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Hercule Poirot

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David Suchet as Hercule Poirot in The Dream
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David Suchet as Hercule Poirot in The Dream

Hercule Poirot (pronounced [ɛʀkyl pwaʀo]) is a fictional character, the protagonist of many of detective novels by Agatha Christie, a good number of which have been adapted into films, television series, radio dramas, and stage shows. Poirot is remarkable for his small stature, egg-shaped head, cat-like green eyes, his meticulous moustache and his dandified dressing habits, which are often a source of amusement. He also has a hideous, self-inflicted scar marking his upper lip which is hidden by his moustache.

Poirot operates systematically, and he often advocates the use of the 'little grey cells' in his deductions; he also loves being theatrical and mysterious, and never seems to part with information or unmask the villain until the last possible moment. This has led Inspector Japp and, more notably, Arthur Hastings, to claim, on at least two occasions in two separate novels, that he deliberately withheld information in order to appear smarter than he really was. Despite the dramatics, and the fact that he did withhold information from Hastings on occasions, The Big Four and Adventure of the Western Star being prominent examples, Poirot is a man of great, if not almost super-human, intellect and also a man of great charisma, in whom other characters confide.

'To this day I’m not quite sure what made him pour out the whole story to a little man to whom he had only spoken a few minutes before.' — Harold Waring

Poirot has appeared in over 30 novels and over 50 short stories, and is one of Agatha Christie's most famous characters. Critics, however, have claimed that Poirot was based on two other fictional detectives of the time: Marie Belloc Lowndes' Hercule Popeau and Frank Howel Evans' Monsieure Poiret, a retired French police officer living in London. #redirect

Like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with Sherlock Holmes, Agatha became tired of her creation. By 1930 she found Poirot 'insufferable', and by 1960 she felt that he was a 'detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep'. Yet the public loved him, and Agatha refused to kill him off, as she saw it was her duty to produce what the public liked, and what the public liked was Poirot.

Despite his creator's dislike of him, Poirot is loved by millions of fans and has become, along with Sherlock Holmes, a detective archetype. Other quirky but brilliant fictional detectives with outrageous character traits, like Columbo and Monk, owe a nod to Hercule Poirot who, on publication of his death in the story Curtain in 1975, was the only fictional character to be given an obituary in the New York Times (it appeared on the front page).[link]

Contents

Poirot & Agatha Christie Canon

According to the rules of Christie's canon, her novels are set in the date they were published on, unless the novel itself gives a different date, and are the absolute source material. Poirot in the other media, such as the TV series, is only canon if they do not contradict any of the novels. If there is a contradiction between the novel and the adaptation, the novels must overide the adaptation. An example of this is the adaptation of Cards on the Table which aired on British television on 19 April 2006, which did not follow the novel and there for cannot be considered part of Poirot's universe. A contradiction between the novels can be resolved by going with the novel that was published first.

There exists ongoing controversy over Poirot's age. Taken at face value it appears that Poirot was over 125 years old when he died. This is due mostly to confusion over what is canonical and what is not. Although the majority of the Hercule Poirot novels are set between the wars, the latter novels set them in the 1960s (which is contemporary with the time Agatha Christie was writing). However, the many TV and movie adaptations do not show this. Many people believe that Poirot retired from Police work at around 50, but this is untrue, because as shown in the short story The Chocolate Box, he retired at around 30. This can explain why Poirot is around for so long.

Also the debate over Poirot’s family is fueled mainly by the fact that he mentions a sister in the original publication of The Chocolate Box but for some reason this reference was removed from the later editions. Poirot is still under copyright with Christie's grandson, Matthew Prichard, now owning the royalties to his grandmother's works.

