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FAKULTAS KEGURUAN DAN LMU PENDDKAN
MUHAMMADYAH UNVERSTY PALU
2010

PREFACE

This paper Agatha Christie`s ~at Bertram Hotel A Discussion about Characters of the Story is
written to IulIill writer`s assignment that is given in Prose and Poetry. The main purpose in writing this
paper is to discuss the main points oI view that contain in the novel.
There are a lot oI interesting and important thing that contain in the story, but the writer pays
attention on characters because they are the strong part oI it. When the writer reads the beginning part oI
the novel, it is diIIicult to get the main point oI the story. It is because oI diIIiculties oI language. But it is
indeed interesting aIter Iinishing the story.
At this time, writers want to say thanks to:
Firstly, thanks to Allah SWT, the Almighty God who has given health and power to accomplish this
paper well.
Then, thanks to Drs. Abdul Waris, M.Pd lecturer oI Prose and Poetry who has given motivation and
brieIing in writing this paper.
And last but not least, thanks to all readers who have read this paper. Please give your critics and
suggestion as iI there is any mistake in this writing.


Wassalam




Writer

TABLE OF CONTENTS


TITLE i
PREFACE ii
TABLE OF CONTENT iii
About the Novel`s Author iv
CHAPTER 1 : Glance at The Story 1
CHAPTER 2 : Discussion About Characters 4
CHAPTER 3 : Conclusion 7
REFERENCE 8

About the Novel`s Author

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen oI
Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with
another billions in 100 Ioreign languages. She is the most widely
published author oI all time and in any language, outsold only by the
Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author oI 80 crime novels and short
story collextions,19 plays, and six novels written under the name oI
Mary Westmacott.
Agatha Christie`s Iirst novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles,
was written towards the end oI the First World War, in which she
served as a VAD. In it she created Hercule Poirot, the little Belgian
detective who was destined to become the most popular detective in
crime Iiction since Sherlock Holmes. It was eventually published by
the Bodley Head in 1920.
In 1926, aIter averaging a book a year, Agatha Christie wrote her masterpiece. The Murder of Roger
Ackroyd was the Iirst oI her books to be published by Collins and marked the beginning oI an author-
publisher relationship which lasted Ior 50 books and well over 70 books. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
was also the Iirst oI Agatha Christie`s book to be dramatized-under the name Alibi-and to have a
successIul run in London West End. The Mousetrap, her most Iamous play oI all, opened in 1952 and is
the longest-running play in history.
Agatha Christie was made a Dame in 1971. She died in 1976, since when a number oI books have
been published posthumously: the bestselling novel Sleeping Murder appeared later that year, Iollowed by
her auto biography and the short story collections Miss Marples Final Cases, Problem at Pollensa Bay
and While the Light Lasts. In 1998 Black Coffee was the Iirst oI her plays to be novelized by another
author, Charles Osborne.

