Recipe for murder literary analysis Essay Example

Recipe for murder literary analysis Essay Example Recipe for murder literary analysis Essay Recipe for murder literary analysis Essay The text presents a blend Of a detective Story, as it deals with murdering, and a story of characters, as it depicts meaningful characters (the typical clever and restrained police inspector and la femme fatal). To my mind, Recipe for murder embraces the principal theme of the criminal investigation and the theme of men-women relationship. The rival theme is mastery of murdering, by-themes are the spouses relationship and French cuisine. The text touches upon eternal concepts of collisions between harassers, flirt, men-women relations and love-hate relationship. Compositionally the text falls into 3 logical parts. In the exposition, the narrator sets the action in the define time: in the middle of the 20th century. The author directly points at the dates (deceased January 1939/ deceased May 1946). We can judge about the place by the names of the characters (Madame Callahan, Lucrative, Jean-Marie Villagers, etc), the titles Madame, Monsieur, the names of dishes and drinks (diminuendos Force ax Maroons, Omelet en Surprise a la Nonpolitical, Outbound etc), the name of the town (Avalanche) and eventually, by the phrase, where the character directly points at her citizenship: Murderess I may be, Inspector, but also a French woman. In the second part of the story Madame Callahan narrates about her background and in the third we can meet the charming and promising denouement of the story. The general atmosphere is strain, provocative, gripping and mistrustful. The author introduces to us a place of murdering, which, nevertheless, looks like a dream place: Guilt, clamorous with flowers, the cobalt blue of the Mediterranean twinkling outside the tall endows of the salon where they sat, Through the open window a vagrant whiff of air brought him the scent of her. Or was it the scent of the garden? These theatrical descriptions, full of epithets which brighten up the scene of action, make an antithesis with the story and create a quite ambivalent atmosphere. There are two main characters in the story: Madame Callahan, in her forties, a rich widow, who lost her husbands, and Inspector Minor, about 44, from the Paris police. Thus, we can imagine the hunter-prey relationship, but we cant be sure, which one of them is the hunter. It is a little action story, s the plot is centered round one event -? murdering. It is chronological, because all the events are presented in their logical order. Inspector Minor pays a visit to Madame Callahan, who is suspected of murdering her two husbands, to reveal her. During the conversation Madame Callahan confesses to having committed the crime. Charmed by her wisdom and finesse beauty, Inspector invites her to the casino. The climax lies in the episode, where the emotional strain reaches the peak: I forced them to gorge to bursting, sleep, gorge again; and drink too much wine that they might gorge still more. How could they, at their ages, live -? even as long as they did? A silence like the ticking of a far-off clock. Inspector Minor stood up, so abruptly that she started, whirled. She was paler. You will come with me to Nice this evening, Madame Callahan. It is followed by the surprising and unpredictable denouement, where the author gives us grounds for suspense: To the police station, Inspector Minor? To the Casino, Madame Callahan. For champagne and music. We shall talk some more. The ending is half-opened and needless to say, the writer gained by ending the story where he does. The story is narrated from the third person. The story is filtered and reflected through the prism of his mind and eye, we can easily trace where his sympathy lies with the help of his interpretations, suggests, judges. In addition, we plunge in thoughts and reasoning of the inspector and see Madame Callahan through his eyes. It provides our taking into the story, feeling ourselves as the characters. There is one main conflict in the story: between the inspector and Madame Callahan. Major characters are masterly depicted with different methods of presenting. Madame Callahan, at forty, fitted no à ©tagà ¨re of murderers; she was neither Cleopatra nor blamed with the litotes in this sentence the author reflects inspectors embracement and apprehension. He doesnt know what to expect, therefore he sizes her up very guardedly. With the help of the allusion the author helps us to form the opinion of this woman. Then he uses the antinomian and the allusion A Minerva of a woman to hint us about her wisdom. Indeed, she is wise, she is cool-blooded, she is prudent She attacks first to become the master of the situation. It is obvious in her phrases with the epithets: With a tiny smile now: You have called about my poisoning of my husbands, she stated flatly. Madame! Again he hesitated, nonplussed. Madame, You must already have visited the Prefecture. All Avalanche believes it, she said placidly. In addition to it, her self-confidence is proved in her words about her fellow-countrymen and other inspectors who suspect her in murdering quite depreciatingly. It is well-reflected with the metonymy: All Avalanche believes it. Her manner to speak (flatly, placidly, her tone, just short of caressing) reflects her good breeding and noble background. For he