From modern films to classical novels, poisonings have been a common theme in many fictional stories. Poisonings, both fatal and non-fatal have been featured in all corners of literature for many years, from as early as 1829 (1). The death of Emily Inglethorp in Agatha Christie’s first crime fiction novel, is one such story that features a lethal poisoning. The story takes place in World War 1 and is set at Styles Court in Essex. Mrs Inglethorp takes a fit in the early hours of the morning and then dies as suddenly as the symptoms appeared. This essay will explore the accuracy of Christie’s depiction of this poisoning, its symptoms and the administration route.
Although Mrs Inglethorp was in good health for someone her age, she died suddenly in the early hours of the morning. When the characters in the novel first realised that there was something wrong, they were alerted by loud noised that emanated from inside Mrs Inglethorp’s…show more content… The contraction of these muscles constricts the trachea and makes it difficult to breathe and therefore talk. This final respiratory failure is what would have caused Mrs Inglethorp’s death, by denying her brain and other organs the oxygen they all need to function.
There were many theories on how she died, Doctor Wilkins suggested that she had simply died of old age combined with too much strenuous activity. However what caused the sudden death was pretty quickly deduced by Hastings when Doctor Bauerstein noticed that her convulsions were too violent to be natural.
“"The convulsions were of a peculiar violence … They were quite—tetanic in character."”
Hastings and Poirot deduce from the symptoms that he witnessed that it must be strychnine poisoning and from there on only two questions remained, how was the poison administered and by