The ambiguity of justice is a common theme in the works “The Purloined Letter” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Poe, A Study in Scarlet by Doyle, and The Unknown Weapon by Andrew Forester. The detectives in these stories solve crimes to seek justices for victims or against perpetrators; however they often pick crimes to solve based on their own personal agenda or to cater to their ego. The justices, whether served or not, meant something different in each of the five works. It can be debated in many of these stories whether a murder or crime actually takes place, as many of the deaths are accidental or a result of self-defense. It can also be argued that some of the victims were deserving and that justice was found in their deaths. Whatever justice is served, or not served, the resolution has a different impact on each of the works because of the debatable circumstances surrounding the crimes. This paper will explore each of the works and examine whether justice was served and what it means for …show more content…
each of the stories. The killings in “Murders in the Rue Morgue” are debatable as murders in the first place as the crime was committed by an animal that was confused and did not know any better. So what justice can be served is not quite clear. I would consider the ending of “Murders in the Rue Morgue” to be, of the five works, the story with the least amount of justice served. The sailor who let the Orangutan get out is not punished in any way and even gets to keep the pet and gained a profit from it. Certainly no justice is served for the two victims. Even after they are dead, their bodies are tossed about carelessly, and their deaths are very publicly exhibited in the papers. The bank clerk is wrongly arrested and so the justices that happens is in the wrong direction, although some is restored when he is released. The only justice found is in a boost to Dupin’s ego after he solves the crime and shows up the Paris police force. For the story with the grizzliest deaths it is odd to be the story with the least amount of justice in the ending. In the BBC Sherlock adaptation of A Study in Scarlet, A Study in Pink, justice for the murder victims is found in the resolution, by John Watson killing the cabby-murderer. Of the five works, A Study in Pink is the story with the most justice served for the victims. There is no doubt that the victims were just innocent people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although it can be argued that the woman who was a serial cheater might not be considered innocent she certainly was not deserving of death. In the other works it is not always true that the victims were not guilty of something themselves. The murderer being killed in the resolution of A Study in Pink, however unofficial that justice is, is still justice for the murder victims. The murders in this story are especially disturbing, as the killer tortures them and emotionally manipulates them into killing themselves. Sherlock also gets justice by finding out who his “fan” was, but he also lost some when the murderer is killed before Sherlock can find out if he chose the right pill. The murderer really plays off of Sherlock’s ego to get him to play the game, and this reveals a very dangerous fault within Sherlock. Moriarty, Sherlock’s “fan”, doesn’t get any justices as the killer he was hiring is caught and killed, however he does learn more about Sherlock with the whole pill situation. The resolution to A Study in Pink is the most open ended since it is the first episode of a TV series. Although there is justice and the mystery is solved there are still several unanswered questions. In the original Conan Doyle story, A Study in Scarlet the argument for justice is very different than in A Study in Pink. Even though A Study in Pink is an adaptation of A Study in Scarlet the stories are completely different from each other, especially in regards to justice. It can be debated that the two victims in A Study in Scarlet deserved their deaths and that justice was served in their executions. Certainly the murderer would find this to be true, and no justice can be brought against him in the resolution because he dies of natural causes in prison before he can be tried. This story’s justice comes from the resolution between the murderer and the victims and is very unofficial. However, it opens up a larger question about justice being served by an unofficial party. Jefferson Hope can certainly be seen as vigilante and in his eyes he is serving justice by killing Drebber and Stangerson. It might also be said that Hope’s timely death is a form of justice as he got to carry out his mission and dies before he can be tried. In The Unknown Weapon the death of the son was a result of self-defense on the part of the housekeeper. Thus, there wouldn’t be any legal actions needed to be taken had the housekeeper not threatened the wellbeing of the detective in order the keep her secret hidden. No justice is served in this story because Mrs. G_ cannot gather up the proper evidence to convict and is split herself on how guilty the murderer actually is. So no justice is served in this story; the validity of whether justice needs to be served is questionable. The son in The Unknown Weapon is actually guilty of some things himself; he has lead a slovenly life and was planning on stealing from his own father. Not that this makes him worthy of being killed, but it does pose and interesting point in regards to the justices aspect of the story. You can also look at the sons death as a form of poetic justices as the character in the story from which he takes the idea of how to steal from his father is killed in the same way. If the son was stupid enough to go through with a plan that is a failure already, his death can be seen as poetic justice. Both parties share some guilt in “The Purloined Letter” as the crime would never have happened had there not been something worth black mailing over.
