And Then There Were None is a novel written by Agatha Christie. In the novel, the ten main characters are sent to an island by someone under the name U.N. Owen. Throughout the course of their stay, the characters are killed off one at a time by someone among the original ten, following the words of a nursery rhyme. Two of these characters are Vera Claythorne and Dr. Armstrong. Both characters feel constant guilt throughout the course of the novel, one becoming frantic and emotional, and the other beginning to become unsure of their memory and themselves. Through Vera’s reactions towards the deaths and to the seaweed in her room, along with Dr. Armstrong’s thoughts while recalling his drunken operation, it is seen that guilt can cause people …show more content…
Following Mr. Roger's death, Vera seemingly has a mental breakdown, which is described, “... as though the sane well-balanced girl had gone mad before their eyes” (Christie 113). To the others, Vera has always been seen as, as the quote says, well-balanced, sane, and all in all normal, making her outburst odd for how she presents herself. The stress of the deaths and of the situation in general has driven her to practically the brink of madness, with the additional effects of her guilt making the situation feel unescapable, and maybe even deserved. Additionally, as Vera reflects on Cyril and his murder, she feels the seaweed planted in her room touch her neck. “She screamed and screamed - screams of the utmost terror - wild desperate cries for help … It was that which she had taken for a clammy hand, a drowned hand come back from the dead to squeeze the life out of her!” (Christie 130-131). Although the reaction to the seaweed could be seen as acceptable due to the situation, because she was thinking of Cyril, her fear is more amplified due to her guilt. Moreover, the way Vera describes the seaweed gives the impression that she has always feared the drowned Cyril somehow coming back from the dead to take revenge, a fear she has never shown, even in her thoughts, up until this point. Through this, Vera’s change in character from a …show more content…
Armstrong also acts out of character by becoming unsure of himself due to both the fear of the killer and the stress of being accused as the killer. After defending himself following the playing of the gramophone record revealing their past deeds he thinks to himself, “Drunk - that’s what it was - drunk … And I operated! Nerves all to pieces - hands shaking … But who could have known about it—after all these years?” (Christie 48). Despite normally being a self-assured person, in this specific portion of his thoughts, Armstrong questions not only the events of the operation, but also how well-kept the secret of his actions were for someone to have found out. Armstrong is second-guessing himself, not trusting his own memory and attempting to convince himself he was just drunk due to the pressure of his actions being revealed so publicly, and due to the guilt that his reputation as a doctor may be damaged because of this revelation. On top of this, when Justice Wargrave declares that the killer must be among one of them, Armstrong becomes increasingly apprehensive. “He twitched and his hands shook. He lighted cigarette after cigarette and stubbed them out almost immediately. The forced inaction of their position seemed to gall him more than the others” (Christie 127). As a doctor, Armstrong has a history of having to deal with nerves during operations, yet the current situation, his past actions out in the open, a killer on the loose, and guilt from operating drunk, has
Throughout Walter Dean Myers’ book Monster, the reader has been led through a series of confusion within Steve Harmon’s head. Steve Harmon—a never convicted 16 year old—has been put on trial along with James King for the murder of a man named Mr. Nesbitt. He went through a large deal of stress through the case due to feeling that he is innocent. Throughout the trials, this led to the questioning of himself many times. Although many people believe to know themselves, people are truly unaware of who they are.
During the entire time up till her death, Vera was almost in a trance-like state. Almost blinded by what she wanted,
While he attended this school he began working as an assistant physician. Later he became a full time physician. In 1988 he was arrested for killing at least 215 people and possibly 260 more of his patients. Shipman’s way of killing his victims was to inject them with very lethal doses of many different types of pain killers. Shipman was also known as “Fred”, only because his middle name was Frederick.
This is a major piece of evidence that should compel you to charge Mr. Armstrong guilty for the intimidation of my client William Armstrong. Now I will share the last reason I have for the
The Story of the Murderous Doctor “More than 700,000 people die in hospitals each year in the U.S.” (Shmerling). Although it is doctors’ job to save lives, deaths still occur. When in a hospital, the patient’s life lies in the doctor’s hands. Most doctors do everything in their power to make sure that their patients stay alive, of course, there are exceptions for everything. In this case, the patient’s life who ends up in the hands of Michael Swango might not be so lucky.
