In the book The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, the two characters Robert Wringhim and Gil-Martin are introduced early on in the Private Memoirs. Robert Wringhim is the second son of wealthy laird, George Colwan. He is rejected by his father after the firstborn son George Colwan Jr. He is adopted by Robert Wringhim Sr., the local minister. Within Wringhims mind it is evident how deeply hateful he is of his biological father and brother. The editor’s narrative gives a detailed account of the events that transpired, but the Private Memoirs provides the first hand account through Robert Wringhims eyes. Ultimately we see how Wringhim spirals into madness from different perspectives. The two texts often give both similar and …show more content…
Gil-Martin is introduced after Robert himself becomes blessed by the church and by this father. The relationship between Robert and Gil-Martin begins at a key moment in Robert's life. Robert and his relationship with Gil-Martin does not start out good. The events that unfolded to Robert meeting Gil-Martin are harrowing. He meets him right after he is blessed and made righteous before God. This was done by his father’s hand, being made right before God, to be sanctified. As Robert leaves to go meditate and pray to God for his kindness, his gaze meets a young man whom he recounts his presence as “a sort of invisible power that drew me towards him, something like the force of enchantment, which I could not resist” (Hogg 39). Already Gil-Martin is emanating a sense of power that Robert cannot avoid. This is already a sign that Gil-Martin is not merely a man, but something more a supernatural being. Later on we see how Robert is drawn to Gil-Martin even though he knows that he is not a good influence. “...when I left him I felt a deliverance, but at the same time a certain consciousness that I was not thus to get free of him, but that he was like to be an acquaintance that was to stick to me for good or for evil” (Hogg 40). Unsure of who Gil-Martin is, Robert is …show more content…
The devil is known for being a deceiver, a liar, and a tempter. Gil-Martin exemplifies all three of these characteristics. He is a deceiver because he is able to change his appearance. “But, surely, if you are the young gentleman with whom I spent the hours yesterday, you have a chameleon art of changing your appearance; I never could have recognized you” (Hogg 42). Gil-Martin has the ability to change his appearance and with this ability he is able to deceive many people. He deceives many people throughout the narrative and memoir, pretending to be someone he is not. Different accounts from people seeing doubles. A first-hand account given by Bell Calvert as she claims “when I looked down at the two strangers, one of them was extremely like Drummond” (Hogg 26). This account was given before the murder of George Colwan. The assumption can be made that Gil-Martin changed his appearance to look like Drummond in order to deceive George and others. People end up believing that Drummond actually killed George Colwan, but in reality Gil-Martin invaded the identity of Drummond. Another way that Gil-Martin can be seen as the devil is that he tempts Robert with power and authority. Gil-Martin firstly convinces Robert that he is rather tasked with eliminating the sinners on earth, but secondly he tempts Robert with that power of being the head of an army. “That supposing me placed at the head of any army of Christian
The animals in this story are closely related to the characters, especially the character of Robert. Rodwell acknowledges Robert's close union with animals when he draws Robert in his sketchbook as "the only human form" among sketches of animals (155). When Robert sees the drawing, he notices that "the shading [is] not quite human"; it is a combination of animal and human qualities, like Robert's own personality (155). "Modified and mutated, he [is] one with the others" (155). Rodwell's sketchbook reveals the melding of Robert with the animal world.
Robert’s bond with the animals starts prior to the war with the coyote in the beginning of the novel as he first discovers the harmlessness of nature and animals. Robert ran outside one night and saw a coyote; he thought
(p. 44); "Who came to you with the devil?" and ".perhaps another person in the village?" (p. 45). A few of his faults are that he judges too much by appearances, ".you look as such a good soul should" (p. 37); ".a claim so weighty cannot be argued by a farmer," (p. 99); and he uses people to question other people.
The protagonist, Martin is supportive, old-fashioned, and a hard worker. Firstly, Martin is supportive, “It was hard to believe that your own son was not like you wanted him to be, but Martin thought sadly you couldn’t make him see, if he didn’t feel that way…” (200). Despite his wish for David to grow up and live on a farm, he somewhat accepts David’s wishes with a strong effort and is supportive of David. Secondly, Martin is old-fashioned, “Martin listened with sick wonder to this stranger who had been his son. The city… It’s there the days are the same.” (197). Martin reveals his feelings toward the city and his preference of the farm life rather than the city life. Thirdly, Martin is hard working, “The plowed land was here before us and it will last after us and our hands should be proud to work in it.” (194). Martin works hard like any other farmer, maintaining the farm and livestock everyday despite his old age. Therefore, the protagonist Martin is supportive, old-fashioned, and hard
In the final scenes of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain’s encounter with Sir Bertilak allows Gawain to perceive his own flaws, manifested in his acceptance of the Green Girdle. The court’s reaction to his personal guilt highlights the disconnect between him and the other knights of the Round Table. Gawain’s behavior throughout the poem has been most noteworthy; his understanding of his sin, one that many of us would dismiss since it was propelled by his love of life, enhances his stature as a paragon of chivalry.
