Macavity the Mystery Cat, also called the Hidden Paw, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. He also appears in the Andrew Lloyd Webber 1981 musical Cats, which is based on Eliot's book. Macavity is a cunning criminal and con artist; he possesses mystical powers and is the antagonist of the musical.
Origins and etymology
T. S. Eliot was a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and the character of Macavity is a literary allusion to Professor Moriarty, the criminal mastermind in the Sherlock series. Evidence that Macavity was based on Moriarty was first presented by H.T. Webster and H.W. Starr in 1954, and later rediscovered by Katharine Loesch. In a letter to Frank Morley, Eliot wrote, "I have done a new cat modeled on the late Professor Moriarty, but he doesn't seem very popular; too sophisticated perhaps." The name "Macavity" is thus a pun on "Moriarty". The word 'cavity' also implies a hole or void or absence of something, and Macavity is described in the poem as being "not there" at the time or location of any crime.
Poem
The poem "Macavity the Mystery Cat" is the best known of Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, the only book Eliot wrote for a younger audience. The poem is considered particularly suitable reading for 11- and 12-year-olds. Although originally published as part of a collection of poems, "Macavity the Mystery Cat" was published as a standalone book by Faber and Faber in 2015.
In the poem, Macavity is a master criminal who is too clever to leave any evidence of his guilt. His nicknames include: the Mystery Cat, the Hidden Paw, and the Napoleon of Crime. Similarly, Sherlock Holmes describes Moriarty as "the Napoleon of Crime" in The Adventure of the Final Problem and a "Napoleon gone wrong" in The Valley of Fear.
According to the poem, even when the Secret Service decides that Macavity was behind a loss, they are unable to apprehend him, as "he's a mile away", "...[or] engaged in doing complicated long division sums". Doyle wrote that Moriarty "is never caught" as at the moment of the crime he is probably "working out problems on a blackboard ten miles away" (The Adventure of the Final Problem). Macavity is described as being a ginger cat who is very tall and thin with sunken eyes, and "sways his head from side to side with movements like a snake". The poem also says: "His brow is deeply lined in thought, his head is highly domed; His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed." Once again, this description is a close parallel to that of Professor Moriarty:
The poem accuses Macavity of misbehaviour that would be within the capabilities of an ordinary cat, such as stealing milk, but also holds him responsible for major crimes. He is referred to as a "fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity" and has been suspected of stifling Pekes, vandalism, theft, cheating at cards, espionage and controlling an organised crime ring with Mungojerrie, Rumpleteazer and Griddlebone among the members. Holmes in Doyle's narrative describes Moriarty as "the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city."
Webster and Starr assumed that Eliot referred to the cases of Mr. Joseph Harrison (The Adventure of the Naval Treaty) and Herr Hugo Oberstein (The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans) when he wrote in the poem – "And when the Foreign Office finds a Treaty's gone astray,/ And the admirality loses some plans and drawings by the way".
Macavity apparently possesses the mystical power of levitation, as he "breaks the law of gravity".
Musical
Macavity is the only real villain in the musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber. He kidnaps Old Deuteronomy, the Jellicle leader, and attempts to abduct Demeter, one of two cats who sing about him. Lloyd Webber noted that "Macavity... is obviously a take-off on Moriarty." The character was originally played by Richard Pettyfer in the original West End production, Kenneth Ard in the Broadway production, Bryn Walters in the Cats 1998 film adaptation, and Idris Elba in the 2019 film adaptation of the musical.