Hercule Poirot's life

Childhood years

"Hercule Poirot was a Catholic by birth. He understood the atmosphere in which he found himself." — Mother Superior
The character was born in Spa, Belgium sometime in the year 1885, (If he was 30 in 1914 then it is a simple matter of counting backwards to estimate the year he was born) in the heyday of the Victorian era and on the cusp of twentieth century. A few fans have noted that in the Labors of Hercules, it was mentioned that Poirot's mother came up with his name while talking to Sherlock Holmes’s mother, suggesting Poirot inhabits a universe similar to the one in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. However it is obvious that this remark is a joke on the unique first names of both characters (and their brothers). There is no other mention of Holmes or any other literary characters in any of the Poirot novels so it’s best that this oblique reference be ignored and any cross overs be regarded as fan fiction.

Not much is known of Poirot’s childhood other than he once claimed in Three Act Tragedy to have been from a large family with little wealth. In Taken at the Flood, he then claimed to have been raised and educated by Nuns, suggesting he and his siblings were orphaned. This would fit in with the fact that Poirot appeares to have been a Catholic for most, if not all, of his life. Part of the problem comes from the fact that Poirot appears to be a compulsive liar who makes up imaginary family members whenever it suits him.

In The Murder of Rodger Ackroyd, he creates a mentally disabled nephew as an excuse to investigate the local mental homes. In Dumb Witness, he regales us with stories of his elderly invalid mother as a pretence to investigate the local nurses. His biggest creation, however, was his twin brother Achille Poirot who was actually Poirot in disguise (first mentioned in The Big Four). He also mentioned a sister called Yvonne in The Chocolate Box, who was never mentioned again.

David Suchet as Poirot
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David Suchet as Poirot

Poirot’s police years

"Gustave was not a policeman. He could pass as a detective to an outsider but not to a man who was a policeman himself." — Hercule Poirot
As an adult, Poirot joined the Belgian police force and apparently had a distinguished career. Again there is no real information that can be considered canon on this period of Poirot’s life. One of his first major cases came when he solved the murder of a woman who had been apparently poisoned by her husband who wished to marry his secretary. Although this may not sound spectacular it must be noted that Poirot claimed that the man was a wealthy Soap manufacturer and that probably give the case more media attention than it probably deserved.

We do know that he had his only real failure while in the police force as told in The Chocolate Box. Poirot did say, in the same novel, that he has had other failures but they were caused by events beyond his control such as ill health forcing him to drop a case or another policeman solving the case before him and he believes (rightly or wrongly) that these don’t count.

It was also in this period that Poirot killed his first man who was on a rooftop and shooting the public below. Not much is know about this event or its aftermath other than that Poirot killed the man right there and then in order to save lives and was never sure afterwards whether or not what he did was right. In The Erymanthian Boar Poirot meets Monsieur Lementeuil, the Swiss Commissaire of Police. The two have clearly met previously but due to the fact the Swiss Commissaire is not mentioned in any other story we must assume they met Poirot's police man days.

It was also during his police days that he first met Chief Inspector James Japp. In The Mysterious affair at Styles he mentions that they first met in 1904 during the Abercrombie Forgery and later that year joined forces again to hunt down a criminal known as Baron Altara. Unfortunately we hear nothing more about these events. Poirot finally retired in 1914 but events conspired against him and he was forced to face the wrath of the invading German army.

Career as a private detective

During the first world war, Poirot was forced to flee Belgium for Britain. It hurt Poirot badly to have been driven from his home and forced to live as a refugee and he still remained bitter about this period of his life even up to his dying days. However it was here that he met his lifelong friend, Captain Arthur Hastings and began his new life after solving The Mysterious Affair at Styles. After that case Poirot apparently came to the attention of both MI6 and MI5 and did undertake cases for the British government. Its presumably at this time of his life that he foils a German attempt to abduct the Prime Minister in the short story The Kidnapped Prime Minister.

After the war Poirot became a free agent and began undertaking civilian cases. He moved into what became both his home and work address, 56B Whitehaven Mansions, Sandhurst Square, London W1. (The building used in the series can be found on Charterhouse Square - City of London.) It was chosen by Poirot for its symmetry. His first case was The Affair at the Victory Ball, which saw Poirot enter the high society and begin his illustrious career.

