Georgie Corrigan is the main antagonist of the 1952 Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap. Georgie is a domestic violence survivor out to get revenge on the people he held responsible for that, as well as his brother Jimmy's murder, by his own brand of murder.
He was first portrayed on stage by Richard Attenborough.
Biography[]
Georgie lived on Longridge Farm in Paddington with John and Maureen Stanning, with his siblings Jimmy and Kathy. Their mother suffered alcoholism, and their was an Army Sergeant serving abroad during wartime, so a magistrate, Mrs. Boyle, assigned the three children to the Stannings for temporary custody. Their mother die from alcohol complications after she lost custody. The children were horrifically brutalized and starved during their time at the farm, Jimmy suffering the worst as he died from the violence and malnourishment. The Stannings were convicted and imprisoned, where John died. Maureen was released after serving her sentence, and Kathy changed her name to Leslie Casewell, traveling abroad and taking on a more stoic, tomboyish personality and appearance in her adulthood.
Georgie, who was twenty-two by the start of the play, privately swore to Jimmy to kill the three living parties he blamed for the family's trauma and his brother's death: Maureen herself, who went under the name of Maureen Lyon when she was released, Magistrate Boyle, and school teacher Mollie Waring, who received a letter from Jimmy about the domestic violence and reportedly found it only after Jimmy died because she was afflicted with pneumonia. Mollie had married a man, Giles Ralston, and established their home Monkswell Manor as a guest house. Georgie went AWOL from his military assignment to exact his revenge. Maureen had retreated to Paddington, at 24 Culver Street, where, in a dark overcoat, light scarf, and felt hat, Georgie burgled the abode and strangled Maureen to death. He left behind a notebook with the address of the Manor and the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice", as part of his sadistic madness in getting revenge. Magistrate Boyle was to be a guest at the manor's opening activity, as was, unknown to Georgie, Kathy under her alias. Realizing they needed to be one step ahead of Georgie, the police compensated Major Metcalf to be replaced by one of their undercover men so as to sabotage Georgie's plans.
Once the guest house was assembled and all the guests arrived, along with stranded illegal Swiss watch salesman Mr. Paravicini, they're all snowed into the manor. Mr. Paravicini and Christopher Wren, the latter another globetrotter, are extremely peculiar and disturbed, but they're no more or less suspects them the Ralstons and the guests. Georgie arrives on skies as "Detective Sergeant Trotter", cutting all the phone lines and lying his way in with a Cockney accent. "Trotter" alleges he's there to prevent the next murder and reveals the details of the crimes to gain the affirmation of the group. The undercover officer doesn't buy the ruse, stealing Georgie's skies so he doesn't flee. After surveying the house, and while Mr. Paravicini is playing the piano, Georgie takes his opportune moment to get Boyle alone in the commons hall, turns out the lights, and strangles her to death while the radio's blaring. Mollie finds her dead and screams, drawing the rest of the guests.
Pretending to "do his job", Georgie asks the whereabouts of everyone else, then casting doubt among the guests so they suspect each other and driven mad by fear of the killer and hiding their own pasts. Georgie then realizes "Leslie" is really Kathy, trying to harass her to make her admit it, but she retreats into herself. Kathy, however, remembers Georgie from how he twirled his hair, and confided in "Major Metcalf", who revealed his rank and status and agreed to assist her in intervention quietly. Georgie then called the guests and had them all switch positions on the night of Boyle's murder, the called Mollie back in once they were all gone. He confronted her about the letter, then pulled a revolver from his pocket, which a policeman shouldn't have, revealing he was the killer. He gleefully confessed to everything, much to Mollie's terror, professing he didn't care to get away from justice in the end. When Mollie noted the gunshot will alarm the rest of the household, Georgie muffles and strangles her. Kathy and the officer rush in to stop him, confirming who she is and taking Georgie upstairs by the hand to her room. After Georgie's sedated, the officer reveals his real identity and agrees to get the skies from the fourpost. Georgie is presumably imprisoned or institutionalized, given what the courts maybe evaluate of his condition and deserving penalties.
Trivia[]
- The case of the foster children's violent abuse is inspired by the murder of Dennis O'Neill, who was brutally battered to death after years of violence he and his siblings suffered at the hands of their two foster guardians at the farm the five all resided in. The parents were convicted and sentenced, the remaining children removed from the home.
[]
 Villains(Non-Poirot & Non-Marple) | |
|---|---|
|
Tommy and Tuppence Beresford And Then There Were None Other Mystery Stories Adaptational, Homage & Non-Canonical | |