for a 1980 feature film with Angela Lansbury in the role of Miss Marple. Co-stars were Elizabeth Taylor as Marina Gregg and Kim Novak as Lola Brewster; the film was released as The Mirror Crack'd , the shortened U.S. book title. A second adaptation of the novel was made by BBC television in 1992 as part of their series Miss Marple with the title role played by Joan Hickson , and starring Claire Bloom as Marina Gregg and Glynis Barber as Lola Brewster. This adaptation was mainly faithful to the novel, with minor changes. The novel was the final adaptation for the BBC series Miss Marple. ITV Studios and WGBH Boston produced another adaptation for the Marple television series starring Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple, with Joanna Lumley reprising her role as Dolly Bantry, Lindsay Duncan as Marina Gregg and Hannah Waddingham as Lola Brewster. This version borrowed elements from the 1980 film, but ultimately remained faithful to Christie's original text.

Film director and screenwriter Rituparno Ghosh created a Bengali language version of Christie's story as Subho Mahurat (2003), which reset the story in the film industry of Kolkata (Calcutta). In this version, Sharmila Tagore plays the aging star Padmini, the counterpart to Christie's Marina Gregg. The movie features Rakhi Gulzar in the role of the equivalent of Miss Marple.

Publication history 1962, Collins Crime Club (London), 12 November 1962, Hardback, 256 pp 1963, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), September 1963, Hardback, 246 pp 1964, Pocket Books (New York), Paperback 1965, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins ), Paperback, 192 pp 1966, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 255 pp 1974, Penguin Books, Paperback, 224 pp 2006, Marple Facsimile edition (Facsimile of 1962 UK first edition), March 6, 2006, Hardcover, ISBN 0-00-720855-3 The novel was serialised in the Star Weekly Novel, a Toronto newspaper supplement, in two abridged instalments from 9-16 March 1963 under the title The Mirror Crack'd with each issue containing a cover illustration by Gerry Sevier.

International titles Czech: Prasklé zrcadlo (The Cracked Mirror) German: Mord im Spiegel (Murder in the Mirror) Hungarian: A kristálytükör meghasadt (The Mirror Crack'd) Finnish: Tuijottava katse (The staring gaze) French: Le miroir se brisa (The mirror broken) Turkish: Ve ayna kırıldı (And the mirror was cracked) The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (Literature) - TV Tropes The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share Literature / The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side × WMG The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side is a 1962 novel by Agatha Christie , featuring Miss Marple . The American version (and it's adaptations) use the shorter title The Mirror Crack'd. Miss Marple investigates the murder of Heather Badcock, who consumed a poisoned cocktail apparently meant for American film actress Marina Gregg, Heather's idol. As Marple investigates, she discovers dark secrets in Marina's past, secrets which also link to other seemingly innocent citizens of St. Mary Mead.

The title of the novel comes from the poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The character of Marina Gregg is generally assumed to be based on the American actress Gene Tierney—and the central plot points based on events in the life of that actress. Christie herself denied this and insisted the similarity was a coincidence. The story has been adapted three times for the screen, with Angela Lansbury, Joan Hickson, and Julia MacKenzie playing Miss Marple. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side contains examples of the following tropes: Beneath Suspicion : Marina successfully makes herself look like the intended victim, taking her off the suspect list completely. Blackmail : Done by Giuseppe in the book, and attempted by Ella in the 1980 and ITV adaptations. He is shot after a trip to the bank, and she calls up people left right and center to tell them she saw them poison Heather's drink. She eventually reaches the correct person, and gets killed for her pains. Christie always kills off her blackmailers. But for Me, It Was Tuesday : Jason uses this explanation when asked about the "previous relationship" between Marina and Heather.

He explains that Heather was a fan of his wife's, and as a result, it was a big deal for her to get Marina's autograph. However, Marina has done hundreds of receptions with fans and signed thousands of autographs, so she simply has no memory of the event Heather described of one more autograph seeker among thousands. Subverted, in that Jason is well aware that while Marina didn't remember Heather specifically, the earlier meeting was even more significant to her than it was to Heather. Complete-the-Quote Title : No mirror plays a significant role in the mystery; the allusion is to the line of the poem that follows the quoted line: The mirror crack'd from side to side; "The curse is come upon me," cried The Lady of Shalott. Driven to Suicide : The killer is found dead of an overdose after The Reveal . It is implied that this was actually because her husband had done it to prevent further murders and to save her from suffering further. Hollywood Old : Having Angela Lansbury , famous for starring in Murder, She Wrote , play Miss Marple in the 1980 film version might seem like a very logical move.

However, back then, Lansbury by her own admission was 20 years too young for the role. Honorary Uncle : Inspector Craddock starts calling Miss Marple "Aunt Jane" ï¿½ which he doesn't in any of the other books he's in. Inspiration Nod : Jessica Fletcher of Murder, She Wrote seems to have been more than slightly inspired by Miss Marple, especially since series star Angela Lansbury had previously played Marple in the movie version of The Mirror Crack'd It's All About Me : Heather Badcock is a non-villainous example of this. She isn't mean, and actually goes out of her way to do nice things for other people, like rescuing Miss Marple after a nasty fall or taking in a homeless family. However, she is incapable of recognizing that her actions affect other people or that what something means to her might not be the same for other people involved.

