DR.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

LUCKNOW

ENGLISH

FINAL DRAFT ON:

CHARACTER SKETCH

OF

HERCULE POIROT

Submitted for the project undertaken in partial fulfilment of B.A. LL.B. (Hons.)I Sem.

5 year integrated course at RMLNLU, Lucknow.

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY :

MRS. ALKA SINGH SAURAV SINGH

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (ENGLISH) B.A.LL.B. (B) I SEM.

Dr. RMLNLU R. NO. 122

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A major research project like this is never the work of anyone alone. Firstly, I would like to

thank respected Asst. Professor Alka Singh, for giving me such a golden opportunity to show

my skills and capability through this project.

This project is the result of the extensive ultrapure study, hard work and labour, put into to

make it worth reading. This project has been completed through the generous co-operation of

various persons, especially my seniors, who, in their different potentials helped me a lot in

giving the finishing touch to the project.

This project couldn’t be completed without the help of my university’s library Dr. Madhu

Limaye Library and its internet facility.

‘I am glad to have made it’

Thanking You........
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Details

2. About The Author

3. About The Series

4. Inspirations

5. Hercule Poirot’s Agatha Christie’s Novels

6. Hercule Poirot in Appearance

7. Hercule Poirot’s Co-Character

8. Hercule Poirot’s Death

9. Hercule Poirot On Screen

10. Conclusion

11. Bibliography
DETAILS

 Name Hercule Poirot Series

 Author Agatha Christie

 Language of publication English

 Genre Crime Fiction and Mystery

 First Publication 1920

 Number of Appearances 33 novels, 1 play, 50 short stories

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976), the “queen” of British mystery writers, published more

than ninety stories between 1920 and 1976. Her best-loved stories revolve around two

brilliant and quite dissimilar detectives, the Belgian émigré Hercule Poirot and the English

spinster Miss Jane Marple. Other stories feature the “flapper” couple Tommy and Tuppence

Beresford, the mysterious Harley Quin, the private detective Parker Pyne, or Police

Superintendent Battle as investigators. Dame Agatha’s works have been adapted numerous

times for the stage, movies, radio, and television.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective, created by Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of

Christie’s long lived characters, appearing in 33 novels, 1 play and 50 short stories. He first

appeared in Christie’s first novel The Mysterious Affairs at Styles in 1920 and exited in

Curtain, published in 1975. His character has been portrayed on radio, screen, films and
plays. He is the only fictional character to receive an obituary on the front page of The New

York Times.

Hercule Poirot became famous with the publication, in 1926, of The Murder of Roger

Ackroyd. Aside from Roger Ackroyd, the most critically acclaimed Poirot novels appeared

from 1932 to 1942, which included Murder on the Orient Express (1935), The ABC Murders

(1935), Cards on the Table (1936), and Death on the Nile (1937).

INSPIRATIONS

Hercule Poirot's name was derived from two other fictional detectives of the time: Marie

Belloc Lowndes' Hercule Popeau and Frank Howel Evans' Monsieur Poiret, a retired Belgian

police officer living in London.

A more obvious influence on the early Poirot stories is that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In An

Autobiography Christie admits, "I was still writing in the Sherlock Holmes tradition –

eccentric detective, stooge assistant, with a Lestrade-type Scotland Yard detective, Inspector

Japp". For his part, Conan Doyle acknowledged basing his detective stories on the model

of Edgar Allan Poe's C. Auguste Dupin and his anonymous narrator, and basing his character

Sherlock Holmes on Joseph Bell, who in his use of "ratiocination" prefigured Poirot's reliance

on his "little grey cells".

Poirot also bears a striking resemblance to A. E. W. Mason's fictional detective, Inspector

Hanaud of the French Sûreté, who first appeared in the 1910 novel At the Villa Rose and

predates the first Poirot novel by ten years.

Poirot was a francophone. Unlike the models mentioned above, Christie's Poirot was clearly

the result of her early development of the detective in her first book, written in 1916 and
published in 1920. Not only was his Belgian nationality interesting because of Belgium's

occupation by Germany which provided a plausible explanation of why such a skilled

detective would be out of work and available to solve mysteries at an English country house.