Between the first and second world wars, Poirot traveled all over Europe and the Middle East investigating crimes and murders. The main bulk of his cases happened during this period and he was at the height of his powers at this point in his life. The Murder On the Links saw the Belgian pit his grey cells against a French murderer. In the Middle East he solved The Murder on the Orient Express (though the bulk of the story takes places in the territory of the former-Yugoslavia), the Death on the Nile and the Murder in Mesopotamia with ease and even survived An Appointment with Death. However he did not travel to the Americas or Australia, probably due to his sea sickness.

"Speak not of sea sickness to me, my friend. My doctor assures me that one does not die of it." — Hercule Poirot
It was during this time he met the Countess Vera Rossakoff, a glamorous jewel thief. The History of the Countess is, like Poirot's, steeped in Mystery. She claims to have been a member of the Russian Aristocracy during the Russian Revolution and suffered greatly as a result, but how much of that story is true is an open question. Even Poirot acknowledges that Rossakoff has told several wildy varying accounts of her early life. Poirot later became smitten with the woman and allowed her to escape justice.

"It was the misfortune of the small precise man to hanker after large and flamboyant women." — Mary Westmacott
Although letting the Countess escape may be moraly questionable, this tendency to take the law into his own hands is far from unique. During the case of the Nemean Lion, he sides with the criminal, Miss Amy Carnaby, and prevents her from having to face justice by blackmailing his client Sir Joseph Hoggins who himself was plotting murder and was unwise enough to let Poirot discover this. Poirot even sent Miss Carnaby two hundred pounds as a final payoff before her dog kidnapping campaign came to an end. When dealing with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd he allows the murderer to escape justice through suicide and then ensures the truth was never known in order to spare the feelings of the murderer's relatives. In the Augean Stables he helps the government to cover up vast corruption even though it would be more honest to let the truth come out.

He then returned to Britain and appeared to travel less, taking cases that where mainly centered in mainland Europe. It was in this period of his life that he solved the Mystery of the Blue Train and faced Death in the Clouds. Poirot was then to face the biggest threat of his life, a gang of super-villains called The Big Four. Number One was a Chinese political mastermind, Number Two was an American tycoon, Number Three was a French nuclear scientist and Number Four was a British assassin and master of disguise known by those few who have survived him as the Destroyer. Together these criminals sought world domination.

It was during this ongoing battle that he again encountered Vera Rossakoff. She had made a deal with Poirot’s unholy enemy. However, Poirot was able to convince the countess to betray her dark masters, in exchange for her long lost son who Poirot had found. With her help, Poirot overcame the Big Four and achieved international fame.

It should also be noted that although the bodies of Number Two and Three where recovered, the remains of Number Four were never positively identified and that Poirot and Number One, Li Chang Yen, the mastermind behind the gang, never met face to face. Poirot only read about Li's demise in the paper, so it is possible that both of the villains could still be alive and at large even though they never crossed paths with Poirot again. After considering that possibility, Poirot did contemplate marriage to the Countess, but finally let Rossakoff go once again. Poirot was never to see her again for twenty years and was sadly, never to marry.

Retirement

"That’s the way of it. Just a case or two, just one case more – the Prima Donna’s farewell performance won’t be in it with yours, Poirot." — Dr. Burton, fellow of all souls
After the case of The Big Four ended Poirot decides to retire. He retires at least five times but is too much of a workaholic to give up his work. He retired from the police force but is drawn into private investigation. He retires and moves to the county to grow vegetable marrows but then The Murder of Roger Ackroyd takes place right on his door step. He then retires but is drawn back into the detective business when he hears that Mrs. McGinty's Dead. He becomes a book reviewer but became involved in another crime when he heard about The Clocks. In the Labor of Hercules he agrees to take on 12 more cases before retirement, but the retirement never happens.

