Isabella Pietryak

Course: Detective Fiction, ENGL-235
Professor: Wilson
Assignment Title: Character Profile: Poirot vs. Marple

Assignment Details

My project was a comprehensive character analysis of Agatha Christies two greatest characters, Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot. I wanted to look at how these two characters were different and related to each other. To do this I decided to create a podcast. In a four-episode series, I described the characters, their lives and detecting styles. I then compared the characters to one another, highlighting how similar and different they were. Completing this research really aided in me in my understanding of the characters and the parts they played in their individual stories.

Application

My field of study for this course was Detective Fiction. I studied many great authors, but my favorite has always been Agatha Christie. I was really interested in exploring how she created such complex, differing characters for each of her series. Analyzing characters and stories was a huge part of this class, so it definitely played a huge part in my project.

Results/Conclusions

At the end of this project, I had learned a lot. Not just about the characters and writing of Agatha Christie, but about what makes a great literary detective. I was able to determine what made each character special, and I could see those specialties throughout their stories. It made reading Agatha Christie even more interesting!

I also gained more skill in the area of character analysis. This has been incredibly helpful in many classes I have taken!

Challenges and Successes

The main challenge I faced while creating this project was the recording. I was very inexperienced at recording a Podcast, so I was not sure what to do. I did a lot of research on different ways to record, platforms to record on, and how to best upload my audio recordings. In the end, I managed to put together a pretty good podcast!