Which Agatha Christie character/s annoys you?

shifra.shomron

With her faithful portrayal of human nature, Agatha Christie created many likable characters. However, true to life, some of her creations, and perhaps some of her best ones, simply rub us the wrong way! Share with us, which AC character is it that you can't stand?! Why?

shifra.shomron

I find Gerda in The Hollow  very annoying. She doesn't mean to be, but the poor soul can't help being so. She's just unlucky that way. Every time she's mentioned, you know you're going to cringe - she'll have burnt the roast, or said the wrong thing, or dressed oddly.[Spoiler] It really is a shame that her husband, useful and energetic man that he is, is the one killed in the beginning of the book and not her. Though of course the book wouldn't make sense if it weren't that way. It's really quite astounding discovering at the end that she's the murderer; one wouldn't have thought she'd have had it in her, or that she'd have succeeded in doing so. 

anne.clough.3

shifra.shomron said:

I find Gerda in The Hollow  very annoying. She doesn't mean to be, but the poor soul can't help being so. She's just unlucky that way. Every time she's mentioned, you know you're going to cringe - she'll have burnt the roast, or said the wrong thing, or dressed oddly.[Spoiler] It really is a shame that her husband, useful and energetic man that he is, is the one killed in the beginning of the book and not her. Though of course the book wouldn't make sense if it weren't that way. It's really quite astounding discovering at the end that she's the murderer; one wouldn't have thought she'd have had it in her, or that she'd have succeeded in doing so. 

Ha ha I'm the opposite. It was her husband I find the most annoying!

I also find Miss Marple's nephew very annoying. I know he treats her well but the way he looks down on her and her life in the village. It is very patronising!

silvana

I think Emily Brent is annoying in "And then there were none".

She's such a rigid spinster, a woman who lives by her own standards, her own rules.

shifra.shomron

@silvana I know how you feel - Emily is annoying! Because of her own high standards she looks down upon everyone else. She reads the Bible religiously but doesn't have an ounce of charity towards any other human being. A sort of religious mania, perhaps. I remember a similar character in Crooked House, and there's another one in a Miss Marple book who gets on with Miss Marple but considers her a bit frivilous (I mean, really!). It gives such a negative aspect to religion, that I feel it's a good thing that AC has decent vicars with approachable wives to provide balance... 

shifra.shomron

anne.clough.3 said:

shifra.shomron said:

I find Gerda in The Hollow  very annoying. She doesn't mean to be, but the poor soul can't help being so. She's just unlucky that way. Every time she's mentioned, you know you're going to cringe - she'll have burnt the roast, or said the wrong thing, or dressed oddly.[Spoiler] It really is a shame that her husband, useful and energetic man that he is, is the one killed in the beginning of the book and not her. Though of course the book wouldn't make sense if it weren't that way. It's really quite astounding discovering at the end that she's the murderer; one wouldn't have thought she'd have had it in her, or that she'd have succeeded in doing so. 

Ha ha I'm the opposite. It was her husband I find the most annoying!

I also find Miss Marple's nephew very annoying. I know he treats her well but the way he looks down on her and her life in the village. It is very patronising!

That's exactly what I'm hoping for - to see different reactions, etc. This is great, because I actually liked the husband, mostly because of his struggle to save the old lady. Though I'm probably biased because the book is rather told through his lover's eyes...
However, I thoroughly agree with you regarding Raymond West. He is annoying, pompous and patronizing whose main claim to fame (for us, since we haven't read his books... is in being Jane Marple's nephew. He's kind enough to send her on holiday and provide her with a nurse, but that still doesn't make up for his grand entrances. I think it was @Tommy_A_Jones who felt that Raymond was the type to only do so for tax purposes!

StathisZavitsanos

Mrs Boyton

I hatted the way she behaved and talked with her children.  What's more, I didn't adore her passion ; to control others. A real sadist. 

