98 pages • 3 hours read
Agatha ChristieA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Justice Lawrence Wargrave, otherwise known by his mysterious alias “Mr. Owen,” is a recently retired judge. He is often described using reptilian imagery, such as when Dr. Armstrong first describes him as having a “frog-like face […] tortoise-like neck […] hunched up attitude […] and […] pale shrewd little eyes” (30). Christie doesn’t reveal that Justice Wargrave is the murderer until the very end of the novel in the form of a manuscript that Justice Wargrave put into a bottle and tossed out to sea. Justice Wargrave writes in the manuscript, which essentially is a confession letter, that from an early age he always took a sadistic pleasure in seeing or causing death; however, he also always felt a strong commitment to justice. To satisfy these contradictory urges, he joined the legal profession as a judge. Eventually, condemning the guilty to death was not enough and he longed to commit a murder himself.
Throughout the novel, Justice Wargrave is cold, cruel, and highly intelligent, all characteristics that should make him a prime suspect. However, due to his leadership amongst the group and his reputation as a professional man of law, he is rarely seen as a suspect amongst the guests.
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