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A character in And Then There Were None

General John Macarthur

The old soldier who expected to meet comrades, and who stops wanting to leave the island before anyone else does.

What they want

Rest. He says as much to Vera on the beach.

The book

And Then There Were NoneAgatha Christie, 1939

Ten strangers on an island off Devon, a nursery rhyme on the wall, and no detective coming to save anyone.

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At a glance

In the book
Retired general, invited to a reunion
Charged with
The death of Arthur Richmond, his wife's lover, sent on a fatal patrol
Where he appears
Chapters 1 to 8

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Macarthur came for a reunion that does not exist. The record charges him with sending Arthur Richmond, a young officer who was his wife's lover, on a patrol he could not survive. He denies it in public and admits it in private, to Vera, sitting on the shore. He is the first of the guests to understand that nobody is leaving, and the first to stop minding.

How General John Macarthur Is Portrayed

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • The reunionA letter from an old friend promised a gathering of comrades; there is none.
  • The confessionTo Vera, on the shore, he admits what he did to Richmond and why.
  • The shoreHe sits looking out to sea, waiting, while the others search the island.
  • The lineHis words to Vera — that none of them will ever leave, that it is the end of everything — are the book's most quoted.

General John Macarthur quotes

Lines spoken by or about General John Macarthur, each verified verbatim against the text and located in the book.

We're not going to leave the island… None of us will ever leave… It's the end, you see — the end of everything…
— General Macarthur (dialogue) · Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None (1939), Chapter 6
Their ending, and the commentary — spoilers aheadHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

Macarthur is found on the shore struck on the back of the head, the third to die, on the day the boat fails to come.

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