The Dead of Jericho is a thrilling, suspenseful story about a policeman called Inspector Morse, and he has to figure out and unravel the mystery of two consecutive murders with the help of his trusty assistant Lewis. As he navigates the suspects and questions many people, he has to figure out how reliable their answers are and analyze their lives. First, Anne Scott, a woman Inspector Morse had recently met, dies seemingly of hanging herself. As Morse investigates, he learns about many possible suspects, ranging from Edward Murdoch, implicated by a few lies, to the Richards brothers, who seem suspicious and their stories don’t fit. Charles Richards gets blackmailed by a mysterious letter and ends up accidentally murdering Jackson because Jackson had a letter that Anne Scott had written before her death that was meant for Charles. Morse gathers information, and figures out that Charles and Conrad had been switching identities in order to prevent Charles from being caught. He sets a trap and manages to make an arrest and close the case. The Dead of Jericho explores many intriguing themes such as the story of Oedipus, the misleading ability of false leads, and finally the tragedy of women.
The story of Oedipus is about an ancient Greek hero who faces a tragic fate, where he ends up fulfilling a prophecy that he thought he had avoided. In the story, he accidentally ends up killing his father and marries his mother without knowing it, but when they all realize, this ends up destroying his family and the city as well. Inside of The Dead of Jericho, Anne Scott had thought Michael Murdoch was her son after learning that he was adopted and that his birthday matched with what she knew. Michael had accidentally killed his father in a car accident, which fulfilled the first part of the story of Oedipus. Later, Anne taught him German and had an affair with him, and Anne became pregnant, which made her think that she had just had an affair with her son. This resulted in Anne choosing to hang herself, as Oedipus chose to. However, Inspector Morse later figures out that Anne’s son had already died after being adopted by another family, and realizes that Michael couldn’t have been Anne’s son. The Oedipus mood is a very common theme inside of many stories, such as Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence, Hamlet by William Shakespheare, Thunderstorm by Cao Yu, and even The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, which is a novel by Henry Fielding. The theme of the Oedipus mood helps give many stories an added, interesting aspect that makes the book more riveting.
False information can end up being damaging and create inefficiencies while others are trying to accomplish important tasks. Giving misinformation or red herrings can be annoying and completely unhelpful, especially when people are trying to learn crucial information and utilize it. Inside of The Dead of Jericho, there was so much false information and inaccurate suspects that Inspector Morse had a lot of trouble figuring it out. When trying to see who killed Anne Scott, it could have been Charles, to cover up their affair, Celia, because she had found out about the affair, or even Jackson, just to get some money off of her. And then to see who killed Jackson, Morse had to rule out many people and find evidence to see that Charles was the murderer. However, he also wasn’t sure of who could have written the blackmail letter since Jackson seemed like a good suspect, but he turned out to be completely illiterate rather than having at least a bit of writing. Finally, he also had to understand the minor details, such as who had driven the Rolls Royce, who had paid the ticket for it, and even realize that the brothers had swapped spots this whole time. Without any false leads, it’s much easier to come to a conclusion and trace all of the accurate information to bring an error-free answer that helps benefit almost everybody. We should remember to try and check our knowledge to ensure that the spread of misinformation is minimized and we become more efficient.
The tragedy of women is a severe problem that often serves as a theme inside of many books and stories. It refers to how women are a marginalized minority which often receive worse treatment than other types of people, resulting in tragedies such as deaths, or even worse. Inside of The Dead of Jericho, Anne Scott was a normal, pretty woman. When she was younger, she studied modern languages at Oxford. She fell in love with a man named John Westerby, causing her father to basically disown her. She married him, and left on a long summer holiday. She never wanted a baby but became pregnant, however there was no sign of the baby when she returned. They separated almost immediately, and John Westerby died in a car accident. She has an affair with Charles, a married man, and Michael Murdoch, a student of hers. She realized that she had become pregnant, and thinks that Michael is her son, so that she had made a modern Oedipus story. She hangs herself after realizing this. This was incredibly tragic and was almost entirely a result of how she was a part of a minority that could be severely marginalized sometimes, and shows how we need to try and fix this. We can prevent many tragic deaths and even some accidents if we simply try and take notice of the problems other people have and try and help them out.
The Dead of Jericho by Colin Dexter is an intriguing story that teaches a plethora of pivotal life lessons, such as the classic Oedipus mood found in several other stories as well, the harmful nature of false leads, and the tragedy of women as a marginalized minority. The Oedipus mood is a theme that helps create a better, more riveting and interesting story that can serve to make mysteries more mysterious. False leads and misinformation end up causing others to struggle to know what is true and what isn’t, and leads to confusion and even chaos. The tragedies of women can be used to show how marginalizing a group of people is never a good idea and results in prejudice and discrimination. The Oedipus mood allows stories to become more interesting, false leads and red herrings distract people from their true goal, and the tragedy of women is something we should all seek to prevent. The Dead of Jericho is a great book and I would recommend it to everyone.
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