The primary example of this was that when she got sick, she didn't recognize that the doctor's instructions to "Stay in bed and don't go out to meet people" might not have been just for her benefitï¿½ Let Off by the Detective : It is subtly implied that Marina was poisoned by her husband to save her from public disgrace and prevent more murders. Miss Marple suspects this is the case, but keeps quiet. Medication Tampering : Someone who uses some medication in an inhaler makes the mistake of trying to blackmail the murderer . The next time she uses her inhaler, she gets a lungful of Bitter Almonds . Mercy Kill : Implied to have been done to Marina by her devoted husband Jason at the end. Murder by Mistake : Heather's murder appears to be a misdirected attempt on Marina's life. In fact, this trope is inverted here, because Heather was killed on purpose by Marina herself. Never One Murder : After murdering Heather Badcock, the killer also offed Ella Zelinsky and Giuseppe (in the books anyway) when they tried to blackmail .

Passive-Aggressive Kombat : Played for laughs in the 1980 film, in which Marina ( Elizabeth Taylor ) and Lola (Kim Novak) exchange hilarious strings of snide insults. Lola: You seem lovely, as always. Of course, there are fewer lights on than usual. In fact, any fewer, and I'd need a seeing-eye dog. Marina: Oh, I shouldn't bother to buy one, dear. In that wig, you could play Lassie. Lola: Same adorable sense of humor. And I'm so glad to see that you've not only kept your gorgeous figure, but you've added so much to it! Marina: What are you doing here so early, dear? I thought the plastic surgery seminar was in Switzerland. Lola: Actually, darling, I couldn't wait to begin our little movie. You know the saying: once an actress, always an actress. Marina: Oh, I do know the saying. But what does it have to do with you? Lola: Cute angel. So do tell. How does it feel to be back, after being away so long? Later: Marina: I've always thought of Lola as one of my oldest, oldest friends.

Related in the Adaptation : The BBC Miss Marple adaptation of the book seem to mistake Dermot Craddock as Miss Marple's actual nephew (despite the two being depicted as strangers in A Murder is Announced), rather than an honorary one. When Slack advises Craddock to speak to Miss Marple, he tells him that she's his aunt. Later on, Raymond West refers to Dermot as cousin. Ripped from the Headlines : The plot is remarkably similar to the real-life tragedy of Gene Tierney , who contracted rubella while pregnant, resulting in Daria being born premature, deaf, blind, and severely retarded. These problems contributed to (or, perhaps, outright caused) Tierney's own depression and bipolar disorder. About a year later a woman approached Tierney at a party and said that she had sneaked out of her marine base, under a rubella quarantine at the time, to meet her when she appeared at the Hollywood Canteen, a wartime club that catered to service members where Hollywood stars would appear. Tierney simply stared at the woman, then turned and walked away.

She later wrote, "After that I didn't care whether ever again I was anyone's favorite actress." It should be noted, however, the Christie was asked about the similarity and claimed she'd never heard about Tierney's story until after The Mirror Cracked was published. Society Marches On : Marina's child being disabled would still be a great blow to parents today, but in the time the novel was written, such children were removed to institutions almost immediately and may have had almost nothing to do with their families. The loss is almost as if the baby had not survived at all. It also isn't lightly mentioned that the child even existed. Starter Marriage : Marina Gregg's first husband Arthur Babcock. He was a realtor who just wasn't prepared to keep up with the lifestyle of a Hollywood star. Sympathetic Murderer : Heather was unwittingly responsible for giving Marina German measles and causing her only biological child to be born with birth defects. Marina suffered a breakdown as a result, and when Heather turned up telling with pride how she had snuck out of quarantine to meet her, Marina flew into a rage and poisoned her in the heat of the moment.

Jason Rudd is implied to have killed Marina himself, to stop her committing more murders and to save her from public disgrace. A Tragedy of Impulsiveness : Marina poisoned Heather in a fit of murderous rage. If she had not had the means to do so immediately at hand, she probably would have had time to calm down, and the tragedy would have been averted. The incident at the root of the whole matter also counts. Had Helena listened to her doctor, it's likely Marina would never have contracted rubella and would have delivered a healthy baby. But she just had to get that autograph... Typhoid Mary : Heather was perfectly well after being treated for her Rubella but she was still highly infectious to the point that she was under ordered bed rest until she was safe to be around other people. She ignored this and infected Marina when she was pregnant. Ugly Guy, Hot Wife : Marina, as an actress, is still very attractive despite her age. Her husband, Jason Rudd, is frequently described to be ugly and looks like a clown. White and Grey Morality : Both the victim and the murderer are sympathetic, but both of them have fatal flaws that collectively bring about the tragedy.

Heather failed to recognize how her actions would destroy Marina's happiness, and Marina poisoned her in a fit of rage without thinking. :: Indexes :: An Analysis of Agatha Christie's Use of Literary Allusions | Kibin An Analysis of Agatha Christie's Use of Literary Allusions Sign Up & Access Essays Already a member? Login here Pages: 3 This preview is partially blurred. Sign up to view the full document. Sign Up & Access Essays Already a member? Login here End of preview Upgrade to view the full document This is an unformatted preview.