In the end, however, the letter is recovered but this is not exactly justice as he has not paid for the crime he committed. He just no longer has the ability to commit the crime. The only justice that really could be served in this situation is if Minister D. never spoke of the letter again. If he went to jail over the crime then it would be all over the papers that the Queen had a scandal so the only justice that can be served in this situation is for Minister D. to keep it quiet. This story, even more than “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” is just a chance for Dupin to show off. He walks the reader through the mystery without giving them a chance to solve it. A small victory is won for the Queen, however, as Minister D. does not know that the letter has been taken back from him and so the Queen now has the upper
hand. Of these five works, the only true murder that happens is the cab driver killing in A Study in Pink. In the other stories it can be said that the people who are killed deserved to die, that it was in self-defense, or that the killings were accidental. Since all of these stories (except for A Study in Pink) were new and innovative for their time, it is apparent that use of justice in a gray area, has had a lot of influence on contemporary crime literature and film. It is a common occurrence in new crime media, for the detective to be conflicted about whether justice needs to be served or not. The influence of these works can also be seen in contemporary adaptations of vigilante detectives. In these five works the detective is either not affiliated with the police or completely circumvents them in order to get the job done. This is a common trope in new crime media, that the detective finds the police force idiotic and so brings justice in an unofficial manner. It is interesting to think about the possible ways these stories have influenced modern crime media tropes. Crime stories were relatively new at the time these stories were written, so the way the authors chose to pose justice in such a “gray area” way is a thought-provoking choice.
This examination will look at the short story “Killings” by Andre Dubus and the main characters in the story. The story begins on a warm August day with the burial of Matt and Ruth Fowler’s youngest son Frank. Frank’s age: “twenty-one years, eight months, and four days” (Dubus 107). Attending the funeral were Matt, his wife Ruth, their adult children and spouses. Matt’s family is extremely distraught over the murder of their youngest son/brother, in their own way. There are implications of wanting to kill Richard Strout, the guy accused of being the murderer: “I should kill him” (107), as stated after the service. This comment is considered a fore-shadowing of what is to come in the thought progression of Matt and Ruth.
If that does not occur to the reader as an issue than factoring in the main problem of the topic where innocent people die because of false accusation will. In addition, this book review will include a brief review of the qualifications of the authors, overview of the subject and the quality of the book, and as well as my own personal thoughts on the book. In the novel Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make It Right authors Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld, and Jim Dwyer expose the flaws of the criminal justice system through case histories where innocent men were put behind bars and even on death row because of the miscarriages of justice. Initially, the text promotes and galvanizes progressive change in the legal
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” is a short psychological thriller. The murder of Fortunato haunts Montresor so greatly that he feels the compulsion to tell the story some fifty years after the fact. He appears to be in the late stages of life desperately attempting to remove the stain of murder from his mind. That it is still so fresh and rich in specifics is proof that it has plagued him, “Perhaps the most chilling aspect of reading Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ for the first time is not the gruesome tale that Montresor relates, but the sudden, unpredictable, understated revelation that the murder, recounted in its every lurid detail, occurred not yesterday or last week, but a full fifty years prior to the telling” (DiSanza).
Reading newspapers or watching TV at home, at least we find one article or news describing a killing, a shooting, or an armed robbery. With all these problems, we are in fear but cannot avoid hearing and dealing with them. They happen every day and some time justice system blunders and leads to wrongly convict people for what they do not commit. This is reality of wrecked system that is resulted by injustice and corruption. Ultimately, Errol Morris confirms this reality based on a true story of an innocent convicted Randal Adams for a criminal case by creating a film, The Thin Blue Line. David Harris, an important accuser, claims Adams was a murderer and shot Robert Wood, a Dallas police officer. With Morris’ suspicion of Adams’ innocence, he turns himself to be a detective movie director and investigates the criminal case that occurred in Dallas, Texas in 1976. His goal is to show that Adams was wrongly convicted and justice system was flawed. By using juxtaposition and recreations, Morris successfully contrasts Adams and Harris to show that Adams is innocent and Harris is guilty, intensifies distrust of the legality in Adams’ wrong conviction to prove a flawed legal system, and evinces the eye witnesses are discreditable.