CHAPTER 1
SINOPSIS

In this chapter, I would like to tell the short part oI the story in the novel. Specially, in the novel 'at
Bertram`s Hotel, Agatha Christie presented an unexpected ending story which make us inpatient to Iinish
reading the novel.
The story began about oI Bertram`s Hotel condition. Bertram`s Hotel was located in the heart oI the
West End nearby the Park Lane, Berkeley Square and South Audley Street. It was there since the war and
like so many other hotels in London, it had been modernized to cater Ior a diIIerent clientele, but it had
been done so cleverly that it was at all apparent at the Iirst casual glance.
The atmosphere inside Bertram`s Hotel was like in Edwardian English age. There was a big central
lounge, with two magniIicent coal Iires. The longue hall was Iull when it was the tea hour. There was a
drawing room, a smoking room where the vast chairs were oI Iine leather, two writing rooms where the
visitors could take a special Iriend and have a cozy little gossip in quiet corner-and even write a letter as
well iI you wanted to. Beside these amenities oI Edwardian age, there were other retreats, not in any way
publicized, but known to those who wanted them. There was a double bar, with two bar attendants, an
American barman to make Americans Ieel at home and an English one to deal with sherries and Pimm`s
No 1.
Bertram`s Hotel was a real place with comIortable atmospheres, its expensive and elegant Iurniture
and the best services by the right staII. It was visited by the higher echelon oI the clergy, dowager ladies
oI the aristocracy Irom the country, girls on their way home Ior the holidays Irom expensive Iinishing
schools, and most rich men Irom other countries who spent their time at Bertram`s Hotel. It is quite all
right at Bertram`s.
The story began on the particular day, November 17
th
; some people Irom the high social class came
to enjoy their holiday at Bertram`s Hotel. Some oI them are Miss Marple and her old Iriend, Lady Selina
Hazy. A young girl Elvira Blake with Mrs. Carpenter and her guardian Colonel Luscombe, Canon
PennyIather; a clergyman and some people Irom countries. And it is quite diIIerent when Bess Sedgwick
arrived at Bertram`s. Every visitor in the hotel had known her. She had reported by the Press as doing this
or that outrageous or extraordinary thing. She had several marriages Ior her credit and discredit and said to
be the second best-dressed woman in Europe. She had made a great gossip about her close relationship
with a young driver named Ladislau Malinowski.
The situation at Bertram`s hotel was suddenly changed when the clergyman Canon PennyIather who
wanted to journey to Lucerne Ior a conIerence, disappeared aIter went oII to Kensington airport. Nobody
knew where he was. A week later he was Iound by a kind couple in a small village named St. Milton
John. He had had a mild concussion and he could not remember what had happened to him. On the same
day oI Canon`s disappearing, there was another accident in Bedhampton Motorway, a big train robbery;
Irish Mail was attacked by bandits that used racing car.

A Iew days later, Bertram`s was shocked by a murder one oI Bertram`s staII, an Irish
commissionaire Michael Gorman who tried to save Miss Elvira Blake. She was screaming outside the
hotel at midnight because someone tried to shoot her. Michael Gorman heard her screaming and run while
pulled her behind as the second shot came. This shot took position on the chest oI the commissionaire and
he had been a victim. Everybody was shocked. ChieI-Inspector Davy and his sergeant Irom Criminal
Investigation Department tried to overcome these cases.
He interviewed everybody at Bertram`s hotel and people who were related to the cases. The Iirst one
he interviewed was Dr. Stokes who looked aIter Canon PennyIather in St. Milton John. And then he
interviewed the visitors and the staII at Bertram`s one by one. But he could not get anything to clear the
cases. He Ielt that there was something wrong had happened at Bertram`s. Finally he Iound out Miss
Marple who knew something that happened at Bertram`s.
Miss Marple had heard a secret conversation between Bess Sedgwick and Michael Gorman beIore
he was killed. And she saw something special between Elvira Blake and Ladislau Malinowski, who was
expected as murderer Michael Gorman. It was because oI ChieI-Inspector Davy had Iound the
Malinowski`s pistol around the accident area.
At midnight November 20
th
, Miss Marple saw someone that like Canon PennyIather went oII his
room at Bertram`s hotel beIore reporting he disappeared next day. From this old lady ChieI-Inspector
Davy had a clue oI those cases.
BeIore disappearing, Canon wanted to go to Lucerne on November 19
th
, but he had been lost his
chance because oI late Ior the Ilight. For cooling down his upset, he decided to see a theater 'Walls oI
Jericho. He went back to the hotel at midnight and he saw a crime syndicate planed Ior a big robbery
there. Then he got a hit behind his head and made him concussed. Miss Marple had heard that suspected
thing. Because oI her inIormation, the Crime Investigation Department could arrest the crime syndicate oI
the train robbery in Bedhampton. This syndicate was Iinanced by the owner oI Bertram`s hotel, HoIIman
brothers.
About the murder oI Michael Gorman, they suspected Bess Sedgwick had killed him. On the
conversation between Lady Sedgwick and Michael Gorman, Miss Marple heard that Bess threatened to
shoot him iI he exposed their marriage in the past. Bess Sedgwick, in the Iact that, had got married Ior
several times without being divorced. And she got married with Gorman when she was Iourteen. This
secret conversation was heard by Elvira Blake as well. But nobody knew that Elvira was Bess` daughter
Irom her second husband, unless her guardian Colonel Luscombe, Mrs. Mildred-Luscombe`s cousin, and
a lawyer as a trustee who saved her inheritance. When the incident happened, Elvira looked upset, and she
gave the diIIerent testimony as long as the inquiry with other witness.
AIter interrogating Elvira`s Iriend and her lawyer, and based on the testimony oI Miss Marple,
ChieI-Inspector Davy suspected that the young girl Elvira had killed Michael Gorman. It was based on his
analysis that Elvira Blake had known that Michael Gorman had got married with her mother twenty years
ago and never being divorced. It meant that the marriage with her Iather, Bess` second husband was
illegal. And it meant she could not inherit so much money. So she planed a murder, stole Malinowski`s
pistol Irom his car, and make a drama as iI someone tried to kill her and Gorman saved her by sacriIicing
his liIe.

