Monday, January 14, 2013

When the Sidekicks Tell the Story: Captain Arthur Hastings



In a recent entry I talked about Doctor Watson in his sidekick/narrator role for Sherlock Holmes.  I want to point out that nowhere in that entry did I call him buffoonish, comic relief (although Holmes probably laughs on the inside whenever he withholds the solution to a mystery from his friend), or foolish in any way. 

Unfortunately a lot of adaptations (*cough*NigelBruce*cough*) felt that in order to make Holmes look brilliant on film, they had to lower Watson’s intelligence to show a greater differentiation between the two. (Happily the latest adaptations of Watson (played by Jude Law in theaters, Ian Hart in the latest BBC adaptations, and Martin Freeman in the BBC update) have allowed him to actually possess some brain cells. One can only hope that these adaptations, and not the old cartoonish stereotype, will restore Watson’s reputation.)

In this entry, however, I get to introduce Captain Arthur Hastings, the sidekick of Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. I haven’t read all of Christie’s novels (yet…), but I’ve noticed that Hastings’ character is the stereotype of Watson.  



Oh, he’s good and kind and is the “relatable” character compared to the finicky and precise Poirot. Hastings also gets points for having a pronounceable name. But for the most part he doesn’t contribute much to the solution of the mystery. Often he acts like a dumb, clumsy, but loyal and loveable puppy. Half of the time I expect Poirot to lean forward and scratch him behind the ears.

Christie uses Hastings as the bungler of key clues, in order to keep the mystery going without having Poirot make any mistakes himself. Therefore, this is the kind of scene in which poor unsuspecting Hastings tends to find himself:

There has been a murder at a golf course. There are a ton of suspects and they’re all related to each other and too rich to be held by the police for questioning. One of these suspects is the murderer. The others are witnesses.

Innocent Witness Lady: Oh hello, Captain. I was hoping to find Mr. Poirot.

HASTINGS: Sorry.  He’s off waxing his mustachios. But perhaps I could help?

INNOCENT WITNESS LADY: HAHAHAHAHAH

HASTINGS: What’s so funny?

INNOCENT WITNESS LADY: Er…nothing. No, thank you for offering. Do you know when Mr. Poirot will be available for me to tell him this super important clue that will solve the case?

HASTINGS: Solve the case?  Sounds serious. You sure you won’t tell me?

INNOCENT WITNESS LADY: No I’m good.

HASTINGS: Well then you can tell Poirot at dinner tonight at 8:00.

INNOCENT WITNESS LADY: It’s a date!

HASTINGS: Really?

INNOCENT WITNESS LADY: Nope. 

She leaves and immediately is murdered. Shortly after Poirot shows up.

POIROT: Well Hastings I have returned. Did anything important happen when I was away from the main plot?

HASTINGS: Nothing I can think of. I almost got a date.

POLICEMAN: We’ve just shown up to inform you that the Innocent Witness Lady has been found strangled!

HASTINGS: Oh! And she knew the clue that would solve the mystery!

POIROT: Wait what? When did this happen?

HASTINGS: Oh when I tried to get a date with her, I told  you, remember? She was asking for you and she wouldn’t tell me what she knew…

POIROT: You couldn’t have asked her to wait or something? You just sent her to her completely avoidable and untimely demise!

HASTINGS: My bad.

Eventually Christie must have noticed this pattern as well and shifted to third-person limited POV for the remainder of the Poirot mysteries.  Poirot, though eccentric and brilliant, didn’t really need Hastings’ kind heart and people skills to make up for it, since Poirot himself showed to be empathetic to other characters—even the murderers in some cases—and a keen interest in the personalities around him.

As for Hastings, she married him off and sent him to Argentina.  

Those poor Argentinians….

No comments:

Post a Comment