Sign up to view the full document End of preview Upgrade to view the full document Agatha Christies Use of Literary Allusions There She Weaves by Night and Day a Magic Web With Colours Gay Classic nursery rhymes great poetry Shakespearean plays and modern drama all contribute to the intricate web of mystery that Agatha Christie wove in her many works The meshing of literary allusions and several interwoven plots actively involve the reader and maintain the books suspenseful atmosphere Famous for her misdirection of readers through foreshadowing dialogue and pointless implications her techniques captivate and force the reader to think along a certain path while the murderer stays out of suspicion Because of these techniques Christie became internationally successful Her books have been translated into more languages than any of Shakespeares plays Her books have sold over one hundred million copies throughout the world Yaffe Internet Christies use of literary allusions begins with the titles of her novels and short stories Her title By The Pricking of My Thumbs suggests supernatural evil by suggesting the witches from Shakespeares Macbeth How Does Your Garden Grow One Two Buckle My Shoe Fiddlers Three and Hickory Dickory Death all suggest childish recitations with a chilling twist Miller Internet The loss of Tennysons heartwrenching poem The Lady

 of Shalott is encountered in The Mirror Cracked From Side to Side This title comes directly from a line of Tennysons poem Mirror 53 Cover her face mine eyes dazzle she died young Sleeping 17 These words are spoken at the climax of John Websters dramatic play The Duchess of Malfi In the play a man coldly speaks these words over the corpse of the sister that he has just murdered These words are also a vital clue in Sleeping Murder one of Agatha Christies most intense mysteries In this book a woman watching this play is horrified when the murderer calmly speaks these words on stage The quote causes the woman to recall after twenty years a grotesque event that she @Kibin is a lifesaver for my essay right now!!

- Sandra Slivka, student @ UC Berkeley Wow, this is the best essay help I've ever received! - Camvu Pham, student @ U of M If I'd known about @Kibin in college, I would have gotten much more sleep - Jen Soust, alumni @ UCLA THE MIRROR CRACK’D FROM SIDE TO SIDE | ahsweetmysteryblog THE MIRROR CRACK’D FROM SIDE TO SIDE ~ Brad “What a terrible mistake I had made in starting with Hercule Poirot so old,” Agatha Christie states in her autobiography. (He is reputed to be around 62 at the start of The Mysterious Affair at Styles . . . in 1920.) “I ought to have abandoned him after the first three or four books, and begun again with someone much younger.” And so, in 1930, she created Miss Jane Marple . . . a 74-year-old spinster. What was the author thinking? Like many Golden Age authors, Christie largely ignored issues of age in Poirot’s world.

With the exception of Curtain, his final case, Poirot cuts pretty much the same figure throughout, maintaining the illusion of agelessness with a treatment of hair dye, his little gray cells remaining sharp to the end. True, in some of his later cases, the younger generation dismisses him as a relic, and those of his long time colleagues who have retired refer to themselves as “old men.” And the world around Poirot changes remarkably little: Christie struggles, with limited success, to paint a picture of disaffected youth in Third Girl, but Poirot pays little attention to the changes that time has wrought. Not so Miss Marple. By 1962, the old lady should be well over a hundred, although the only real sign that she has aged significantly comes when Doctor Haydock (who has indeed become an old man) forbids her to do heavy gardening; she also has a greater propensity to drop a stitch. But Jane Marple remains a keen observer of the changes in village life and in England.

Perhaps not being the egotist that Poirot was allows her to turn outward more, and she views the world around her not so much with the ache of nostalgia as with a keen interest and an acceptance that all things must pass. That is what makes the first three chapters of The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side, published in 1962, so fascinating. The book opens with Miss Marple at her window, viewing with deep regret the wreck that was once her garden. Her own infirmities have forced her to hire an ancient gardener, whose utilitarian philosophy has led to his trading flowers (“fancy stuff such as ladies liked to go in for”) for vegetables. “One had to face the fact: St. Mary Mead was not the place it had been. . . You could blame the war (both the wars), or the younger generation, or women going out to work, or the atom bomb, or just the Government – what one really meant was the simple fact that one was growing old. Miss Marple, who was a very sensible old lady, knew that quite well. It was just that, in a queer way, she felt it more in St.

Mary Mead, because it had been her home for so long.” As one reads these opening chapters, it becomes clear that Christie has always focused more on continuity in the Miss Marple books than in her others. We learn the fate of characters that we met in earlier novels: Griselda Clement, the vicar’s wife in Murder at the Vicarage is still a good friend, but Miss Wetherby has passed on. So has Colonel Bantry, although his widow Dolly is as lively as ever: she has sold Gossington Hall, the site of The Body in the Library (which is referenced frequently) and travels around the world visiting her children. Even more significant are the changes wrought in the village itself, once so picturesque, but now expanded to include a housing development for the rising middle class. Younger people ignore the high street shops in favor of the gleaming supermarket. Mrs. Jameson, local hairdresser, has repainted her sign to read, “DIANE. Hair Stylist.” The string of servants who once came from the local orphanage to be trained by Miss Marple have been replaced by a charming and competent young cleaning lady from The Development named Cherry Baker and a hideously chipper companion named Miss Knight.

