Agatha Christie's lesbian characters

[james_davis_nicoll]

In a recent discussion about the new adaptations of the Miss Marple stories, I commented that I didn't recall the original stories having as many lesbians as the TV movies do, where "as many" = "any"*. The person I was chatting to suggested that perhaps they were there but as a young lad of 10 or so, I did not understand the significance of, eg, two spinster ladies living together. Can anyone who has actually read the books recently tell me if the movies have introduced a new element or if I just missed something when i read them 30 years ago?


* Or as many sword fights as the Margaret Rutherford version of Miss Marple.

Comments

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

Can't think of any specific examples, but yes, I think the spinsters and "old maids" were there, just not named as "lesbian" as such by AC. I think it's been more quietly accepted in some ways in Britain, if for no other reason than they've got a much less nosey society than we, and "mind your own business" is a guiding principle.

[chance88088.livejournal.com]

I could have sworn there was at least one lesbian couple, though for the life of me I can't remember in what book. Maybe in one of the short story collections.

A Murder Is Announced

[(Anonymous)]

I'm just in the middle of reading 'A Murder Is Announced', and it appears a very strong allusion to the spinsters Murgatroyd and Hinchcliffe being lesbians. An early chapter depicts them in somewhat stereotypical garments (Hinchcliffe in corduroy slacks and battledress tunic.... 'she turned her head with its short man-like crop and weather-beaten countenancer toward her friend... Murgatroyd 'wore a checked tweed skirt and shapeless pullover of brilliant royal blue.") And a classic oneliner from one of the women ('men are dirty dogs'), together with them living together at Boulders all seems to point toward it.

spoilers below

[asteriskhere.livejournal.com]

Funny that I should randomly stumble across this journal entry...I just finished reading Agatha Christie's Nemesis last night (a later Miss Marple book) and there seems to be at least strong hints towards lesbianism...the general gist of the novel is that a girl is killed by an older woman when the girl decides she wants 'normal' love-- to marry a man and have children. There are some mentions that the older woman 'loved the girl like a daughter' etc...but they're brief. Also there is an overt mention of 'crushes' that girls have on other 'attractive' girls or even on their female teachers that they eventually grow out of. I was surprised to find this in an Agatha Christie novel, having already read many of them. There was a couple comprised of two elderly spinsters in this novel as well, but they were revealed to have been hired bodyguards for Miss Marple. Anyway, if you are interested in looking for lesbian references, check out Nemesis.

Re: spoilers below

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Nemesis was my first Christie mystery, lo those many moons ago (perhaps 30 years).

The idea of crushes, and the like are not uncommon in English fiction of the period, and a bit before, though it fades after.

I suspect it had a great deal to do with segregated boarding schools. There is still a running idea that a fair bit of homosexual behaviour (not all consensual) goes on in the Public Schools.

TK

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Yes, Agatha Christie does have gay characters, most frequently two "spinsters" living together whom the reader is fairly clearly supposed to read as lesbians. See also A Murder is Announced.

Lesbians

[(Anonymous)]

I agree that A Murder is Announced is a good example of "fairly clearly" lesbian characters.

Agatha Christie's lesbian characters

[(Anonymous)]

A Murder is Announced has lesbian characters. Mr. Satterthwaite in many books is most probably gay; there are other possibly gay characters, Mr. Pye in The Moving Finger, and Christopher Wren in the short story Three Blind Mice. There are others as well.