The Moral Dilemma Of Murder On The Orient Express Essays Example

Murder on the Orient Express is a famous novel written by Agatha Christie in 1934 – the between-the-wars period when the genre of a classic mystery or detective novel was very popular. The novel became so popular that it was made into a movie in 1974, forty years after it was first published. The film is now considered one of the most successful British movies ever produced. Murder on the Orient Express is a masterpiece of literature that brings the genre of detective novel to the new level. Not only because of its interesting and exciting plot and tangled puzzles and mysteries but also because of the moral dilemmas it presents to the reader. This paper will investigate one major moral dilemma that the main hero of Murder on the Orient Express, Hercule Poirot faces in the novel/movie that obliges him to make a difficult decision on controversial issue.
The major dilemma faced by Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express is the rightness of murder that occurred under specific circumstances. Ratchett has been killed by several people close to Armstrong family for his dreadful and merciless murder of an innocent three-year old Daisy Armstrong a few years ago. Poirot finds out the truth and has to make important decision: whether to accuse Daisy’s aunt and servants who were involved in killing Ratchett or conceal the true perpetrators to protect them from justice and blame a fictional stranger who could escape the crime scene through the open window of Ratchett’s compartment. Poirot chooses the first option to protect the family as he thought that their revenge was just, and Ratchett was an evil man who deserved such death. I agree with Poirot because if Ratchett survived he could do much more harm to others.