Murder on the Orient Express Review Sample

What exactly is the Significance of Law and the Jury System in the Novel “Murder on the Orient Express”?

“Murder on the Orient Express” is one of the most well-known detectives of the famous writer Agatha Christie. Before starting to analyze the novel, it really is worth considering the backdrop. Hercule Poirot, a famous detective, is on the train as he must get to London. The train gathered a fairly unusual company that included representatives of entirely different nationalities. The American Ratchett, who discovered that he was traveling on a single train with the famous detective Poirot, asked him for protection, since, in accordance with him, that he was in grave danger. The detective did not just take his words seriously and refused a favor. The train got stuck in the territory of Yugoslavia, and exactly the same night Ratchett’s body was found dead.

There have been twelve wounds of varying severity available on his human anatomy, only a few that were deadly, and what exactly is even more mysterious, all were made by both left-hander and right-hander. This fact was fascinating to Poirot, and he straight away took up this case. On the train, besides the detective himself, there have been twelve the others, that is, potential suspects. Attempts to take out any evidence or clue from them failed to succeed. Also, non-e of the passengers could give any significant testimony, which led the detective in to confusion. Later, the identity of the murdered was established. In place of Ratchett, that he turns out to be Cassetti, who himself is the murderer of a tiny girl from the Armstrong family previously. At the same time, because it turned out, all twelve passengers of the express were more or less associated with the Armstrong family. From here the version emerges that all the passengers of the train are killers since you will find twelve stab wounds.

Agatha Christie isn't in vain considered one of the better writers of the detective genre. The amount of passengers (or suspected in the murder) is not in vain add up to twelve. It's the number of juries represented at the trial in Great Britain. Hence, all the action of the novel becomes a jury trial, which really is a complicated mystery for the detective. The jury system, which is so peculiarly represented in the book, can be an alternative court, which can be named an “eye for an eye. ” Twelve passengers were not inadvertently on the same train with Ratchett, the murderer of a little girl from their family. In a way, in this novel, the jury system means the ideology of justice, or, in cases like this, vengeance. “The question we now have to ask ourselves is this, ” he said. “Is this murder the task of some rival gang whom Cassetti had double-crossed in the past, or is it an act of private vengeance? ” (Christie, Agatha 50). Posing this question, Poirot makes two possible assumptions: Ratchett was killed by mafia or by family members of Daisy Armstrong, his victim. Since Ratchett, using his financial capabilities and relationships, were able to avoid responsibility for his crime and the court eventually found him innocent of the murder of the young girl. Members of the family could not permit the murderer to flee responsibility, that is the jury trial.

In the novel, the law is shown being an insufficient and imperfect system of formalities and corruption. “Corrupt courts denied justice to grieving family and friends; so they really conspired to reach retribution not in the law” (Moser, Maureen). Most passengers of the express do not recognize law being an authority. It may be seen if the detective finds alcohol in Hardman’s bag what was prohibited by what the law states. “You aren't a believer in Prohibition, Monsieur Hardman, ” said M. Bouc with a smile. “Well, ” said Hardman, “I can’t say Prohibition has ever worried me any” (Christie, Agatha 116). Poirot himself can also be more often believe in justice than in law. When he discovers that all a dozen passengers are murderers, that he does not are accountable to the police. That he understands that what the law states is imperfect and not always just. For this reason he agrees to cover up the crime of the passengers. The entire concept of the novel was to criticize the usa law and its particular actors. Agatha Christie’s message is that law court is not able to ensure justice anymore and that is why the jury system becomes a means of establishing justice. The novel says that those who have enough money may be acquitted in court, what states that jury system can be justified in some cases. “Ratchett had escaped justice in the usa. There was no question regarding his guilt. I visualized a self-appointed jury of twelve those who had condemned him to death and who by the exigencies of the case had themselves been forced to be his executioners” (Christie, Agatha 166).

For that reason the novel “Murder on the Orient Express” by Agatha Christie stands for justice criticizing what the law states. It shows how corrupt judges can free a murderer getting enough sum of cash and how a truth concerns him facing a jury system. Ergo, the author argues that there are two ways of establishing justice. The very first is law, which is often bribed and escaped if the criminal has enough resources. The second reason is a jury, which reflects the idea of ‘strict justness. ’ However , there exists a need to distinguish between justness and vengeance. In this very case, the law was powerless to ascertain justice, and that was reasons for this kind of alternative.

Works Cited

Christie, Agatha. Murder On The Orient Express. New York, Harper, 2011,.
Moser, Maureen. “Reasons To Believe: Getting Away With Murder. ” Reasons. Org, 2010, http://www.reasons.org/blogs/take-two/getting-away-with-murder.