(Honestly, did Christie ever really view companions with much sympathy?) The author sends Miss Marple on a walk through the new part of town “with the feeling of Columbus setting out to discover a new world,” and what she finds is outwardly attractive yet fills the old lady with a sense of unreality: “The people, too, looked unreal. The trousered young women, the rather sinister-looking young men and boys, the exuberant bosoms of the fifteen-year-old girls. Miss Marple couldn’t help thinking that it all looked terribly depraved.” And yet, looking deeper, she finds that people haven’t changed much at all. Spying a couple looking at a house for sale and observing the young man’s behavior when his fiancée falls, Miss Marple can’t resist warning her of his unsuitability as a husband. She sees in both these young people parallels to past villagers, a strategy she uses often in murder investigations.

A few minutes later, when Miss Marple herself falls down and is rescued by a good Samaritan named Heather Badcock, she draws another parallel to Alison Wilde, a kindly woman, but a woman who “always saw her own point of view so clearly that she didn’t always see how things might appear to, or affect, other people.” This parallel will haunt Miss Marple as she gets drawn into another murder case, this one involving a glamorous movie star named Marina Gregg who has just bought Gossington Hall. Murder occurs in a scene that provides the ultimate clash between these worlds, between the old village life of vicars and farmers and the spruce new life of the Development dwellers, and between down to earth villagers and the larger than life Hollywood set. A cocktail is poisoned, a woman dies, and the commentary on changing society fades as focus shifts to a traditional murder investigation. Chief-Inspector Dermot Craddock reappears and immediately turns to Miss Marple for assistance. While Craddock conducts official interviews, the old lady does some research. There’s a funny little scene where Miss Marple visits “DIANE.

Hair Stylist” to borrow a stack of old movie magazines; she knows the power of gossip in all its forms, and she uses her good sense to pick out the truth from amidst all the nonsense that is written about movie stars and their ilk. Actors have, you should pardon the expression, taken center stage in several Christie novels, most notably in Lord Edgeware Dies (1933) and Murder in Three Acts (1934). Unlike Jane Wilkinson and Sir Charles Cartwright, Marina Gregg is a movie star, and Christie, often unjustly criticized for shallow characterization, does a fine job here of painting a picture of a fading actress of once great stature: “She had brought personality to her pictures rather than mere sex.

The sudden turn of her head, the opening of the deep lovely eyes, the faint quiver of her mouth, all these were what brought to one suddenly that feeling of breathtaking loveliness that comes not from regularity of feature but from some sudden magic of the flesh that catches the onlooker unawares.” Despite great success on screen, happiness eludes Marina: five marriages, a disastrous attempt at motherhood, the unctuous adoration of fans and the jealousy of colleagues, all have brought her to a state where another nervous breakdown is always around the corner. In the three English language film adaptations of the novel, Marina has been played by Elizabeth Taylor, Claire Bloom and Lindsay Duncan. The Taylor version has its problems, particularly with tone, and with the fact that Angela Lansbury, so marvelous an actress, actually feels miscast as Miss Marple. But Taylor is the right sort to play Marina Gregg, as both carry similar glamour, vulnerability and baggage. Bloom and Crouse, fine actresses both, can play the weight of the role but seem less possessed of the qualities that make a movie star.

Christie, who was notoriously shy herself around interviewers and fans, comments on the sense that actors must always be “on” since people are forever watching them and wanting things from them, even if it’s only a moment of personal recognition. This even becomes a point of contention in the murder investigation as Craddock argues whether or not a famous person would have the opportunity to slip poison in a glass unnoticed. A few of Christie’s standard mystery ideas are revisited here, such as the question of who the intended victim actually was and – one of my favorites – the “significant look” of a character over somebody’s shoulder. (The use of that here is particularly rich.) Perhaps the only real error Christie makes in this plot is in the area of the second murder: there is one murder too many here, especially with so small a cast. All the adaptations cut the third killing, with no sense of loss incurred. In the next two novels featuring Miss Marple, she will take on a new persona, that of “Nemesis.” It is a weighty mantle for someone reaching the end of a long life to bear, although the old lady is well-suited to it, and the classic brings with it a sense of the ages.

Indeed, the novel Nemesis feels much more like an ending for Miss Marple than the book that follows, (Sleeping Murder, the one Christie intended as Miss Marple’s swan song. ) In The Mirror Crack’d, despite the sense of the world changing around her, there is still a lightness of spirit around the sleuth. Her doctor prescribes a murder investigation as just the tonic Miss Marple needs to get out of her doldrums. It’s a funny moment that juxtaposes nicely with the sense of doom that settles over the mystery she solves. The title of the book comes from an 1832 poem by Tennyson called The Lady of Shalott. Mrs. Bantry remarks that “people don’t read much Tennyson nowadays,” but the imagery calls to mind things she witnessed before the murder and helps Miss Marple solve the case.