Post war world

"He, I knew, was not likely to be far from his headquarters. The time when cases had drawn him from one end England to the other was past." — Arthur Hastings
After the war, as he got older, he apparently became more of an armchair detective and traveled less and less. His absolute obsession with order and neatness, his disdain for detective methods that include crawling on hands and knees and looking for clues and his rampant egomania also grew to outrageous levels. He once even bet his friend and Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Japp, that he could solve a case simply by sitting in an easy chair and using his "little grey cells."

He also became increasing amused and baffled by the vulgarism of the up and coming generation's young people. In Hickory Dickory Dock, Poirot investigates the strange goings on in a student hostel. And when he met the Third Girl, Poirot was forced to face facts and admit that he was getting older and no longer understood the new modern youngsters and the growing drug and pop culture.

Death

Towards the end of his life Poirot began suffering from heart problems and arthritis. He then came across a man who he called "X" who had perfected a means of getting other people to kill for him, the greatest murder method yet devised.

Poirot, his health failing and knowing that the only way to stop X was to kill him as he could never be brought to justice legally, pursued X to Styles where he and his old friend Arthur Hastings hunted down this one last murderer together before Poirot died peacefully in his sleep on the 6th of August 1975.

"It was a solemn and moving ceremony, and the extraordinary number of floral tributes passed belief. They came from high and low alike, and bore striking testimony to the place my friend had made for himself in the country of his adoption." — Arthur Hastings
Spoilers end here.

Major novels

The Poirot books take readers through the whole of his life in England, from the first book (The Mysterious Affair at Styles), where he is a refugee staying at Styles, to the last Poirot book (Curtain), where he visits Styles once again before his death. In between, Poirot solves cases outside England as well, including his most famous case, Murder on the Orient Express (1934).

Hercule Poirot became famous with the publication, in 1926, of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, whose surprising solution proved controversial. The novel is still among the most famous of all detective novels: Edmund Wilson alludes to it in the title of his well-known attack on detective fiction, "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?" Aside from Roger Ackroyd, the most critically-acclaimed Poirot novels appeared from 1932 to 1942, including such acknowledged classics as Murder on the Orient Express, The ABC Murders (1935), Cards on the Table (1936), and Death on the Nile (1937). The last of these, a tale of multiple homicide upon a Nile steamer, was judged by the celebrated detective novelist John Dickson Carr to be among the ten greatest mystery novels of all time.

The 1942 novel Five Little Pigs (aka Murder in Retrospect), in which Poirot investigates a murder committed sixteen years before by analyzing various accounts of the tragedy, is a Rashomon-like performance that critic and mystery novelist Robert Barnard called the best of the Christie novels.

Recurring characters

While the majority of the supporting cast in the Poirot stories is always different, some characters do show up more often.

Captain Arthur Hastings, whom Poirot first met during his years as a private detective in Europe and encountered almost immediately after arriving in England, becomes his life-long partner and appears in many of the novels and stories. Poirot’s view of Hastings was of a man with plenty of imagination but not a great deal of brains.

It must also be said that Hastings was a man who was capable of great bravery and courage when the road got rough, facing death unflinchingly when confronted by the Big Four and possessing unwavering loyalty towards Poirot. When forced to choose between Poirot and his wife in that novel, he chose Poirot.

The two were an airtight team until Hastings met and married Dulcie Duveen, a beautiful music hall performer half his age, which was not objectionable in the late Victorian, Edwardian world. They later emigrated to Argentina leaving Poirot behind a "very unhappy old man."

Ariadne Oliver, the frequently recurring detective novelist, is Agatha Christie's humorous self-caricature. We never learn about her husband. We just know that she hates alcohol and public appearances and has a great fondness for apples until she is put off them by the events of the Hallowe’en party. She has a maid called Milly who prevents the public adoration from becoming too much of a burden on her employer, but does nothing to prevent her aggravating employer from becoming too much of a burden on others.

