The Classical Detective Formula - Essay Example

? The ical detective formula The rise of the ical detective formula in the early twentieth century The ical detectiveformula entails a conventional way of defining and developing certain situations, actions relevant to these situations, the characters involved and their relationships, as well as the settings surrounding the situation. The genre of classical detective formula has a long history dating back to the 1840s, though its popularity was not experienced until later, towards the end of the nineteenth century (Frank, 1976). There are four major elements associated with the classical detective formula, which creates the plot of the whole story. A classical detective formula starts with a situation, consisting of unsolved crime, and heads towards the discovery of the mystery of the identity and the motivating factors behind the criminal engaging in such acts. The situation also involve determining the means through which the crime was committed, the purpose for which the crime was committed and the real evidence that is available to associate the criminals with the act (Knight, 1980). The other important element is the pattern of action, which creates the story of detective investigation of the crime and the solutions, followed by the characters and their relationships as the other element of this detective story. Under the character and their relationships, the main characters include the criminal who perpetrates the criminal acts, the victim, on whom the criminal act was committed, the detective who investigates the case and the third parties who are affected by the crime, but cannot address the crime on their own. The relationship among the four characters is an important element of the formula. The setting, the final element of the detective formula, relates to the delimited environment in which the criminal act is committed, which is secluded from the rest of the world. There are various reasons that accounts for the rise of the classical detective formula in the early twentieth century. Reasoning and logic are some of the factors that accounts for the rise of the classical detective formula in the early twentieth century. Most of the writers of this duration struggled to harmonize the traditional and custom way of thinking of the people, with the perceived incompatibility of modernity and enchantment (Saler, 2003). Modernity was associated with chaos and disorder, thus the detective formula sought to create a new way of thinking, by portraying modernity as an aspect that could be embraced and harmonized with traditional perspectives. The traditional thinking and reasoning leaned towards man trying to understand and explain the nature of the universe as it is, seeking to create theories based on reality and experimental testing to prove such reasoning. On the other hand, the classical detective formula introduced a way of logical thinking that would serve to solve the perceived problems through fictious thinking, an aspect that gained fame due to the realism aligned with the fictional writing (Frank, 1976). The incorporation of analytic mind in a fictious writing served to make such works of art more acceptable to the people during such an age, when all the writing was about theories and laws that sought to explain why things in the universe are the way they are. The myth of reasoning, that the universe could be comprehensible resulted to the planning of detective story telling, by deducing the basics of fiction and limiting logic (Knight, 1980). Realism is another factor that accounts for the rise of the classical detective formula. The writers of the detective story served to associate their stories and the characters with aspects of reality and natural phenomena that were there at that age. This has seen the characters involved in such stories being regarded as real characters (Tillotson, 1969). The ability of the detective stories to integrate fiction with real happenings of the day served to popularize this genre. The classical detective formula effectively creates an avenue through which modernity, religion and science can be harmonized without creating unnecessary conflict between these aspects (Knight, 1980). Since the scientific research of the period sought to marginalize religion and spiritualism, there was a need for a neutral ground which would avoid the bias towards any of such phenomena, where many readers found the detective storytelling as such a ground. Through the incorporation of realism, reason and sense of imagination, the pessimistic culture of perceiving modernity and enchantment as incompatible and antagonistic was refuted, effectively presenting such phenomena as compatible (Saler, 2003). The most interesting aspect of the detective storytelling is the fact that it seeks majorly to establish the guilty parties, and not so much on punishing the culprit. The presentation of the world as a symbolic relationship between chaos and order, where both must co-exist to make life complete, is yet another aspect that has made the classical detective formula stand the test of time, during the early twentieth century (Frank, 1976). The detective formula came into existence at an age when there was a great deal of urban imagination of the 20th century, an imagination of terror and crime in the urban areas. With such wild imagination of the life in urban areas, then stories inventing detectives and their roles in unearthing the crimes, the criminals and the motives behind their committing such crimes was inevitable (Saler, 2003). Therefore, the age at which the stories were invented greatly accounted for their rise and popularity. At this age, urbanization was the current phenomena, with many people moving from the countrysides and converging in the urban centers. This influx of urban population unavoidably created unemployment for many people, thus resulting to the rise of slums and suburbs. This urban phenomenon created a suitable environment for various vices to thrive in the society, which included prostitution, murder and robberies. It is such an environment, which triggered the creative imagination of the role of private detectives in investigating such crimes and enhancing the achievement of justice for the victims of such crimes (Knight, 1980). Thus, the natural phenomena of that age accounts for the rise of the classical detective formula. Literacy is the other factor that accounts for the rise of the classical detective formula in the early twentieth century. With the occurrence of urbanization, the growth of a reading public followed. There was a great desire for people to read and know the world around them, a factor that promoted the need for the reading material for the urban public (Frank, 1976). This promoted creativity and imagination, which was however aligned to the lives of the people in the urban areas. Thus, the creative individuals created stories for the fulfillment of the public desire to read. The realization that such an art, writing creative stories would be a source of living for such individuals encouraged then to write even more, along the line of wild urban life and the crimes inexistence. This inevitably led to the invention of detectives who would address the crime menace in such stories (Tillotson, 1969). Consequently, the classical detective formula arose and flourished. Since history has had a large deal of chaos and injustices, there had been a burden on the hearts of the people regarding the detection of facts and the restoration order in the chaotic and disorderly world. Consequently, the role of private detectors featured significantly in the stories invented during this age, to observe and create a sensible and reasonable explanation of why the situation is the way it is, from what can be observed, effectively establishing a popular genre of the classical detective formula (Saler, 2003). References Frank, D. M. (1976). Sherlock Holmes: Detecting Order amid Disorder. The Wilson Quarterly, 11. 2. pp. 172-183. Knight, S. (1980). Form and Ideology in Detective Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Saler, M. (2003). Clap If You Believe in Sherlock Holmes': Mass Culture and the Re-Enchantment of Modernity, c.1890-c. 1940. The Historical Journal, 46.3. pp. 599-622. Tillotson, T. (1969). The Lighter Reading of the 1860s: Introduction to Wilkie Collins, the Woman in White. Boston: Dover. Read More