The Minds of Crime
Scientists from the Harvard Mahoney Neuroscience Institute
explain that in psychopaths “a tract of white matter in the region that
connects the amygdala, which directs our emotional responses, with the
orbitofrontal cortex, which governs our decision-making capacity, is out of
kilter.”[1] Under
these circumstances, we may observe that the minds of the female characters in
the short stories Trip Trap – An
Inspector Rebus Story, by Ian Rankin, and The Witness for the Prosecution, by Agatha Christie, have reached a
point where their emotions and decision-making capacity are not balanced, and
they
are no longer aware of the line
that separates right from wrong. Nonetheless, Grace Gallagher still knows that
that line exists, unlike Romaine Heilger.
While in Agatha Christie’s story the truth is manipulated by
Romaine Heilger in a so well-executed way that we only discover it in her last
word, in Ian Rankin’s story we are constantly aware of the truth. In the
beginning, Romaine seems to hate Leonard Vole. However, she was able to turn
the game and deceive everyone from the moment the attorney said she was “so
devoted”[2] to her
husband. Her scheme was not planned beforehand, it was triggered by the attorney’s
visit, which reveals her uncontrollable desire to be involved in the crime.
Contrarily, Grace Gallagher found herself trapped for forty years in a
marriage. In all those years she was pushed towards the moment where she would
find freedom, a moment when the
line faded and compelled her to commit the crime. Here, the reader reaches a point where it is
difficult to tell if she still distinguishes right from wrong and if the tears
at the end are truthful or not. In this case, the crime was triggered by the
crosswords, but it is not
a crime at the level of Romaine
Heilger.
It is equally important to point out how the subconscious of
both female characters worked to expose them, but how in the case of Grace
Gallagher, it almost led her to prison, where she should not be, unlike Romaine Heilger. Even
though Grace thinks she has everything under control, her subconscious led her to leave a clue in the
crosswords. We know that she is not a murderer. This clue directed detective
Rebus to the truth about George Gallagher.
However, in the end, I believe that the detective did not reveal it to the
police, since he understood how poorly Grace lived. On the other hand, Romaine Heilger was discovered because Mr Mayherne was able
to identify her distinct habit as “Mrs Mogson”. This was merely something that she was not
able to hide, even as an actress. Likewise, her subconscious showed the
detective what he needed to see, but he was not fast enough to realize the
truth and, consequently, both Romaine and Leonard got away.
Lastly, in both short stories, the husbands are the main reason for the crimes to happen from very different perspectives. In Trip Trap, Grace has lived for forty
years with her husband, carrying the marriage on her back. There is not one day
that passes by in which Grace does not feel trapped. her life taking care of
George Gallagher forced
Grace’s mind into despair and into a point where she only wants to take care of
herself, and this leads her to the unexpected
decision of pushing him down the stairs. On the other hand, in The Witness for the Prosecution, we know
that Vole had helped Romaine Heilger in the past and that, from that day to the present, they have been living together., even if we perceive Emily
French’s murder as the major crime in this story, we should also look at
another crime that was also committed by Vole and reminded me of the Harley
Quinn and Joker’s story. For spending so much time in the company of a psychopath,
Romaine was turned into one too. She became overly devoted to Vole, and he used
her and her acting abilities to accomplish his plans.
One of
the attributes of the human mind is that scientists can only examine the brain,
not the thoughts or the possible external influences, as we recognize in the
short stories. In conclusion, Romaine Heilger crossed the line between right and wrong a long time before. In the end, we cannot hope for Romaine to recover
these notions. She is at a no return point. However, the feeling we have when
finishing Rankin’s story is that these notions are not completely lost for
Grace.
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