Grace

Is Murder Ever Right?

Is murder, the act of illegally killing another human being, considered wrong if it
is used for a good cause? Wrong meaning unjust or unlawful. Guilt a side effect of
murder, or doing really anything wrong, can overpower so many different things
including the way someone acts. Greif another side effect of murder is not felt within the
murderer but within the friends and family of the victim. Why do people do something to
kill someone? Because they are jealous, because they feel it is justice, because they think
that that is the right thing to do? The actions of Justice Wargrave, in And Then There
Were None by Agatha Christie, were not of grief, guilt, or jealousy, but of justice and
desire.
While giving murderers what they are just to, which is death, might sound like a
good idea you are just turning more people into murderers by having them kill other
people. In the Code of Hammurabi, it states, If a man put out the eye of another man, his
eye shall be put out. [An eye for an eye] Justice Wargraves desire was to kill the killers.
He did his duty, as a judge, to give justice to those who needed it. If a man kills another
man he too should be killed. The good thing is he did not leave a single murderer alive on
that island so he killed himself too. On page 299 of And Then There Were None he says,
The manner of my death marking me on the forehead. This is where he explains that he
to will be dead when he is done writing the letter explaining the undisclosed murder
mystery. One could say this is good because his actions got rid of the murderers but he
was still killing people. They might not have been innocent people but they were people
all the same.

Desire, its what drives people to do certain things, act a certain way, or say a
certain thing. In this case, Justice Lawrence Wargrave had the desire to kill. He wanted to
feel the thrill of it and be able to do it just once. He decided to do it on people who
committed murder. Though murderers might be your enemies and all you want to do is
get rid of them you should follow what Luke 6:27-28 has to say, Love your enemies
who mistreat you. Love it says, not kill. Those who have done wrong are forgiven and
they are to be treated with love. Though the ten little soldier boys on the island were
murderers they were guilty to some level about what they had done. They anticipated
forgiveness, to be set free from guilt. They should have been loved, not killed. The
innocent must not suffer. (Christie, 299) Right there he was explaining that he did not
want to kill people because murder, if the victim does not deserve it, is wrong. Again
about guilt, people break down at the slightest thing and then they go crazy. For example,
Vera Claythorne murders a small child, Cyril. She is overwhelmed with guilt when
something reminds her of Cyril. Murder not only tears those who knew and loved the
victim but it tears apart the murderer slowly bits and pieces at a time.
Justice Lawrence Wargrave committed a crime that is not to be overlooked.
Murder as seen in Wargraves case can be generated by desire, justice, and much more.
Jealousy pushed Vera to murder, but not Wargrave. Rightness pushed Lombard to murder,
but once again, not Wargrave. Justice, the main virtue of a judge like him, is what pushed
Lawrence Wargrave to murder. Even if it is what a person deserves, is killing a good
idea?