The Skull beneath the Skin

Blood Flies Upwards

Brief summary
The section begins with Ambrose holding a tour of ‘the Skulls of Courcy’, during this
time, James uses the tour and malevolent content to hint at the murder to come. Upon
returning from the tour, Cordelia keeps a close eye on Clarissa in the last few hours
leading up to the opening of the play. Clarissa is moody and demands to be left alone
while she composes herself and mentally prepares for her performance. During this
time all the other characters are busying themselves with preparations and leisure
activities in the lead up to the play. When the time is over, Cordelia unlocks Clarissa’s
door to find her murdered in the bed, her head bashed in. This is the pivotal moment
when Cordelia realises one of the guests is the murderer, making this section an
important one in setting up the ‘clue and alibi’ mystery which follows in the next part
‘The Professionals’. The concluding pages reveal all the characters reaction to
Clarissa’s death, all of which are absent of grief, making them all possible suspects.
P.D. James does so to create tension, to make it challenging for the reader, a game of
picking and solving the mystery along with Cordelia.

Character Roles
Cordelia- Within this section Cordelia is the first person to find Clarissa murdered.
This is significant as it makes her a prime suspect, which is against traditional ‘crime
writing’ conventions, as the detective is never usually a suspect. The line between the
detective and those being detected is blurred, and Cordelia is aware of this. Even
before Clarissa’s murder, Cordelia’s narrative appears to be more of a guest than of a
detective sifting for clues. Yet the innate nature of Cordelia allows exceptions, she
naturally has a keen eye for detecting; and despite the lack of mystery, she still notices
tiny details and nuances, something which helps her solve the crime later in the novel.
‘Another message had been delivered, pushed under the door. So whoever was
responsible was here, on the island. She felt her heart jolt.’p.134
The use of short sentences reiterates this sudden eerie tone. As an audience we feel
the shivers Cordelia experiences, this also sets up tension upon Clarissa’s murder, as
we are aware one of the six guests is responsible.

Clarissa- During this section, Clarissa is murdered. Prior to this, she is abrupt and
rude to Cordelia, James has done so to somewhat justify the murder, the reader can
relate to the characters irritation with Clarissa. Through Characterisation, James paints
Clarissa in her last moments as a woman full of snobbery and selfishness, hardly a
character the reader would vouch to save. ‘Can’t you understand English?...I’ve told
you! I don’t want you next door…what I want now is to be left in peace’p.163 The harsh
tone which Clarissa addresses Cordelia really sums up her character in a nutshell,
laced with her belief that she is superior above her fellow guests. To make this one of
the last things she says highlights that the murder of an unpleasant woman could be
committed by anyone of the guests, it also adds to the mystery and uncertainty of the
novel to come.

Ambrose Gorringe- He is the host and owner of Courcy Island. During this section he
gives the tour of ‘Devils Kettle’; a place he will later use to trap Cordelia and Simon.
The way he conducts himself seems to be less suspicious than the other characters,
and James has done this intentionally to lure suspicion away from his character. Yet
his manner in telling the Courcy Island legend still subtly highlights his prominence
as a suspect. ‘The story had been well told and it had, in it’s simplicity, it’s terror, its
almost symbolic confrontation of innocence with evil, a remarkable power’p.147 This
theme is continually laced throughout the narrative, the morbid combination of
innocence and murderous actions, the marble infants hand used to murder Clarissa.
This is also reflective of Ambrose’s character, as it is him who invests in the
unsettling marble cast and weapon.

Roma Lisle- She, along with many of the other guests is present during the tour and
then vanishes until Clarissa is murdered. This is a continual effect James had
employed to maintain multiple suspects throughout the narrative. Throughout the
section Roma’s dry dialogue and manner build up her character, until we learn she has
asked Clarissa for a loan, which Clarissa declines (Roma’s motif). Roma, alike all of
the other guests, knows that she is a suspect, and in her admittance of the suspicious
circumstances she addresses one of the main objectives of this section; to establish
Clarissa’s death and somewhat set up all the characters as the possible murderer. ‘The
suspects are ranked in strict order of priority; first, the husband, then the heirs, then
the family, then close friends and acquaintances.
Roma said dryly: as I’m both an heir and a relation, I can hardly find that
reassuring”p.178 James included her strong characterisation within the stark comment,
allowing the audience to see the reality, that all of the guests are suspicious, but only
one committed the murder.