space of the story we come across inspector Morons jerky, but careful glances at her: Whose large, liquid eyes were but a shade lighter than the cobalt blue of the Mediterranean. She raised the small glass to her full Madame Callahan went to the window, let her soft profile, the grand line of her bosom be silhouetted against the blue water. The bosom swelled with her long breath. To my mind, this method of describing her appearance is the perfect way to combine both stepwise made impression of Madame Callahan and inspector Morons charming and confusing near this gorgeous woman. She flirts with the inspector in a very refined and s killful way. Her statements with litotes: l refuse the attitude of the man, not the law. She raised the small glass to her full lips. L shall not refuse you, Inspector Minor. Her eyes were almost admiring and descriptions with the epithets just prove it. Returning to inspectors glances, we can notice that Madame Callahan can definitely sell herself in the most benefit way. There is no denying, she enchanted and defeated the inspector. Speaking about her actions, We can make a conclusion that she is an eccentric and strong-willed person. Her confession of murdering and trying to argue her crime let us make a conclusion, that she counts herself as a sort of a judge or even an avenger. She believes that she has a right to kill somebody disgusting for the common good: M. Wiser, I learned within a fortnight, was a pig a pig of insatiable appetites. A crude man, inspector; a belcher,14 a braggart, cheater of the poor, deceiver of the innocent A gobbler of food, an untidy man of unappealing habits. Murderess I may be, Inspector, but also a French woman. So I decided without remorse that Callahan should die, as Wiser died. Her first cue is full of emotionally colored words and epithets to highlight her hatred and irritation towards her ex-husbands. The author used the metaphor and the hidden simile in the statement M. Wiser was a pig for the same purpose. The antithesis reflects her confidence in being right. Thus, the description of her husbands, full of metaphors, epithets, climax reflects her erudition and sophistication. These stylistic devices also reflect her effort to acquit herself, because despite being self-confident and self-restrained she worries about inspectors judgment and decision. Her reaction, described with emotionally colored words, betrays her true feelings: Inspector Minor stood up, so abruptly that she started, whirled. She was paler. In spite of everything, I feel sympathy for her wisdom, resolute, contradictory and strong-willed nature. I do not presume to judge her as Im charmed by her exactly like the inspector. Another reason for it is that she possesses the character traits that I evaluate in every person. This woman-enigma, a very much woman definitely is a brilliant character, one Of the most impressive and flawless that Ive ever read bout. The second main character, inspector Minor, is a bachelor of forty- four, not too bad to look at, he has been told. . We have no direct descriptions of his appearance as the author focuses on the Madame Callahan. Owing to such obscuration of him, we can feel at his place and see the situation inside-out. His occupation type is the true detective: smart, reserved, attentive, intent and prudent. Let me prove it with the quotes: It was neat. Too neat? A dangerous woman. A consumedly dangerous woman. the repetition, rhetorical question and the climax here points out his incarceration and professionalism. It also reflects the density between the characters. The way he speaks characterizes him as an attentive, unflinching, self-confident man (he said forcefully/ regarded her closely). These traits are also typical for the people of this profession. His vigilance and watchfulness, appropriate for the true detective, are also shown it the way how he resists Madame Salons enticement in the beginning: You are most flattering. In the scene when Madame Callahan, suspected in the poisoning, offers him vine, the author demonstrates us this character showing overstraining and losing intro for a moment with the help of the epithets: His reflex of hesitation lit a dim glow Of amusement in her eyes, which her manners prevented from straying to her lips. Thank you. Annoyed with himself, he spoke forcefully. Madame! Again he hesitated, nonplussed. Madame, I He adjusted his composure to an official calm. But soon after he comes to himself. It makes the reader think that the inspector is a bit sensitive man, because its easy to unsettle him. At the same time, we can say that he is a strong-willed person, as he is able to take control over the situation. The features mentioned be fore and another example vivified with litotes, hyperbole and metaphor of Madame Salons husbands: l am not a great catch, but still, not one to be despised : l wish to die. Let us make a conclusion, that he is as well-educated and finesse as Madame Callahan. Thus, we can say that they are really match each other and see how the author conveys his idea about men-women relationship. Ellipsis in his statements (To the Casino,20 Madame Callahan. For champagne and music. We shall talk some more. Listen to me, Madame. I am a bachelor. Of forty- four. Not too bad to look at, I have been told. Have a sum put away. ) not only fleet his excitement, but also characterize him as a man of action.