# Mr. Hawes — The Murder at the Vicarage character guide

> Mr. Hawes in The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Hawes, poor Mr. Hawes, the unlucky Hawes, That poor devil Hawes

**First appearance:** 0001-the-murder-at-the-vicarage

## Snapshot

The vicarage's nervous curate, whose eager prying into the murder and taste for mystical pronouncements make him far more unsettling than his mild manner suggests.

## Who they are

Hawes hovers at the edges of the investigation with a reporter's hunger for detail, pressing Mr. Clement to carry the poacher Archer's threats to the police and quoting the vicar's own words back at him with unnerving reverence. He is a man of trembling conscience and visionary tendencies, the kind who hears premonitions in ordinary conversation. His eagerness to see justice done—and his readiness to let someone else do the hounding—makes him a quietly disquieting presence in the parish's worst week.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murder_at_the_vicarage_se/chapters/i)

The new curate with High Church views, mentioned in connection with Colonel Protheroe's complaints.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murder_at_the_vicarage_se/chapters/xiv)

Hawes is mentioned as having had encephalitis lethargica, which may have affected his character; he arrives to see the narrator.

### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murder_at_the_vicarage_se/chapters/xv)

Visits the narrator, appearing nervous and showing excessive interest in the murder case and the possibility of Archer as a suspect.

### [XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murder_at_the_vicarage_se/chapters/xxiv)

Shows extreme nervousness, asks the narrator to preach, takes a headache powder, and expresses suspicion about Lawrence Redding and Archer.

### [XXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murder_at_the_vicarage_se/chapters/xxviii)

Found asleep in his chair with an empty cachet box and a crumpled confession letter beside him.

### [XXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murder_at_the_vicarage_se/chapters/xxix)

Found unconscious from an overdose; the letter suggests he embezzled church funds and killed Protheroe.

### [Miss Marple's Revelation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murder_at_the_vicarage_se/chapters/xxx)

Mentioned as the curate who attempted suicide and confessed to misappropriating church funds, with Lawrence Redding attempting to frame him for the murder.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murder_at_the_vicarage_se/characters/mr_hawes
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murder_at_the_vicarage_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_murder_at_the_vicarage_se/characters