The Private Memoirs And Confessions Of A Justified Sinner Summary

The story of Robert Wringham Colwan is one of sadness and pity. It is the story of a young man who was living a stable life until pride and poor decision making got in the way. Robert was a good child and lived a fulfilling life. It was when he chose to do and meet the wrong people that he fell from his good state. In addition to his self-conceived sense of entitlement and power, his ability to judge right from wrong became blurred. His choice making went downhill and his perception of life was blinded by his ego. His decisions caught up to him, and when he realizes what he has done, he is so self-disdained that he kills himself. In James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Robert Wringham’s ego and faulty judgment

Having known that his father abandoned him and that his brother lived with his father, he grew yearning to retaliate. He was disturbed by the negligence of his father and this had an effect on his lack of logical decision making. He did not care what he did as long as he avenged his brother and father. Thus when told by his friend to kill his brother he goes along with it and completes the task. In the Memoirs it is true that Robert made a lot of bad decisions, but the biggest instance was when he decided to be friends with Gil-Martin. Having been fascinated with Gil-Martin’s personality Robert began to be close friends with the young man; he completely ignored the outrageous tasks that he was told to carry out. This was the start of a fierce downfall for Robert. This friendship brought about and led to the rest of his bad decisions. These decisions then

Gil-Martin led Robert to do many things that were completely wrongful and it affected Robert severely in the long run. From killing people Gil-Martin disliked to killing his own brother, at the end of the day Robert chose this for himself. Even when told to kill his brother he was hesitant, meaning he did know that what he was told to do was wrong. Robert let his amazement towards Gil-Martin’s knowledge override his sense of logic. The things that Gil-Martin asked him to do were clearly wrong yet he listened out of his deep appreciation for him; no thought just feeling. He knew this friendship was a bad idea, yet he pursued it and thus led to his own fall. His thought process in pursuing such a relationship failed to include reason. Choosing to better know Gil-Martin ultimately led to his tragic death. Robert’s lack of sound decision making was affected by his various relationships with friends and family and due to the influences these relationships had on him. The next key factor that led to Robert's rough demise was his sense of pride. His rush of pride first started to flow when his caretaker, the Reverend, told him that he was now a