At the time of Christie's writing, it was considered patriotic to express sympathy towards the

Belgians, since the invasion of their country had constituted Britain's casus belli for entering

World War I, and British wartime propaganda emphasised the "Rape of Belgium".

HERCULE POIROT IN AGATHA CHRISTIE’S NOVELS

Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective featured in a series of novels by Agatha

Christie. During World War I, Poirot left Belgium for England as a refugee. On 16 July 1916

he met his lifelong friend, Captain Arthur Hastings and solved the first of his cases to be

published: The Mysterious Affair at Styles. It is clear that Hastings and Poirot are already

friends when they meet in Chapter 2 of the novel, as Hastings tells Cynthia that he has not

seen him for "some years". Particulars such as the date of 1916 for the case and that Hastings

had met Poirot in Belgium, are given in Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, Chapter 1. After that

case, Poirot apparently came to the attention of the British secret service and undertook cases

for the British government, including foiling the attempted abduction of the Prime Minister.

Readers were told that the British authorities had learned of Poirot's keen investigative ability

from certain Belgian royals.

After the war Poirot became a private detective and began undertaking civilian cases. He

moved into what became both his home and work address, 56B Whitehaven Mansions.

Hastings first visits the house when he returns to England in June 1935 from Argentina in The

A.B.C. Murders, Chapter 1. It was chosen by Poirot for its symmetry. His first case was "The
Affair at the Victory Ball", which allowed Poirot to enter high society and begin his career as

a private detective.

In The Mysterious Affairs at Styles, Poirot operates as a fairly conventional, clue-based

detective, depending on logic, which is represented in his vocabulary by two common

phrases: “the little grey cells” and “order and method”.

As early as Murder on the Links, where he largely depends on clues, Poirot mocks a rival

detective who focuses on the traditional trails of clues that had been established in the

detective fiction by the example of Sherlock Holmes: footprints, fingerprints and cigar ash.

From this point on, he establishes himself as a psychological detective who proceeds not by a

painstaking examination of the crime scene, but by inquiring either into the nature of the

victim or the murderer.

His early novels, such as The Big Four, were narrated by his friend Arthur Hastings, whom

he befriended during his years as a private detective in Europe. This was quite misleading for

the readers as Poirot would sometimes conceal from him important details of his plans, which

would finally be revealed to Hastings at the closing stages of the story. But, in later novels,

Poirot would himself be the narrator, which avoided ambiguousness.

Poirot’s methods focus on getting people talk. Early in the novels, he frequently casts himself

in the role of “Papa Poirot”, a benign confessor, especially to young women. Later he lies

freely in order to gain the confidences of other characters, either inventing hi own reason for

being interested in the case or a family excuse for pursuing a line of questioning.

Poirot is also willing to appear more foreign or vain than he really is, in an effort to make

people underestimate him. He admits as much in The Gentle Art of Murder:

"It is true that I can speak the exact, the idiomatic English. But, my friend, to speak the
broken English is an enormous asset. It leads people to despise you. They say – a foreigner –

he can't even speak English properly. […] Also I boast! An Englishman he says often, "A

fellow who thinks as much of himself as that cannot be worth much. […] And so, you see, I

put people off their guard."

In the later novels, Christie often uses the word mountebank when Poirot is being assessed by

other characters, showing that he has successfully passed himself off as a charlatan or fraud.

HERCULE POIROT’S APPEARENCE

According to The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Poirot is 5 feet, 4 inches tall. He rests his egg-

shaped head a little on one side. He has a "stiff and military" black moustache, which he

delights in. Poirot also has the strange habit of always wearing patent-leather shoes, even

when they cause him lots of pain. He usually wears a suit, and is not in great shape, since he

rarely exercises.

Poirot has a strong sense of justice, but he is not beyond letting the killer go free if he feels

the murder was justified. Poirot is a very neat and orderly man, and he has a habit of

straightening things. In solving a case, Poirot prefers not to hunt around on his knees

Sherlock Holmes-style, but rather, to sit and use his "little gray cells." He is very cocky as in

he is the best and is appalled when people don't know who he is.
HERCULE POIROT’S CO-CHARACTERS

Captain Arthur Hastings:

Description: An amiable man, who was arguably Poirot's best friend, and who narrated many

of Poirot's cases. He served as a Watson figure in the stories.