Reading over the poem, I found a verse that makes me think of the tapestries of mystery Christie wove throughout her career and which she succeeds at again in this novel: “But in her web she still delights To weave the mirror’s magic sights, For often thro’ the silent nights A funeral, with plumes and lights And music, came from Camelot.” Share this: Enjoying "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred Tennyson If you are approaching Tennyson's poem, "The Lady of Shalott", this page will help you get started. It is intended especially for students (high-school age and older) who have read the poem in class. The Story The Lady of Shalott is a magical being who lives alone on an island upstream from King Arthur's Camelot. Her business is to look at the world outside her castle window in a mirror, and to weave what she sees into a tapestry. She is forbidden by the magic to look at the outside world directly. The farmers who live near her island hear her singing and know who she is, but never see her. The Lady sees ordinary people, loving couples, and knights in pairs reflected in her mirror.

One day, she sees the reflection of Sir Lancelot riding alone. Although she knows that it is forbidden, she looks out the window at him. The mirror shatters, the tapestry flies off on the wind, and the Lady feels the power of her curse. An autumn storm suddenly arises. The lady leaves her castle, finds a boat, writes her name on it, gets into the boat, sets it adrift, and sings her death song as she drifts down the river to Camelot. The locals find the boat and the body, realize who she is, and are saddened. Lancelot prays that God will have mercy on her soul. This is one of Tennyson's most popular poems. The Pre-Raphaelites liked to illustrate it. Waterhouse made three separate paintings of "The Lady of Shalott". Agatha Christie wrote a Miss Marple mystery entitled "The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side", which was made into a movie starring Angela Lansbury. Tirra Lirra by the River , by Australian novelist Jessica Anderson, is the story of a modern woman's decision to break out of confinement.

The Poem They crossed themselves, their stars they blest, Knight, minstrel, abbot, squire and guest, There lay a parchment on her breast, That puzzled more than all the rest, The wellfed wits at Camelot. "The web was woven curiously, The charm is broken utterly, Draw near and fear not -- this is I, The Lady of Shalott." Notes The story of the Lady of Shalott is a version of "Elaine the fair maid of Astolat", from Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur. Elaine's naive love for Lancelot was unrequited. She died of a broken heart (i.e., committed suicide -- Malory's book contains her justification of suicide). Her dead body (with suicide note between her hands) was floated down the Thames to Camelot. Eventually Tennyson wrote a long poem about "Lancelot and Elaine". It contains the line which I have found helpful, "He makes no friend who never made a foe." However, Tennyson claimed he did not know the English version of the story in 1832, when he wrote the first draft of the poem.

He took it from an early renaissance Italian story "Quì conta come la Damigella di Scalot morì per amore di Lancialotto de Lac." The body ends up on the Camelot beach, with a letter, and is examined by a crowd. I met the story first in some italian novelle: but the web, mirror, island, etc., were my own. Indeed, I doubt whether I should ever have put it in that shape if I had been then aware of the Maid of Astolat in "Morte Arthur". Tennyson found the basic story in the Italian source, including the death-letter (which he eliminated from the 1842 version). But he made up the curse, the mirror, the song, and the weaving. Tennyson also explained, The Lady of Shalott is evidently the Elaine of the Morte d'Arthur, but I do not think that I had ever heard of the latter when I wrote the former. Shalott was a softer sound than "Scalott". Like many other famous poems, this one deals (on one level) about writing poetry.

Tennyson's son Hallam quoted his father as saying it's about: the new-born love for something, for some one in the wide world for which she had been so long excluded, takes her out of the region of shadows into that of realities. Hallam also said: The key to this tale of magic symbolism is of deep human significance and is to be found in the lines Or when the Moon was overhead, Came two young lovers lately wed; "I am half sick of shadows," said The Lady of Shalott. Tennyson likes to write poems about creatures lost in half-life, and/or people taking decisive, heroic action that leads to their doom. The Kraken is a science-fiction sort of creature that will become conscious only moments before its spectacular death. The Lotus-Eaters are in a drug-haze. Tithonus is lost in extreme old age. Miriana and Oenone are poems about lonely women. "The Charge of the Light Brigade" glorifies the men who died as a result of a terrible military error. "Ulysses" glorifies a heroic quest for even-Ulysses-doesn't-know-what.

If you know the story from Dante, you remember that Ulysses and all his crew drowned. "The Idealist" spoofs a philosopher who thinks the world is his hallucination. Here are some more interesting things to notice about "The Lady of Shalott": The key line, "I am half-sick of shadows", says the Lady's mind, and probably the poet's mind, is divided about the right choice. Each of the four stanzas ends with somebody saying something. Otherwise nobody says anything. Most of the knights are riding as buddy pairs. Lancelot is riding alone. He has no partner except his reflection in the river. The reflection in the river is in turn reflected in the mirror. The poem has been very popular among illustrators, perhaps for its suggestiveness. Note Lance's lance in the one picture. "Tirra lirra" comes from "The Winter's Tale" by Shakespeare. The red-cross knight is the hero of the beginning of Spenser's "Faery Queene". Not everybody thinks that "Tirra lirra by the river" is a great line.