She has authored over fifty six novels and she has a great dislike of people taking and modifying her story characters. She is also the only one in Poirot's universe to have noted that "It’s not natural for five or six people to be on the spot when B is murdered and all have a motive for killing B." She first met Poirot when they put their Cards on the Table and has been bothering him ever since.

Miss Lemon, Poirot's secretary, has few human weaknesses and the only two mistakes she is ever recorded making is a typing error during the events of Hickory Dickory Dock and the mis-mailing of an electric bill. Poirot described her has being "Unbelievably ugly and incredibly efficient. Anything that she mentioned as worth consideration usually was worth consideration." She is an expert on nearly everything and plans to create the perfect filing system. Interesting enough is the fact that she once worked for the government agent-turned-philanthropist, Parker Pyne. Whether this was during one of Poirot’s numerous retirements or before she entered his employ is unknown.

Chief Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard appears in many of the stories, as well. Japp is an outward going, loud and sometimes inconsiderate man by nature and his relationship with the bourgeois Belgian is one of the stranger aspects of Poirot’s world. He first met the Poirot in Belgium, 1904, during the Abercrombie Forgery and later that year joined forces again to hunt down a criminal known as Baron Altara. They have also meet in England where Poirot often helps Japp solve a case and lets him take the credit in return for special favours. These favours usually entail being supplied with cases that would interest him.

Books featuring Hercule Poirot

The Books in publication order

Short story collections listed as "ss"

The Books in chronological order

Poirot's police years

Career as a private detective and retirement

Shortly after Poirot flees to England (1917-1918)

The twenties (1920-1929)
Poirot settles down in London and opens a private detective agency.
These are the short story years (27 stories and only 4 novels).

The Thirties (1930-1939)
These are the novel years (14 novels,12 short stories and one theatre play).
The 12 short stories form The Labours of Hercules, the other short stories listed here take place in this period but were published before/after.
The theatre play is named Black Coffe and was written by Agatha Christie because she didn't like the plays made after her Hercule Poirot mysteries. Later (more that twenty years after the author's death) a novel was written after the play.

Post War World

A new detective enters the stage -Miss Marple- and Hercule Poirot mysteries become rare.
In 36 years Agatha Christie only wrote 13 novels and one short story.

Death

Hercule Poirot on screen and stage

For more information about the ongoing UK television series starring David Suchet, see Agatha Christie's Poirot.

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. Hercule Poirot has been played by several actors. The character was first played by Austin Trevor. Trevor played Poirot as a tall handsome detective with no mustache! the most complete opposite in appearance from Agatha Christie's creation ever seen. Interestingly enough, Trevor played Poirot two more times, in Black Coffee and Lord Edgware Dies. Trevor said once that he was probably cast as Poirot simply because he could do a French accent.

The most notable portrayals have been by Albert Finney in the cinematic version of Murder on the Orient Express, and David Suchet in a long series of television productions. The Murder on the Orient Express movie had 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. Albert Finney’s portrayal was considered by many to be the definitive Poirot until David Suchet took up the role. It was such a faithful adaptation of the novel and was, at the time, the most successful British film ever made and got the stamp of approval from Agatha Christie herself.

Christie, who approved of Finney's portrayal of her character was less sanguine about Peter Ustinov's portrayal, given that Poirot, written as short, slim, and with coal-black hair, bore little resemblance to the tall, heavy, grey-haired Ustinov. When one of Christie's relatives observed to Ustinov that Poirot did not look like him, Ustinov quipped that "He does now!"

Ustinov wasn't done, however, with portraying the Belgian detective once. 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). The first of these was based on Lord Edgware Dies and was made by Warner Brothers. It also starred Faye Dunaway and David Suchet as Inspector Japp, just before he himself played the famous detective. (Interesting note is that Suchet once said that playing Japp was "possibly the worst performance of my career.") The next TV movie of Ustinov's was Dead Man's Folly, again by Warner Bros and shown in 1986. The last of the Ustinov movies was Murder in Three Acts in 1986 (based on Three-Act Tragedy).

