2。1。Historical Background

The Victorian era was the period from 20 June 1837 until Queen Victoria’s death on 22 January 1901。 It was a peaceful period for the United Kingdom。 Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and she was influenced by the tradition of Victorian a lot。 At that time, women are at a disadvantage position in many aspects such as politics, marriage and education。 Agatha mentioned in her autobiography:” Women are so hard to find something to do。 A woman is just a daughter relies on parents to live, a wife relies on her husband to live and a widow relies relatives’ heritage to live。” It was acknowledged that women were born for the man。 They were ought to stay at home and devoted themselves to the family and the men who took part in social activities。 Besides, women in the Victorian era payed more attention to their appearance in order to draw men’s attention。 Under this kind of tradition, Agatha created some female characters who were beautiful in appearance and submitted to husband and family。 For example, the heroine in Endless Night。 She is not only charming in outside but also devotes to her husband Michael。 However, her husband murders her at last in order to get her money and live with another woman。

On the other side, the injustice between men and women gave rise to feminist movement。 Feminist movement reached the peak in the middle 19th century and the purpose was to get women’s voting right。 The first feminist community called Ladies of Langham Place was set up in 1859。 It aimed to fight for high education for women。 In 1870, Britain announced the law for married women。 What’s more, many women took active part in the European War which pushed the development of feminist movement。 In the mid-twentieth century, the second wave lifted these movements to a theoretical stage。 Women got rights and proper status they deserve all around the world。 There are some feminist theorists appeared。 They made significant contribution in the history and their actions had influenced those liberated females including Agatha Christie。 She reflected her own opinions in her detective novels。 文献综述

2。2。Childhood Experience

Agatha’s childhood experience was a great help in her literary creation。 Agatha Christie was born into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay, Devon。 Christie described her childhood as happy and pleased。 Her father Frederick was a member of the American upper class, and had received good education in Switzerland。 He was considered personable and friendly by those who knew him。 Although Agatha Christie didn’t have a chance to go to school for learning proper education, her mother gave her time and space to read as much books as she liked and never limited her imagination。 Christie was a voracious reader from an early age。 Among her earliest memories were those of reading the children's books written by Mrs Molesworth, including The Adventures of Herr Baby (1881), Christmas Tree Land (1897), and The Magic Nuts (1898)。 Christie had long been a fan of detective novels, having enjoyed Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White and The Moonstone as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's early Sherlock Holmes stories。 Later she began to write some stories encouraged by her neighbors and friends。

Her father was in bad health, suffering from a series of heart attacks, and he died in November 1901, aged 55 when Agatha was eleven。 After that, she was very close to her mother。 Her mother was a well-educated and independent woman who made everything in order。 Ms Miller also provided education and social opportunities for her daughter Agatha。 Agatha respected her mother and women like her mother very much。 That is why she created many strong female characters which reflect her feminist tendencies to some extent。