Tommy_A_Jones

Miss Knight, I find her Attitude very annoying and I would go at her with a Cosh if she was y Companion, Colonel Race also annoys me, he doesn't do anything until he gets to Death On The Nile, In Sparkling Cyanide, AND The Man In The Brown Suit (A Book I love) he is completely useless and not much better in Cards On The Table.

Other Characters who annoy me do so because They are in Books I hate, Endless Night, Death Comes As The End, Passenger To Frankfurt and Sparkling Cyanide 

Nathan Robert Michael Rees

Does Raymond West look down at Miss Marple and St Mary Mead, I feel it is the oposite, he always praisies his Aunts skill of human nature like in Greenshore's Folly. Also he always visits the village, in the BBC's Sleeping Murder they show Raymond saying how much he likes visiting St Mary Mead and visiting Miss Marple so much that Joan his wife is annoyed of that. Anyway I like that character. If I had to say a character I do not like it would be George, the fact that he is unemotianl and perfect. A perfect valet would be HAPPY at his job, because then the happiness would make Poirot happy. I do not mind unemotional people, but the fact Miss Lemon is unemotinal as well. To have 2 unemotional people annoys me. That is why I do not like George.

Tommy_A_Jones

Oh Yes Raymond West is very Patronizing

shifra.shomron

Tommy_A_Jones Colonol Race is supposed to be very hush-hush, top secret. So perhaps we're not supposed to know much of what he does. That, of course, is very annoying - that you're automatically meant to admire someone because that's the impression you're given of him. If I remember rightly, he's thought very highly of by all the characters of the book - which is surprising, if he doesn't actually contribute much. Is AC having a sly dig here?

shifra.shomron

Nathan Robert Michael Rees I wonder if the opinion expressed in that BBC rendition of Sleeping Murder is born out by AC's novels? From The Tuesday Club Murders, Joan seemed extremely fond of Miss Marple. I seem to remember that in some other books as well, Joan seemed at least equally fond of Miss Marple as Raymond. Yes, Raymond is kind to his aunt. It's just his manner which is so unfortunate!
As for the servants being unemotional - once that was the hallmark of a really good servant. The more wooden you were, the better the servant. The upper class really deplored it when a servant fell to pieces or let their imagination run away with them. So, Miss Lemon and George are perfect servants. The funny thing is that their employer would at times prefer them NOT to be so. I think AC is showing how humanness is needed - having a "robot" has its drawbacks...

Tommy_A_Jones

Yes in Sparkling Cyanide it is like Colonel Race is coming, It will be Ok when he arrives, Hail The Conquering hero come and when he does ...NOTHING, It is all well and good having a Secret Service man who no-one knows anything about and who works in the shadow but at least you should give him something to do.

Tommy_A_Jones

Do you mean the ITV version of Sleeping Murder Nathan?

shifra.shomron

Tommy_A_Jones, in Cards on the Table, you also expect Race to play a larger part than he does. But than again, perhaps he's just meant to be good looking and mysterious. He's the sort of man that would feature largely in a western romance; the silent, straight shooter, tall stranger. He lends an air of romance because otherwise you have Poirot who can be slightly ridiculous, and Battle or some other ploice detective who's usually very prosaic. It's a shame Race isn't given a larger part, but it's strange he appears in so many books!

Tommy_A_Jones

Considering Battle and Race both do Hush Hush work it is odd that Battle is used in Cards On The Table and not Spence or even Japp, I can understand why Race is in the book but I still wish he was more useful in Cards On the Table, Sparkling Cyanide and The Man In The Brown Suit, although he is on the hunt for Diamonds in The Man In The Brown Suit and even people who work for the Government are allowed Holidays or to go to Dinner Parties so I suppose I that way it is nice he is in those books, thank you shifra you have made me see him in a different way.

