And Then There Were None Essay On Guilt

Mason Clark

Mrs. Marlowe

English IV Honors

16 December, 2022

Guilty Effects Guilt is a emotion to demonize those who know they are wrong and remind them of the pain they caused. This is displayed incredibly well by the characters in Agatha Christie's murder mystery novel And Then There Were None Published in 1939. A typical person experiencing guilt is someone who will imprison themselves in their mind, causing them to slowly regret and understand the reason for guilt to be present. When a persons actions, that they thought were hidden, are revealed the person or charater will start to feel guilt and second guess their actions. When the charaters are faced with a speculated death, they start to understand and regret the murder and the

Guilt that is chosen to live with will cause the perpetrator to collapse under the stress of their guilty conscience and regret the action as a whole. During a psychological evaluation done by a reader they share that “While these characters maintain a show of innocence, however, their guilt emerges less consciously, through dreams or memories that undermine their self-assurance and certainty. Thoughts of their victims trouble a number of the guests. Emily feels haunted by the spirit of her servant; for Vera, the smell of the sea seems to summon the spirit of the drowned boy. These episodes point to the way in which guilt, even if denied by the rational faculties, can make its presence felt in other ways.” (Birns 2) As the novel gets further into the story the remaining guests start to have heavy hallucinations of their past from the accusation of the gramophone record that was player earlier in the story. These guest start to lose their touch with reality and start letting the guilt overwhelm them along with the factor of fear and the foreshadowing of a upcoming death. A conversation between Blore, Lombard and Armstrong turns into a deep accusation towards Armstong causing him to remember “I killed her allright. Poor devil- elderly woman- simple job if i’d been sober. Lucky for me there’s loyalty in our profession. The Sister knew, of course- but she held her tongue…But who could have known about it - after all these years?” (Christie 71-72) The gramophone record plays and confuses many characters because many couldent believe that someone could possible know about their disgraceful decisions they made. This is shown by armstrong, he starts to sink into thought about who could have possibly had heard about what was believed to be confidential. When all is said, many characters relive the events they choose to forget,