Murder on the Orient Express

by

Agatha Christie

Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti Character Analysis

Mr. Ratchett is an older man in his sixties traveling with Mr. MacQueen, whom Poirot first encounters at a hotel in Istanbul. Ratchett immediately gives off a sinister impression to Poirot, to the extent that when Ratchett appeals to the detective to investigate a possible attempt on his life, Poirot refuses to take on the case. Over the course of the novel, Poirot determines that Mr. Ratchett is actually Cassetti, an American criminal who was nearly convicted of the murder of Daisy Armstrong but escaped punishment using bribery. The twelve passengers on the Orient Express, who were each connected to Daisy or the Armstrong family in some way, collectively murder Ratchett on the train. Ratchett’s guilt is never in doubt, and he’s an evil enough person that Poirot suggests an alternate explanation for his murder so the twelve passengers can escape punishment for murdering him.

Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti Quotes in Murder on the Orient Express

The Murder on the Orient Express quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti or refer to Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti. 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:
Justice Theme Icon
).
Part 1 Chapter 2 Quotes

He was a man perhaps of between sixty and seventy. From a little distance he had the bland aspect of a philanthropist. His slightly bald head, his domed forehead, the smiling mouth that displayed a very white set of false teeth—all seemed to speak of a benevolent personality. Only the eyes belied this assumption. They were small, deep-set and crafty. Not only that. As the man, making some remark to his young companion, glanced across the room, his gaze stopped on Poirot for a moment and just for that second there was a strange malevolence, an unnatural tensity in the glance.

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot, Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti
Page Number: 17-18
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1 Chapter 3 Quotes

“Name your figure, then," he said. Poirot shook his head. "You do not understand, Monsieur. I have been very fortunate in my profession. I have made enough money to satisfy both my needs and my caprices. I take now only such cases as-interest me."

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti (speaker)
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1 Chapter 8 Quotes

“I will come to the moment when, after the parents had paid over the enormous sum of two hundred thousand dollars, the child's dead body was discovered; it had been dead for at least a fortnight. Public indignation rose to fever point. And there was worse to follow. Mrs. Armstrong was expecting another baby. Following the shock of the discovery, she gave birth prematurely to a dead child, and herself died. Her broken-hearted husband shot himself.”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), M. Bouc, Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti, Daisy Armstrong
Page Number: 75
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2 Chapter 8 Quotes

"In fact, Colonel Arbuthnot, you prefer law and order to private vengeance?" "Well, you can't go about having blood feuds and stabbing each other like Corsicans or the Mafia," said the Colonel. "Say what you like, trial by jury is a sound system."

Related Characters: Colonel Arbuthnot (speaker), Hercule Poirot, Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti
Page Number: 141
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3 Chapter 9 Quotes

I remembered that MacQueen had called attention, not once but twice (and the second time in a very blatant manner), to the fact that Ratchett could speak no French. I came to the conclusion that the whole business at twenty-three minutes to one was a comedy played for my benefit! Anyone might see through the watch business—it is a common enough device in detective stories.

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti, Hector MacQueen
Page Number: 277
Explanation and Analysis:

“I would have stabbed that man twelve times willingly. It wasn't only that he was responsible for my daughter's death and her child's and that of the other child who might have been alive and happy now. It was more than that: there had been other children kidnapped before Daisy, and there might be others in the future. Society had condemned him—we were only carrying out the sentence.”

Related Characters: Mrs. Hubbard (speaker), Hercule Poirot, Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti, Daisy Armstrong
Page Number: 286
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti Quotes in Murder on the Orient Express

The Murder on the Orient Express quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti or refer to Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti. 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:
Justice Theme Icon
).
Part 1 Chapter 2 Quotes

He was a man perhaps of between sixty and seventy. From a little distance he had the bland aspect of a philanthropist. His slightly bald head, his domed forehead, the smiling mouth that displayed a very white set of false teeth—all seemed to speak of a benevolent personality. Only the eyes belied this assumption. They were small, deep-set and crafty. Not only that. As the man, making some remark to his young companion, glanced across the room, his gaze stopped on Poirot for a moment and just for that second there was a strange malevolence, an unnatural tensity in the glance.

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot, Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti
Page Number: 17-18
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1 Chapter 3 Quotes

“Name your figure, then," he said. Poirot shook his head. "You do not understand, Monsieur. I have been very fortunate in my profession. I have made enough money to satisfy both my needs and my caprices. I take now only such cases as-interest me."

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti (speaker)
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1 Chapter 8 Quotes

“I will come to the moment when, after the parents had paid over the enormous sum of two hundred thousand dollars, the child's dead body was discovered; it had been dead for at least a fortnight. Public indignation rose to fever point. And there was worse to follow. Mrs. Armstrong was expecting another baby. Following the shock of the discovery, she gave birth prematurely to a dead child, and herself died. Her broken-hearted husband shot himself.”

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), M. Bouc, Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti, Daisy Armstrong
Page Number: 75
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2 Chapter 8 Quotes

"In fact, Colonel Arbuthnot, you prefer law and order to private vengeance?" "Well, you can't go about having blood feuds and stabbing each other like Corsicans or the Mafia," said the Colonel. "Say what you like, trial by jury is a sound system."

Related Characters: Colonel Arbuthnot (speaker), Hercule Poirot, Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti
Page Number: 141
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3 Chapter 9 Quotes

I remembered that MacQueen had called attention, not once but twice (and the second time in a very blatant manner), to the fact that Ratchett could speak no French. I came to the conclusion that the whole business at twenty-three minutes to one was a comedy played for my benefit! Anyone might see through the watch business—it is a common enough device in detective stories.

Related Characters: Hercule Poirot (speaker), Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti, Hector MacQueen
Page Number: 277
Explanation and Analysis:

“I would have stabbed that man twelve times willingly. It wasn't only that he was responsible for my daughter's death and her child's and that of the other child who might have been alive and happy now. It was more than that: there had been other children kidnapped before Daisy, and there might be others in the future. Society had condemned him—we were only carrying out the sentence.”

Related Characters: Mrs. Hubbard (speaker), Hercule Poirot, Mr. Ratchett / Cassetti, Daisy Armstrong
Page Number: 286
Explanation and Analysis: