7. Conclusion

We have understood poison as a literary tool to represent several things: symbolically, comically, and fatally. Each post shows a varying use of poison, interlinked through its purpose of quite simply changing the body. As seen with Alice’s body disfigurement in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland when eating and drinking the objects left behind; or Ron’s horrific ordeal in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Placing poison within food is a symbol itself: food is an object on which we survive, therefore it becomes an invasion of not just the trust we place in our food, but our safety. Each text presents the unaware victim, the risk and vulnerability of eating or drinking something that is meant to be harmless, and each case explores the consequences. The argument of this blog shows poison as not only a murder weapon, but a symbolism of constraint, a need for the murderer to be heard or seen; each text gives that to the murderer without realising. 

Works Cited 

Caroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. London, Macmillan. 2015. Print.

Rowling, J K. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Arthur A Levine Books, New York. 2005. Web. <http://publish.uwo.ca/~hamendt/WD%20final%20Project/litertaure/Half%20Blood%20Prince.pdf> Accessed March 2017.

6. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

(1) Eat Me Cake

Everyone knows Alice in Wonderland. The Victorian story has become a huge success in reprints, theatre, and film. The story of a girl who finds herself in a bizarre fantasy world. My focus is immediately after this: the Eat Me, Drink Me scene. Though these don't constitute fatal poisons, they represent unwanted manipulation of the body - both substances cause Alice's body to change in size. If these are interpreted as 'poisons', it lends an intriguing flavour to the text (no pun intended).

(2) Book cover

"It was all very well to say 'Drink me', but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry. 'No, I'll look first,' she said, 'and see whether it's marked 'poison' or not'; for she had read several nice stories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts, and other unpleasant things, all because they would not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: […] she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison', it is almost certain to disagree with you later." (9)

Alice's deliberations over whether to drink from the bottle are quite entertaining. The innocence of the child and the systematic way in which she is instructed contrasts the possibility of poison itself. The innocence is further highlighted by the text's coy refusal to acknowledge the fatality of poison, simply admitting that it "disagree[s] with you" (9). 

Her sensible distrust of the bottle is contrasted with her recklessness with the cake, easily convincing herself to eat it:

"Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake on which the words 'EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. 'Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice,' and if it makes me grow larger, she can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door: so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!'" (12)

This impulsive choice presents her naivety in a more realistic view of a child. It also illustrates cultural difference in perception between food and drink. Children are more often instructed to fear poison in strange liquids than food.

Film

In the 2010 film version shows the White Queen making a reversal potion so Alice can turn back into her original size. However, the choice of ingredients - worm fat, buttered fingers, and three coins from a dead man's pocket - all suggest a form of fatality with unpleasant effects from drinking it.

Works Cited
(1) Annie's Hidden World. Eat Me Cake. 2011, n/a. Blogger. http://hiddenworld-annie.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/who-knows-how-to-bake-upelkuchen.html. Accessed March 2017.
(2) PanMacmillan. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. 2017, UK. Pan Macmillan Publishing. https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/lewis-carroll/alice-s-adventures-in-wonderland. Accessed March 2017.
Caroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. London, Macmillan. 2015. Print.

5. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J K Rowling

(1) Book Cover

The most iconic example of twenty-first century children's fiction, Harry Potter frequently explores the manipulation of bodies - transfiguration, magical medicine, and of course, dangerous potions. As with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the prospect of non-fatal poisoning is explored. These poisons are meant to distort the body or corrupt the thoughts. In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Ron is mistakenly poisoned twice: first with a love potion, and then, more sinisterly, by poisoned mead. Here, then, are two different types of poison - one of the mind, the other of the body. 

Ron, unaware, greedily eats a box of chocolates sent as a gift to Harry. These chocolates were laced with love potion, causing Ron to pine for the sender, Romilda. This use of a 'poison' is comedic, used to justly punish Ron for his theft:

‘“They didn’t fall off your bed, you prat, don’t you understand? They were mine, I chucked them out of my trunk when I was looking for the map, they’re the Chocolate Cauldrons Romilda gave me before Christmas, and they’re all spiked with love potion!"' (393)

Harry brings Ron ingloriously to the office of the Potions master, Horace Slughorn, to have an antidote administered. After deceiving Ron into taking it, the three decide to celebrate with Slughorn's mead:

“I’ve got one last bottle of this oak-matured mead . . . hmm . . . meant to give that to Dumbledore for Christmas . . . ah, well . . .” He shrugged. “He can’t miss what he’s never had! Why don’t we open it now and celebrate Mr. Weasley’s birthday?” (397-398)

The jovial atmosphere of this scene is shattered by the advent of a dangerous poison in the mead, drunk by Ron before the toast. This contrasts the previous example of greed from Ron - now his life is in genuine danger. The scene returns to the more traditional usage of poison, as presented in previous works in this blog - as a murderer’s tool. Yet it is also tragic, as once again it is clear that Ron was not the intended target, simply an unwitting victim of a wider intrigue.