But notice that "river" rhymes with "river", either because there is no other obvious rhyme, or because there is a reflection in the river. Mirror doesn't really rhyme with river, but it sort of rhymes with tirra lirra. Uh, yeah, I agree that "plankèd wharfage" sounds silly today. Lancelot prays that God will have mercy on the Lady. At the time, Lancelot is the queen's illicit lover, and thus false to the king he loves. Eventually a contrite Lancelot became a man of God. Lancelot is the one who will receive mercy. Lancelot's prayer that God will have mercy on the lady probably comes from the old version in which she is an actual suicide. You've probably already thought about how the Lady's castle and mirror compares with Plato's Cave. In Plato, the reflections are the phenomenal world; in Tennyson, the phenomenal world casts the reflections. Leaving both cave and castle supposedly results in disaster. How can you read something that was written "below the stern" of a boat? It would be below the water line. One early reviewer pointed this out.

John Stuart Mill understandably disliked the last stanza of the 1832 version in the London Reveiw, July 1835. If you are allowed to do "Compare and Contrast" papers (i.e., if you are only beginning your study of literature), get Tennyson's "Life of the Life", a companion-piece to "The Lady of Shalott". Funeral barges and dead bodies going down rivers are some sort of archetype. Ophelia, Buoconte di Montefeltro (Dante Purg. V), and Boromir ("Lord of the Rings") are three other favorites from classic literature. Because the Lady of Shalott is an allegorical figure, she has no given name. One of my correspondents (Catherine Mulligan) pointed out that at the start, there's no color, only shadows. Later, the lady chooses "the bright colors of reality". When she dies, we hear only of white, one of the hueless "colors" of death. What's It All About, Alfie? Obviously the Lady looking at the world in a mirror and depicting it in a work of art is some kind of allegory for the life of the artist-writer.

I think that "The Lady of Shalott" is partly about how being an artist (writer, poet, scholar, etc.) can make you feel isolated from ordinary life. You can develop this idea yourself, based on your own experience and observations. It's the Lady's romantic yearnings that finally make her look out the window. In the 1830's, a poet was supposed to be a spokesman for a "Victorian" ideal in which sexuality is suppressed. Tennyson wrote "The Lady of Shalott" in his early 20's, just after being forced to leave Cambridge for financial reasons. He would not marry until 1849. The young Tennyson must have wondered whether he could hold to the supposed contemporary standard for a single man rather than seeking out sexual relationships. He must have been afraid that choosing the latter would ruin his morals and his writing. You can look at Tennyson's own life and letters and decide for yourself to what extent "The Lady of Shalott" reflects the hopes and fears of a young man who grew up bookish, super-smart, isolated, and probably repressed.

You can also look at what others have said about the old question of whether an artist or writer must be isolated from the ordinary world. Shakespeare and Chaucer were men of the world, who probably did not consider their writing to be their main professions. Lord Byron and Robert Burns embraced life and sexuality wholeheartedly. By contrast, Keats dropped out of medical school to become a full-time poet, Coleridge was a passive man who became dependent on the good will of others to be able to continue his work, and Emily Dickinson was a recluse. Bertoldt Brecht pretended to be a man of the working class, but he really had nothing to do with the people for whom he claimed to speak. You can supply many more examples. Today, "The Lady of Shalott" invites us to think about: What sacrifices must a person make to be a poet, artist, scientist, or scholar? We all have emotional needs. Can we really make these sacrifices? What happens when we fail? Each of us lives partly in a world of make-believe, much of it inherited from our families and our cultures. What happens when it is challenged and/or we choose to discard it?

Archaic words: On an Ambling Pad: One resource says, "Taking a casual walk"; I think that since William Collins refers in his poem "In the Downhill of Life" to wanting "an ambling pad pony to pace o'er the lawn", and since a character in Henry Fielding's "Journey from This World to the Next" rides home on an ambling pad, it's probably "riding a horse." My dictionary says that "pad" can be British dialect for a walking path, or a saddle pad, or simply to walk in a leisurely way ("amble" is a synonym), or a horse that walks at an easy pace. Baldric: Belt worn over one shoulder and the opposite waist Mischance: Bad luck (i.e., Tennyson's psychic foresees his own disaster) Greaves: Armor for the fronts of the shins Wold: Unforested plains, especially between forests. The Culture War: If you or your teacher are active in the perennial three-way struggle for control of the school curriculum and everything else, you can write an essay on "The Lady of Shalott" without being untruthful.

Partisans of the Religious Right can point out the dangers of the occult, how the Lady was disobedient to some higher authority by seeking out sexual experience, how a good person stays aloof from the world, etc., etc. Partisans of the politically-correct Left can talk about how chivalry supposedly idealized women in order to confine and oppress them. Partisans of scientific naturalism can discuss Tennyson as the great poet of Darwin's era, giving brilliant expression in his later works all the religious doubts of the by-then post-Christian world. Even in this early poem, the Lady gives up a world of unreality to look at and finally experience the world as it really is. Not everybody will agree with all these positions. I hope you like The Lady of Shalott, and that I've been of some help. To include this page in a bibliography, you may use this format: Friedlander ER (1999) Enjoying "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred Tennyson Retrieved Dec. 25, 2003 from For Modern Language Association sticklers, the name of the site itself is "The Pathology Guy" and the Sponsoring Institution or Organization is Ed Friedlander MD.