Although the reason Fern was ultimately sent away has many more grounds, Rosemary thought she would be gone with just her remark, even though for years she would miss her sister Fern more than anything. Furthermore, Rosemary follows Lowell on numerous occasions in hopes he will begin to care for her more than Fern. As she was the only one small enough to fit through the dog door, she climbed through and “did it for love” (Fowler 74). This shows how Rosemary will do impulsive acts in order to please others and receive the attention and love she craves from them. As a result of these points, it is evident that Rosemary acts on impulse in order
There were two other participants alongside him, James King and Richard “Bobo” Evans. The role that Harmon was accused of in the crime was being the “lookout” according to the prosecutor, Sandra Petrocelli, yet Steve had no background record of being a convicted criminal or had evidence presented against him. Analyzing, aggravating, petrifying, Steve’s mind was wrapped around the statements that the prosecutor, his own lawyer, the witnesses, and the prisoners were stating. Text
And Then There Were None Vera finds a poem in her room about little soldier boy, which foreshadows the coming deaths and sets the mood. The guests are at dinner when they realize that none of them actually knows the mysterious person who invited them to the island, which is one of the first signs that something is not right.
Harold Shipman, aka Dr. Death, is the most prolific serial killer in the history of the United Kingdom (2020). Additionally, Shipman was a medical doctor practicing in the UK during the 1970s, 80s, and 90s and is best known for the suspected murder of around 250 of his patients. Shipman’s mother died from lung cancer Early in his life (Sharma, 2022). Some believe that seeing his mother receive morphine shots to ease the pain of cancer is what got him interested in medicine. In 1976, early in his career, Shipman was charged with writing fake prescriptions to himself for painkillers (2000).
Literary Analysis: Guilt and Shame within “The Things They Carried” In the book The Things They Carried, there is a strong overall theme of guilt and shame. These two feelings correspond greatly with their involvement in the war. From these feelings, the Vietnam soldiers were forced to bear with hopelessness and despair as well when reflecting on their lives, and to continue to cope with it - for better or for worse. Jimmy Cross gets distracted by looking at the pictures of Martha in the chapter “The Things They Carried.”
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie was the book I read this month, it incorporated 300 pages. This novel took place on Soldier Island. When I read this book, I did not gain any historical information. The back cover of the book intrigued me because all the characters were headed to mysterious island, without any knowledge about it. Each character’s hardships captivated me because of the interesting outcome it could have one themselves.
1.Guilt is one of the worst things accompanied by death. Guilt plays a huge role throughout the novel. In war, men are constantly dying and these men all become best friends with one another. For example, Norman Bowker felt a tremendous amount of quilt towards the death of Kiowa.
In Robertson Davies’ novel Fifth Business, the author utilizes the characters to illustrate that a person’s guilt may become a deadly venom to their conscience if it is carried as a burden throughout their life. This only leads to the deterioration of the characters, themselves. Paul Dempster’s guilt begins as a child when his father, Amasa Dempster, starts to blame him for his mother’s simple behaviour. Being a gullible child, Paul’s father is able to strictly reform how Paul thinks of himself. The words of Amasa’s verbal abuse continue to form Paul’s life as he immerses himself with guilt over what his mother has become.
And Then There Were None is a well known novel written by the amazing Agatha Christie it was later made into the film 10 Little Indians. Differences between these two works include character names and crimes, setting, the ending. In the movie seven of the ten guests on the island had different names. Anthony Marston was renamed as Mike Raven; Justice Wargrave was changed to Arthur Canon; General Macarthur was called General ManDrake; Mister and misses Rogers name change was mister and misses Groman; Vera Claythorn was referred to as Anne Clyde; Emily Brent did not exist and was replaced by a character by the name of Ilona Bergen.
All characters are accused and redeemed of guilt but the murderer is still elusive. Much to the shock of the readers of detective fiction of that time, it turns out that the murderer is the Watson figure, and the narrator, the one person on whose first-person account the reader 's’ entire access to all events depends -- Dr. Sheppard. In a novel that reiterates the significance of confession to unearth the truth, Christie throws the veracity of all confessions contained therein in danger by depicting how easily the readers can be taken in by