Bess Sedgwick had known about this. She tried to protect her daughter Irom her mistaken. When
Inspector Davy interrogated her, she told the whole truth about her marriage liIe, her sadness, about the
reality which she should Iace. And she said that she was the murderer oI Michael Gorman and the planner
oI the robbery. Then she tried to escape by using racing car but Inspector Davy did not chase because he
knew that she was not the murderer. UnIortunately, she had crashed and killed. It was dramatically when
Elvira was arrested as well because she was proven guilty.

CHAPTER 2
DISCUSSION ABOUT CHARACTERS
In this chapter I would like to discuss the characters in the novel. Because it is the main point that
will be explain at this paper based on the title.
Agatha Christie is well known as Quinn oI Crime because most oI her novels are about crime. At
this novel we Iind that she makes a lot oI interesting Iigures to complete the story. The setting is about
Bertram`s hotel and popular public places in West End, England. She tries to describe the situation oI that
area, and she has done it well. Even though the reader has never gone to England, but every reader can
imagine how the West End is and its busy activities everyday. And about the plot, she uses traditional
plot; introduction the setting oI the story and the characters one by one Iirst. Then she put an unexpected
event in the climax. It makes the reader always guesses what will happen at the next chapter and how the
story ends. But the important thing is she has made strong characters those characterize diIIerent roles.
Those characters will be described one by one Irom character that has important role until who
characterizes little roles.
1. Miss Jane Marple.
In the novel, Jane Marple is well known as Miss Marple. She was a sixty-Iive one, who came Irom St.
Mary Mead, Much Benham to spent holiday in Bertram`s hotel. For IiIty years ago he had ever stay at
that place and she had a lot oI memories about her liIe there. She was oIten spent her time at that
place by herselI in the longue or in the writing room while looking around to Iind out the old Iriend.
She Iully enjoyed the atmosphere oI London while walking around the public places. People guessed
that she was only an old lady who came Ior her long vacation in West End, in the Iact that she Iound
something wrong behind the highly polished veneer oI Bertram`s hotel.
2. ChieI-Inspector Fred Davy
He was well known with 'Father. His retirement lay not long ahead and he appeared to be even more
elderly than he was, hence his nickname oI 'Father. He had a comIortable spreading presence and
such a benign and kindly manner that many criminals had been disagreeably surprised to Iind him a
less genial and gullible man that he had seemed to be. He was trusted to solve the puzzle oI a train
robbery in Bedhampton and murder oI Gorman at Bertram`s hotel. As a man who worked at Criminal
Investigation Department oI Scotland Yard, he was very tremendous and brilliant in solving a case
whereas a vague case. It was proven that aIter interviewing some witnesses and visitors at Bertram`s,
he could analyze what indeed had happened, and broke on the mystery oI Canon PennyIather`s
disappearing, the robbery at Irish Mail, and the murder oI Michael Gorman. Those three cases had
correlation each other and were planned at Bertram`s hotel. And the roles are the visitors oI that hotel.
At the end oI the story, he could Iind out the true story about Bertram`s hotel.
3. Canon PennyIather
A clergyman up Irom Chadminster, Canon PennyIather was a sixty years old man who seemed like an
absent minded one. He had been in a journey to attend a ConIerence in Lucerne on November 19
th
,
and stay at Bertram`s hotel Ior Iew days. But he missed the plane to Lucerne because he went oII to
get his Ilight at Kensington Airport on the wrong day. He was at the airport on 19
th
, as he estimated