Tennyson: Complete-the-Quote Title - TV Tropes Complete-the-Quote Title You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share YMMV Literature, music and television are full of quotable quotes, and they are frequently used as titles in other works . In this case, only part of a quote is used, one which really doesn't indicate what it's about, but the other part, the one left unsaid, does. This often gets audiences thinking before they see it, and creates expectations about what it will be about, particularly if it's a very well-known quote that everyone can finish without thinking. Other, more obscure, quotes may count as a Genius Bonus , but will still serve the same function in those familiar with them. Consider a quote that everyone knows from William Shakespeare , " To be, or not to be ," from a scene in which Hamlet contemplates suicide. For this to be in effect, a work in which a character is considering killing himself would be titled, "To Be", while one that focuses on the reasons he has to live would be titled "Or Not To Be".

open/close all folders Comic Books The EC Comics story "...And All Through The House" note which was adapted in the Tales from the Crypt film and again as an episode of the television series takes place on the night before Christmas . The Watchmen not only takes its title from the famous quote attributed to the Roman poet Juvenal ("Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"/"Who watches the watchmen?"), but also the name of every single chapter is a piece of song lyrics/other famous quotes. The full quotes are found at the end of each chapter. Chapter I: "At Midnight, All the Agents..." (from the song, "Desolation Row", by Bob Dylan ). Chapter II: Absent Friends (from the song, "The Comedians", by Elvis Costello ). Chapter III: The Judge of All Earth (from the Book of Genesis ). Chapter IV: Watchmaker (from the quote, "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking... The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.", by Albert Einstein ).

Chapter V: Fearful Symmetry (from the poem, " The Tyger Through a Glass Darkly : It's from the well-known 12th chapter of I Corinthians , in which Paul describes the limit of human understanding as "we see through a glass, darkly.". Appropriate for a film in which Karin is a schizophrenic suffering from hallucinations, and her father, brother, and husband wonder what to do and what to believe in. Literature The Wilfred Owen poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" ("it is sweet and fitting") is a cross-language example - the full quote being "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" (it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country), which is much more appropriate to the poem's War Is Hell subject matter (though it is still an ironic usage). Heinlein 's I Will Fear No Evil . Even though there is plenty of evil in the world of this story, it (and lack of fear thereof) isn't really important to the plot. However, the other part of the quote "Though I walk through the valley of death", is a perfect title for the story.

The title of Monstrous Regiment is a variant in which the source quote is so obscure that readers are not intended to recognize it — because if they did, it would be a Spoiler Title . It's named after a sixteenth-century political work titled, "The first blast of the trumpet against the monstrous regiment of women". Pratchett does give an in-universe reason: The regiment the main character joins is called the Monstrous Regiment because has a troll, a vampire, and an Igor in it. Of Mice and Men is taken from a line in the Robert Burns poem "To A Mouse". The full line goes "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley" ("The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry"), foreshadowing how the plans of the main characters will go unfullfilled due to tragic circumstances. Some of the titles in the The First Law are this coupled with Literary Allusion Title , and are taken from a quote which is (one of the) work's epigraph(s): The first novel, The Blade Itself comes from a quotation from Homer that "The blade itself incites to deeds of violence'' (as discussed here , it is a loose translation).

The second novel is titled Before They Are Hanged, and derives from a Henrich Heine quote, "We should forgive our enemies, but not before they are hanged." The third novel's title, The Last Argument of Kings, refers to the words Louis XIV had inscribed on his cannons: "Ultima Ratio Regum," which is Latin for "the last argument of kings." A standalone novel Best Served Cold derives from the proverb that "Revenge is a dish best served cold", which fits the novel being about the heroine's Roaring Rampage of Revenge . Another standalone novel, The Heroes alludes to a quote by Bertolt Brecht that "Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes" (incidentally, the same quote is used as the series title of another grimdark fantasy, A Land Fit for Heroes ).

Ben Elton 's World War I novel The First Casualty is named for a quotation attributed to US Senator Hiram Warren Johnson: "The first casualty when war comes is truth." The Fault in Our Stars is quote mined from Shakespeare 's "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves." Quoth John Green , "Which is an easy thing to say if you're, like, you know, Shakespeare or a Roman nobleman, but in the broad sense, I don't know that I agree with Shakespeare a hundred percent." Diseases, especially diseases like cancer, rarely come to affect people who "deserve" it. It's really very random. And cancer is what really serves as the most negative influence on the characters' lives, so the fault did indeed lie in their stars. Nevermind that Shakespeare's characters were speaking of the rise of a tyrant in their country, something that is the responsibility of the citizens to stop, regardless of "stars". They'd probably agree that diseases and politics are very different. The title of the novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie comes from a quote from the poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson .

