“Nothing is so sad, in my opinion, as the devastation wrought by age. My poor friend. I have described him many times. Now to convey to you the difference. Crippled with arthritis, he propelled himself about in a wheelchair. His once plump frame had fallen in. He was a thin little man now. His face was lined and wrinkled. His moustache and hair, and hair, it is true, were still of a jet black colour, but candidly, though I would not for the world have hurt his feelings by saying so to him, this was a mistake. There comes a moment when hair dye is only too painfully obvious. There had been a time when I had been surprised to learn that the blackness of Poirot’s hair came out of a bottle. But now the theatricality was apparent and merely created the impression that he wore a wig and had adorned his upper lip to amuse children!” (Curtain, 1975)
Agatha Christie is both a contemporary and a non-contemporary author, as she wrote both before World War II and after. She was most famous for her book series that followed a detective by the name of Hercule Poirot. The passage above is from her novel ‘Curtain’ which is the last Poirot novel written by Agatha Christie and ends with his death. ‘Curtain’ was published in 1975, and this specific passage is 157 words long, and appears to be a eulogy spoken by Arthur Hastings (Poirot’s colleague) at Poirot’s funeral. The passage above from ‘Curtain’ pulls in several themes, uses language techniques, as well as with it’s anecdotal evidence pulls in the reader and makes them feeling like they are right at the funeral themselves.
To begin with, in Agatha Christie’s novel ‘Curtain,’ Poirot investigates his last case and then dies at the end of the book. This passage above shows Hastings reading the eulogy he made for Poirot at his funeral. The themes death and time are strongly represented in this passage. “Crippled with arthritis, he propelled himself about in a wheelchair,” the reader learns that Poirot died of arthritis, and saying that he was restrained to a wheelchair, can be interpreted that Poirot suffered a long battle with this disease. The description of his state shows that his disease was very difficult to deal with, and that he had to deal with it for a very long time. The novel is called ‘Curtain’ which can be seen as theatrical and almost symbolic of a curtain closing at the end of a play, like the curtains closing at the end of Poirot’s life, and at the end of the fictional book series. This symbolism of curtains represents the theme death. Christie wrote her final novels of the Poirot series in the 1940’s during WWII, and locked them in a vault, as she feared for her life, and didn’t want to die knowing that her novel series didn’t have an ending. Christie however survived the war, but kept the books still locked away finding the perfect time to publish them. She shows the importance of time and place as she almost strategically published her novel, ending her famous fiction character Poirot’s life, only a year before the end of her own life. The timing was very important because she was able to gives all her readers closure on their favourite novel series, and still have a small amount of time in her life to enjoy it.
Christie’s writing in this passage reminisces on how Poirot was in his last few months before death. The passage is pure description with visible language techniques used. She creates very strong imagery with the way she describes how Poirot was. “His once plump frame had fallen in. He was a thin little man now. His face lined with wrinkles” this description has strong signs of imagery, and gives a grime visual of Poirot in his last moments of life, old and fading, creating an image to the reader of how much his arthritis effected him, and deteriorated him. The author uses the words “once plump frame,” which can show that Poirot once seemed indestructible and ageless, but had now been reduced to a wheelchair, and was left as a thin little man with wrinkles who probably had grave difficulty doing simple daily tasks. As stated before with ‘Curtain’ being the title of the book, it could be seen as a form of foreshadowing towards what could happen at the end of the book; the curtain closing on Poirot’s life. The colleague reading the eulogy also talks about how towards Poirot’s end he still dyed his hair that same shade of jet black, however now it was “only too painfully obvious,” which can show that perhaps Poirot tried to compensate for his now thin frame by dying his hair to make him still look young and youthful, as if he wasn’t ready to go. The way the description is done it makes the reader able to reminisce and also sympathies with Poirot, as if they personally knew him and could understand the painfully obvious hair dye.
Above all, Christie purposely tried to make this passage as meaningful and touching as possible, so the reader can remember Poirot just like the characters did. Hastings starts by saying “my poor friend,” showing that him and Poirot did have a close relationship beyond simply partners who worked together. Although it was a small statement it shows meaning with how Hastings felt sorry for Poirot having the suffer the way he did with his arthritis, and as a reader you can see how touching this statement could be. Hastings talks about how Poirot, even in his old age, still dyed his hair and moustache black. “I would not for the world have hurt his feelings by saying so to him, this was a mistake,” Hastings jokingly says this to almost lighten the mood during the funeral, and show how close him and Poirot were, and although they were good friends he wouldn’t want to upset him like that. Hastings being able to joke about Poirot’s hair now and add the anecdotal story can show how much value was in their partnership, as well as can make the reader feel a lot more connected to Poirot because they are able to laugh about his jet black hair too. Hasting continues to joke by comparing Poirot’s hair to a wig, and his moustache as a theatrical way to amuse children, this funny anecdote that Christie added in gives the reader the ability to have a personal connection to Poirot as Hastings was, because they can also laugh at the small jokes that are being made towards the him, even though they are meant to be harmless. These last sentences in Hastings eulogy are the most personal, because Hastings refers to something about Poirot that all the funeral goers and the readers can understand and wasn’t something linked to his disease, creating a more personal atmosphere and bringing meaning to the readers.
The book series that centred around Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie is still very famous to this day. This passage above was a eulogy done by Hercule Poirot’s good friend Hastings, and it sums up Poirot in his final moments and his most famous features perfectly. Agatha Christie was able to publish her final book of this novel series in perfect timing before her death, and was able to give all her fans the closure they needed on the book series. The way Agatha Christie finished the book with Poirot’s death and being able to connect the readers so closely to him at his funeral was a brilliant ending to her literature career.
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