Hunt 1

Donnay Hunt

Ms. Starry

English 9 H

September 5 2017

Summer Reading Essay

The character behind the madness, the most two-two faced of them all, Mr Justice

Wargrave. Throughout the book And Then There Were None, Wargrave was the most static. He

was the villain among them all. From the beginning, he plotted against the other characters and

never changed his ideas of death. Wargrave influenced the theme by being the villain and

introducing the act of suspense and and questioning. Without realizing it, Justice Wargrave is the

one character that brought the storyline to life.

Mr. Justice Wargrave showed the stock character type of villain. In the beginning of the

book, he led the people on the island and the readers to believe that he was an innocent person. A

‘villain’ is normally the character that has a negative effect on the other characters. He had a

negative effect by killing and manipulating the others. Wargrave never strayed from the idea of

being thrilled by participating in the act of death. In the manuscript at the end of the book, Justice

Wargrave wrote in his letter, “From an early age I knew very strongly the lust to kill” (Christie,

285) and “I mustㅡI mustㅡI must commit a murder! And what is more, it must be no ordinary

murder! It must be a fantastical crimeㅡsomething stupendousㅡout of the common.”(Christie,

287). These two quotes reveal that Justice Wargrave has always wanted to kill people. He states

that from a young age he was fascinated with death and from there, he wanted to take part in it.
 Hunt 2

Wargrave tried to give these reasons as excuses for his behavior. Since he went through with the

plan, he showed how he never stopped wanting to kill.

The overall message was contributed to by Mr. Justice Wargrave by adding questioning

and suspense. The overall message of And Then There Were None was to get justice from

people that committed crimes. Wargrave implemented the act of questioning by having the

readers unsure of who was the killer when it was him all along. He implemented suspense by

making everyone, readers and characters included, on edge of who was going to die next and if

any of the people on the island were to come forward. He made everyone think it was one

person, then throw in a pot twist as shown by the quote “ㅡin either case, you notice, the same

initials. Ulick Norman OwenㅡUna Nancy Owenㅡeach time, that is to say, U.N. Owen. Or by a

slight stretch of fancy, UNKNOWN!”(Christie, 61). Wargrave was the main person who would

confuse everyone by throwing out accusations of reasons something might have happened. All

the people on the island were convinced that U. N. Owen was a real person up until Wargrave

said this. Justice Wargrave was the heart and soul of how the storyline unfolded.

In conclusion, Mr. Justice Wargrave contributes the stock character type of villain. He

contributed to the overall message of the story by making the readers and other characters

question things and stay in suspense. Wargrave orchestrated the island and the people's death. He

was the villain among them and the one who kept the most secrets. Mr. Wargrave upheld the plot

of the novel, And Then There Were None.