An innocent murderer

In the book “Ten Little Indians” by Agatha Christie, there is a man, Wargrave, who, ever since he was a little boy, liked causing death.  He grew up and became a very well-known judge, taking pleasure in freeing the innocent and convicting the guilty. “To see a wretched criminal squirming in the dock, suffering the tortures of the dammed, as his doom came slowly nearer was to me an exquisite pleasure.” He says. He decides that wants to, as his last major act, commit his own fantastic murder. He gathers ten people, guilty of murders themselves, and one by one, he kills them off, each dying the same way as the Indians in the nursery rhyme Ten Little Indians. Even though Wargrave is not a sane person, he was able to fulfill his death wishes without any innocents suffering.

You can tell, by the actions and desires of Wargrave, that he has many of the qualities of a serial killer. As the book continues, you realize that he actually could not help himself in the killing of others. He literally had to kill, the same way you have to eat. But yet he looked down upon the guilty defendants who had murdered innocent people. I think he felt himself to be better than them. He was able to master his impulse by ruling immaculately in court, and then when he could not control himself, he moved on to murder of the guilty. He was almost like a fair killer, even determining who should die first and not have to suffer through the suspense of waiting to die.

While Wargrave is certainly not an innocent man, nor is he a sane one, it was interesting to see how a judge dealt with a lust to kill.  He never says what he is doing is an act of justice, always calling it a murder, but he does not seem to feel any qualms (though they are guilty) about taking the lives of nine living people. He ends up killing himself at the end of the story, but not because he feels regret, or even because he is afraid of getting get caught. He kills himself so that there will be no explanation on how 10 perfectly healthy people die on an isolated island.

This is not a response that I, or hopefully anyone can really relate to or empathize with, but it was different, trying to think about the way a killer thinks. It is sad, that there are people like this, who actually enjoy killing others. If we lived in a perfect world, everyone would be sane and rational, but there are people that have bad childhoods, grow up poor, or teased, or are just crazy. We can try to make the world a better place by just being kind to others, so hopefully, they will as well.