Christie Papers

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The Domineering, The Meek and the Downright Gullible

05 Feb 09 7:49AM

One of the many interesting features of Agatha Christie’s work is her recurring focus on the dynamic that exists between strong forceful characters and subdued introverted ones. Throughout her work, these two character types are brought together in many different guises and through a wide variety of circumstances. From the sadistic bully that is Mrs Boynton, who exerts total control over her traumatised family in Appointment With Death, published in 1938, to the self-righteous Mrs. Price-Ridley who holds sway over the subordinate Miss Hartnell and Miss Wetherby over tea and gossip in St Mary Mead ( The Murder at the Vicarage,1930) to the 1950 classic (and many fans favourite Marple) A Murder Is Announced, where the drama unfolding in Chipping Cleghorn is centred around a sophisticated spinster and her dowdy companion (along with sundry relations and neighbours) and where the lines of emotional dependency are wonderfully blurred throughout the cast of characters. The theme of dominance and surrender crops up throughout her work. Indeed even her famous sleuths Poirot and Marple are not immune to this phenomenon. Chief Inspector Japp, despite being a friend of Poirot’s, constantly succumbs to his own impatient and competitive nature and positively trips over himself in an effort to outdo his Belgian friend. Miss Marple for her part is subjected to the even more exasperating presence that is Inspector Slack.

What they all have in common though (the above Poirot and Marple references notwithstanding) is that the nature of the relationships between the 'strong' and the 'weak' forms a vital component of the plotting within her work and ultimately provides an integral part of the solution to the many puzzles facing both fictional sleuth and reader alike. Once an interface has been established from which these diametrically opposed character types can interact, Christie is presented with the perfect platform in which to introduce other related themes such as the use of manipulation and the power of suggestion. Both of these themes for example are at the heart of The ABC Murders (1936) and also The Hollow (1948) which was later adapted for the stage. Developing on from this Christie explores how friendship and love can be both cherished and abused.

Equally a moralistic undertone is often detectable in the treatment of this theme in so far as that there often seems to be a sense that a Divine justice is at play, as well as the legal justice that is (arguably) meted out with the revelation of the crime: one that directly reflects the personality of her characters. There is always a price to be paid whenever an immoral act is carried out. For the perpetrators the realisation of this comes at the moment of inner realisation of what their actions have cost them. What it is that they have lost from their lives. This theme is evoked in the heart-rending conclusion to Nemesis, the final Marple novel that Agatha Christie wrote and which was published in 1971. (Sleeping Murder, published posthumously in 1976 was written much earlier, during the war.) Whatever the motivation for their crimes, be they monetary, love-related or fear induced, the cost is always assessed in human terms and not just for the victims.

There is also much humour injected into both the dialogue and the narration where such divergent characters appear together and one gets the distinct impression that Christie was both a very keen and sympathetic observer of such encounters when they happened in real life situations: for that matter any situation which might involve protagonists who might happen to find each other’s company irksome or overbearing. One could perhaps interpret Christie’s treatment of these subject matters as a subtle discourse on the nature of sensitivity and how possessing too much or too little of such a nature can be not just undesirable but even harmful. Ultimately, Christie demonstrates how these character traits, along with a host of others, can be used as devices for the purposes of deception. Christie's 1942 work Evil Under the Sun provides a particularly fine example of this. Such devices are not alone used by the characters who possess these traits but indeed by the author herself.Unlike her fictional counterparts however, the author's ambition is completely altruistic. Namely, to thrill her readers by totally bamboozling them at the end of the story.

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Belagona 06 Sep 09 at 11:11a.m.

All relationships are give and take. We each have our strengths and weaknesses. It is the healthy realtionship that recognizes this and appreciates each other's gifts. I think her ability to demonstrate this universal truth is one of my favorite aspects of Christie's works.

I appreciate, as well, her portrayl of justice. Everyone reaps what they have sown - at one point or another it all catches up to us.
Very insightful article. Thank you.

VRossa 13 Feb 09 at 11:23a.m.

This is a very insightful article - you are quite right those themes do resonate in all of Agatha Christie's novels including the ones she wrote under the name of Mary Westmacott. In those novels it is often the main tension - the relationship between an over-domineering person and someone who feels they have to submit.

GKCfan 05 Feb 09 at 5:12p.m.

Really nice article- I'd like to hear your take on the Poirot/Hastings friendship, as well as on the Lee family in "Hercule Poirot's Christmas."