“Ron had dropped his glass; he half-rose from his chair and then crumpled, his extremities jerking uncontrollably. Foam was dribbling from his mouth, and his eyes were bulging from their sockets. [...] Harry leapt over a low table and sprinted toward Slughorn’s open potion kit, pulling out jars and pouches, while the terrible sound of Ron’s gargling breath filled the room. Then he found it — the shriveled kidney like stone Slughorn had taken from him in Potions. He hurtled back to Ron’s side, wrenched open his jaw, and thrust the bezoar into his mouth. Ron gave a great shudder, a rattling gasp, and his body became limp and still.’ (398-399)

These grisly details highlight the threat of the poison to the body. The experienced Professor's failure to react reflects the shock of the reader at the sudden change of pace, expressing the social power of poison as a hidden threat that cannot be guarded against. 

Film

Below, for comparison to the text, is the film clip of Ron's poisoning:

Works Cited
(1) Doodle Books. "J K Rowling - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince 1/1 HB". 2005. Doodle Books, England. Web. <http://www.doodledbooks.com/j-k-rowling---harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince-11-hb-56-p.asp> Accessed March 2017.
Rowling, J K. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Arthur A Levine Books, New York. 2005. Web. <http://publish.uwo.ca/~hamendt/WD%20final%20Project/litertaure/Half%20Blood%20Prince.pdf> Accessed March 2017.

4. We Have Always Lived in the Castle By Shirley Jackson

(1) Red Rose Tea Set

The novel presents an invasion of the norm, an invasion of the ordinary. The storys shows how the protagonist and narrator cannot be trusted as she is later revealed to be the murderer of her family by putting arsenic in the sugar when they go to use it. Food is a central focus within the novel. Almost all interactions between characters are at a dinner, lunch or breakfast. Food is always shown in the background, as a product of family history as they keep decades of preserves in the cellar. The main room is their mother's drawing room, a place where they frequently have tea with visitors. 

Evidently, food is also portrayed frequently as a form of death. Especially when Merricat threatens the villagers:

"put death in all their food" (110)

which becomes a conflict as food is something that generally brings warmth, comfort, and wholeness. But instead, food is manipulated and endangered, to become something life-threatening and, quite simply, poisonous. What is evident about this quote is the personification of death. Merricat resorts to violence as a way of resolving something, but she mostly uses food, something that people generally trust and depend on, to kill people. This conflict of innocence and killer-like thoughts, creates an eerie atmosphere for the reader. The New York Review of Books shows a different review, focusing on the witchcraft presented in the novel. It states that 'Merricat's wholly sympathetic creator/collaborator Shirley Jackson has struck every essential note of her Gothic tale of sexual repression and rhapsodic vengeance; as it unfolds in ways both inevitable and unexpected.' (Oates). It's very interesting as they also present a comparison between the novel and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee in terms of innocence and repression. It says, 'Merricat Blackwood appears to be a typical product of small-town rural America - much of her time is spent outdoors, alone with her companion cat Jones; she's a tomboy who wanders in the woods, unwashed and her hair uncombed; she's distrustful of adults, and of authority; despite being un-educated, she is shrewdly intelligent and bookish.' (Oates). 

Another interesting quote is Merricat's knowledge of poisons itself, listing the side effects of the poison she is most attracted to: Amanita Phalloides. She frequently mentions this type of poison and choose to have it in her imaginary world when playing. This quote shows this example:

“I had made sure of what to say to him before I came to the table. 'The Amanita phalloides,' I said to him, 'holds three different poisons. There is amanitin, which works slowly and is most potent. There is phalloidin, which acts at once, and there is phallin, which dissolves red corpuscles, although it is the least potent. The first symptoms do not appear until seven to twelve hours after eating, in some cases not before twenty-four or even forty hours. The symptoms begin with violent stomach pains, cold sweat, vomiting--” (72)

This scene is shown when Charles is about to eat the pancakes Constance had made for him, the first thing he has eaten in the house. It's a tense scene but also comical as Merricat starts to list the side affects of eaten Amanita Phalloides, a poison. Merricat, knowing she can't touch any food prepared or sharp objects such as knives, instead verbally poisons his food, by scaring him with the idea of the pancakes killing him. 

