And Then There Were None

Vera Claythorne is the ninth guest to die on Soldier Island and the last guest standing, aside from Justice Wargrave who, unbeknownst to Vera and readers, has faked his own death. Vera is a former games mistress in a third-class school who is employed by “Mrs. Owen” as a secretary on Soldier Island. Lombard describes her as “quite attractive—a bit schoolmistressy perhaps” (4). He also describes her as “a cool customer, he should imagine—and one who could hold her own—in love or war” (5). Lombard forms an alliance with Vera, because he is attracted to her and because, as he tells her, he does not believe that she is capable of being the twisted “Mr. Owen.” Vera, however, secretly has a dark past that Justice Wargrave deems so abhorrent that he names her as his last victim.

Vera was a former governess for a young boy named Cyril. She was deeply in love with Cyril’s uncle Hugo, who was penniless and therefore could not marry her. However, he stood to inherit a significant amount of money should Cyril die. So, Vera came up with a plan to help her lover by allowing Cyril to swim too far out knowing that he would drown. Cyril died just as she planned and the coroner acquitted her of all blame, but she could tell that Hugo knew what she had done. Justice Wargrave confirms this in his confession letter when he writes about his encounter with Hugo, who told him the whole story, which prompted Justice Wargrave to seek Vera out as his last victim. Vera actively suppresses her thoughts about Hugo and Cyril throughout the novel, but her conscience haunts her.

Vera is one of the most intelligent characters as demonstrated by her attentiveness to the nursery rhyme. Vera is the one to point out to Blore and Lombard the fourth line of the nursery rhyme about the red herring after Dr. Armstrong’s disappearance. Even though Vera incorrectly believed that it meant Dr. Armstrong was still alive, she is still the only one to make the connection to the nursery rhyme and correctly conclude that there has been a change in Mr. Owen’s pattern. She also steals Lombard’s revolver in their final face-off, an impressive feat considering Lombard is skilled in combat. However, Vera is also slightly manic and prone to hysteria. Her nerves often get the better of her throughout the novel, which makes her easy prey for Justice Wargrave. He doesn’t technically murder Vera, but he believes that Vera’s guilt, compounded with the setting of the noose and the smell of the sea, will prompt Vera to die by suicide. He is right, as Vera hangs herself just as he planned.

Captain Philip Lombard is the eighth guest to die on Soldier Island. Aside from Justice Wargrave, he is one of the final two left standing along with Vera. He is “a tall man with a brown face, light eyes set rather close together and an arrogant, almost cruel mouth” (4). Lombard is a highly skilled, charismatic man with a mysterious past and a ruthless drive for self-preservation.

He happily admits without any remorse that he left 21 men from an East African tribe to die when he was in the army because there wasn’t enough food for all of them and “self-preservation’s a man’s first duty” (55). Lombard’s past is shrouded in mystery, but Isaac Morris tells him that his “reputation is that of a good man in a tight place” (5). He has gotten in trouble with the law enough times that he tells Morris that he can’t do anything illegal for “Mr. Owen,” though he cheerfully admits he has always gotten away with crime. Lombard is clever and resourceful, as demonstrated by his ability to survive many close calls. He also is the only one to bring a revolver to the island, a sign that he is always prepared should danger arise.

Lombard is often described with wolf-like features, particularly his smile. Christie’s decision to compare Lombard’s likeness to a wolf is possibly meant to trick readers into thinking Lombard could be the murderer. Lombard is dangerous and enjoys the thrill of the hunt, as evident by his confidence while searching the island with Blore and Dr. Armstrong, then later searching the island for Dr. Armstrong following his disappearance. In the end, however, Vera proves that Lombard underestimated her when she steals his revolver and kills him.

William Blore is the seventh guest to die on Soldier Island. He has a face “of a slightly military cast with a moustache” and grey eyes that are “set rather close together” (13). Alongside Lombard, he is physically the strongest out of the group although he is much clumsier. Blore is, like all the guests on Soldier Island, self-serving. He is a private investigator and former corrupt police officer who sent an innocent man named James Stephen Landor to jail simply so he could get a promotion. He takes charge along with Lombard and Dr. Armstrong, and the three form an alliance to catch the murderer, even though Blore confides in Dr. Armstrong that he thinks Lombard is the murderer. Blore takes the role of a leader, but he isn’t as intelligent as Lombard or Vera, both of whom are the last two people standing aside from Wargrave. He is constantly changing his mind about who he thinks is guilty, first suspecting Lombard because he brought a revolver to the island, then Emily Brent because she went on a walk on the island alone, and then Lombard again. After Lombard, Blore, and Vera agree to stay outside to avoid whatever danger may befall them inside the house, Blore decides to risk it and go inside for lunch. Unsurprisingly, he is found dead on the terrace after Wargrave drops a bear clock on his head.

Dr. Armstrong is the sixth guest to die on Soldier Island. He is a successful doctor recovering from an alcohol use disorder who accidentally killed a patient 15 years ago while operating on her while drunk. He balks at the mere suggestion that he might be the murderer amongst them because, in his mind, a professional man such as himself would never be capable of such heinous, illegal acts. This faulty logic is what makes him so trusting of the wrong people, specifically, Justice Wargrave. In his confession letter, Justice Wargrave calls him “a gullible sort of man” (244). Wargrave writes, “He knew me by sight and reputation and it was inconceivable to him that a man of my standing should actually be a murderer!” (244). Dr. Armstrong’s gullible nature is what makes him an easy target for Justice Wargrave, who uses him as his “red herring” from the nursery rhyme and convinces him to help him fake his own death. Because Dr. Armstrong is so concerned with appearance, he misses all the signs that Wargrave is the murderer and aids him in his grand plan without even realizing it. He is eventually killed when Wargrave pushes him over the cliffs and into the sea below during their planned rendezvous. Dr. Armstrong serves in kicking off the climax of the novel because his disappearance breaks the pattern the guests—and the readers—have come to expect. Once Dr. Armstrong disappears, the suspense rises and the novel races toward its conclusion.