There's no mirror in the novel, but there is a woman under a kind of curse. Out flew the web and floated wide- The mirror crack'd from side to side; "The curse is come upon me," cried The Lady of Shalott Agatha Christie 's novel The Pale Horse has a Double Meaning Title . Most obviously, "The Pale Horse" is the name of an old inn that is central to the plot. But, also, it is an allusion to the Book of Revelations: "I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death." In the book, three old women claim to be able to kill people using magic, and they have the body count to back up their claim. Another Agatha Christie example: the Poirot novel Sad Cypress, from one of Feste's songs in Twelfth Night . Isaac Asimov 's The Gods Themselves refers to a longer quote from Friedrich Schiller, which makes up the titles of its three acts: "Against Stupidity ... The Gods Themselves ... Contend in Vain." Fitting, since the willful stupidity of certain characters literally threatens to destroy the world.

Isaac Asimov 's "That Thou Art Mindful of Him" takes its title from a Biblical psalm which asks "What is Man that thou art mindful of Him?". The question "What is Man?" (or as we'd more likely say now, "What is the definition of a human being?") is central to the story. For Whom the Bell Tolls is part of a line from a devotional writing by John Donne . In this case, it's the previous line that is most thematically appropriate: "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind" (the novel is largely an exploration of the nature of companionship in a time of war and death).

However, completing the line that the title is taken from also makes it into a Spoiler Title : "And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee ." Theirs Not To Reason Why , from Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade" ("...Theirs but to do and die") Too Like The Lightning derives its title from a passage in Romeo and Juliet : "It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,/Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be/Ere one can say ï¿½It lightens.ï¿½ While in the original context, Juliet is expressing doubt about Romeo's constancy, in the context of the novel, it serves to raise questions about the novel's utopian setting and/or shocking events which threaten its continued utopianism. Live-Action TV The first episode of Angel is titled "City of..." Star Trek: The Original Series episode: " Whom Gods Destroy ". The episode isn't about people being destroyed, by gods or otherwise. However if you know the entire quote "Whom gods destroy, they first drive mad", you'll see it's a perfect title for an episode about an insane asylum. " Show Me A Hero ...

and I'll write you a tragedy." A quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald . Theatre Both Your Houses is a play about an idealistic young congressman who sets out to defeat a corrupt appropriations bill, fails, and then vows to bring down the whole corrupt system. The quote is from Romeo and Juliet : "A plague o' both your houses!" Inherit the Wind has nothing to do with inheritance or wind, but a great deal to do with the idea of a community tearing itself apart. The complete quotation, which comes from the Book of Proverbs, is recited by Brady when Reverend Brown turns on his own daughter: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart." TV Tropes All That Glitters (is not gold) is a saying that (or at least its most well-known form) comes from a line in William Shakespeare 's The Merchant of Venice . (Though it should be noted that this is somewhat a case of Beam Me Up, Scotty! , since the actual word used in the play is "glisters", not "glitters". And Call Him "George"!

is not about calling an animal George, but hugging and petting it to death. The original Tex Avery MGM Cartoon quote goes: "I'm gonna love him, and hug him, and pet him, and call him George!" Due to the Dead is missing the first part, "the respect", or "the reverence". He Who Fights Monsters comes from the famous quote by Friedrich Nietzsche . The full quote is presented on the trope page, and it goes like this: "He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you". World of Warcraft : There's a quest in the Mt. Hyjal region that's a play on the phrase, "If you're not with us, you're against us", but switches it around a bit. The actual title is, "If You're Not Against Us...", and the point is to convince a demonic satyr to help repel the invading Twilight's Hammer, which he does, though he arranges it so that in the process he can escape the chains imprisoning him there.

One of the Halfhill daily quests is called "Water, Water Everywhere", which comes from Rime Of The Ancient Mariner and is about watering Farmer Fung's drying out crops, "nor any drop to drink." In Mass Effect 2 , a number of missions and achievements are partial references to quotes or songs, for instance the mission "A House Divided", a reference to an Abraham Lincoln quote ending in "... against itself cannot stand." The original speech was given during his campaign to be elected to the US Senate in 1858, and was primarily concerned with the question of slavery, while predicting that the US would fall apart on itself if the question wasn't resolved soon. Naturally, The American Civil War broke out a few years later due in large part to that exact issue, and the mission in-game centers on The Geth being divided on how to deal with the Reapers and a faction hoping to force the rest into obeying the Reapers. "Better to let Sleeping Dogs lie." Basically "Don't kick the hornet's nest." One feat in Shovel Knight that involves putting out a campfire is named "Only You... can prevent forest fires / wildfires.".

Kane and Lynch has one Achievement "Damned If You Do..." Guess what the other one is called? Western Animation An episode of She-Ra: Princess of Power is titled "He Ain't Heavy" which makes very little sense unless you're familiar with the phrase "He ain't heavy, he's my brother" (derived from a hit song by The Hollies ). The plot involves Adora needing to rescue Prince Adam (her brother) from the Horde. The Legend of Korra has this with the episode " Long Live the Queen ". A gender conjugated version of the last part of the phrase "The King is dead, Long live the King". The Big Bad of the season kills the Earth Queen halfway through the episode. Teen Titans featured A Day in the Limelight episode for the gang's eponymous Dark is Not Evil member titled, "Nevermore." Three guesses as to whom it was referring. (As the rest of the Edgar Allan Poe poem goes... " quote the Raven ." :: Indexes ::

Question: The title of the Agatha Christie story The Mirror Cracked comes from which poem by Tennyson?
Answer: The Lady of Shallot