Cherchez la Femme Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Prior to the early 20th century, women in literature, particularly in the crime and mystery genre, tended to be portrayed in passive roles, such as men's financial dependents, damsels in distress, domestic servants or "fallen women". Literary challenges to these stereotypes had begun as early as the late 18th century but it was not until after World War 1, when Agatha Christie began her literary career, that women began to rebel in earnest against prevailing social constraints. Agatha Christie portrayed many of her female characters as intelligent, strong and independent women.

Miss Jane Marple represents a radical departure from the archetypal detective, not just because she is female but because she is an elderly Victorian gentlewoman whose abilities are usually disregarded by the police based on her innocuous appearance, but she bests them every time.

Similarly, Prudence "Tuppence" Beresford is an audacious, sharp and resourceful investigator and spy. She is the dominant partner of the Tommy and Tuppence duo.

Ariadne Oliver is an independent professional woman with a lucrative career and she acts as a vehicle for Agatha Christie's feminist views. Ariadne is a strong believer in women's intuition, describes herself as a "hot-headed feminist", and maintains that Scotland Yard would be much better off if a woman were in charge.

Lucy Eylesbarrow graduated from Oxford University with a First in Mathematics (traditionally a male-dominated area). However, realizing that academics are poorly paid, she chooses to capitalise on the postwar domestic labour shortage. She undertakes a domestic role in order to investigate a mystery on behalf of Miss Marple in "4.50 From Paddington" (1957).

Bridget Conway partners Luke Fitzwilliam, a retired colonial policeman, in "Murder is Easy" (1939). Although Luke is ostensibly the sleuth, it is Bridget who is astute enough to see through his cover story and it is also Bridget who actually works out who the killer is.

Women commit roughly one-third of the murders in Agatha Christie's stories, which challenges her era's traditional female stereotypes regarding femininity, passivity and domesticity.

Jacqueline de Bellefort, Honoria Waynflete, Letitia Blacklock, Josephine Leonides and Gerda Christow were all killers. They appeared in "Death on the Nile" (1937), "Murder is Easy" (1939), "A Murder is Announced" (1950), "Crooked House" (1949) and "The Hollow" (1946) respectively. Jacqueline de Bellefort and Letitia Blacklock murdered for financial gain, Gerda Christow murdered her husband because of jealousy and betrayal. Honoria Waynflete murdered for revenge and Josephine Leonides was a child psychopath who murdered for trivial reasons.

The five murder victims are Heather Badcock ("The Mirror Crack'd", 1962), Emily French ("Witness for the Prosecution", 1948), Linnet Ridgeway, Louise Bourget, and Salome Otterbourne (the latter three from "Death on the Nile", 1937).

Irene Adler, Mary Morstan, Violet Hunter, Joan Watson, and Enola Holmes are either women from the "Sherlock Holmes" canon or Sherlockian-inspired characters. Mary Morstan is the wife of Dr Watson. Violet Hunter appears in "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" (1892). Irene Adler features in "A Scandal in Bohemia" (1891).

Dr Joan Watson is a consulting detective and former surgeon portrayed by Lucy Liu in the television series "Elementary" (2012-), a gender-reversed adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes character, Dr John/James Watson. Enola Holmes is a character created by author Nancy Springer. In this book series (2006-), Enola is a teenage detective and the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes.