The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Agatha Christie brings the reader into the Reveal stage of the detective fiction framework. The plot pauses briefly while Poirot reviews the case records kept by Sheppard. The characters have provided all of the information—the investigating stages are complete, and now it is up to Poirot to put the pieces together to make the final picture. However, Poirot is putting on an act to acquire and understand the whole story. Sheppard’s input in Chapter 18, “Charles Kent,” indicates that he “know[s] now that the whole thing lay clearly unravelled before him. He had got the last thread he needed to lead him to the truth” (209). Poirot has known the truth for several chapters, yet we see once again that he demands the whole truth, not simply justice.

To bring the theme of Ethics and the Law to a close, Poirot brings the two together in an ultimatum. Poirot tells Sheppard,

For the sake of your good sister, I am willing to give you a chance of another way out. There might be, for instance, an overdose of a sleeping draught. You comprehend me? But Captain Ralph Paton must be cleared (282).

The truth is out in Chapters 25 and 26, and the only thing left to do is close the case. Poirot, his duty to solve the crime completely, returns to his ethics-based approach to the law. Now that he knows the truth, he wants to do the least harm possible. From the legal side, Sheppard should be taken to Raglan and have his day in court, where the law would punish his crime. That would do more harm than good, though.

King’s Abbott remains a small and close-knit community. The Ackroyds considered Dr. Sheppard to be a close friend despite the short time of their acquaintance. Everyone in town had gone to him for treatment and trusted him with caring for them. To have him put through the judicial process would become a public scandal. Another pillar of King’s Abbott would come down, taking Caroline with it.

Instead, Poirot brings the story full circle. The novel opens with the death of Mrs. Ferrars, who overdosed on Veronal, a drug to help induce sleep. Dr. Sheppard dying by the same drug that Mrs. Ferrars used to take her own life and set off the series of events that led to this Reveal creates a sense of roundness and poetic justice.

The only condition is that Sheppard confesses through his currently incomplete manuscript and addresses it to Poirot. Once the confession is complete, Sheppard is allowed to choose his way out. He does choose Veronal and poetic justice. The foreshadowed fall of Sheppard from Chapter 16, “An Evening at Mah Jong,” comes to pass. Sheppard became overconfident and revealed too much. He thought he had won the game before the game had finished, and Poirot ended up the victor.

Sheppard’s confession and death also conclude the themes of Shifting Class Relations and The Human Capacity for Evil. By confessing to the crime and clearing Paton’s name, Sheppard allows Paton to maintain his social status. If Paton faces charges for the murder of his stepfather would have brought down not only Paton’s social status but that of the entire Ackroyd family. With the confession in hand, Raglan and Poirot can ensure that the good names of everyone, including Caroline, are maintained and that nobody loses their status in the close-knit community. By dying in the end, Sheppard chooses to do the morally good thing. He will not bring Poirot’s allegory from Chapter 17 to pass and always have the potential within him to kill again. Eliminating the worst evil committed in King’s Abbot absolves the community, and the minor evils of the others get swept away.