that it was November 18

th
. He got a concussion aIter getting a hit at his head, when he knew that there
was a planning Ior crime. Finally, it was known just imitation, he was mixed up in the crime.
4. Bess Sedgwick.
Bess Sedgwick was a Iorty one, up Irom Hurstings House, Northumberland. She was so popular
almost Ior everyone in England Ior her outrageous or extraordinary thing. She has been a member oI
the French Resistance, and was said to have six notches on her gun representing dead Germans. She
had Ilown solo across Europe and Ietched up at Lake Van. She had driven racing cars, had once saved
two children Irom a burning house, had several marriages to her credit and discredit. It was also said
that she had successIully smuggled herselI aboard a nuclear submarine on its test voyage.
She had a bad old-liIe, when she was still Iourteen. She had got married with Michael Gorman who
was still in Field Marshal. But the marriage did not maintain Ior a long time. AIter she knew the
Gorman`s character that was a high temper, she called her Iamily to pick her up. She run away Irom
Gorman without being divorce. Then she got married with her second husband, Elvira`s Iather. But
the marriage was same with the Iirst one. She leIt her husband and the little Elvira who was still two
years. She went out Irom her old liIe Ior the other rich man. Everyone in England had known every
Bess` scandal aIter being reported oI a Press. She married only Ior money.
But nobody deIinitely knew about her marriage with Gorman, until her secret conversation with him
was heard by Elvira and Miss Marple.
5. Elvira Blake
Elvira Blake was a young girl up to twenty years. She had white skin, long blonde hair, and cute Iace.
She had just accomplished her school in Italy, and came to enjoy holiday England. DeIinitely, she was
Lady Bess Sedgwick`s daughter oI the second husband. But Elvira was opposite with Bess Sedgwick
who had adventure character and Iree. She was inclined suppressed and Irightened. She did not know
anything about the truth since she was leIt by her mother when she was two. She would inherit a
number oI wealthy Irom her Iather at twenty years or aIter getting married. When she had known that
Bess Sedgwick was her mother and had ever married to Gorman, then she killed Gorman Ior money.
6. Michael Gorman
He was an Irish Commissionaire oI a Field Marshal with gold braid and medal ribbons adorned a
broad and manly chest. He came Irom Ballygowlan, Ireland. He had a good reputation on his job in
Bertram`s hotel. The Iact that he was the Iirst husband oI Bess Sedgwick in the past and never
divorced. He was so wily and blackmailed Bess to expose their secret. Bess, then, gave ultimate him.
And Iinally he was killed by Elvira Blake.
7. Henry
He was the senior servant at Bertram`s hotel who served the visitors in every tea hour. He was a large
and magniIicent Iigure, a ripe IiIty, avuncular, sympathetic and with the courtly manners oI that long
vanished species. He gave the best services the best services Ior the visitors and made them Ieel at
home. In the Iact he was one oI the actors oI the crimes together Mr. Ludgrove, Ladislau Malinowski,
Bess Sedgwick, Canon PennyIather, and some visitors at Bertram`s.
8. Lady Selina Hazy.
Lady Selina Hazy was a sixty-Iive one, up Irom Leicestershire. She was Miss Marple`s old Iriend
when she lived in St. Mary Mead aIter her husband passed away.