In Harry Mulisch’s novel The Assault, the author not only informs society of the variance in perception of good and evil, but also provides evidence on how important it is for an innocent person experiencing guilt to come to terms with their personal past. First, Mulisch uses the characters Takes, Coster, and Ploeg to express the differences in perspective on the night of the assault. Then he uses Anton to express how one cannot hide from the past because of their guilt. Both of these lessons are important to Mulisch and worth sharing with his readers.
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most celebrated literary authors of all time, known for writing very suspenseful, dramatic short stories and a poet; is considered as being a part of the American Romantic Movement, and a lesser known opinion is he is regarded as the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. Most recognized for his mystery and macabre, a journey into the dark, ghastly stories of death, deception and revenge is what makes up his reputation. The short story under analysis is a part of his latter works; “The Cask of Amontillado”, a story of revenge takes readers into the mind of the murderer.
Bowers, W, Pierce, G., and McDevitt, J.(1984), Legal Homicide: Death as Punishment in America, 1964-1982, 333
“ ….Judgments, right or wrong. This concern with concepts such as finality, jurisdiction, and the balance of powers may sound technical, lawyerly, and highly abstract. But so is the criminal justice system….Law must provide simple answers: innocence or guilt, freedom or imprisonment, life or death.” (Baude, 21).
In both of Edgar Allan Poe’s writings, “The Murders at the Rue Morgue” and “The Tell Tale Heart” as the reader I am able to identify possible roles of crime and comfort in each piece. As we discussed in lecture, crime can be breaking the law, an act against another that is hurtful and against human morals, punishable by law, victimizing and much more. In each reading we find our self deeply immersed in the story this gives me the reader a clearer understanding into each tragedy by having the opportunity to clearly define the role of crime and comfort in each reading.
Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of murder and revenge, “The Cask of Amontillado”, offers a unique perspective into the mind of a deranged murderer. The effectiveness of the story is largely due to its first person point of view, which allows the reader a deeper involvement into the thoughts and motivations of the protagonist, Montresor. The first person narration results in an unbalanced viewpoint on the central conflict of the story, man versus man, because the reader knows very little about the thoughts of the antagonist, Fortunato. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado”, in the dark catacombs of Montresor’s wine cellar, contributes to the story’s theme that some people will go to great lengths to fanatically defend their honor.
There is a man passed out at the base of the statue. This is using a
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a frightening and entertaining short story about the severe consequences that result from persistent mockery and an unforgiving heart. Poe’s excellent use of Gothicism within the story sets the perfect tone for a dark and sinister plot of murder to unfold. “The Cask of Amontillado” simply overflows with various themes and other literary elements that result from Poe’s Gothic style of writing. Of these various themes, one that tends to dominant the story as a whole is the theme of revenge, which Poe supports with his sophisticated use of direct and indirect factors, irony, and symbolism.
As a literal deathbed revelation, William Wilson begins the short story by informing the readers about the end of his own personal struggle by introducing and immediately acknowledging his guilt and inevitable death, directly foreshadowing the protagonist’s eventual downward spiral into vice. The exhortative and confession-like nature of the opening piece stems from the liberal use of the first person pronoun “I”, combined with legal and crime related jargon such as, “ crime”, “guilt”, and “victim” found on page 1. Poe infuses this meticulous word choice into the concretization of abstract ideas where the protagonist’s “virtue dropped bodily as a mantle” (Poe 1), leading him to cloak his “nakedness in triple guilt” (Poe 1). In these two examples, not only are virtue and guilt transformed into physical clothing that can be worn by the narrator, but the reader is also introduced to the protagonist’s propensity to externalize the internal, hinting at the inevitable conclusion and revelation that the second William Wilson is not truly a physical being, but the manifestation of something
In the year 2014, law enforcement in the U.S. estimated 1,165,383 violent crimes reported (“D2014VC”). Imagine all the people needed just to get to the bottom of these cases! There is an abundant amount of Americans solving mysteries every day to keep others safe. There are crimes being committed all around the U.S. at every second of the day. In John Grisham’s The Pelican Brief, he displays a firm relation between investigators and lawyers through the Criminal Justice System of acquiring suspects and evidence, indicated in the book with an exploration of the scandals of Supreme Court Justices Rosenberg and Jensen (Grisham).
If we are to be truly innocent and humble beings, we must recognize our own innate guilt as human and accept it. If we do not, we will constantly be obsessed by our “state of apparent acquittals”. Kafka, Franz. A. The Trial. Trans.