"But don't you see?" said the American lady. “It would spoil everything if you could figure out right away who did it.. Shakespeare was far too smart for that. I’ve read that people never have figured out 'Hamlet,' so it isn't likely Shakespeare would have made 'Macbeth' as simple as it seems."
"The Macbeth Murder Mystery" is a short story by James Thurber. An experienced consumer of detective fiction reads Macbeth for the first time, and comes to the conclusion that Macbeth can't really have killed Duncan, because the first obvious suspect always turns out to be innocent. But if it wasn't Macbeth, who was it?
This story uses, converses, lampshades, and parodies the following tropes:
- Dead Person Impersonation: Conversed trope, because in the theory the Reader settles on, Lady Macbeth's father killed Duncan, and hearing someone coming, hid in the bed to make whoever-it-was think Duncan was still alive. It was Lady Macbeth's who later remarks that Duncan "resembled my father as he slept" and so she tells the narrator.
- Everyone Is a Suspect: Conversed trope, because the story ends with the Narrator announcing that he's going to tackle Hamlet next. "But who do you suspect?" asks the Reader, "Everybody." answers the narrator.
- Funny Foreigner: There are two examples: A Shout-Out to Hercule Poirot, a fictional detective who invokes this trope to hide his cunning as a detective, and played straight with the Reader (the Narrator places his tale in an "hotel in the English lake country" and calls the Reader an American Lady nine times), a silly woman who insists on applying Detective Drama tropes to Macbeth making a fool of herself and... What do you mean that Dumbass Has a Point??
- Instant Mystery, Just Delete Scene: Conversed trope, Macbeth is shown going in to commit murder on Duncan, but the action cuts away without showing the murder itself, which is a sure sign, the Reader says to the narrator, that he didn't actually do it.
- The Law of Conservation of Detail: Conversed trope, because in the theory the Reader settles on with the Narrator, the murderer is the unnamed old man in Act II scene 4, since otherwise why bother introducing a new character just for one scene?
- Literary Allusion Title: Combined with Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The name of the play is ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', because Shakespeare wrote it as a play in the tragedy genre, but the title of this short story in universe interprets the play with the Murder Mistery genre.
- Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Parodied when a Genre Savvy Detective Drama Reader mistakes the book of ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'' for a Detective Drama, → The Reveal of the identity of the real murderer, menacing the Shakespearian canon of the last four hundred years.
- Nameless Narrative: Neither the Reader of detective novels nor the Narrator she discusses her theories with is given a name.
- Never the Obvious Suspect: Conversed trope, because the whole thing gets started when the Reader decides Macbeth must really be innocent because he's such an obvious suspect and so she tells the narrator.
- The Narrator mentions that Malcolm and Donalbain, the King's sons, are suspicious because they fled right after the first murder:
“Too suspicious," said the American lady. "Much too suspicious. When they flee, they're never guilty. You can count on that" - Shout-Out:
- The Reader's credentials are established with references to Agatha Christie famous creation Hercule Poirot and (the now-less-famous) David Frome creation, Mr. Pinkerton.
- The whole point of the story is to analyze the tropes presented at ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', one of the most known works of William Shakespeare, under the light of the Detective Drama to offer a new interpretation of the identity of the murderer. And the ending promises to do the same thing to Hamlet.
- Ivanhoe: The Reader mentions this novel as one of the books on the genre of Macbeth, Historical Fiction that are thaught at english High School. The point is that Ivanhoe is full of Anachronism Stew that one might call it a sort of Hollywood History, and just like Macbeth, uses generously Artistic License – History. Also, Ivanhoe has his protagonist fooling people who had knew him all his life with a simple Paper-Thin Disguise, rendering him like a Master of Disguise (or those people like Medieval Morons). Those tropes would be important in the solution the Narrator settles on later.
- Lorna Doone: The Narrator mentions this novel as one of the books on the genre of Macbeth, Historical Fiction that are thaught at english High School, like Literature/Ivanhoe. John Ridds, an English freeholder in The West Country who falls in love with Lorna Doone, a woman from the family who killed his father, torning John between love and desire for revenge. The novel is a Genre-Busting of Historical Fiction with Mystery Fiction, because the Doones have connections with (and influence over) the local aristocracy, judiciary and government officials, forcing John to become an Amateur Sleuth to seek justice. Also many people who interact with John take him to be a very simple and dull fellow, interested only in wrestling and farming, but John denies he is using Obfuscating Stupidity. Those tropes would be important in the solution the Natarrator settles on later.
- Penguin Books was a Publishing House founded in 1935 that brought high quality paperback fiction and non-fiction to the mass market. They still thrive in the XXI century as an imprint of the Worldwide Penguin Random House.
- The Reader spoils the plot of a detective story to the Narrator, that referes to one of the most controversials detective novels ever written:
- Suspect Existence Failure: Conversed and Parodied. The Reader tells the narrator that she suspected of Banquo at first, but then he's the next to die."At first I suspected Banquo. And then of course, he was the second person killed. That was good right in there, that part. The person you suspect of the first murder should always be the second victim."
- Taking the Heat: Converse trope because the Reader explains to the narrator that any bits where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth express guilt as being down to each thinking the other did it, and trying to take the heat.
- True Art Is Incomprehensible: Invoked In-Universe by the Reader to explain why Macbeth can not be King Duncan's murderer:"It would spoil everything if you could figure out right away who did it. Shakespeare was far too smart for that. I've read that people never have figured out 'Hamlet,' so it isn't likely Shakespeare would have made 'Macbeth' as simple as it seems."
- Wrong Genre Savvy: The Reader who applies detective tropes to Macbeth... isn't it?
"I'll have another brandy,” and I called the waiter. When he brought it, I drank it rapidly and rose to go. "I believe," I said, "that you have got hold of something. Would you lend me that 'Macbeth'? I'd like to look it over tonight. I don't feel, somehow as if I’d ever really read it."
