Arthur Hastings

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Captain Arthur Hastings, OBE, is a fictional character, the partner and best friend of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. He is first introduced in her novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles and appears in many subsequent Poirot stories and novels, generally as the narrator.

Poirot meets Hastings almost immediately upon his arrival in England, and the two become life-long friends. Hastings, while being no great detective himself, serves Poirot in many ways. A former British Army officer in World War I, he is extremely brave and often used by Poirot for physical duties such as catching and subduing a criminal. Poirot likes to tease Hastings about being dim-witted at times, but he clearly enjoys the Captain's company. Before Hastings marries, the two men even share a flat in a situation reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.

Hastings represents the traditional English gentleman -- not too bright but absolutely fastidious, a throwback to the Victorian era gentleman who is always concerned about "fair play". Unlike Poirot, who is not above lying, surreptiously reading other people's letters, eavesdropping, etc., in his quest to solve a case, Hastings is absolutely horrified by such things and usually refuses to do these things even when asked to do so by Poirot.

He is chivalrous as well, possessing a pronounced weakness for pretty women with auburn hair (a fact that gets him and Poirot into trouble more than once). Despite his preference for auburn hair, and his Victorian ideas about not marrying outside one's class, he eventually falls in love with a dark-haired music hall actress, singer, and acrobat, Dulcie Duveen. They meet in the story Murder on the Links, the second full-length Poirot novel. Poirot plays a rather significant part in uniting the couple.

Hastings then acquires a ranch in Argentina and settles down to a life as a ranchholder. He and 'Cinders' or 'Cinderella' as he calls Dulcie, have four children, two sons and two daughters. One son joins the Royal Navy, while the other one and his wife manage the ranch. His daughter Grace is married to a British officer stationed in India, and his youngest child, Judith, who is also his favourite, appears in the last Poirot novel, Curtain. Judith marries Dr. John Franklin, a medical researcher and moves to Africa with him.

Captain Hastings returns to England to visit Poirot periodically, for example in The Big Four.

The last Poirot mystery, Curtain, ends with Poirot's death, leaving a shocked and sorrowing Hastings as the executor of his will. In his last testament to Hastings, sent by Poirot's lawyers four months after his death, Poirot explains the solution of Curtain, and also advises Hastings to consider marrying one of the protagonists, Miss Elizabeth Cole/Litchfield. Unfortunately, we never learn if Hastings did so or not.

Hastings has been portrayed on film and television by several actors, including Robert Morley (The Alphabet Muders (1965)), Jonathan Cecil (Thirteen at Dinner (1985), Dead Man's Folly (1986) and Murder in Three Acts (1986)), and, most notably, Hugh Fraser, who has portrayed Hastings alongside David Suchet's Poirot in almost every episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot broadcast since 1989.

Arthur Hastings

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