OPENING PAGES

NARRATIVE VIEWPOINT
SETTING
Time

Place

SOCIETY IN WHICH THE NOVEL IS INSERTED

LANGUAGE
AUTHOR'S STYLE

SENTENCES' STRUCTURE

REGISTER

LENGTH

LITERARY TOOLS

Vocabulary

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GENRE
MAIN IDEAS

SECONDARY IDEAS/MESSAGES

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ABOUT THE BOOK

CHARACTERS

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Agatha Christie 4:50 to Paddington

Written in the third person. The author functions as a witness.

Set in the 1950s, Christmas time.

Scotland. The majority of the scenes take place at Rutherford Hall and at the Railway Station.

Mrs Mc Gillicuddy, Miss Jane Marple, as well as The Crackenthorpe family all belong to the high-class.

The author uses compound as well as complex sentences. There are also instances of direct speech
throughout the whole novel. (This technique may help make situations more vivid for the reader).
Moreover, detailed descriptions are used not only to describe characters, their feelings and moods, but
also to identify the different scenarios where the story develops.
High register of language, together with certain instances of old-fashioned English terms, which give the
idea of the setting of the story.

The novel has 221 pages and it is divided into twenty-seven chapters; more or less of the same length.

Use of adverbs and adjectives for description of characters and places. The author applies several
metaphors so as to illustrate different and definite moods: All the same, said Miss Marple, one likes to
see with ones own eyes where a thing happened. (chapter 3, pages 21-22).

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Detective fiction novel

Murder committed. The entire story is particularly focused on the resolution of this crime. So are the
main characters. It is clearly necessary for them to find a guilty.

Suspense: during the whole story, up to the moment Mrs Mc Gillicuddy identifies the guilty.

Friendship: between Mrs Mc Gillicuddy and Miss Jane Marple.

Ageism, especially when it comes to elderly women. Mrs. McGillicuddy is a smart, practical person
who's neither a liar nor fanciful. That's part of the reason why Miss Marple believes her story. No-one
else seems to, though, and her story is almost indulgently put aside, in part because she's an elderly
lady.

Rivalry, envy, among the Crackenthorpe brothers who intend to inherit all the money after their fathers
death.

Coldness, indifference on the part of the sons of Mr Luther Crackenthorpe, who want him dead as
soon as possible, in order to inherit.
Smartness, cleverness of Lucy Eyelesbarrow to quickly find the sarcophagus and the next clues the
murderer had left.

Pretence, lie, shrewdness of Dr. Quimper when arranging everything so as not to be discovered.

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Capital punishment: This book gives voice to what apparently were Agatha Christie's own personal
views on the death penalty and capital punishment, when Miss Marple states, "I am really very, very
sorry that they have abolished capital punishment because I do feel that if there is anyone who ought to
hang, it's Dr Quimper." Capital punishment in Britain was abolished in 1969, but there were several
periods when death penalty was temporarily suspended by the government while bills for the penalty's
abolition were being considered by Parliament. One of these suspensions was when Christie wrote
4.50 From Paddington.

It is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in November 1957. This work was also
published in the United States as "What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw."

Jane Marple : She is one of the main characters, in some way the detective,

Lucy Eyelesbarrow: Miss Marple's proxy at the Hall, serving as housekeeper-cum-spy. She's perhaps
the most interesting character in the novel, and it's easy to see why Jane Marple asks her to be her
"eyes and ears" in this case. Lucy has a first-class Oxford degree. She has good, sound common
sense and a taste for people.

Elspeth McGillicuddy: She is the witness of the murder, a friend of Miss Marple's.

Old Luther Crackenthorpe: He is an elderly widower and owner of Rutherford Hall, very selfish with
money. He is a miser who had a falling-out with his father when he chose not to enter the family
business. So his father left his considerable fortune not to his son, but to his grandchildren. Luther
Crackenthorpe is bitter because of this and determined to outlive his children just to spite his father.
Cedric Crackenthorpe: Luther's son; a bohemian painter and lover of women. He lives on the island
of Iviza and does not care about family traditions or his proper upbringing.
Harold Crackenthorpe: Luther's son; a cold and stuffy banker. He is the "good son." He behaves
circumspectly, has a prosperous job in the city and has married a "proper" wife. He is also desperate for
money, since his firm is not doing nearly as well as it appears on the surface.
Alfred Crackenthorpe: Luther's son; wartime spy and a sort of gentle con artist. He is the "black
sheep." He's had problems with the law and was involved in some shady deals. He, too, is in real need
of money.
Emma Crackenthorpe: Luther's daughter. She has never married. She's remained at home to care for
the household and her aging father. She's no frumpy stereotypical spinster. She's smart, capable and
has a distinctive personality.

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Bryan Eastley: husband of the late Edith Crackenthorpe, Luther's daughter.

Alexander Eastley: Edith & Bryan's adolescent son. He and his school friend James Stoddart-West
add humour as they eagerly explore and search for clues.
Dr Quimper: Luther's general practitioner.
Detective-Inspector Dermot Craddock: Godson of Sir Henry. He is the detective inspector of
Scotland Yard.
Bacon: Police insperctor.
Frank Cornish: Sergeant St. Mary Mead Police.
Armand Dessin : Police Inspector of Sret Police.
Wimborne: Crackenthorpe family lawyer.

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Chesterton The actor and the alibi

Written in the third person. The author is uninvolved. He conveys the story and is not a character within
it.

