105 pages • 3 hours read
Agatha ChristieDeath On The Nile
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1937A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 5-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary
Poirot seeks out Jackie, who is sitting alone on the hotel grounds. Jackie guesses that Linnet has hired him to speak on her behalf. Poirot admits that he has just come from Linnet, but explains that he is not Linnet’s agent; rather, he has come of his own accord to give Jackie a message: “Bury your dead!...Give up the past! Turn to the future! What is done is done. Bitterness will not undo it” (86).
Jackie admits that she sometimes enjoys the way she is tormenting Linnet, and Poirot tells her that this is “the worst of all” (87). Poirot says that although he knows Jackie loved Simon, love is not everything and Jackie’s current actions will only prolong her suffering. Jackie tells Poirot that he cannot understand; Simon was everything to her, and Linnet used her glamour to seduce Simon and take him away: “I was the moon…[w]hen the sun came out, Simon couldn’t see me any more…[he] was dazzled. He couldn’t see anything but the sun—Linnet” (88). According to Jackie, Linnet is simply too glamourous and self-assured for a simple, weak person like Simon to resist: “He loved me—he will always love me,” she declares (89). Poirot responds, “Even now?” (89). Jackie lowers her head and says, “in a low stifled voice,” (89) that she knows Simon hates her now, and that he had better be careful.
After uttering this implied threat, Jackie shows Poirot a small, pearl-handled pistol she keeps in her purse: “One of those bullets would kill a man or a woman. And I’m a good shot” (89). She describes her “hot-bloodedness” (90) and desire to kill either Simon or Linnet, then explains that following them around for a bit has proved even more satisfying than killing them right away, since it poisons everything for the couple and there is nothing they can do to stop it. Poirot begs Jackie to stop what she is doing: “Do not open your heart to evil…[b]ecause—if you do—evil will come…[y]es, very surely evil will come” (91).
Jackie, appearing to be in a state of nervous agitation, tells Poirot that he could not stop her if she were to kill Linnet. Poirot answers sadly that he cannot, and that killing is an unforgivable offense. Jackie tells Poirot that he ought to approve of her current behavior, since as long as she can upset Linnet and Simon by following them there is no need to kill them. Then her mood changes again: “But I’m afraid— yes, afraid sometimes—it all goes red—I want to hurt her...to put my dear little pistol close against her head and then—just press with my finger—Oh!” (92).
Jackie interrupts herself with an exclamation, claiming to have seen someone standing in the shadows. Poirot says that there seems to be nobody else around and rises to leave. He tells Jackie that if she lets her last chance to stop what she is doing pass by, she will be “committed to the enterprise...there comes no second chance” (92).
Chapter 6 Summary
The next morning, Simon Doyle tells Poirot that he is glad Poirot has made Linnet realize that Simon and she are “more or less powerless in the matter” (94) of Jackie’s harassment. Simon says of Jackie that he doesn’t understand her way of getting revenge, and that it would make more sense if she tried to shoot him. He adds that such behavior would be entirely in character for Jackie: “She’s hot-blooded—and she’s got an ungovernable temper. I shouldn’t be surprised at her doing anything while she was in a white-hot rage” (95).
Poirot observes that Jackie’s spying behavior is subtle and intelligent, rather than hot-tempered, and asks whether Simon has any feelings left for Jackie. Simon says that his love for Jackie is gone: “It’s like the moon when the sun comes out. You don’t know it’s there any more. When once I’d met Linnet—Jackie didn’t exist” (95-96). Later, he states “somewhat unnecessarily” that “[i]t’s Linnet I’m worrying about” (98).
Simon describes Jackie’s love for him as too possessive, then shares his plan for evading Jackie with Poirot: he has announced publicly that he and Linnet will stay in Assuan for ten days, but actually the couple plans to set sail (under assumed names) for Wadi Halfa on the steamer Karnak tomorrow.
When Poirot reveals that he too is planning to travel to Wadi Halfa on the Karnak, Simon asks whether Poirot is going there because of him and Linnet; Poirot explains that he always makes his travel plans well in advance, and his plan has nothing to do with the Doyles. Simon asks whether it isn’t more fun to travel spontaneously, and Poirot responds that success in life depends on arranging every detail in advance. Simon responds: “That is how the more skillful murderer behaves, I suppose” (101). Simon asks Poirot whether he will share some tales of his past cases on board the Karnak; when Poirot demurs, Simon insists that Poirot’s work must be “rather thrilling” (101).