John Grimes, the eldest son of Gabrial Grimes whom was a former well-respected and dynamic preacher, is in search of answers to his unhappiness. John wants to find his place within the church, define his relationship with god, and wants to flush the dislike he has for his father out. His father favors John’s younger brother Roy over himself. Although Roy is a bad seed and has an impeccable ability for getting into trouble he undoubtedly remains the apple of his father’s eye. John has been compared to another young man named Elisha, whom is a member of the church. Elisha is a few years older than John and has the respect of all the congregation members because he showed great intere...
Robert initially is very helpful and kind to the married ladys on the island helping them with anything they needed including rounding up the children on page 19 “There was the sound of approaching voices. It was Robert, surrounded by a troop of children, searching for them. The two little Pontelliers were with him, and he carried Madame Ratignolles little girl in his arms.” He however becomes very controlling and manipulative to Edna and her interest by being increasingly friendly, and slowly becoming sensual with Edna. At the end of chapter 10 he sits down to spend time with Edna in the Hammock while her husband is away, even though they sit in silence. He is manipulating Edna because he is aware that her husband doesn’t give her much attention and that because of this Edna would be drawn to him. After they sit down together the author states “No multitude of words could have been more significant than those moments of silence, or more pregnant with the first- felt throbbings of desire.” (pg30)The desire from Robert is only stemming from the fact that her husband does not treat her same and does not give her the same attention. Roberts’s manipulation is also evident on the boat ride in chapter 12 as Robert is made aware by his Spanish friend Mariequita that he should not be going on trips with a married woman saying “ Francisco ran away with Sylvanos wife, who had four children. They took all his money and one of the children and stole his boat.” (pg 34)Yet Robert still pursues Edna asking her “ Let us go to Grand Terre to-morrow ?” (pg 34) to “climb up the hill to the old fort and look at the little wriggling gold snakes, and watch the lizards sun themselves.”(pg 34) , again picking at her weakness of loneliness. Another act of his controlling
In the literary classic, The Scarlet Letter, readers follow the story of a Puritan New England colony and the characteristics of that time period. Readers begin to grasp concepts such as repentance and dealing with sin through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s indirect descriptions of these detailed and complex characters by their actions and reactions. The character Roger Chillingworth symbolizes sin itself and deals with internal conflict throughout the course of the story. The narrator describes Chillingworth in a critical attitude to reveal to the reader the significance of repentance and revenge by the use of many literary techniques such as
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J.R.R. Tolkien, Gawain, a knight of the round table, expresses love and respect to aid his journey. These forms of love, from the beginning to the end, play key roles in demonstrating and maintaining the dignity of his knighthood. The manifestation of Gawain’s love forms a number of relationships over the course of the poem. Accordingly, these relationships test his true vow of chivalry and sustain his credibility as a true knight of the round table.
...his is a defining moment for Bub; he realized that Robert helped him see how blind he had been to the blessings in his life up to this point.
Henry Drummond symbolizes the devil to the people of Hillsboro because he is accepting of change that is different from the Bible.
The two pictures, both mentioned together at the end of the novel, but taken at different points of Robert's life, display the extreme transformation that has taken place in his life. It makes you look back over all that has happened to Robert and determine what took place for him to have gone through such a change.
...ks with Robert throughout the whole book is his sister and her care and love for animals.
Whilst both authors put forth an opinionated view of moral issues, the opinions presented leaned more traditionally. Immorality in every instance was analyzed through an inherently negative lens. This biased exploration of moral issues leaves the reader with a conflicting mindset. One might like the characters and disagree with how they acted, or the bias put forth changes how the reader views the characters as a whole. Looking through the inner conflicts and external conflicts present in both works one can see the similar methods authors take to examine moral issues as well as the difficulty of removing a personal investment an author might
And from time to time, Robert does exhibit some outstanding qualities of character which have earned the respect of so many of us gathered here today. He is generous to a fault – especially if it’s his own. He is exceptionally modest – although he has plenty to be modest about (or at least he did until Pamela became his girlfriend). And he is a man who always sticks by his convictions - he will remain in the wrong no matter how much he gets ridiculed for it.