Film

It's only been recently revealed that a film will be made for next year starring Sebastian Stan, Taissa Farmiga, Alexandria Daddario and Crispin Glover. Sadly there isn't a trailer available yet, but below is a theatrical production of the book by Yale Repertory Theatre in 2010. 

Works Cited:
(1) Frost, Bethany. Red Rose Tea Set. Photo. 2017.
(2) Ortberg, Mallory. Every Meal in We Have Always Lived in the Castle. 2016. n/a. The Toast, http://the-toast.net/2016/04/11/every-meal-in-we-have-always-lived-in-the-castle-in-order-of-sinisterness/. Accessed February 2017.
Jackson, Shirley. We Have Always Live in the Castle. London: Penguin, 2009. Print.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "The Witchcraft of Shirley Jackson". The New York Review of Books. 8 October 2009. Web. <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/10/08/the-witchcraft-of-shirley-jackson/>

3. The Landlady By Roald Dahl

(1) Book Cover

Though a short story, the effect that Roald Dahl has made in this chilling tale is fantastic in producing an eerie paranoia for the reader. The protagonist Billy stays at a Boarding House with a suggestion that the Landlady poisons him by putting cyanide in his tea. This shown as the tea taste of almonds:

“Not in the least,” she said. “I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. Will you have another cup of tea?” “No, thank you,” Billy said. The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and he didn’t much care for it." (5)

For those who don't know, if anything tastes like almond, apart from almonds of course, it can suggest cyanide poisoning, with victims of this poison tending to smell of almonds: 'In murder mysteries, the detective usually diagnoses cyanide poisoning by the scent of bitter almonds' (Lutz). Placing this in the story in such a light tone subtly and cleverly communicates the dangers of the Landlady.

Further suggestions of food and poison can be seen through the rest of the short story, where Dahl has focused on the use of senses as a way of portraying the foreshadow of Billy's fate at the boarding house:

"Billy started sipping his tea. She did the same. For half a minute or so, neither of them spoke. But Billy knew that she was looking at him. […] he caught a whiff of a peculiar smell that seemed to emanate directly from her person. It was not in the least unpleasant, and it reminded him – well, he wasn’t quite sure what it reminded him of. Pickled walnuts? New leather? Or was it the corridors of a hospital? “Mr Mulholland was a great one for his tea,” she said at length.” (4)

(2) Cyanide Teacup

Peculiar about this description is Billy's lack of reaction to the strange comparisons he makes to the smell of the bed and breakfast, referring to hospitalized smells and leather, suggesting to the Landlady's hobby in taxidermy, but also her more sinister motives. The feeling of her watching over him as he drinks his tea, the taste of his tea and chilling warmth of the fireplace further this foreboding.



Overall, the text is valuable in presenting an effective form of foreshadowing, but with a tantalisingly sinister open ending. The reader can feel the eeriness of the boarding-house, as well as several the visible suggestions of what could later become of Billy.

Film

Although its effects and acting are a bit dated, I found a ITV film of the short story it is still a good watch to understand the interaction between Billy and the Landlady. 

Works Cited:
(1) Goddard, Tasha. The Land Lady - Patternmash Project. 2015. England. TashaGoddard, http://www.tashagoddard.com/2015/02/02/the-landlady-patternmash-project/.Accessed February 2017.
(2) BeatUpCreations. Cyanide Poison Altered Vintage Tea Cup. n/a. United States. Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/502072707/cyanide-poison-altered-vintage-tea-cup?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=cyanide%20tea&ref=sr_gallery_1. Accessed February 2017.
Dahl, Roald. The Land Lady. 1959. England. Reprinted: David Highham Associates. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/landlady_text.pdf. Accessed February 2017. 
Lutz, Diana. Beware the smell of bitter almonds: why do many food plants contain cyanide? 2010. Washington University, St. Louis: The Source. https://source.wustl.edu/2010/07/beware-the-smell-of-bitter-almonds/. Accessed February 2017.

