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The Nile
Linnet’s pearl necklace is, on the most basic level, a signal that her character is extremely wealthy. She is seen wearing them the night she is murdered, and they are missing when her body is discovered, opening up the possibility that her killing was a robbery. Like Linnet herself, the pearls are dazzling, even as they inspire resentment from some of the other characters. The pearls embodied Linnet’s luck in life, but they also made her a target. It’s no accident that Jacqueline’s pistol also has pearl inlaid in its handle—through this physical echo of Linnet’s pearls, Jacqueline’s pistol highlights both the beauty and dangers of such wealth. It’s also worth noting that even though it turns out that Linnet was not specifically killed for her pearls, she was killed for what they symbolize—Simon was hoping to inherit her wealth, which the pearls represent.
Later in the novel, the pearls play a different but related role. After discovering that Tim has been working as jewelry forger, and has in fact forged Linnet’s pearls, Poirot gives Tim the opportunity to return the stolen pearls and change his life rather than face charges. Once again, the pearls are portrayed as both desirable and dangerous, but they also here represent the purity or innocence that is a typical symbolic meaning assigned to pearls. By giving up on the seductive promise of wealth offered by the pearls. Tim rediscovers his innocence and the chance at love with Rosalie.
In Death on the Nile, the pearls represent wealth and beauty, the seductive dangers of pursuing such things, and ultimately the promise inherent in giving up that pursuit.
Pearls Quotes in Death on the Nile
The Death on the Nile quotes below all refer to the symbol of Pearls. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter Fourteen
Quotes
Hercule Poirot nodded his head.
“You did not look. But I, I have the eyes which notice, and there were no pearls on the table beside the bed this morning.”
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Chapter Twenty-Two
Quotes
Finally he turned his attention to the washstand. There were various creams, powders, face lotions. But the only thing that seemed to interest Poirot were two little bottles labelled Nailex. He picked them up at last and brought them to the dressing table. One, which bore the inscription Nailex Rose, was empty but for a drop or two of dark red fluid at the bottom. The other, the same size, but labelled Nailex Cardinal, was nearly full. Poirot uncorked first the empty, then the full one, and sniffed them both delicately.
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Chapter Twenty-Three
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The body of the dead woman, who in life had been Louise Bourget, lay on the floor of her cabin. The two men bent over it.
Race straightened himself first.
“Been dead close on an hour, I should say. We’ll get Bessner on to it. Stabbed to the heart. Death pretty well instantaneous, I should imagine. She doesn’t look pretty, does she?”
“No.”
Poirot shook his head with a slight shudder.
The dark feline face was convulsed, as though with surprise and fury, the lips drawn back from the teeth.
Poirot bent again gently and picked up the right hand. Something just showed within the fingers. He detached it and held it out to Race, a little sliver of flimsy paper coloured a pale mauvish pink.
“You see what it is?”
“Money,” said Race.
“The corner of a thousand-franc note, I fancy.”
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Chapter Twenty-Seven
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“Well, sir, where do we go from here? I admit taking the pearls from Linnet’s cabin and you’ll find them just where you say they are. I’m guilty all right. But as far as Miss Southwood is concerned, I’m not admitting anything. You’ve no evidence whatever against her. How I got hold of the fake necklace is my own business.”
Poirot murmured: “A very correct attitude.”
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Get the entire Death on the Nile LitChart as a printable PDF.
Pearls Symbol Timeline in Death on the Nile
The timeline below shows where the symbol Pearls appears in Death on the Nile. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter One
...than Linnet, and pales a bit in comparison to the younger woman. She notices Linnet’s pearl necklace , is delighted to learn that it costs $50,000, and then asks if she can...
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Chapter Eight
...is yet, but they do see Simon and Linnet (wearing an expensive frock and a pearl necklace ) seated off in a corner with Pennington. They figure out that Fanthorp is one...
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Chapter Fourteen
...asks Simon if Linnet had any valuable jewelry. Simon says she had some extremely valuable pearls, to which Poirot muses that robbery could be a motive. Louise Bourget the maid comes...
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...maids, Marie, but Linnet intervened. Simon doesn’t know anything about this. Poirot asks about Linnet’s pearls, and Louise says she saw Linnet wearing them the previous night. Poirot asks if she...
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Chapter Fifteen
Louise searches Linnet’s belongings. Other than the pearls, which are definitely missing, everything else in order. Later, walking along the deck, Race tells...
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Poirot admits that the missing pearls make it look like robbery but finds it odd, since a robbery might cause a...
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...Marie. Fleetwood was angry to see Linnet lording about on the boat in her expensive pearls, but he maintains he didn’t shoot her and that he was asleep in his bunk,...
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Chapter Eighteen
Race and Poirot plan to announce at lunch that the pearls have been stolen, and that no one can leave the dining saloon while a search...
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Chapter Twenty
...murder investigation, although Mrs. Allerton considers their involvement only a technicality. They talk about Linnet’s pearls, with Mrs. Allerton suspecting they are part of the crime and Tim arguing it’s probably...
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...is still in the saloon, Race makes a speech and announces the theft of the pearls, that he’ll be searching the boat for them, and that everyone is to stay in...
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...her in the smoking room. Miss Bowers opens her handbag and reveals a string of pearls.
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Chapter Twenty-One
Race is astonished as he looks at the pearls Miss Bowers has placed on the table. She explains that Miss Van Schuyler was the...
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Just then, Poirot holds the pearls up to the light and licks them. He admits he’s not an expert on precious...
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Chapter Twenty-Two
Race and Poirot discuss the implications of the fake pearls. Poirot is sure Linnet was wearing the real pearls at dinner the previous evening. They...
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Race and Poirot begin a search of the cabins for the real pearls. They go through the rooms of Signor Richetti, Ferguson, Fanthorp, Louise, and Tim, finding no...
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...cabin, they talk with the still-recuperating Simon, who confirms that Linnet didn’t travel with imitation pearls. They find nothing. While checking Pennington’s room, they find no pearls and all his documents...
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...goes back to speak to Simon. Poirot asks Simon if Linnet ever lent out her pearls. The question makes Simon embarrassed because he hasn’t known Linnet long enough to be sure....
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Race wonders if Louise disappeared because she stole the pearls. He and Poirot begin a search for her, beginning with her cabin. At first, they...
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Chapter Twenty-Seven
...boat seemed to make him anxious. Poirot says he naturally thought of Tim once Linnet’s pearls went missing but couldn’t understand why he didn’t immediately substitute fake pearls for the real...
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Then Poirot tells Tim about how he realized that when Linnet’s pearls disappeared, the swap had already occurred—it was the imitation pearls that were stolen from the...
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But Poirot already knows exactly where the real pearls are: they are in a rosary in Tim’s cabin, with carved wooden beads that hide...
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...during his robbery. He asks if Linnet was alive or dead when he stole the pearls. Tim doesn’t know; he doesn’t remember hearing her breathe, but he also doesn’t remember smelling...
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...it is possible that nothing will be found in it. Perhaps, Poirot suggests, the real pearls were already returned and are just in a box on a table near the door...
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Once Tim and Rosalie are out of the room, Tim takes the fake pearls out of the cardboard box and throws them into the Nile. He says that when...
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