Gentleman thief
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A gentleman thief is a stock character in fiction personified by A.J. Raffles and Arsène Lupin. A gentleman or lady thief is characterised by impeccable manners, charm, courteousness, and the avoidance of physical force or intimidation to steal, and often has inherited wealth. They steal not only to gain material wealth but also for the thrill of the act itself, which is often combined in fiction with correcting a moral wrong, selecting wealthy targets, or stealing only particularly rare or challenging objects.
In the Victorian vernacular, a gentleman thief is a particularly well-behaving and apparently well bred thief. A "gentleman" is usually, but not always, a man with an inherited title of nobility and inherited wealth, who need not work for a living. Such a man steals not in order to gain material wealth, but for adventure; and acts without malice. Gentlemen thieves rarely bother with anonymity or force, as they rely on their charm and good looks to steal the most unobtainable objects — sometimes for their own support, but also for the thrill of the act itself.
Notable gentlemen thieves in literature include E. W. Hornung's A.J. Raffles or Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin. Both utilise cunning disguises and are superb at stealing while maintaining a sophisticated front. Raffles steals mostly when he is especially "hard-up", in need of money. On the other hand, Lupin steals more from the rich who don't appreciate art or their treasures and redistributes it (not unlike a modern Robin Hood). Lupin has also assisted the police, but he is primarily a thief, even having outwitted Sherlock Holmes (as the thinly veiled "Herlock Sholmes").
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