Structural Patterning & Ambiguity in Crime Texts
English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 7.2.2
Structural Patterning in Crime Texts
In your exam, you could discuss the structural placement of the crime(s) in Atonement and other set texts.
Pre-narrative crimes
- In texts such as Hamlet, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Ballad of Reading Gaol, the crimes that propel the action have taken place before the narrative begins.
- This means the texts focus more on the consequences of these crimes and the process of detection than the actual crimes themselves.
Crimes during the narrative
- In texts such as Atonement and Porphyria’s Lover, we see the events which lead up to these crimes.
- How does this affect our response to them, and to the characters involved?
- Do we ‘understand’ the crimes or criminals better, having witnessed the motivations which led to these acts?
Ambiguity/Doubt in Crime Texts
In your exam, you could discuss the ambiguity audiences feel about the nature of the crimes in Atonement and other set texts.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
- In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie intentionally withholds the identity of the murderer to create suspense and place the reader in the role of detective until the shocking revelation in the final chapter.
Hamlet
- In Hamlet, the audience (and Hamlet himself) are initially unsure about whether they should trust the Ghost – is it telling the truth or is it an evil spirit which seeks to lure Hamlet to his destruction? Also, to what extent is Gertrude complicit in her husband’s murder?
Peter Grimes
- In Peter Grimes, Crabbe also creates ambiguity around the precise details of the boys’ deaths with the full extent of his guilt only revealed by the torment he endures before his death.
Test yourself on Structural Patterning & Ambiguity in Crime Texts
What information does Christie withhold from the audience in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd?
What uncertainties do Hamlet audiences face?