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Chapter 12
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dead Man’s Folly, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Deception and Identity
Outsiders and Social Prejudice
Greed and Social Ambition
The Construction of a Murder Mystery
Summary
Analysis
Poirot wanders through the woods toward the Folly, glancing into every thicket as though expecting to find a body. Inside the Folly, he rests on a bench and notes that it is hidden from the river. His thoughts drift to Helmmouth, the yacht Espérance, and Etienne de Sousa before a glint on the floor catches his eye. He retrieves a gold aeroplane charm, which he remembers seeing on Sally Legge’s bracelet at the fête. Moments later, a young man in a turtle-patterned shirt appears, startled to see Poirot. Claiming to be from the Youth Hostel and looking for the quay, he quickly leaves, clearly rattled. Poirot suspects the man came to meet someone.
Here, Poirot takes a break from testimonials, hoping instead to find some harder evidence to help him crack the case. Indeed, he does manage to locate some physical evidence, though it is not immediately apparent how it connects to what Poirot already knows. Similarly, the young man in the turtle-patterned shirt does not fit in with any of the previously established suspects in the case. However, this is the first instance where Poirot knows for certain that someone is lying, as Sally Legge was not where she claimed to be when questioned.
Active
Themes
Soon after, Poirot finds Sally Legge kneeling on the Folly floor, searching for something. When Poirot produces the charm, Sally thanks him nervously and makes a hasty exit. Poirot concludes she came to the Folly during the fête to meet someone, not to visit the tea tent as she claimed. Alec Legge arrives next, and he reacts with visible anger when Poirot mentions the young man in the turtle shirt. After making vague statements about being “caught like a rat in a trap,” Alec departs abruptly, leaving Poirot puzzled over whether this “evidence” points to murder or something else entirely.
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