Set in post-war times.

Theatre in the UK which used to be famous a long time ago, but that now is full of old pantomimes and
whose walls are festooned with cobbwebs or nibbled by mice.
The actors are part of the middle-class society. Mr Mandeville and his wife once belonged to a higher
class thanks to their success in the theater business, this can be seen in Mr Mandeville's clothing.

Abundant use of adjectives in order to give a very well defined personality to each of the character
participating in the story. He also used almost casually comparisons in order to illustrate some of the
scenes, especially when describing the crime scene.
Well-structured and complex sentences. Even though his style of writing ad building of sentences is not
fully old-fashioned, the reader must be able to manage enough vocabulary and the different types of
grammatical structures in order to fully understand the short story
Neutral register of language, words are easy to be understood. There is a vast usage of adjectives and
a difference in the register of language is seen when Father Brown is talking to the woman who was
guarding Miss Maroni's door.

Not divided into chapters. The story goes along without any kind of internal division. Its length is of 18
pages.

The author uses many foreign words more than once throughout the story to describe different
situations that are taking place in the theatre. weltschmerz in German (a feeling of melancholy and
world-weariness), nil nisi bonum in latin (Of the dead, nothing unless good.) and jeune premier in
French (the juvenile lead in a play). Often, the reader would have to be redirected to a footnote in order
to understand the meaning of these phrases.

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Detective short story

The murder and the body do not appear in the short story up until the last pages of it. The main focus is
centered in describing an ordinary day of rehearsal at the theatre, taking special attention in the
gossiping and events happening backstage with the actors.
At the beginning of the story, the entire attention is set on Miss Maroni, the leading lady who refuses to
exit her dressing-room. Father Brown has certain prejudice about italian people and their way of being.
These italians don't really die so easily; and are not liable to kill themselves in a rage. Somebody else,
perhaps...yes, possibly...it might be well to take ordinary precautions if she comes out with a leap.
(page 337)
Blackmailing is mentioned as another topic of conversation between Father Borwn and Jarvis. It is
believed to be one of the reasons of the quarrels taking place between Mr Mandeville and a mysterious
woman. Well, bigamy and blackmail often go together, of course. But she may be bluffing as well as
blackmailing. She may be mad. (page 340)
Biganism: mentioned by father Brown when Jarvis comments about the visits of many women to
Mandeville's room. He is believed to have another wife, besides Mrs Mandeville.

Disbelief when the murderer is discovered. None of the actors believes that someone who was always
in the background and patient would commit such a crime without anyone noticing. I simply can't bring
myself to believe thaqt a radiant and serene creature like that could so lose, so to speak, her bodily
balance, to say nothing of her moral balace (page 351)
Egoism in the personality of the murderess. She had the skill to hypnotize everyone around her with
her way of being, giving her almost inmunity in Mr Mandeville's murder.
If you want to thoroughly enjoy the short story, you should first read Richard Brinsley Sheridan's
comedy called The School For Scandal as to understand how the murder was commited before reading
it firsthand when Father Brown explains it in just a few lines to Jarvis.

Father Brown explained in "The Man with Two Beards" (1925), "Our general experience is that every
conceivable sort of man has been a saint. And I suspect you will find, too, that every conceivable sort of
man has been a murderer." He favored the domestic murder with the scope of the investigation
narrowed to a brief time and a confined place, a limited number of suspects, and clues which are
revealed to both the reader and the detective. Every detective story involves finding out that men are
worse or better than they seem, and that by their own choice.

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It is a detective short story by Gilbert Keith Chesterton, first published in 1927 with other 7 short stories
in the book entitled The Secret of Father Brown.

Mundon Mandeville: theatrical manager, he is the victim in the short story. He had invested much
money in his theater and in well-known plays back in the days and now everything was part of a
successful past. He had a festive attire but it didn't correspond with his inside, it seemed like he had a
secret. Most of his time was spent in his little study at the end of a passage in the theater.
Mrs Mundon Mandeville: Mandeville's wife. She was very quiet and always stayed in the background.
Her face was pale and patient, with a classical symmetry and severity. Her eyes were also pale and her
hair resembled that of an archaic Madonna. She had been a successful actress when she was younger.
Father Brown: his figure was short and square and clad all in black. He is from the church around the
corner. He acts as the detective in the story and solves the crime. The inspiration for making his
detective a priest came out of Chesterton's friendship with Father John O'Connor, the Roman Catholic
pastor of St. Cuthbert's in Bradford.

Signora Maroni: a talented young actress of Italian parentage who had an important part in the play.
During the entire story she is locked inside her dressing-room refusing to come out.

Aubrey Vernon: he was Mandeville's right hand. He had dark, curly hair and had a Semitic profile.

Norman Knight: good-looking man with a long cleft chin and fair hair. He had a Neronian look.

Ashton Jarvis: he usually acted villains. He is the one who tells Father Brown about the other woman
who's been having quarrels with Mr Mandeville.
Ralph Randall: he had a humorous hatchet face, blue with shaving and discoloured with grease paint
as he generally played elderly characters in plays.

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Lady Miriam Marden: long and laguid elegant lady, she didn't talk much. Her hair was cut low and
square and her lips were painted and prominent giving her a permanent expression of contempt. She,
along with Mrs Talbot are in the theater to see the rehearsal.
Miss Theresa Talbot: very vivacious lady with an ugly attractive face and hair powered with grey. She
talked a lot.

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