Volume V Special Issue III August 2025

Name of Author : P.SUNDARAM, Dr.P.SANTHI

Title of the paper : The Aspect of Moral Judgement and Justice in Agatha Christies The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Critical Analyses

Abstract: Agatha Christie was one of the most prominent writers during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. She was at the height of her success in the 1920s and 30s and was often called the Queen of Mystery by her fans and lovers. She is even more important in the historical context since she started writing at a time when not many female authors were writing. Many of her novels were listed in Guinness World Records for the number of copies sold. Christie wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short stories collection. She also wrote 5 novels under the penname Mary Westmacott. Among the many sleuths and detectives whom she created, two became widely famous and enjoy the immense amount of success even today, namely Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. This research paper will critically analyse and evaluate the novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. The reason for selecting this novel was its fame, success and the author who wrote it. Another reason for selecting this novel for the purpose of analysis is that this novel was a lot different than the other whodunit mystery novels penned by Christie. The setting of the story is the same. There are typical elements in the novel one would see in any Agatha Christie novel. What sets this one apart is the number of culprits involved in the murder, the way all the suspects are related to each other and the victim and the moral issues and sense of justice served in the end. In fact, the sense of justice as shown by Poirot in this novel differs from his usual mannerisms in the other novels. This novel is important because Christie chose to break away from the formulaic plot and broke the rules of the genre to write a story which was a breath of fresh air. This paper will critically analyse the aspect of justice, ethics and morality and will try to analyse Who Killed Ackroyd This research paper will also critically analyse the aspect of moral judgement and justice shown.

Keywords : Detective, ethics, justice, morality, mystery, revenge, deception

DOI :

Page Number : 200-203