Hercule Poirot: Difference between revisions
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He is a pensioned Belgian police detective who emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1916 as a refugee of the Great War. In the beginning, he shares a flat with his friend Captain Hastings in 14 Farraway Street. Later in the 30s, he rents a flat in Park Lane in the modern 28 Whitehaven Mansions, London, because he admires the symmetric architecture and the accurate proportions of the building. Poirot hates dirt and disorder, and favours order, method, and symmetry. He relies on his "grey cells" (Gripenberg, 68) and is said to be an "armchair-detective" (Gripenberg, 68), because he believes that crimes can be solved by thinking them through and putting the pieces together and by sitting in an armchair. Therefore, he has no trust in fingerprints or other modern methods of crime-solving. It is the psychology of murder that he is interested in. He takes his foreignness as an advantage at times, because even though he could speak proper English, he uses people‘s stereotypical thinking about foreigners to surprise them. In the end of a case, he assembles all involved persons for a reunion and, bathing in conceitedness, he suspensefully explains who he thinks is the murder and how he came to the conclusion. | He is a pensioned Belgian police detective who emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1916 as a refugee of the Great War. In the beginning, he shares a flat with his friend Captain Hastings in 14 Farraway Street. Later in the 30s, he rents a flat in Park Lane in the modern 28 Whitehaven Mansions, London, because he admires the symmetric architecture and the accurate proportions of the building. Poirot hates dirt and disorder, and favours order, method, and symmetry. He relies on his "grey cells" (Gripenberg, 68) and is said to be an "armchair-detective" (Gripenberg, 68), because he believes that crimes can be solved by thinking them through and putting the pieces together and by sitting in an armchair. Therefore, he has no trust in fingerprints or other modern methods of crime-solving. It is the psychology of murder that he is interested in. He takes his foreignness as an advantage at times, because even though he could speak proper English, he uses people‘s stereotypical thinking about foreigners to surprise them. In the end of a case, he assembles all involved persons for a reunion and, bathing in conceitedness, he suspensefully explains who he thinks is the murder and how he came to the conclusion. | ||
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=== 1920s === | === 1920s === | ||
* The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) | * ''The Mysterious Affair at Styles'' (1920) | ||
* Murder on the Links (1923) | * ''Murder on the Links'' (1923) | ||
* The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) | * ''The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'' (1926) | ||
* The Big Four (1927) | * ''The Big Four'' (1927) | ||
* The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) | * ''The Mystery of the Blue Train'' (1928) | ||
=== 1930s === | === 1930s === | ||
* Black Coffee (1930 play - novel adapted from play published in 1998) | * ''Black Coffee'' (1930 play - novel adapted from play published in 1998) | ||
* Peril at End House (1932) | * ''Peril at End House'' (1932) | ||
* Lord Edgware Dies (1933) | * ''Lord Edgware Dies'' (1933) | ||
* Murder on the Orient Express (1934) | * ''Murder on the Orient Express'' (1934) | ||
* Three Act Tragedy (1935) | * ''Three Act Tragedy'' (1935) | ||
* Death in the Clouds (1935) | * ''Death in the Clouds'' (1935) | ||
* The A.B.C. Murders (1936) | * ''The A.B.C. Murders'' (1936) | ||
* Murder in Mesopotamia (1936) | * ''Murder in Mesopotamia'' (1936) | ||
* Cards on the Table (1936) | * ''Cards on the Table'' (1936) | ||
* Death on the Nile (1937) | * ''[[Death on the Nile]]'' (1937) | ||
* Dumb Witness (1937) | * ''Dumb Witness'' (1937) | ||
* Appointment with Death (1938) | * ''Appointment with Death'' (1938) | ||
* Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938) | * ''Hercule Poirot's Christmas'' (1938) | ||
=== 1940s === | === 1940s === | ||
* Sad Cypress (1940) | * ''Sad Cypress'' (1940) | ||
* One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940) | * ''One, Two, Buckle My Shoe'' (1940) | ||
* Evil Under the Sun (1941) | * ''Evil Under the Sun'' (1941) | ||
* Five Little Pigs (1942) | * ''Five Little Pigs'' (1942) | ||
* The Hollow (1946) | * ''The Hollow'' (1946) | ||
* Taken at the Flood (1948) | * ''Taken at the Flood'' (1948) | ||
=== 1950s === | === 1950s === | ||
* Mrs McGinty's Dead (1952) | * ''Mrs McGinty's Dead'' (1952) | ||
* After the Funeral (1953) | * ''After the Funeral'' (1953) | ||
* Hickory Dickory Dock (1955) | * ''Hickory Dickory Dock'' (1955) | ||
* Dead Man's Folly (1956) | * ''Dead Man's Folly'' (1956) | ||
* Cat Among the Pigeons (1959) | * ''Cat Among the Pigeons'' (1959) | ||
=== 1960s === | === 1960s === | ||
* The Clocks (1963) | * ''The Clocks'' (1963) | ||
* Third Girl (1966) | * ''Third Girl'' (1966) | ||
* Hallowe'en Party (1969) | * ''Hallowe'en Party'' (1969) | ||
=== 1970s === | === 1970s === | ||
* Elephants Can Remember (1972) | * ''Elephants Can Remember'' (1972) | ||
* Curtain (written about 1940, published 1975) | * ''Curtain'' (written about 1940, published 1975) | ||
== Short Stories == | == Short Stories == | ||
* Poirot Investigates (1924) | * ''Poirot Investigates'' (1924) | ||
* Murder in the Mews (1937) | * ''Murder in the Mews'' (1937) | ||
* The Labours of Hercules (1947) | * ''The Labours of Hercules'' (1947) | ||
* The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960) | * ''The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding'' (1960) | ||
* Poirot's Early Cases (1974) | * ''Poirot's Early Cases'' (1974) | ||
* Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories (1991) | * ''Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories'' (1991) | ||
* While the Light Lasts and Other Stories (1997) | * ''While the Light Lasts and Other Stories'' (1997) | ||
Latest revision as of 12:46, 23 January 2012
Character created by Agatha Christie. The Belgian detective appeared in 33 novels and 65 short stories and is the only fictional character to be honoured with a front page obituary in The New York Times. The article appeared on the front page August 6, 1975. The Belgian private detective made his first appearance in The Mysterious Affair at Styles in 1920 and had his last in Curtain in 1975.
