49 pages • 1 hour read
Graeme Macrae BurnetHis Bloody Project: A Historical Thriller
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Preface-Statements
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 15-37
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 37-59
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 59-83
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 83-96
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 96-112
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 112-126
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 126-133 and Medical Reports
Extract from Travels in the Border-Lands of Lunacy by J. Bruce Thomson
The Trial, First and Second Day
The Trial, Third Day-Epilogue
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaCharacter Analysis
Roderick Macrae
The novel’s central character, Roderick is about 17 years old when he commits the triple murder for which he is eventually hung. The nature of his character serves as the book’s central mystery, making it somewhat difficult to know exactly who he is and what motivates him. The lucidity of his account, as well as the testimony of his schoolteacher, suggests that Roderick is exceptionally bright. The question of how to square this intelligence against his grotesque crimes looms large over the entire novel. In many ways he is most accurately characterized by his lack of fixed characteristics. While he depicts himself as shy and aloof, some of his fellow villagers regard him as malicious, predatory, or outright evil.
By his own account, Roderick holds himself apart from his fellow villagers, noting that he “cultivated the very characteristics which set [him] apart” (22) from his peers. However, he also describes himself as a highly sensitive individual, nurturing injured and lost birds and harboring romantic notions of a future with Flora Mackenzie, despite their families’ bitter feud. Whether his inability to communicate these positive sensitive qualities to others is because of an inability to express himself or because he has fabricated them for his narrative is open to interpretation.
Certainly, Roderick demonstrates a repeated hesitancy to speak frankly about sexual matters, offering an indirect description of his sister’s rape and failing to account for the sexual injuries that the medical reports indicate he inflicted upon Flora. In his testimony Thomson notes that Roderick only seemed anxious “at the mention of these injuries” (229). This discrepancy between Roderick’s account of himself and his crimes and the evidence demonstrating Flora’s sexual injuries offers an important clue to the reader that Roderick is not to be taken at his word. Nevertheless, it remains impossible to pinpoint precisely where Roderick’s account of himself and his actions differ from reality, and Burnet leaves the ultimate nature of Roderick’s character open to interpretation.
Lachlan “Broad” Mackenzie
Lachlan Mackenzie is a crofter in the Highland village of Culduie whose family has a feud with the Macraes that predates the events described in this novel. In addition to his nuclear family, he has a network of kinsmen throughout the parish with whom he regularly interacts, unlike John and Roderick Macrae, who are relatively isolated. Lachlan is the primary antagonist in Roderick Macrae’s written account of his crimes, and the circumstances surrounding Lachlan’s death serve as the basis of Roderick’s trial. Notably, Lachlan is never given the opportunity to speak for himself either in writing or at Roderick’s trial—he is only characterized through the descriptions of those who knew him. By all accounts Roderick accurately described how Lachlan Mackenzie relished the authority his election as constable allowed him to wield over his fellow crofters.
As Roderick notes, “some bad blood existed between my father and Lachlan Mackenzie long before I was born” (17). Although Roderick is unaware of the feud’s origin and it is never made explicitly clear, Lachlan’s statement that he is coercing Jetta into a sexual relationship in part because Roderick’s “mother is no longer with us” (58) might hint that sexual or romantic jealousy is to blame. Regardless, Lachlan seems determined to take out some sort of frustration on the Macrae family. Although Roderick’s account shouldn’t be accepted without question, there is enough corroborating evidence to support his claims that Lachlan bore a particular grudge against John Macrae for one reason or another.
John and Jetta Macrae
Roderick’s father, John, is a dower crofter obsessed with the notion that his wife’s death and his ailing health are punishments for his sins. John retreats into melancholy as a defense mechanism and, as Jetta keenly describes to Roderick, it appears as though he “is never more happy than when he is suffering” (124). Although Roderick’s account thoroughly describes how Lachlan Mackenzie tormented John and his family, John seems unwilling or unable to act in his own defense. Instead, he accepts whatever happens to him as the delivery of divine judgment. In this capacity, John is a notable counterpoint to Roderick, who doesn’t believe that God controls his family’s fate. John is emotionally shut off to the world and has a complicated and troubled relationship with his children; he often beats Roderick, despite his admission that it does little to improve Roderick’s behavior. Furthermore, after Jetta’s death, John tells Thomson and Sinclair that “[t]here is no such person” (161) when they offer their condolences. This suggests that John is unable to mourn his daughter or that he still bears a grudge against her for becoming pregnant with Lachlan’s child, or both.
Roderick’s account is the only first-hand description of Jetta’s character. The siblings share a special relationship thanks to their closeness in age, with Jetta being less than a year older than Roderick. She shares some connection to a spiritual world and serves as a kind of oracle, warning her brother about troubles to come. In contrast to John, Jetta is exceedingly caring toward Roderick to the point of being overprotective. As children, Jetta often spoke on Roderick’s behalf, as he refused to do so for himself. Later, she notices Roderick’s infatuation with Flora and warns him that she senses trouble should the two continue talking. Although she derives her perspective from her folk beliefs in providence and fate, she shares John’s belief in predetermined destiny. Consequently, she is also similar to her father in her reluctance to take dramatic action to improve her family’s situation, believing instead that their fate is already decided.
