Guilty Justice

"That was what murder was—as easy as that! But afterwards you went on remembering..." (269.) In the novel And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, ten strangers are invited to an island by a mysterious person who none of them remember meeting. Upon their arrival, they realize that their host is not there, and none of the servants have seen the host either. As a result of the murders they committed, they were ironically killed, one by one, according to an old nursery rhyme.The characters were murdered according to the severity of the crimes they committed; consequently, their death was determined by their guilt.

Mrs. Rogers was spared prolong torture because she had already suffered enough guilt from her crime and was less responsible than her husband. Mrs. Rogers had always felt guilty for what she had done, and therefore, had already started paying for her crime. After noticing that Mrs. Rogers seemed scared of everything, Vera thinks, "She looked like a woman who walked in mortal fear.... [...] What on earth was the woman afraid of?" (31). This shows that Mrs. Rogers' fear from the guilt of her crime is taking over her appearance and is obvious.

Mrs. Rogers was a part of a crime that was hard to be proven; however, she knew that she had done something wrong and was guilty. After a gramophone played stating their crimes, Mr. Rogers tried to maintain he and his wife's innocence by explaining, '"She was always in poor health, sir, always from the time we came to her,"' Blore, however, questioned the crime, '"Came into a little something at her death, though? Eh?"' (69). Blore's question shows a motive for the murder, making the Rogers seem more guilty and explaining the reason Mrs. Rogers acts the way she does.

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...hair, she decides to kill herself because she thinks that is what Hugo would have wanted, "She climbed up on the chair, her eyes staring in front of her like a sleepwalker's... She adjusted the noose round her neck. Hugo was there to see she did what she had to do. She kicked away the chair...."(269). This shows that even though she hid her guilt, it was there all along. When she could no longer control it, she takes her own life.

Not all of the crimes were equal and neither was the guilt each person felt, which determined the order of their deaths. The longer each of the guests were on the island, the more guilt they felt; therefore, those who did not feel their guilt died last. Every person has regrets, but not everyone shares the same level of conscience. The sooner one admits their wrongdoing, the sooner they can move on and leave their regrets in the past.