Markheim Good Or Evil Analysis

In, ¨Markheim¨ by Robert Louis Stevenson this supernatural story takes place on Christmas day when Markheim wants to acquire a gift for a woman he is courting, but along the way he plans to murder the dealer at the pawnshop and steal money. Markheim ends up stabbing him with a dagger on the dealer´s back. This then leads to Markheim going crazy and leads to him start talking to this alter ego of his. It is this alter ego that represents the dark side or evil of Markheim. It is this phenomenon that leads to the inner struggle of our character, leading to our setting mainly taking place in the characters’ conscious. In Markheim´s conscious we see him debate with this eidolon, who Markheim thought was the devil, argue that he is not all evil. This leaves the reader wondering if Markheim is truly evil or not. Markheim is not evil. What makes someone evil is not being aware of the harm they have done and continue these evil “sins”. When we look back at all the people who were considered evil from school shooters to those who killed millions, these were truly evil people as they did not care. It was like a job …show more content…
From our setting, it is important to take note that this takes place on Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. After the dealer dies we see “the clocks began to strike the hour of three in the afternoon” which ironically is the supposed time that Jesus died on the cross. It is said that Jesus died for our sins. Typically when one sins in the Christian religion it is vital to be able to confess for your sins. What Markheim did after killing the dealer is not so different. Although he did not directly confess to God for what he has done, he confronted ¨Satan” and chose to not walk that path of darkness anymore. His confession to the maid led to the surrender of these “damned reminder of years, and sins and