2. Context: Poison and Food, Why?

(1) Bottle of Poison

Before we get our teeth into the poison in novels, we must understand what its use accomplishes - why it is so frequent in mystery fiction. An excellent essay on food and poison is Toxic Encounters: Poisoning in Early Modern English Literature and Culture by Catherine E. Thomas, congruent to this blog's idea of poison and food as an invasion of security and endangerment of a living need.

Thomas explores poison in literature as something with multiple meanings: ‘So what made poisoning so fashionable as a subject during the period? Simply put: it made good theatre, whether onstage or off. But more significantly perhaps, poisoning offered a sufficiently rich network of meanings to express key cultural concerns of the time.’ (48). Therefore ‘Poisoning, an act defined by the physical bodies and intimate desires of individuals, illustrates how early modern authors conceptualized subjectivity with respect to gender, sexuality, class, race, and nationality.’ (49).

Poison in food can explore a variety of traits such as empowerment of women: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, presents a female protagonist who controls her home with the threat of plant-based poisons, killing off her family if she was slighted. I will be analyzing this book in a later post. Thomas continues, ‘She classifies poisoning as a method of murder that upsets traditional early modern domestic hierarchies and allows women to gain power over the men in their lives (either by killing them off or manipulating them).’ (50).

Thomas ends with an insightful description of the metaphorical implications of poison: ‘Poisoning as an act invokes questions of wilful versus unsuspecting ingestion. […] narratives about poisoning, fictional or not, cogently express how English writers thought about its power and pervasiveness in bodies both natural and political.’ (51). Therefore, poison in food is more than a murder weapon but symbolic as showing thematic values of power, gender and societal views in literature. With these in mind, can we understand the value of poison in each text that will be analysed in this blog. 

Works Cited

(1) Chantal, Julie. Bottle of Poison. 2013. Canada. Julie-Chantal. <http://julie-chantal.deviantart.com/art/Bottle-of-Poison-386595328> Accessed February 2017.

Jackson, Shirley. We Have Always Live in the Castle. London: Penguin, 2009. Print.

Thomas, C. E. (2012), Toxic Encounters: Poisoning in Early Modern English Literature and Culture. Literature Compass, 9: 48–55. 2012. Web. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-4113.2011.00861.x/pdf> Accessed February 2017.

1. Introduction - Hello Everybody! Welcome to my Lair...

Grab a seat, kick up your feet, enjoy the ambiance of the warm fireplace... fancy a cup of tea? Promise there's no arsenic in it. 

(1) Pink-Skull Tea Set

I always had a passion for mystery in novels - a puzzle to solve as I progress through a book. Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle and Stephen King, famous authors all, crafting incredible crime novels, inviting us to solve the mystery with the protagonist. What I have found the most interesting is the tool used to commit the murder, so often a crime of violence: axe-chopping, gun-firing, knife-stabbing. The most fascinating of all, however, is the most cleverly hidden: poison. 

Poison has ever made a presence in our everyday lives, whether it's bleach in our bathroom, hemlock in our gardens or just the common toxic chemicals found in hardware stores. However, revealed in the history of poisons is more than a simple method of destruction. Contextual understanding of poison lets us understand how authors have exploited poisons, and their inherent subterfuge, to heighten the mystery in their fiction.

(2) Groom Pink-Skull Tea Cup

With each post in this blog, I will be discussing a novel, from Victorian to modern literature, that explores the use of food (or drinks), and its relation to poison. There will be critical analysis of passages of the text, supported by academic research. So, brace yourselves for a blog full of murder, poison, and some very dangerous food. I'm sure you'll look twice at your meals after this! Enjoy. 

Works Cited:
(1) Angioletti, Yvonne. "Installments 1-4, Gold Rose Skull Tea Set." n/a. AngiolettiDesigns, Etsy.com. <htttps://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/499318490/reserved-for-christine-installments-1-4?ref=shop_home_active_21.> Accessed February 2017.

(2) Angioletti, Yvonne. "Pink & Gold Skull Rose Bride / Groom Skull Tea Cup and Saucer, Available as Tea Set, Goth Wedding Couple Cup, Steampunk Wedding, Wedding Tea". n/a. AngiolettiDesigns, Etsy.com. <https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/478328148/pink-gold-skull-rose-bride-groom-skull?ref=shop_home_active_89> Accessed February 2017.