Poirot asks Simon about Pennington, and Simon responds “grimly” (102) that he and Linnet ran into Pennington, who set sail on the Carmanic before receiving Linnet’s letter about her marriage, by coincidence. Poirot asks whether Linnet is of age, and Simon responds that she isn’t yet twenty-one. At the end of his conversation, Poirot finds himself wondering which account of the situation—Linnet’s, Jackie’s, or Simon’s—is closest to the truth.
Chapter 7 Summary
The next morning, Jackie sees Simon and Linnet set off on an excursion. Meanwhile, their luggage is sent off to be loaded on the Karnak. As Poirot sets off to visit the museum and ruins on the island of Elephantine, he notices two other men on the boat. One of the men, who introduces himself as Guido Richetti, a talkative and enthusiastic archaeologist, strikes up a conversation with Poirot. The other, a younger man, appears uninterested in both his fellow travelers and the museum on the island.
Poirot spends some time exploring the ruins with Richetti and then “escape[s]” (107) to speak with Mrs. Allerton on a nearby riverbank. Mrs. Allerton tells Poirot that Tim has gone to mail some letters. She mentions how excited she is to meet Poirot, and how Mrs. Leech (who lost her ring swimming) wished Poirot had been there to help find it. Mrs. Allerton then asks Poirot’s opinion of Simon Doyle; however, Poirot never answers because the conversation veers toward Joanna Southwood, whom Poirot describes as “a young lady very much in the news” (109).
Mrs. Allerton admits that she dislikes Joanna, then hastily changes the subject, observing that Poirot seems to be friendly with Rosalie Otterbourne. The two agree that Rosalie is unhappy, and Mrs. Allerton expresses the desire to get to know her better. Poirot and Mrs. Allerton also discuss Jackie, whom Mrs. Allerton finds frighteningly intense.
Poirot remarks that, given the right incentive, nearly anyone is a potential criminal. The two begin to speculate about the various sorts of crimes their companions might commit: Mrs. Allerton could commit a crime to defend her children; Simon Doyle is capable of a simple, unsubtle, easily detected crime that is a “short-cut to his objective” (111); Linnet could ruthlessly sentence people to death like the Queen in Alice in Wonderland; Pennington might be driven to murder by his “strong sense of self-preservation” (112); Mrs. Otterbourne might be motivated by vanity; Jackie, says Poirot, might be able to commit murder, but he is not sure. Mrs. Allerton asks what the most common motives for murder are, and Poirot names money, revenge, love, fear, hate, and beneficence (when a person, B, considers another person, A, harmful to an individual or group, C, and B kills A to protect C).
After this conversation, Mrs. Allerton and Poirot return to the boat, where they meet Mr. Ferguson, who criticizes everything he has seen in Egypt as having been made by exploited laborers for the benefit of a “despotic bloated king” (113) and begins a tirade about the capitalist system.
When the party arrives at the hotel, Poirot packs his things. He, the Allertons, Richetti, and Ferguson board the train to Shellal, where they (and the Otterbournes, traveling separately) plan to catch the Karnak. On the train, Poirot is seated next to Miss Van Schuyler and Cornelia.
On board the Karnak, Poirot speaks to Rosalie, who expresses bitterness about her mother. Poirot encourages her to “let the scum [of her feelings] come to the surface” so that she can “take it off with a spoon” (118) instead of carrying it within. The two spy Linnet and Simon Doyle, who appear relaxed and happy until Jackie appears, claiming to have run into them by accident. Later, Simon tells Linnet, “‘We can’t run away for ever…[w]e’ve got to go through with it now’” (120).
Linnet, agitated and afraid, confides in Poirot that “‘Except for Simon, I’m surrounded by enemies…It’s terrible to feel—that there are people who hate you…I just feel that—everything’s unsafe all round me’” (120-121). Poirot inquires why she and Simon did not take a private “dahabiyeh” (121), or riverboat, up the Nile; Linnet responds that Simon, who is unused to wealth and “absurdly sensitive…about money” (121), refused the idea because it seemed like a “needless expense” (122). The chapter ends when Linnet stops talking abruptly, seeming to think she has spoken too openly, and goes to her room.
