Life is something that can be given, but not something that can be given back. The only person who should have the capability to change your life is yourself. In Agatha Christies ‘And Then There Were None’ a genius psychopath named Justice Wargrave takes each person’s life into his own hands by determining the fate of the criminals he discreetly gathered on the island. Nine lives, strong Fathers and loving Mothers, sympathetic Daughters and brave Sons; nine people had someone else juristic the tragic termination of their life. The individuals who were terrorized on the island were homicide perpetrators; all nine of them were murderers who never got punished for their crimes. Wargrave, the sadistic lunatic contravenes into their lives and …show more content…
Who is one to decide who gets to live or not. When Wargrave murders the individuals, he puts himself on their level, a murderer. The two most sacred things that you should never, under any circumstance, take away from another person is their life and their freedom. Punishment is foolish when prevention should be the model. In chapter 5 Vera is talking about death when she says, “she didn’t want to die. She couldn’t imagine wanting to die.” (170-172) She is explaining how no one thinks about death because no human has the desire for it. Although death is a destination that we all have in common no individual wants to go through the last moments of their life. On the other hand, Miss Brent talks about Vera’s soon to be demise since she winds up killing herself when she proclaims in chapter 11, “some people thought so much of their death that they actually take their own lives.” (161) Each character shows their viewpoint on death and the concept of criminality is shown through each perspective. This is shown in chapter 3 when the death of Philip Lombard is described. Remorse is shown when his death is outlined to have the feeling of being “guilty.” (40) These people who died were left no choice to live or not. Wargrave took that all
Though, emotionally, he is just as bad as the other islanders, if not worse, he takes it upon himself to act like he is above them and can decide the outcome of their fate. His actions are driven by a twisted sense of justice and revenge, making him no better than the murderers he seeks to punish. After Mrs.rodgers death Wargrave declares to Brent “My dear lady, in my experience of ill-doing, Providence leaves the work of conviction and chastisement to us mortals—and the process is often fraught with difficulties. There are no shortcuts.” After Rodgers death Wargrave feels the need to proclaim to the islanders that some type of divine spirit has taken her life in order to repay for her sin.
he whom it would relieve, nor eats nor hungers any more; pardon for those who died despairing; hope for those who died unhoping; good tidings for those who died stifled by unrelieved calamities. On errands of life, these letters speed to death” (323). In the beginning of the story, cadaverous and ghostly are the descriptions given to Bartleby. These characteristics are depicted through Bartleby’s dull, unhealthy appearance and his calm, abnormal personality. Though Bartleby is alive, he has definite qualities that make the reader ponder if he is dead inside.
Wargrave might have killed him first because Anthony is too egotistical for him and would have ruined his whole
(Christie 191). This doesn’t prove any outright murder as she denies her true motives but she also is slightly admitting to herself that there was no way she was going to save Cyril. Whether she concedes this because she feels guilty about not being there for him or if she is trying to calm her guilt by diluting her own responsibility is unclear, but either way there is more to the story than she lets on. Her discomfort is evidence of Vera very clearly struggling with the moral consequences of her
And Then There Was None opens with all of the main characters traveling by train or car to a ferry that will take them to a mysterious island named Indian Island. Each guest has received an invitation from a Mr. or Mrs. U.N. Owen, or a Mrs. Constance Culmington, to come to the island. As they arriving to the island each character starts remembering a traumatic death that has happened in each of their’s past. As they arrive on the island they are greeted by the servants that take each one of them to their room. Later they are all sitting at the table as the hear a loud noise coming from the other room they find out that the U.N. Owen on the card stands for unknow.
Within the context of these characters, their different responses to their crime
“To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.” -Desmond Tutu. This quote suggests why sentencing one to death after they have taken the life of another is not solving the problem. At most, it is helping to catalyze the grief and loathing towards those who have made mistakes.
(Christie91). The other issue is corporal penance. Justice Wargrave sits in a court of law, he gets the chance to decide on the crime that somebody commits are discovered as innocent and tends to live or discovered as blameworthy and face the death penalty. But the question is, what right do an individuals have to choose the destiny of others? Considering the possibility that a man was innocent and was hanged.
The novel “And Then There Were None” explores the different perceptions of justice when 10 people are invited to an island and are all mysteriously killed. The types of justice shown in this book are justice for the law and for others, justice for traditions and justice for love. Justice for the law and others is looked into by one character in particular, Mr. Justice Wargrave. Being a retired judge, he had dealt with right and wrong his whole life. In fact, he had felt from a young age “…
The setting of “And then there were none” is Soldier Island a fictional island that is based off of a real place, Burgh Island on the Southern coast of the United Kingdom. Not only does Burgh Island contain a fittingly large mansion, but the whole place is away from the mainland, making for a rather ominous setting. Perfect for someone looking for a mystery novel inspiration. Now let’s change the setting to a large abandon warehouse.
The good choices that Justice Wargrave made weren’t necessarily good choices, but deserved choices. The killing of Philip Lombard by Justice Wargrave was one of the more deserved killings that occurred in the book. " Philip Lombard, that upon a date in February, 1932, you were guilty of the death of twenty-one men, members of an East African tribe" (31). Mr. Lombard willingly sent 21 natives to their deaths. While this may sound bad, perhaps the more concerning thing is that he wasn’t ashamed that he did so.
One of the repeating themes in the “Pardoner’s Tale”-- a portion of The Canterbury Tales written by Chaucer- is the idea that death is inescapable. This is seen as three rioters-people given to unrestrained revelry and debauchery (127) -go to kill death but in turn meet their own deaths. As seen in these lines, death comes for all and often in a secret manor.
Even though Cassia loses someone whom she loves, she shows seldom signs of sorrow or grief when dealing with his death. This is evident when Cassia thinks to herself, “Today is for Grandfather. Tomorrow, things go back to normal again and we will move on and he will be gone.” (70).The comfortability that Cassia exhibits in accepting her grandfather’s death and lack of emotion that she shows makes it difficult for the reader to empathize with a character who does not feel much. On the other hand, Titus from Feed shows a clear struggle when grieving a death in his life.
At least some of the murders are unjust if we do not consider all of Wargrave’s victims murderers. Emily Brent, for example, did not actually kill her servant, Beatrice Taylor. Thus, one could argue that she deserves a lesser punishment for her crime as compared to the actual punishment given to the murder
Far from being a disinterested agent of justice, Wargrave is a sadist, taking perverse pleasure in murder. I did find this character interesting i like that he was very seek about killing the people. It just is so creepy that he killed everybody just one by one. The main events in the story as they discuss what to do, Tony Marston chokes on poisoned whiskey and dies.