Appearance
Not taller than 1,62m, with an egg-shaped head, he had an incredible countenance. His distinct clothes, consisting of a brindled pair of trousers, a jacket, waistcoat and a pair of acute black leather shoes, must always be flawless. The gorgeous moustache, his greatest pride, is been taken care of vigilantly. Together with his cane he makes the typical effeminate French appearance that he is regularly taken for. He is the typical dandy. Altogether, he suits perfectly to criticise British provincialism and self-approval. His stories are the stories of chase. The chase of finding the truth. For him, there is nothing stranger, more interesting or more beautiful than plain truth. Therefore, he has strong moral principles and his cases are cases of the defeat of the bad and triumph of the good. In the end, justice always wins and murderers are convicted.
Life as Private Detective
He is a pensioned Belgian police detective who emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1916 as a refugee of the Great War. In the beginning, he shares a flat with his friend Captain Hastings in 14 Farraway Street. Later in the 30s, he rents a flat in Park Lane in the modern 28 Whitehaven Mansions, London, because he admires the symmetric architecture and the accurate proportions of the building. Poirot hates dirt and disorder, and favours order, method, and symmetry. He relies on his "grey cells" (Gripenberg, 68) and is said to be an "armchair-detective" (Gripenberg, 68), because he believes that crimes can be solved by thinking them through and putting the pieces together and by sitting in an armchair. Therefore, he has no trust in fingerprints or other modern methods of crime-solving. It is the psychology of murder that he is interested in. He takes his foreignness as an advantage at times, because even though he could speak proper English, he uses people‘s stereotypical thinking about foreigners to surprise them. In the end of a case, he assembles all involved persons for a reunion and, bathing in conceitedness, he suspensefully explains who he thinks is the murder and how he came to the conclusion.
Movies
In movies, he has been acted by many great actors. Starting with Austin Trevor, Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov and David Suchet. Agatha Christie never saw David Suchet, who portrayed him from 1989 until 2009, but her grandson Mathew has said: "Personally, I regret very much that she never saw David Suchet. I think that visually he is much the most convincing and perhaps he manages to convey to the viewer just enough of the irritation that we always associate with the perfectionist, to be convincing!" (quoted from [1])
Hercule Poirot has his own facebook page which can be entered here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hercule-Poirot/14544356908
Bibliography
Books
1920s
- The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
- Murder on the Links (1923)
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
- The Big Four (1927)
- The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
1930s
- Black Coffee (1930 play - novel adapted from play published in 1998)
- Peril at End House (1932)
- Lord Edgware Dies (1933)
- Murder on the Orient Express (1934)
- Three Act Tragedy (1935)
- Death in the Clouds (1935)
- The A.B.C. Murders (1936)
- Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
- Cards on the Table (1936)
- Death on the Nile (1937)
- Dumb Witness (1937)
- Appointment with Death (1938)
- Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938)
1940s
- Sad Cypress (1940)
- One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940)
- Evil Under the Sun (1941)
- Five Little Pigs (1942)
- The Hollow (1946)
- Taken at the Flood (1948)
1950s
- Mrs McGinty's Dead (1952)
- After the Funeral (1953)
- Hickory Dickory Dock (1955)
- Dead Man's Folly (1956)
- Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
1960s
- The Clocks (1963)
- Third Girl (1966)
- Hallowe'en Party (1969)
1970s
- Elephants Can Remember (1972)
- Curtain (written about 1940, published 1975)
Short Stories
- Poirot Investigates (1924)
- Murder in the Mews (1937)
- The Labours of Hercules (1947)
- The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960)
- Poirot's Early Cases (1974)
- Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories (1991)
- While the Light Lasts and Other Stories (1997)
Sources:
- http://agathachristie.com/christies-work/detectives-and-sidekicks/poirot/ (accessed January 16 2012)
- http://www.poirot.us/index.php (accessed January 16 2012)
- Ebert, Maria. "Mord im Orient Express", in Das Buch der 1000 Bücher. Werke, die die Welt bewegten. Gütersloh: Mohn Media Mohndruck, 2005. 255- [exact page numbers??].
- Gripenberg, Monika. Agatha Christie. Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1999.
- Ousby, Ian."Christie, Dame Agatha". The Wordsworth Companion to Literature in English (ed.) Ian Ousby. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. 175-176.