Thematic concerns
The main themes within this section are of suspicion and hatred. James has used this
part to illuminate the fact that every single person of Courcy Island has a motif to kill
Clarissa. Noon the techniques but the content reiterate this, and as a reader we sense
that something dramatic is about to occur, most probably a murder. Strong imagery of
death is concocted while Ambrose shows them the places where ancient murder
occurred. ‘It was very cold in the crypt. Conversation had died. They stood in a ring
looking at the row of skulls as if these smooth domes of bone, the ragged nasal
orifices, the gaping sockets, could be made to yield the secret of their deaths’p.148
Allusion to death is evident, and James succeeds in building up tension which carries
through to Clarissa’s murder. Irony also features in this passage, as James describes
the conversation as dead; a deliberate adjective, relevant within the thematic concerns
of this section. Another theme which James highlights is relationships; she does so
through characterisation of Clarissa and her fellow guests. By conjuring up a
character even the readers come to dislike, then killing her off, it’s as if James is
attempting to lace moral lesson within her novel. One which highlights to the reader
that selfishness and unkindness is not rewarded, and although the murder is somewhat
accidental, it allows the tension to unravel, making it clear that everyone in Clarissa’s
life actually hated her to a degree. ‘No one else spoke…Clarissa’s voice assumed the
wheedling note of an importunate child’ p.150 To describe Clarissa as an importunate
child accurately highlights her irritating nature and childlike selfishness, making it
evident that she will be murdered shortly. The nature of detection is also present, as
once Clarissa is murdered Cordelia knows her job on the island is not mere fun
anymore, she has to find the murderer. In this sense, James keeps it balanced,
Cordelia is neither detached from the suspects like the police are in the following
chapter, nor involved with them, she keeps level headed while detecting, always on
the ball without giving it away. James has accurately captured the essence of detective
work and invites the reader to join in and help solve the murder, partaking with
Cordelia to eliminate red herrings.

Language & stylistic features

A foreboding tone is evidently present within the part. It is necessary as James wishes
to make it obvious that Clarissa is about to be murdered. Every sentence, every
description is building on this, heightening the tension and making the reader
somewhat frightened at the reality that Clarissa is soon to die. Sensory description
help delve into the setting, creating a scene one knows will stage a murder. “The
room was filled with the smudges half-light of dawn…the eastern sky was just
beginning to streak into brightness and a low mist hung over the lawn and curled like
smoke between the tree tops…there was no sign of any bonfire, yet the air held the
smoky wood-fire smell of autumn and the great mass of sea heaved, grey and silver,
as if it exuded its own mysterious light’ p.133 Both olfactory and visual sensory
description are present within this passage, and continue to be, changing tone upon
the guests entering ‘devils kettle’. ‘these age long symbols of mortality, set up like a
row of grinning devils to frighten children at a fairground’ p.148 this simile holds
childhood allusion, merging it with the essence of death. This is a reoccurring theme,
the marble infant hand, the music box, which subtly comments and reminds the reader
that Clarissa was responsible for Tolly’s daughters’ death. James does this to present a
partial red herring, reinforcing Tolly’s strong motif should she desire to kill Clarissa.
Second person narration within the mind of Cordelia is also a stylistic feature James
uses to her advantage. She allows the reader to delve inside the mind of a detective,
we can understand how she works, yet this is not to say that James dictates the
detecting, she allows leeway where the audience is left to make their won
assumptions. In this sense, James also highlights that Cordelia is still a normal person,
much like the reader, who is attempting to solve a murder. In this way, he reader can
connect to her character, as if they are on the same level. Dialogue is used to shed
light on the other characters and their reaction to Clarissa’s murder. It is somewhat a
technique which allows James to give us snippets of their internal thoughts, pieces of
the puzzle from which we must determine who is innocent and who is guilty.
ROMA:
Odd that one feels so apprehensive. Stupid, too. It’s like being a schoolgirl
again, one always felt and looked most guilty when one was totally innocent.
IVO:
Totally? That’s an enviable state, I’ve never managed to achieve it’ p.178 This
conversation following the murder immediately sets both characters up as suspects,
neither can fully state that they are innocent. Of course, we learn that they are, but the
snippets of conversation James presents us with hint at something more sinister.

Conventions & subventions of the genre

The description and setting is much like that of a traditional ‘whodunit’ crime fiction,
yet the characters and their relationships are contemporary. The fact that James has
made Cordelia (the detective and protagonist) a suspect is a large and important
subversion of the genre. It highlights that the roles and characters of traditional crime
fiction have been blurred over time. This acts as a reminder that human nature is not a
simple matter, one can not simply be entirely good nor evil. And this is an evident
message James is wishing to highlight. The murder itself is an accidental one, this is a
major subversion as one might think a motif would be absent. Yet James uses the
murder as a trigger, she relay to the reader that underneath the surface of a beautiful
and well respected woman is something so sinister and hideous that one would wish
to murder her. The desire is there, in all the guests, as we find out from the beginning,
each one has their won reasons to kill Clarissa. Yet it is ironic that the murder itself is
somewhat accidental. The novel falls under the ‘closed crime’ banner, where the
murderer is one of the main characters. This, is very traditional and all the
conventions are followed accordingly. The remote island, large castle, no way of
getting off. It’s the setting description which maintains the traditional elements of
crime writing, and James is known and regarded highly for her description. ‘the lined
heavy brocade curtains were drawn across the windows, but the brightness pierced
the paper-thin slit between them, and even the heavy folds couldn’t entirely exclude
the afternoon sun which seeped through as a gentle diffusion of pinkish light’ p.166
James paints layer upon layer of description to build up the setting and make it
visually realistic, as if the reader were actually there. The main subversion in this
narrative is the protagonist and detective, Cordelia Gray. The fact that James has
made the detective female is a significant subversion, it actively conveys the changing
times in which it was written, 1982. During this time, roles of women and social
barriers were fluctuating, and this is reflective in the novel.