Revised Endings: Difference Between Murder In The Real World

The short story, “Revised Endings” by Jan Burke, follows a detective fiction author as she argues with her new editor on the best way to end her new novel. “Revised Endings” works to compare and contrast the difference between murder in the fictional world and in the real world. It also speaks on the morality of the characters who commit or consider committing murder.

The protagonist, Harriet Bently was the author of a series of detective fiction novels. In the novels that she wrote, Harriet’s main character, Lord Harold Wiggins, believed that when he killed, it was moral because he was murdering someone who committed a terrible crime. “His trademark was to effect justice without costing the English taxpayers farthing for an imprisonment

or a trial; once Lord Wiggins knew who the guilty party was, he cleverly killed the villain” (200). Looking at this quote, it almost seems justifiable that Wiggins is killing people. The writing has a sense of emotion in it. Harriet, as the author of the series of novels, wants the reader to know Lord Wiggins is killing, not because he is a psychopath, but because he believes he is doing the best for his community: taking a criminal off of the streets, and saving the taxpayers money. Lord Wiggins, as the main character, is considered a good person, even though he has murdered. This is because Lord Wiggins has a sense of morality. Morality is simply knowing the difference between right and wrong, and choosing to do the right thing. From what is written about the character of Lord Wiggins, he knows the difference, and he believes that the right thing is to get rid of the bad people.
Throughout the course of this story, Harriet argued with her editor, Kitty Craig, over how best to kill off a character at the end of the novel.

Kitty made Harriet rewrite the ending of her novel five times, and when she told Harriet to rewrite, she did so using scathing remarks and nasty comments. Because Harriet was so frustrated, she decided that she was going to kill Kitty at an awards banquet that was coming up in New York. Harriet planned this real life murder in the same way that she planned the murders in her novels: through research. “Harriet became quite delighted at the prospect. She did not doubt that she would be able to kill. After all, she had already murdered over thirty characters. Among those thirty characters were a great many individuals she liked better than Kitty Craig” (202). When she first decides to kill Kitty, Harriet is delighted by the prospect. She even compares it to her writing, when Lord Wiggins murders. However, it seems as though Harriet does not realize that killing a person in real life is much different than writing off a character in a book. Is Harriet a moral character if she is planning a murder? Can she be? Throughout this story, Harriet is able to question her morals. Harriet was prepared emotionally and physically for the murder by the time she landed in New York. However, when she witnessed a woman get hit by a car and die, she changed her mind. When she saw death up close, she realized how permanent it is, and because of her morals, she realizes that she wouldn’t be able to follow through with her plan of taking Kitty’s

life.
Morality, the difference between right and wrong, can vary depending on who the person is, and what the situation is. In Harriet’s novels, Lord Harold Wiggins believed himself to be moral because of the reasoning behind his killing. He does not kill because he enjoys it, but rather because he believes it to be the moral thing to do. On the other hand, Harriet’s morals shift. At the beginning of the story, she plans a murder because she does not like her new editor. However, the reader can see her morals shift when she sees a dead body and realizes what death and killing is actually like. Harriet is a moral person for the sole purpose that she realized that what she was planning was wrong, and she didn’t go through with it.