Markheim (Robert Louis Stevenson)
Mark Home ( Engl. Mark Home ) is a narrative of the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson , who at Christmas 1885 in a magazine and then in 1887 in the collection of the great men and other stories (Engl. The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables ) in Chatto & Windus appeared.
content
London on Christmas Day: 36-year-old Markheim enters the shop of a pale little trader. Markheim chatters that he was lucky on the stock exchange and wants to buy a present for a lady. A rich marriage beckons. After chatting like that, he stabs the dealer to death. Later, coming to his senses, the murderer recapitulates his mistakes. Shackling the victim would have been enough. In addition, the time of the crime is badly chosen and he has no alibi.
There is no time for repentance. Done happened. The perpetrator looks for and finds the keys in the corpse's clothes. Markheim senses that there is a person walking around the business premises. He goes upstairs. and enter a room. Markheim is startled. Horrible, behind him a gentleman steps into the room who, it seems, is like him. The opposite is omniscient; correctly assumes that Markheim is looking for the dead trader's money. Markheim has lost everything on the stock exchange, but wants to continue there. Markheim stole the first time fifteen years ago. The thief fought in vain against his inclination. None of the church visits brought a stop. Time is pressing, the omniscient Lord warns. The maid was already on the way. The gentleman asks whether he should help Markheim. He wants to show him where the money is hiding.
Markheim does not respond to the offer of help. In the subsequent dialogue on questions of morality, the stranger presents himself as a connoisseur of human beings who teaches advice seekers who live for the evil that is rooted in human character. And a person's character does not change. In particular, he knows Markheim very well. He wanted to help Markheim to escape; not because he murdered - not because of the crime - but because it's about Markheim - just a character.
The murderer shows character: "The crime ... was my last ...". When the maid actually enters the shop, he meets him, confesses the murder and recommends that he go to the police immediately.
reception
- In 1885 Robert Louis Stevenson served the reader's interest in psychology. As part of his moral criticism, the author is about the dual nature of humans. That omniscient Lord above is the other ego of Markheim. Wirzberger sees the text as a variant of William Wilson .
- Robert Louis Stevenson had drawn the allegory of the doppelganger too indistinctly.
Adaptations
in English
- watch TV
- October 28, 1952: All Hallow's Eve
- April 11, 1956: Markheim
- 1972: Markheim
- December 24, 1974: Markheim
- Radio
- April 24, 1947: The Hall of Fantasy - Markheim Ep.5
in German language
- radio play
- Horror Cabinet Episode 72: Markheim (2013) Titania Medien
German-language literature
expenditure
- Robert Louis Stevenson: Markheim . Pp. 30-51. (Translator: Curt Thesing ) in Robert Louis Stevenson: The Mysterious Life. Master tales. ( Des Sire de Malétroit's door . Markheim. Olalla . The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . The crooked Janet . John Nicholson's unfortunate adventures . Will of the mill . The pavilion on the dunes ) Afterword by Karl-Heinz Wirzberger . Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung , Leipzig 1953, 400 pages.
- RADIOROPA Audiobook Classic Edition - Manfred Callsen reads: Robert Louis Stevenson: Markheim. The crooked Janet. ISBN 978-3-8368-0424-0 .
Secondary literature
- Horst Dölvers: The narrator Robert Louis Stevenson. Interpretations. Francke Verlag, Bern 1969, without ISBN. 200 pages
- Michael Reinbold: Robert Louis Stevenson. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1995, ISBN 3-499-50488-X .
Web links
- Markheim (Robert Louis Stevenson) in the Gutenberg-DE project
- Reading on YouTube (50:50 min)
annotation
- ↑ Edition used.