9. Colonel Luscombe.
He was an ex soldier who has been a trustee and a guardian Ior Elvira Blake since her Iather passed
away. He wore a race glasses hanging round his neck. Elvira sometimes called him Uncle Derek
because he was almost sixty years old. Colonel Luscombe knew everything about Elvira and her
Iamily liIe since that girl was a child. That`s why he protected Elvira so much.
10. Miss Goringer .
She was the receptionist oI Bertram`s hotel. She knew everyone oI the clientele and, like Royalty,
never Iorgot a Iace. She looked Irumpy but respectable, Irizzled yellowish hair, black silk dress, a
high bosom an which reposed a large gold locket and cameo brooch.
11. Mr. HumIries.
Mr. HumIries was a man oI about IiIty. He had very good manners, and the presence oI Junior
Minister. He had knowledgeable inIormation about where it would suit persons oI all incomes and
tastes to dine. He could, at any moment, be all things to all people. He could talk racing shop, cricket,
and Ioreign politics, tell anecdotes oI Royalty, give motor show inIormation, know the most
interesting plays on at present-advice on places Americans ought really to see in England however
short they stay. But with all this, he did not make himselI to cheap.
12. Ladislau Malinowski.
He was a young driver who had won a race championship. He was so interested Ior young girls and
even the women like Bess Sedgwick. He was halI Polish and lived in Italy where he met Elvira Blake.
He always used a white racing car which suspected seemed in a bank holdup a month beIore.
13. Mr. HoIIman.
He is a respectable man with a large body. He had many various businesses which moved in many
countries, such as hotels, restaurants, travel agents, bars, jeweler shops and many others. But who
knew that he and his brother had Iinanced a crime syndicate.
14. Sir Ronald Graves, was an Assistant Commissioner oI Scotland Yard.
15. Mr. Justice Ludgrove.
He was rather noticeable old boy, ugly as sin Ior one thing. He always drove a Morris OxIord-car. He
had been mixed up in a bank robbery.
Many characters in the story are unpredictable. But each character has strong correlation with the
other. I think it is because oI the narrow setting only in around Bertram`s hotel. Some characters look nice
and without sins, but in the other side they can be devil Ior people. And Iew characters seem ugly and
weakness, in the Iact that they know many things which other people never know.

CHAPTER 3
CONCLUSION
A story must have real and hidden meaning. The theme will show the general events, characters and
settings oI the story. And a good writing or story is an impressive story, which not only interesting one but
also knowledgeable, Iull oI educational aspects, and which is not Iorgotten aIter read.
Based on the discussions on the previous chapters, it can be concluded that:
Firstly, the novel 'at Bertram`s Hotel is Iull oI deep aspects which make reader realize that there
are so many characters in the world, whereas in the small place. Every character is diIIerent and
sometimes diIIicult to understand. And that character can change suddenly one hundred eighty degrees.
For examples, Elvira Blake looks nice and innocent, but in the end she can be a cold-blooded
murder. Bess Sedgwick is well known as a Queen oI Scandals, who has leIt her daughter Ior her own
happiness, but when she knows that her own daughter, Elvira, is the murder oI Gorman, she tries to
protect Elvira by admitting that she was the murder. She, moreover, sacriIices herselI until she Iinds her
way to die. In the end oI her liIe, she has realized the truth she should Iace and in the reality she must Iace
them.
Then, the message oI the story tells that lots oI people in the world usually hide their other character.
They can be good actors to cover the real characteristics, the bad characters, behind their cute Iace, behind
old-ugly Iace, behind their glasses, behind the respectable and kindly manner. But they are indeed
imitation. One day they will open their mask and do their own way as their real characters.
HopeIully, this story can be a meaningIul lesson Ior us that reality does not always seems like we
see in. It sometimes has a diIIerent side, and the human character is something diIIicult to understand.

REFERENCE

Christie, Agatha. 1965. at Bertrams Hotel. Happer Collins Publisher 77-85 Fulham Palace Road
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB