All The Tropes

Hercule Poirot: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Hercule Poirot (view source)

Revision as of 21:23, 26 August 2021

241 bytes added ,  2 years ago
{{tropelist}} -> {{franchisetropes}}
VisualWikitext
m (Mass update links)
({{tropelist}} -> {{franchisetropes}})
 
(8 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1:
{{tropework}}
[[File:Les adaptations étrangères d'Agatha Christie par François Rivière et Jean-François Miniac alias Solidor, cliché Miniac..JPG|thumb|400px|A few of the novels featuring M. Poirot]]
{{quote|''"There are moments when I have felt: 'Why-Why-Why did I ever invent this detestable, bombastic, tiresome little creature?...Eternally straightening things, eternally boasting, eternally twirling his moustaches and tilting his egg-shaped head...I point out that by a few strokes of the pen...I could destroy him utterly. He replies, grandiloquently: 'Impossible to get rid of Poirot like that! He is much too clever.'"''|'''[[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]]'''}}
 
The star of thirty-three books and fifty-six short stories by [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]], Hercule Poirot is one of the most famous fictional detectives in the world. Rightly so, he would say, being also one of the most conceited. His [[Long Runners|curiously elongated career]] lasted from 1916 to 1975, although he was at retirement age when it began. This would make him at least 110 when it ended.
 
Originally a Belgian police detective, he became a refugee when the First World War broke out and ended up in the tiny English village of Styles St. Mary. Naturally, while he was there, someone was murdered. It was, Poirot later admitted, quite a common occurrence around him. Solving ''The Mysterious Affair at Styles'' revitalised him, however, and he embarked on a career as a private detective.
Line 10 ⟶ 11:
Notable associates of his include: Captain Arthur Hastings, war veteran, secretary and later Argentinian farmer; Ariadne Oliver, irritatingly popular mystery novelist; the Countess Vera Rossakoff, possibly an aristocratic Russian refugee, most definitely a talented conwoman; Miss Felicity Lemon, a most efficient secretary; and of course any number of solid, even stolid, English policemen who good-naturedly allow him to take over their crime scenes. After all, Mr Parrot's only a [[Funny Foreigner]]. What harm could it do?
 
Many different actors have played Poirot on screen. [[Peter Ustinov]] gained some fame for his many appearances as the character in the 1970s and 1980s, [[Albert Finney]] was nominated for an Oscar for playing him in 1974, but nowadays the definitive portrayal is believed to be [[David Suchet]]'s ''[[Poirot]]''.
 
----
== Novels in this series ==
* ''[[The Mysterious Affair Atat Styles]]'' (1920).
* ''The Murder on the Links'' (1923).
* ''[[The Murder of Roger Ackroyd]]'' (1926).
Line 20 ⟶ 22:
* ''Peril at End House'' (1932).
* ''Lord Edgware Dies'' (1933).
* ''[[Murder Onon the Orient Express]]'' (1934).
* ''Three Act Tragedy'' (1935).
* ''Death in the Clouds'' (1935).
Line 27 ⟶ 29:
* ''Cards on the Table'' (1936).
* ''Dumb Witness'' (1937).
* ''[[Death On the Nile (Literature)|Death Onon the Nile]]'' (1937).
* ''Appointment with Death'' (1938).
* ''Hercule Poirot's Christmas'' (1938).
* ''[[Sad Cypress (Literature)|Sad Cypress]]'' (1940).
* ''One, Two, Buckle My Shoe'' (1940).
* ''Evil Under the Sun'' (1941).
* ''[[Five Little Pigs (Literature)|Five Little Pigs]]'' (1942).
* ''The Hollow'' (1946).
* ''Taken at the Flood'' (1948).
Line 47 ⟶ 49:
* ''Curtain'' (1975).
 
{{tropenamer}}
=== Tropes that were created to describe the great Hercule Poirot include: ===▼
* [[Poirot Speak]]
 
▲=== {{franchisetropes|Tropes that were created to describe the great Hercule Poirot include: ===}}
 
* [[Affectionate Parody]] / [[Deconstruction]]: "The Veiled Lady" is a literary [[Shot for Shot Remake]] of the [[Sherlock Holmes]] story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", but with an extra [[Twist Ending]].
* [[Always Murder]]
* [[Always Someone Better]]: subverted, since of course there is no one better than Hercule Poirot. Not even his brother Achille. {{spoiler|Who doesn't exist.}}
* [[Badass Moustache]]: Agatha Christie liked the 1974 adaptation of [[Murder Onon the Orient Express]], and had but a single complaint: [[Albert Finney]]'s mustache wasn't magnificent enough!
* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]]: The Boyntons in ''Appointment with Death''.
* [[Brain Fever]]: in ''Murder on the Links.'' Interestingly, in ''The Big Four'', a doctor dismisses brain fever as an invention of writers.
Line 59 ⟶ 64:
* [[Call to Agriculture]]: Poirot, in ''[[The Murder of Roger Ackroyd]]''.
* [[Celibate Hero]]: Poirot does not have a romantic relationship over the course of his literary career. He expresses a strong admiration for Countess Vera Rossakoff, but Christie does not pursue a relationship between them.
* [[Chaotic Good]]: Poirot has no issue with committing burglary to aid his investigations, and will allow a murder go unpunished if it the act was just or done for the greater good.
* [[Clueless Mystery]]: The novel is always fair to the reader in that it is conceivable for a genius to solve it. It is not Poirot's fault that he is cleverer than the reader.
* [[The Corrupter]]: {{spoiler|Stephen Norton in ''Curtain''}}
* [[Creator Backlash]]: as the quote at the top of this article suggests, Agatha Christie much preferred her other character, [[Miss Marple]].
* [[Dead MansMan's Chest]]: "The Adventure of the Clapham Cook"
* [[Death in Thethe Clouds]]: Christie's 1935 novel of that title is the [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Detective Patsy]]: Poirot is far too clever to fall for this, but occasionally he despairs of Hastings.
* [[Eagle -Eye Detection]]
* [[Fair Play Who DunnitWhodunnit]]: The astute reader should be able to keep up. Part of the way at the very least.
* [[Fridge Horror]]: At the end of ''Three Act Tragedy'', Mr Satterthwaite and Poirot both realise that either of them could have died- and given that they're the sleuths, the murderer may well have got away with it. It gets worse- if Poirot had died, the murderer may or may not have managed to get away with it, but think of how many other criminals would have escaped if Poirot hadn't been there to figure out their crimes...
* [[Funny Foreigner]]: a deliberate front, as pointed out in ''Three-Act Tragedy''.
Line 76 ⟶ 82:
* [[Insistent Terminology]]: Poirot is '''Belgian''', not '''French'''.
* [[Insufferable Genius]]: Sometimes comes off as this.
* [[ItsIt's for Aa Book]]: Poirot feels that if one must tell lies, they should be excellent lies.
* [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]]: Poirot often comes off as an arrogant, vain egotist, but he's got a good, kind heart underneath it all.
* [[The Lestrade]]: Inspector Japp. Giraud from ''Murder on the Links'' is a parody of this type.
* [[Long Runners]]: fifty-five years' worth of novels is not so bad.
Line 84 ⟶ 90:
* [[The Matchmaker]]: It's astounding how many relationships and marriages were influenced by the fastidious hand of Monsieur Poirot.
* [[Mistaken Nationality]]: he is ''Belgian'', not French. It annoys him, although Hercule Poirot does not forget his dignity so far as to call it a [[Berserk Button]].
* [[Needle in Aa Stack of Needles]]: This is the point of {{spoiler|''[[The ABC Murders]]'': the first two murder victims were only killed as cover for the third.}}
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Poirot frequently plays the dotty old man to disarm suspects, making them more vulnerable to his questioning. He also uses his accent to this purpose, as he explains in ''Three-Act Tragedy'':
