Line #19 Literature/TheMacbethMurderMystery


1	->"''But don't you see?"'' said the American lady. ''“It would spoil everything if you could figure out right away who did it.. Shakespeare was far too smart for that. I’ve read that people never have figured out 'Hamlet,' so it isn't likely Shakespeare would have made 'Macbeth' as simple as it seems." ''
2
3	"The Macbeth Murder Mystery" is a short story by Creator/JamesThurber. An experienced consumer of detective fiction reads ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' for the first time, and comes to the conclusion that Macbeth can't really have killed Duncan, because the first obvious suspect always turns out to be innocent. But if it wasn't Macbeth, who was it?
4
5	----
6	!!This story uses, converses, lampshades, and parodies the following tropes:
7
8	* DeadPersonImpersonation: Conversed trope, because in the theory the Reader settles on, [[spoiler:Lady Macbeth's father killed Duncan, and hearing someone coming, hid in the bed to make whoever-it-was think Duncan was still alive. It was Lady Macbeth's who later remarks that Duncan "resembled my father as he slept"]] and so she tells the narrator.
9	* EveryoneIsASuspect: Conversed trope, because the story ends with the Narrator announcing that he's going to tackle ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' next. "But who do you suspect?" asks the Reader, "Everybody." answers the narrator.
10	* FunnyForeigner: There are two examples: A ShoutOut to Literature/HerculePoirot, a fictional detective who invokes this trope [[ObfuscatingStupidity to hide his cunning]] as a detective, and played straight with the Reader (the Narrator places his tale in an '' "hotel in the English lake country" '' and calls the Reader an American Lady nine times), a silly woman who insists on applying DetectiveDrama tropes to ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' making a fool of herself and... What do you mean that DumbassHasAPoint??
11	* InstantMysteryJustDeleteScene: Conversed trope, Macbeth is shown going in to commit murder on Duncan, but the action cuts away without showing the murder itself, which is a sure sign, the Reader says to the narrator, that he didn't actually do it.
12	* TheLawOfConservationOfDetail: Conversed trope, because in the theory the Reader settles on with the Narrator, the murderer is [[spoiler:the unnamed old man in Act II scene 4]], since otherwise why bother introducing a new character just for one scene?
13	* LiteraryAllusionTitle: Combined with ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The name of the play is [[{{Theatre/Macbeth}} ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'']], because Shakespeare wrote it as a play in [[{{Tragedy}} the tragedy genre]], but the title of this short story in universe [[DeathOfTheAuthor interprets the play]] with the [[MysteryTropes Murder]] [[MysteryTropes Mistery]] [[DetectiveDrama genre]].
14	* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: Parodied when a GenreSavvy DetectiveDrama Reader mistakes the book of [[{{Theatre/Macbeth}} ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'']] for a DetectiveDrama, → TheReveal of the identity of the real murderer, menacing the [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespearian]] [[LitClassTropes canon]] of the last four hundred years.
15	* NamelessNarrative: Neither the Reader of detective novels nor the Narrator she discusses her theories with is given a name.
16	* NeverTheObviousSuspect: Conversed trope, because the whole thing gets started when the Reader decides Macbeth must really be innocent because he's such an obvious suspect and so she tells the narrator.
17	** The Narrator mentions that Malcolm and Donalbain, the King's sons, are suspicious because they fled right after the first murder:
18	-->''“Too suspicious," said the American lady. "Much too suspicious.'' [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere When they flee]], [[RedHerring they're never guilty]]. [[GenreSavvy You can count on that]]"
19	* ShoutOut:
20	** The Reader's credentials are established with references to Creator/AgathaChristie famous creation Literature/HerculePoirot and (the now-less-famous) David Frome creation, Mr. Pinkerton.
21	** The whole point of the story is to analyze the tropes presented at [[{{Theatre/Macbeth}} ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'']], one of the most known works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, under the light of the DetectiveDrama to offer a new interpretation of the identity of the murderer. And the ending promises to do the same thing to ''[[{{Theatre/Hamlet}} Hamlet]]''.
22	** Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}: The Reader mentions this novel as one of the books on the genre of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', HistoricalFiction that are thaught at english HighSchool. The point is that Ivanhoe is full of AnachronismStew that one might call it a sort of HollywoodHistory, and just like Macbeth, uses generously ArtisticLicenseHistory. Also, Ivanhoe has his protagonist fooling people who had knew him all his life with a simple PaperThinDisguise, rendering him like a MasterOfDisguise (or those people like MedievalMorons). Those tropes would be important in the solution the Narrator settles on later.
23	** Literature/LornaDoone: The Narrator mentions this novel as one of the books on the genre of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', HistoricalFiction that are thaught at english HighSchool, like Literature/Ivanhoe. John Ridds, an English freeholder in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry who falls in love with [[TitleDrop Lorna Doone]], a woman from [[YouKilledMyFather the family who killed his father]], torning John between love and desire for revenge. The novel is a GenreBusting of HistoricalFiction with MysteryFiction, because the Doones [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections have connections with (and influence over) the local aristocracy]], [[CorruptCop judiciary and government officials]], forcing John to become an AmateurSleuth to seek justice. Also many people who interact with John take him to be a very simple and dull fellow, interested only in wrestling and farming, but John denies he is using ObfuscatingStupidity. Those tropes would be important in the solution the Natarrator settles on later.
24	** Penguin Books was a Publishing House founded in 1935 that brought high quality paperback fiction and non-fiction to the mass market. They still thrive in the XXI century as an imprint of the Worldwide Penguin Random House.
25	** The Reader spoils the plot of a detective story to the Narrator, that referes to one of the most controversials detective novels ever written:
26	-->"''[[Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd Over her second cup of tea my companion began to tell the plot of a detective story]] [[TwistEnding that had fooled her completely]] - [[TheDogWasTheMastermind it seems it was the old family doctor all the time]]''
27	* SuspectExistenceFailure: Conversed and Parodied. The Reader tells the narrator that she suspected of Banquo at first, but then he's the next to die.
28	-->''"At first I suspected Banquo. And then of course, he was the second person killed. That was good right in there, that part. The person you suspect of the first murder should always be the second victim."''
29	* TakingTheHeat: Converse trope because the Reader explains to the narrator that any bits where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth express guilt as being down to each thinking the other did it, and trying to take the heat.
30	* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: Invoked InUniverse by the Reader to explain why Macbeth can not be King Duncan's murderer:
31	-->''"It would spoil everything if you could figure out right away who did it. Shakespeare was far too smart for that. '' '''I've read that people never have figured out 'Hamlet,' ''' ''[[NeverTheObviousSuspect so it isn't likely Shakespeare would have made 'Macbeth' as simple as it seems.]]"''
32	* WrongGenreSavvy: The Reader who applies detective tropes to ''Macbeth''... isn't it?
33
34	----

Context Literature / TheMacbethMurderMystery