Chapters 5-7 Analysis
These are crucial chapters for setting up the main murder plot. In particular, Jackie’s conversation with Poirot in the garden, in which she shows him the pistol and tells him of her desire to kill Linnet by shooting her in the head, is a key step in her plan. By describing the exact way in which she fantasizes about killing Linnet, and then feigning that she sees someone listening to the conversation, she lays the groundwork for her later claim that someone must have overheard the conversation and then attempted to frame Jackie for Linnet’s murder.
On a first reading, Jackie’s confessions to Poirot may seem genuine; in hindsight, one can see that Jackie is carefully carrying out her plan, but that she has not managed to deceive Poirot.
Jackie and Simon both appear to go to great lengths to present Jackie as impetuous and hot-headed. This is intentionally consistent with their later “performance” in the saloon, where Jackie “shoots” Simon. However, after his conversation with her, Poirot tells Simon that Jackie is actually quite subtle and intelligent as opposed to simply hot-headed. However, Poirot seems to think Jackie has all of these traits, for later he says that Jackie does not seem like the sort of person who could sneak up on a sleeping Linnet and shoot her in the head.
Indeed, the portrait of Jackie that emerges from Christie’s text is quite complex: on the one hand, it is Jackie’s cunning that makes her and Simon’s plot almost work. Poirot notices this cunning and seems to think that accounts of Jackie’s famous hot-headedness are somewhat exaggerated. On the other hand, Jackie does actually behave in a passionate and impetuous way: she loves Simon almost desperately and is willing to commit a terrible crime in order to protect him; she did in fact once stab a boy who was teasing a dog; and although her reason for killing Louise Bourget is a rational one, her method of choice, stabbing, is consistent with the stereotypical “crime of passion.”
These chapters also reveal Simon’s direct, unsubtle nature: he does not attempt to conceal his rather prurient interest in crime, and fairly begs Poirot to talk about cases. (Like Tim Allerton’s interest in crime, Simon Doyle’s interest is a sign that he himself is involved in crime.) His unnecessary explanation that it is Linnet, not Jackie, about whom he is worried, seems in hindsight an obvious clue. Simon feels the need to say this because he is afraid that Poirot has detected the truth: Simon is still in love with, and in league with, Jackie, and is not concerned about Linnet at all. Similarly, Simon seems to forget himself momentarily when talking about his dislike of possessive women; when Poirot asks whether he is talking about Jackie, Simon seems temporarily confused. In fact, it was Linnet’s possessiveness that inspired his tirade, and it takes him a moment to remember that he is supposed to be madly in love with Linnet and fed up with Jackie.
Both Simon and Jackie use the same metaphor to describe Simon’s falling for Linnet: Jackie is like the moon, obscured by the much brighter sun. Poirot picks up on this repetition, though at the time it is too early for him to be able to interpret its significance. Once the reader knows who killed Linnet, and why, it is easy to see that Jackie probably used these words to describe Simon’s “role” in the charade, and he unwittingly betrays his ongoing contact with Jackie by repeating the same words she uses.
Mrs. Allerton’s conversation with Poirot seems offhand on a first reading. However, Poirot clearly makes the connection between Tim’s activities (mailing letters) and the possibility that he could be Joanna Southwood’s jewelry-thieving accomplice. The lighthearted conversation about crime that unfolds between Poirot and Mrs. Allerton—in which Poirot suggests what sorts of crimes their fellow passengers might be capable of committing—does not include any mention of Tim. The reader should notice this omission and, in light of the other hints that Tim is involved in criminal activities, pay special attention to Tim.
Poirot’s remarks about Simon are especially prescient: indeed, the crime Simon initially planned was crude, easily detectable, and a short cut to his objectives. Poirot expresses doubt in this conversation about whether Jackie is capable of murder; however, at this point in the story, Jackie has not yet “let evil in” and is capable of turning back from the path she has set herself. Additionally, what Poirot describes as a crime of beneficence—one person killing another in order to protect a third—is, essentially, the sort of crime Jackie commits when she agrees to collude with Simon on Linnet’s murder. (Her later crimes, the murders of Louise and Mrs. Otterbourne, can be interpreted as motivated by mere self-preservation, but by the time she kills the two women she has passed the moral point of no return and has begun to find killing easy.)
Linnet’s anxiety at the end of the chapter, prompted by her feeling that everyone hates her, prefigure Poirot’s later remark that there is a miasma of bitterness, hatred, and envy surrounding the beautiful, wealthy, and fortunate girl.
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