Books: The A.B.C. Murders, The Big Four, Black Coffee, Curtain, Dumb Witness, Lord

Edgware Dies, Murder on the Links, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Peril at End House.

Short Stories: The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly, The Adventure of the Cheap Flat, The

Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb, The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman, The Adventure of

the Western Star, The Affair at the Victoru Ball, The Case of the Missing Will, The

Chocolate Box, The Cornish Mystery, The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim, The Double

Clue, Double Sin, The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan, The Kidnapped Prime

Minister, The King of Clubs, The Lemesurier Inheritance, The Lost Mine, The Market

Basing Mystery, The Million-Dollar Bond Robbery, Murder in the Mews, The Mystery of

Hunter's Lodge, The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest, The Plymouth Express, The Submarine

Plans, The Third-Floor Flat, The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor, The Veiled Lady.

Superintendent Battle:

Description: A Scotland Yard officer who assisted Poirot in Cards on the Table and who has

been in five other Agatha Christie books. He is described as "a big, square, wooden-faced

man."

Books with Poirot: Cards on the Table.

Monsieur Bouc:

Description: A Belgian friend of Poirot's who is the Wagon Director on the Orient Express

and assists Poirot in his investigations in Murder on the Orient Express.

Books: Murder on the Orient Express.

George:

Description: Poirot's unimaginative valet who assists him in many cases.

Books with Poirot: Murder on the Links, Cat among the Pigeons, Curtain.

Short Stories with Poirot: The Apples of the Hesperides, The Lernean Hydra, The Nemean

Lion, The Under Dog.

Monsieur Giraud:

Description: An egotistical foreign detective (sound familiar?) who bets he can solve Paul

Renauld's murder before Poirot can.

Books: Murder on the Links.

Mr. Goby:

Description: An unsocial private detective who Poirot calls

upon to dig up obscure information.

Books: Elephants Can Remember, After the Funeral, Third Girl, The Mystery of the Blue

Train.

Chief Inspector James Japp:

Description: A "little, sharp, dark, ferretfaced" Scotland Yard officer who is always arresting

the wrong suspects. Nonetheless, he is a good friend of Poirot and Hastings.

Books: The A.B.C. Murders; The Big Four; Black Coffee; Death in the Clouds; Lord

Edgware Dies; The Mysterious Affair at Styles; One, Two, Buckle My Shoe; Peril at End

House.

Short Stories: The Adventure of the Cheap Flat; The Affair at the

Victory Ball; The Capture of Cerberus; The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim; The Flock of

Geryon; The Girdle of Hyppolita; The Kidnapped Prime Minister; The Market Basing

Mystery; Murder in the Mews; The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge; The Plymouth Express; The

Tragedy at Marsdon Manor; The Veiled Lady.

Miss Felicity Lemon:

Description: Poirot's efficient secretary who has appeared in several Poirot stories. In the

books, she is old and rather ugly; she was made younger and more glamorous in the TV

series.

Books: Hickory Dickory Dock; Dead Man's Folly; Third Girl; Elephants can Remember.

Short Stories: How Does Your Garden Grow?; The Nemean Lion; The Capture of Cerberus;

The Mystery of the Spanish Chest.

Mrs. Ariadne Oliver:

Description: A clever mystery writer who assists Poirot in six cases.

Books: Dead Man's Folly; Cards on the Table; Elephants can Remember; Hallowe'en Party;

Mrs. McGinty's Dead; Third Girl.

Colonel Johnny Race:

Description: A secret service agent who assists Poirot in two cases.

Books: Death on the Nile; Cards on the Table.

Superintendent Harold Spence:

Description: An Oatshire police officer who assisted Poirot in Taken at the Flood.

Books: Taken at the Flood.

Superintendent Bert Spence:

Description: A friend and associate of Poirot, who worked with Poirot in a number of

unrecorded cases and in several Poirot novels. Supposedly he is a different character from the

one who helps Poirot in Taken at the Flood.

Books: Halloween Party, Elephants Can Remember, Mrs. McGinty's Dead.

HERCULE POIROT’S DEATH

Poirot passes away from complications of a heart condition at the end of Curtain: Poirot's

Last Case. He had moved his amyl nitrite pills out of his reach, possibly because of guilt. He

thereby became the murderer in Curtain, although it was for the benefit of others. Poirot

himself noted that he wanted to kill his victim shortly before his own death so that he could

avoid succumbing to the arrogance of the murderer, concerned that he may come to view

himself as entitled to kill those he deemed necessary to eliminate.

