Sunyoung Park / Chapter 2 part 2 B1 / Wed 1-2

1.       Can you understand why Esther killed Laurence? Can you accept that she did so? 

 

Is killing a human acceptable? My answer has always been 'No'.  Even in this situation where there were specific and reasonable reasons for killing someone, the answer is still 'No'. I reckon that no matter what the reason is, it should not be led to murdering.

However, that doesn't mean I cannot sympathize what she would have been feeling in that situation. In spite of my thought that killing is never acceptable, there are several reasons why I understand and sympathize her.

In one-dimension, I can suppose that she simply did not want his lover, Laurence, to be taken by other girl beside her. To see a lover beside someone else is the cruelest thing to watch. Furthermore, he was the one who Esther loved and trusted the most. Even after she overheard the conversation between father Paul and Laurence, she did not have rage toward Laurence. Rather, she praised his beauty and was astonished by the fact that she still loves him even after she heard Laurence's agreement with father Paul's thought. She could not let him go to other women's bosom because he was invaluable person to her. It was just a matter of impossibility.

Looking deeper, the situation made her do so. She was betrayed by the person who she thought was 'life-long friend' and someone who 'cares for Esther's happiness'. She would have felt betrayed by the whole world or even more than that. Right after she got the inside of father Paul's thought of her, anger and disappointment have swiped her. This situation might have made Esther think unreasonable and go insane, and this led her to kill someone.

Then, was there nothing she could do other than killing Laurence? Was this the only solution she could make in this situation? She might glorify homicide with a few beautiful and poetic lines and justify her misdeed, but murder never can be acceptable.