Nathan Robert Michael Rees

@Tommy_A_Jones, I mean the BBCs Sleeping Murder, ITV's Sleeping Murder did not feature Raymond and Joan, Joan never appears in ITV's version of Miss Marple stories, the only time Raymond West appears is in Nemesis,  but they changed him into a worse character, sleeping with women night after night (meaning he is a bachelor in this version) and getting drunk.

It is definitly the BBC version.

You can find it on YouTube by typing in "BBC Sleeping Murder" and clicking on the second video down and go to where the time says 16:00 and that is the scene I was thinking of where Raymond says "The problems in an English village will utterly amaze you," while speaking to Giles and Joan says "Which is why I suppose you spend so much time there Raymond!!!" etc etc another time we see Raymond being nice and Joan not is around the time 18:49 where Raymond kindly offers drinks and Joan says something under her breath and Miss Marple just stares at her and looks down at her and then turns away.

Tommy_A_Jones

I DON'T THINK THE actress Portrayed Joan well in BBCs Sleeping Murder she does seem crusty whereas in The Thirteen Problems she is more like a Typical woman of her class tolerating a Husbands Aged Relative who he thinks he likes but really she is a means by which he can show his Beneficiancy like The Victim in Ordeal By Innocence.

Tommy_A_Jones

Sorry didn't mean to have Cap Lock on.

glalonzo0408

My answer is not going to be popular but Captain Hastings drives me nuts.  I cannot pinpoint the true reason, but if I had to I would say it seems like he is along for the ride without any true input...what are your thoughts?

silvana

@glalonzo0408 I myself think Captain Hastings is a very charming, well-dressed man. He likes adventure and fast cars. He's also very loyal to his friend Poirot. :-)

Tommy_A_Jones

I can understand why Hastings drivesd you mad, I myself like him, I know it was probably just the Adaptation but I feel he would make any Car Journey enjoyable with a Sing-a-long.

shifra.shomron

Hastings is very British and very old-fashioned. At times, that's enough to drive anyone nuts... That being said, he marries a very modern young woman, and is close friends with a very foreign foreigner (i.e. one who doesn't try to blend in to British society, but rather emphasizes his foreigness to help him in his job). So despite his faults, I actually don't get that annoyed by him. Especially as he writes so many of the Poirot stories

glalonzo0408

silvana said:

@glalonzo0408 I myself think Captain Hastings is a very charming, well-dressed man. He likes adventure and fast cars. He's also very loyal to his friend Poirot. :-)

I sometimes wonder if it is loyalty or self-grandeur that keeps Hastings with Poirot.... 

glalonzo0408

Tommy_A_Jones said:

I can understand why Hastings drivesd you mad, I myself like him, I know it was probably just the Adaptation but I feel he would make any Car Journey enjoyable with a Sing-a-long.

lol....funny you should say that....I use that when my husband complains of my singing in the car.....

Tommy_A_Jones

I think Hastings stays with Poirot because Poirot is big-headed and thinks he is better than Hastings because he isn't big-headed but he doesn't realise he is and he also thinks he is a better Detective than Poirot which he isn't as he lets a certain kind of person (Beautiful Girls and Military Men) cloud his Judgement. 

shifra.shomron

Another type of character that annoys me are the old, wealthy, somewhat cruel characters who usually end up murdered. I assume they annoyed Agatha too, or she wouldn't have murdered them. But usually, they have some very meek family members who are equally annoying, who don't stand up for themselves, and remain in a bad situation because they're don't want to strike out on their own, and this way they're provided for.

Tommy_A_Jones

Raymond and his wife anny me with their patronizing attitude towards Miss Marple, It is Highlighted in Chapter 1 of A Caribbean Mystery, sorry If I have said that before

MonoshwitaMedhi

ariadne oliver

i am sorry but i find her quite 'all over'

Tommy_A_Jones

I like the fact she involves Poirot in the cases they are in Together apart from 2

Michiel

Elvira in Bertram's gets on my nerves.

Oh, and I actually like Raymond West. Yes, he is pompous, but in a funny way.