A parody of Poirot named Milo Perrier is one of many parodied detectives in Murder By Death.

David Suchet has produced many Hercule Poirot films and three new ones were shown in the UK on 19, 26 March and 2 April 2006, namely: Cards on the Table, After the Funeral and Taken At The Flood. The role has also been played more than once by Tony Randall, Ian Holm, and Alfred Molina.

In 2004, NHK (a Japanese TV network) produced a 39 episode anime series titled Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple (Agatha Christie no Meitantei: Poirot to Marple), as well as a manga series by the same title released starting in 2005. The series, adapting several of the best-known Poirot and Marple stories, ran from July 4, 2004 through May 15, 2005, and is now being shown as reruns on NHK and other networks in Japan. Poirot was voiced by Kōtarō Satomi (Satomi Kōtarō) and Miss Marple was voiced by Kaoru Yachigusa (Yachigusa Kaoru).

Although not strictly a reference to Poirot, the new series Christé and Doyle will feature a lead role similar to that of Hercule Poirot, with the name of the character being similar to that of Poirot's creater Agatha Christie and his being half belgian, Christé also shares many of Poirot's methods and characteristics, the series is expected to begin filming in the late summer in Sandhurst.

Theatrical films featuring Hercule Poirot

For more films based on Agatha Christie books, see the .

Agatha Christie
Detectives: Hercule Poirot | Miss Marple | Tommy and Tuppence | Ariadne Oliver | Arthur Hastings | Chief Inspector Japp
Novels: The Mysterious Affair at Styles | The Secret Adversary | Murder on the Links | The Man in the Brown Suit | The Secret of Chimneys | The Murder of Roger Ackroyd | The Big Four | The Mystery of the Blue Train | The Seven Dials Mystery | The Murder at the Vicarage | The Sittaford Mystery | Peril at End House | Lord Edgware Dies | Murder on the Orient Express | Three Act Tragedy | Why Didn't They Ask Evans? | Death in the Clouds | The A.B.C. Murders | Murder in Mesopotamia | Cards on the Table | Death on the Nile | Dumb Witness | Appointment with Death | And Then There Were None | Murder is Easy | Hercule Poirot's Christmas | Sad Cypress | Evil Under the Sun | N or M? | One, Two, Buckle My Shoe | The Body in the Library | Five Little Pigs | The Moving Finger | Towards Zero | Sparkling Cyanide | Death Comes as the End | The Hollow | Taken at the Flood | Crooked House | A Murder is Announced | They Came to Baghdad | Mrs McGinty's Dead | They Do It with Mirrors | A Pocket Full of Rye | After the Funeral | Hickory Dickory Dock | Destination Unknown | Dead Man's Folly | 4.50 From Paddington | Ordeal by Innocence | Cat Among the Pigeons | The Pale Horse | The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side | The Clocks | A Caribbean Mystery | At Bertram's Hotel | Third Girl | Endless Night | By The Pricking of My Thumbs | Hallowe'en Party | Passenger to Frankfurt | Nemesis | Elephants Can Remember | Postern of Fate | Curtain | Sleeping Murder
as Mary Westmacott: Giant's Bread | Unfinished Portrait | Absent in the Spring | The Rose and the Yew Tree | A Daughter's a Daughter | The Burden
Short story collections: Poirot Investigates | Partners in Crime | The Mysterious Mr. Quin | The Hound of Death | The Thirteen Problems | Parker Pyne Investigates | The Listerdale Mystery | Murder in the Mews | The Regatta Mystery | The Labours of Hercules | Poirot's Early Cases
Plays: Akhnaton | The Mousetrap | Witness for the Prosecution | Verdict | Rule of Three | Fiddlers Three

 

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