Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Oxford Murders
Matinez, Guillermo. The Oxford Murders. MacAdam/Cage, 2005.
The Oxford Murders is the story of an unnamed Argentinean mathematician studying at Oxford. One day, while accompanied by his landlady's friend, the don and professor of mathematics Arthur Seldom, the two find Mrs. Eagleton murdered on her sofa. The only clue, other than the fact that the old woman worked on the Enigma Code during World War II, is a circle left by the killer in a mysterious note sent to Seldom, along with the lines, "the first in a series." Soon it becomes clear there is apparently 'serial' killing occurring, on a very literal level. Seldom receives a note, accompanied by a symbol, every time a murder takes place. Seldom fears that the killer is effectively parodying his mathematical work on theories of patterns or series in mathematics. One of Seldom's areas of expertise is Wittgenstein's theories about series and the possibilities for deviation in numerical series.
The solution to the murder seems to revolve around finding out the pattern of these 'series' of shapes that accompanies the series of murders. The first two murders that follow the suffocation of Mrs. Eagleton seem clearly connected -- one at a hospital, another at a concert. But then follows other killings accompanied by symbols that seem deliberate, like a bus driver who crashes his bus to get a transplant for his daughter. Also, despite this apparent link through symbols, Seldom points out that there is always an 'uncertainty principle,' even in mathematics. Seldom points to Gdel's Theorem which much like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in science, suggests that despite all appearances, there is always the element of the unpredictable -- for example, the landlady could have died by natural causes. Additionally, the mathematical murder could be unsolvable, although conveniently during the narrative the once 'unsolvable' Fermat's Last Theorem is solved, acting as inspiration to Seldom and his unnamed sidekick.
Murder and Injustice in a Small Town Death sentence Are you innocent until proven guilty? The constitution of the U.S.A. has the provision of being treated as though one is innocent until the due process of the law takes its course and one is proven guilty or set free on absolute innocence grounds. It should be pointed out that if you committed the crime then you are guilty regardless of the conditions. However,
The year 1998 brought the highest number of murdered young girls yet and authorities arrested another man for those crimes. Press reports from the summer of 1999 typically offered body counts between 180 and 190, sometimes coupled with a reminder that "at least 95 women" were still missing. Chihuahua authorities claimed that FBI agents had endorsed their conviction of Abdel Sharif, while El Paso G-men indignantly denied it (MURDERS of the
Murder Trial of Phil Spector In the 1960s, Phil Spector achieved legendary status as the visionary behind countless pop music classics. The famed 'Wall of Sound' produces helped to create immortal hits with girl groups like the Crystals and the Ronettes. But he achieved a different kind of notoriety when his oft-acknowledged erratic behavior and affection for firearms culminated in the 2003 death of Lana Clarkson. The actress, whose body was
Murder in the Cathedral An Analysis of Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral is certainly a uniquely dramatic work. Eliot (1951) has written his own intention concerning its style: "As for the versification, I was only aware at this stage that the essential was to avoid any echo of Shakespeare…Therefore what I kept in mind was the versification of Everyman" (p. 27). Everyman, a medieval morality play that
There is a plethora of questions result if one deduces the seriousness of the situation. For instance, should the system be reevaluated in terms of the rights of minors; especially when it comes to interrogation practices? Or did the police in Jacksonville, Florida just represent a few bad apples in an otherwise functioning system? The answers to these questions are fair from obvious and subject to intense arguments from both
IC 18-4003 lays out the elements needed for a first-degree murder conviction, and many of those do not require aforethought. Further, IC 18-4001 does not state the definition is for first degree murder only, and thus, simply adds to the ambiguity of the law. Still another change may need to be a redefining of phrase "an abandoned and malignant heart" in IC 18-4002. This phrase is not legally clear, and