The "murderer" he was hunting had never expressly killed anyone, but subtly and

psychologically, he had manipulated others to kill for him, manipulating the moments where

others desire to commit murder so that they carry out the crime when they might otherwise

dismiss their thoughts as nothing more a momentary passion. Poirot thus was forced to kill

the man himself, as otherwise he would have continued his actions and never been officially

convicted as he did not legally do anything wrong. It is revealed at the end of Curtain that he

fakes his need for a wheelchair to fool people into believing that he is suffering from arthritis,
to give the impression that he is more infirm than he is. His last recorded words are "Cher

ami!", spoken to Hastings as the Captain left his room. Poirot was buried at Styles, and his

funeral was arranged by his best friend Hastings and Hastings' daughter Judith. Hastings

reasoned, "Here was the spot where he had lived when he first came to this country. He was

to lie here at the last."

While Poirot's actual death and funeral occurred in Curtain, years after his retirement from

active investigation, it was not the first time Hastings attended the funeral of his best friend.

In The Big Four (1927) Poirot feigned his death and subsequent funeral to launch a surprise

attack on the Big Four.

HERCULE POIROT ON SCREEN

Hercule Poirot made his debut on film in the 1931 movie Alibi, based on the stage play of the

same name. The play was adapted by Michael Morton from the novel The Murder of Roger

Ackroyd. Poirot was played by Austin Trevor as a tall handsome detective (no mustache!)--

the most complete opposite in appearance from Agatha Christie's creation. Interestingly

enough, Trevor played Poirot two more times, in Black Coffee--again in 1931--and Lord

Edgware Dies in 1934. Black Coffee was originally a play Agatha Christie wrote herself after

Morton had done Alibi. (Lord Edgware Dies, of course, is based on the novel of the same

name). Twickenham produced the first two Trevor movies and the studio called Real Art

produced the last. Trevor said once that he was probably cast as Poirot simply because he

could do a French accent.

The next time Poirot appears on television was in 1962 on CBS. Actor Martin Gabel starred

as Poirot in a General Electric Theatre production entitled Hercule Poirot. The program was
an adaptation of "The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim." The showwas to be a pilot episode

for a weekly series, but the series never took off.

The next time we see Poirot is in the cinema with The Alphabet Murders (based on The ABC

Murders) in 1966, starring Tony Randall (made-up with a bald cap and everything) as Poirot.

Hastings was played by the corpulent actor Robert Morley as a clumsy bungler. The movie

was more comical than anything else. The role of Poirot was to be for Zero Mostel (from

"The Producers" fame), but Agatha Christie objected to his casting and the script, which even

called for a bedroom scene for the dapper detective! On a better note, Austin Trevor visited

the set during filming and Margaret Rutherford (actress who portrayed Miss Marple in 4

films) made a cameo appearance in the film.

The next project with Poirot was the excellent EMI movie adaptation of Murder on the

Orient Express in 1974. An all-star cast included Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Vanessa

Redgrave, Michael York, Anthony Perkins, Lauren Bacall, and the Oscar-winning

performance by Ingrid Bergman.

EMI returned to Poirot in a theatrical release of Death on the Nile in 1978, based on the novel

of the same name and starring this time Peter Ustinov as Poirot. The cast was an all-star one

also, with: Bette Davis, David Niven, Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury, and Jack Warden.

Peter Ustinov returned as Poirot in another production, this time by Universal of Evil Under

the Sun, premiering in 1982. The movie also starred Diana Rigg, James Mason, and Roddy

McDowall. The director of the movie was Guy Hamilton, also director of Bond movies like

"Goldfinger", "Diamonds Are Forever", and "Live and Let Die".

Another theatrical release of a Poirot movie came in 1988, starring Ustinov again as Poirot.

This was Appointment With Death, this time an EMI production, also starring Carrie Fisher

and Lauren Bacall.

Ustinov wasn't done, however, with portraying the Belgian detective. He appeared as Poirot

in three made-for-television movies: Thirteen at Dinner (1985), Dead Man's Folly (1986),

and Murder in Three Acts (1986).