{{quote| ''"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. It is not my policy to terrify people - instead, I invite their gentle ridicule. Also I boast! An Englishman he says often, 'A fellow who thinks as much of himself as that cannot be worth much.' That is the English point of view. It is not at all true. And so, you see, I put people off their guard."''}}
* [[One -Tract Mind]]: Mr. Ferguson in ''Death on the Nile'', who regards any activity not tending towards the Communist utopia as fiddling [[While Rome Burns]].
* [[Out -Gambitted]]: Poirot is a master at foiling the murderer's [[Evil Plan]].
* [[Poirot Speak]]: ''Naturellement''. Although it's usually justified as being part of an [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] [[Funny Foreigner]] act; Poirot actually speaks very good English, but people tend to let their guard down around someone who doesn't even seem to speak the language clearly.
* [[Pretty Little Headshots]]: Someone is killed by this method in Poirot's last case, ''Curtain''. {{spoiler|It turns out to be a major [[Chekhov's Gun]]}}
* [[Sarcastic Devotee]]: Captain Hastings, at times. Hastings relates a story where (in a shout out to [[Sherlock Holmes]]) Poirot failed to solve a mystery involving a box of chocolates. After that affair, Poirot tells Hastings that if he ever acts too conceited, he should use the words "chocolate box" to bring him down a peg. Poirot isn't amused when Hastings uses the code words a minute and a quarter later.
* [[Serial Killings, Specific Target]]: ''[[The ABC Murders]]'', ''Three Act Tragedy''
* [[Starbucks Skin Scale]]: In "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding", there is a young man from an unnamed Eastern country who has a "coffee-coloured face".
* [[Super OCD]]: Some books hinted at this, but of course, that's what makes him a good detective.
Line 99 ⟶ 105:
* [[Third Person Person]]: Often crosses with a pat-my-own back [[But He Sounds Handsome]].
* [[This Is Sparta]]: ''"Madame! WHO DO '''YOU''' THINK KILLED YOUR HUSBAND?"'', from ''Lord Edgware Dies''.
* [[Thriller Onon the Express]]: ''[[Murder Onon the Orient Express]]'' and ''The Mystery of the Blue Train''.
* [[Twist Ending]]: As [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]] is widely considered one of the masters of the Twist Ending, this is to be expected; several of the Poirot novels are even claimed to have invented some notable twist endings.
* [[Under the Mistletoe]]: Poirot, of all people, gets caught under mistletoe in "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding", on account of being too busy exercising his little grey cells to notice where he's standing. He doesn't seem to mind the result.
* [[The Watson]]: Captain Hastings in the early novels, a variety of one-shot characters in the later books.
Line 107 ⟶ 113:
* [[Where It All Began]]: The final novel, ''Curtain'', not only returns to the location of the first, ''The Mysterious Affair at Styles'', but for good measure reunites Poirot and Hastings as well.
* [[You Just Told Me]]:
{{quote| '''Poirot''': But we do know who the murderer is. We found fingerprints on the vial of poison used to kill the victim.<br />
'''Murderer (Until then a suspect)''': That's impossible, I wore gloves. }}
* [[You Look Familiar]]: Prior to playing the famous detective himself, David Suchet appeared as Inspector Japp opposite Peter Ustinov's Poirot in a 1985 TV adaptation of ''Lord Edgware Dies''.
* [[You Said You Would Let Them Go]] / [[I Lied]]: {{spoiler|Casetti}} in ''[[Murder Onon the Orient Express]]''.
* [[You Watch Too Much X]]: in "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding":
{{quote| Poirot surveyed her gravely for some minutes.<br />
'You see too many sensational films, I think, Annie,' he said at last, 'or perhaps it is the television that affects you?' }}
** Similarly, after Hastings outlines an elaborate theory of the crime in ''Murder on the Links'' and asks what Poirot thinks, Poirot says, "I think you should write for the cinema."
Line 123 ⟶ 129:
[[Category:Mystery Literature]]
[[Category:Hercule Poirot]]
[[Category:Trope]]
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/512539...1922430"