Emily Brent is the fifth guest to die on Soldier Island. She is an uptight, self-righteous 65-year-old woman who reads the Bible every day. She is first introduced in the novel as “enveloped in an aura of righteousness and unyielding principles” while she “triumphed” over the uncomfortable heat in her crowded carriage without complaint (6). From her first appearance in the novel, it is established that Emily Brent looks down on others and believes herself to be superior due to her extreme piousness and rigid views of morality.

Emily Brent uses her religion to justify horrible acts and exonerate herself from guilt. The gramophone declares her responsible for the death of a young woman named Beatrice Taylor. According to Emily Brent, Beatrice Taylor was “not a nice girl,” but rather, “a loose girl with no morals” (89). Emily Brent employed Beatrice, but when she realized that Beatrice was pregnant, she threw her out on the street. Abandoned and alone, Beatrice drowned herself in a river. Unlike many of the other guests on the island, Emily Brent has no remorse for her actions. On the surface, she seems like an old, curmudgeonly woman who enjoys knitting and reading her Bible, but she is a cold-hearted religious fanatic. She believes that Beatrice deserved her fate for becoming pregnant out of wedlock and, outwardly, she does not seem to feel any responsibility for Beatrice’s death by suicide. However, there are signs that Emily Brent does secretly harbor guilt, such as the nightmare that she has about Beatrice, begging to be let inside the house. She also hallucinates that Beatrice, soaking wet from the river, has come up behind her right before she is murdered. Emily Brent is cold-hearted and uses her religious zeal as a weapon; however, Emily cannot hide from her own consciousness. She may not feel as much remorse as someone like General Macarthur, but she certainly is haunted by her past.

Mr. Rogers is the fourth guest to die on Soldier Island. He and his wife Mrs. Rogers are housekeepers who were hired by Mr. Owen, whom, like the other guests, they have never met. Mr. Rogers is “a tall lank man, grey-haired and very respectable” (24). In all respects, Mr. Rogers appears to be a highly professional, capable butler. Like the rest of the guests, however, Mr. Rogers, along with his wife, is guilty of murder. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, housekeepers for an elderly woman named Jennifer Brady, purposely neglected to provide Ms. Brady with her medication because they knew they would inherit money upon her death. Justice Wargrave writes in his confession letter than he “had no doubt” that Mrs. Rogers “acted very largely under the influence” of Mr. Rogers (243). He does not provide evidence as to why he thinks Mr. Rogers was the instigator, but his opinion supports the overarching stereotype that persists throughout the novel that women are weak and easily manipulated by men. Because Justice Wargrave believed Mr. Rogers was the mastermind behind his and his wife’s crime, Mr. Rogers suffered a more painful death than that of his wife. Mr. Rogers was found dead in the washhouse, having been hit in the back of his head with an ax.

General Macarthur is the third guest to die on Soldier Island. He is “a tall soldierly old man” with “grey hair […] clipped close” and “a neatly trimmed white moustache” (18). General Macarthur is a lonely, old man who is extremely guilt-ridden over his crime of deliberately sending his wife’s lover, Arthur Richmond, an officer in his unit, to his death. Unlike the rest of the guests on the island, General Macarthur views his inevitable death on the island as a relief, or an escape, from his guilty conscience. The other guests believe that General Macarthur now has a mental health condition because he has resigned himself to sitting alone on the shore, looking out at the sea, and mumbling strange, cryptic thoughts to himself about “the end.” However, General Macarthur has been struggling to live with the guilt of his crime for over 30 years. His frantic inner monologue after Anthony Marston’s death reveals his intense paranoia and fear that a young officer named Armitage knew what he did to Arthur Richmond and told someone. General Macarthur’s paranoia caused him to alienate himself from others and live a quiet, lonely life up until he accepted the invitation to Soldier Island. After Mrs. Rogers’s death, he waits by the sea, quietly meditating over the peace that comes with death, when he is eventually hit over the back of the head and killed.

Mrs. Rogers is the second guest to die on Soldier Island. She and her husband, Mr. Rogers, are housekeepers who were hired by Mr. Owen, whom, like the other guests, they have never met. Vera Claythorne describes Mrs. Rogers as “a white bloodless ghost of a woman” with a “flat monotonous voice” and “queer light eyes that shifted the whole time from place to place” (25). What is most unusual to Vera is how frightened Mrs. Rogers looks upon first meeting her. She thinks that Mrs. Rogers looks “like a woman who walked in mortal fear” (25). Although Mrs. Rogers never says exactly what she is afraid of, it can be inferred from her reaction to the gramophone that she is suffering from a guilty conscience. The voice on the gramophone declares that she and her husband are guilty of the murder of Jennifer Brady, an elderly woman for whom they were housekeepers. It is later revealed that Mr. and Mrs. Rogers purposely neglected to give Jennifer Brady her medication because they knew they would come into money after her death. Mrs. Rogers faints after the gramophone recording, likely out of fear and guilt.

Mrs. Rogers’s death prompts a recurring discussion amongst the men in the novel who believe that women are prone to weakness. Blore, for instance, believes that Mr. Rogers murdered Mrs. Rogers because “she hasn’t got the nerve to stand up and brazen it out,” and she is therefore “a living danger to her husband” (81). As one of the three women in the novel, Mrs. Rogers plays a significant role in developing the novel’s theme of gender bias.