Before the latest actor doing Poirot is discussed, another made-for-TV movie was shown on

CBS in April 2001, starring the English actor Alfred Molina as Poirot in Murder on the

Orient Express. He's the Poirot of the 21st Century, using his gray cells of the brain with

modern technology. This TV movie

received bad reviews from historians, fans, and critics alike.

On 2004, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) aired animated Poirot show titled

"Great Detectives: Poirot & Marple". For the Poirot episodes, some of the stories included

were Peril at End House, The ABC Murders, "The Kidnapped Prime Minister", "The

Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb", "The Adventure of the Cheap Flat", and "The Plymouth

Express".

The most recent actor portraying Hercule Poirot is the English actor David Suchet, with many

agreeing his portrayal of the Belgian detective as the definitive one. Suchet began filming in

1988 the program Agatha Christie's Poirot for London Weekend Television. This long

running series also starred Hugh Fraser as an excellent Captain Hastings.

The program had been on hiatus for several years but it had resumed with new episodes being

produced in conjunction with the cable channel A&E. in 2000. However, early in 2011 ITV

Studios announced it was no longer making new episodes. David Suchet had said that he had

hoped to film all the remaining 6 stories of Poirot. The reason behind this was simply a lack

of funds at the studio. Later in November 2011, ITV announced that they would film new

episodes of Poirot, with returning star David Suchet. Indeed the remaining stories were

filmed and completed, with the series ending with the final Poirot story Curtain, which

premiered in the UK on November 13, 2013. Recently, American audiences were privileged

to watch the final stories broadcast on television and on Acorn TV (online). The US premiere

of Curtain was available only on Acorn TV August 25, 2014.

CONCLUSION

When Agatha Christie wished to let her Great Detective, Hercule Poirot, die, she was not

allowed to do so. Poirot’s last case, Curtain, written in the 1940s, was therefore kept at her

publishers (Fontana, Collins) who persuaded her to postpone the novel to be released when

the time was appropriate. This happened in 1975, a year before her death. The immense

popularity of both Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot was a natural reaction on the

contemporary need for a hero. The considerable growth of criminality, which the inadequate

police force was unable to suppress, the horrors of the First World War, and the insecurity of

the post-war era, this all stimulated the desire for a character of extraordinary qualities;

someone who brings order to the every day chaos.

The aim of this project was to project the character of Hercule Poirot: his physical

appearance, his mental traits, his methods of investigation, and his relationship with his

companion, Captain Arthur Hastings.

Hercule Poirot resembles Sherlock Holmes’s caricature: he is small, round, with an egg-

shaped head and thick moustache, neatly dressed up, and speaking with a heavy French

accent. He is a Belgian, ignorant of British manners, and his appearance and behaviour make

him substantially ridiculous. His eccentricities, such as his love for tidiness and symmetry,

contribute to the picture of a “funny little man”. However, he results much more human-like

in comparison with Holmes. Poirot has a brilliant intelligence appended with huge scientific

knowledge. He uses his talents for close observation and logical deduction as the base of their

investigating methods, He often relies on his knowledge of human psychology. But Poirot’s

deductions sometimes result in failure, which gives him certain humanity.

Poirot has his faithful companion, Captain Hastings, who functions as the narrator of his

stories, and at the same time as intensifiers of his extraordinary intelligence. Hastings’

character also forms a substantial source of humour in the stories as he is often ridiculed by

his friends. However, the relationship between them is always warm and strong, and Hastings

contribute considerably to the popularity of the Great Detective.

Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot belongs to the world’s most famous fictional detectives.

Poirot belongs to his prime descendants and is based upon the already well-established

stereotype of the Great Detective figure. However, he offers a combination of both

conservatism and modernity, and his foreign origin, ridiculous appearance, and conceited

manners contribute to a much more transparent vision of the culture of domineering

Anglophiles, inclined to underestimating other nations’ capabilities and efforts.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Agatha Christie’s Poirot

2. www.knowingchristie.wordpress.com

3. www.telegraph.uk.co

4. www.agathachristie.com

5. www.poirot.us

6. www.books.google.com

7. www.wikipedia.com

8. Hercule Poirot (movies-1989 and 2013)

9. 33 novels, one play, and more than 50 short stories by Agatha Christie