The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

Having now agreed with Gil-Martin’s suggestion to kill his father and brother, Robert stalks George through the city and finds himself disgusted by his brother’s sinful behavior. When he attacks George, Robert is put in jail and Wringhim steps in to have him freed. In spite of his imprisonment, Robert continues to stalk George. Gil-Martin urges him to do so. When George becomes scared and hides indoors, Robert is pleased. At the same time, however, he develops his own illness and must stay indoors. During this time, Robert begins to have feelings of disassociation and feels as though he is “bewitched” (116). He feels like he is both George and Gil-Martin, rather than himself. Wondering whether his sickness is a punishment from God, Robert receives word that he has supposedly continued to stalk his brother in spite of his confinement. He suspects Gil-Martin may have posed as him. When he gets better, Robert meets with Gil-Martin. They immediately hatch another plot against George, planning to attack him on a hill path. As Robert ascends the hill in pursuit of his brother, however, he starts to suffer from “sinful doubtings” (118). A woman in white appears to him out of the fog, criticizing his behavior. She vanishes, leaving Robert sure that he has experienced a vision. Amid his doubts, Gil-Martin appears and urges Robert to take this “golden opportunity” (119).

Robert finds his brother but cannot bring himself to hurt George. The brothers fight but George flees. Gil-Martin condemns Robert, claiming that Robert has failed. Instead, he suggests that Robert could lodge a complaint against George and have him arrested. Robert does so, but the case is thrown out of court. Since Robert sees himself as an inherently “justified person” under his Calvinist faith (123), he believes he can do no wrong and instead blames Gil-Martin for the verdict, though Gil-Martin blames the “wicked judge” (124) who is found dead a few days later. Gil-Martin continues to scheme against George, securing Robert’s support again. Gil-Martin dresses in “Highland garb” (127) and plans to confront George, challenging him to a duel. As George is out socializing with friends, Gil-Martin poses as Drummond and issues his challenge. Meanwhile, Robert lurks in the shadows. Gil-Martin fights George, who seems to get the upper hand. Robert springs from his hiding place and, in a confusing flurry of activity, George is badly hurt. Gil-Martin laughs and dismisses Robert’s worry about witnesses, leading Robert away as George lies dying in the street. While Drummond is accused of murder, Robert keeps a low profile. Next, Gil-Martin wants Robert to kill his father, Laird Colwan. Robert is relieved when his father instead dies from grief, rather than murder. Robert inherits the family estate, though most of Colwan’s money is left to the “voluptuous and unworthy” (130) Arabella.

Robert and his mother and step-father move into the Colwan estate, though most of the servants leave. One day, he is visited by a woman who says that Robert got her daughter pregnant. Though Robert is insistent that he could never have had sex with this woman’s daughter, the woman and Gil-Martin convince him that he may have done so while he was drunk and in “a state of utter delirium” (132). A lawyer brings up legal issues concerning Robert, of which Robert has no memory. At the same time, it is remarked that Gil-Martin looks exactly like George Colwan. Robert is shown a collection of documents bearing his signature, but he denies having ever seen the documents. The lawyer says that Robert is the legal owner of a townswoman’s properties, as well as much more land. Growing concerned, Robert speaks to Gil-Martin in private. Gil-Martin is surprised that Robert has no memories of these recent events.

Robert is beset by medical issues. He feels increasingly as though he has a completely different self, who operates on his behalf while he experiences this “state of consciousness and unconsciousness” (137). Robert also grows irritated by Gil-Martin’s constant presence in his life, though he knows that he cannot send his friend away as they are now bound together by their secrets. Gil-Martin is still a mystery to Robert, who begins to suspect that his friend may be “a powerful necromancer” (137). Robert is increasingly irritated by everyone, including his own mother and Wringhim. His only pleasure comes from religious conversations with Wringhim and Gil-Martin. One day, Robert wakes up after seemingly been unconscious for a long time, only to be told that his longtime servant died six months previously and that Gil-Martin and his mother have not lived at the house for some time.

Robert finds himself at the center of a swirl of rumors and accusations. During a walk around the city, he spots someone who looks just like George. Understanding this to be Gil-Martin, he begs to be released from Gil-Martin’s influence. Gil-Martin refuses him. He and Robert “are amalgamated” (142), he says, so they cannot be split apart. Robert is now accused of murdering both his own mother and the supposed mother of his child. Gil-Martin says that he has returned to help Robert, whose life seems increasingly sinful and confusing. Robert is accused of a litany of sins. He remembers none of these crimes, but consoles himself that he enjoys a “justified and infallible state” under his religion (144). According to local rumors, however, Robert is in league with the devil. Hearing stories about people who make deals with the devil, Robert grows suspicious of Gil-Martin. When he tries to stay away from Gil-Martin, however, Gil-Martin threatens to tell the authorities about Robert’s crimes. Gil-Martin warns Robert that a mob has assembled to arrest him, so he recommends that Robert flee the castle. The mob, Gil-Martin says, has the bodies of Robert’s supposed victims and they want to tear him “limb frae limb” (154). Gil-Martin offers to help Robert escape; he will adopt Robert’s appearance, he says, then allow Robert to slip away. They swap clothes and Robert exits the castle, passing two dead bodies carried on boards by the mob. Robert feels a strange mix of relief and worry, hearing people talk about him as though he is a monster. Though Robert escapes, his flight is hindered by his lack of money. He tries to evade the authorities by staying in peasants’ homes, only for them to grow suspicious of him. When one host turns on him, he manages to flee again.

Now all alone, Robert flees to Edinburgh. Introducing himself as Eliot, he stays with a “flippant, unstable” (164) man named Linton and secures a job at the publishing company where Linton works. Robert convinces James Watson, the owner of the company, to publish his memoirs. Robert prints his memoir, presenting it as a religious pamphlet that he hopes will warn others against following in his footsteps.

The remainder of the memoirs take the form of short journal entries. Robert is told that the publishing company employees view his work as satanic. Watson burns the remaining copies, while someone who might be Gil-Martin is seen around the company’s property. Robert flees Scotland, heading south to England. He carries with him the only remaining copy of his memoirs. Staying at a house belonging to a yeoman, he hears the horses make noise in the night. They have been spooked by the arrival of a stranger in dark clothes. Robert flees and, in the following days, meets Gil-Martin on the road. Gil-Martin is still presenting himself as George. He tells Robert that they cannot be separated, even as Robert begs Gil-Martin to leave him alone. Gil-Martin delights in torturing him, Robert believes. Even when Robert tries to take a room in an inn, the people inside accuse him of being associated with the devil. Robert is thrown out of the inn. That night, “hideous” (173) monsters attack Robert, but Gil-Martin appears to save him. Once the monsters are defeated, Gil-Martin tells Robert that they must now die by suicide together. Robert runs away, trying to hide himself. Wherever he stays, rumors and accusations continue to plague him. He tries to take a job as a cowherd, but people cannot stand to be around him. This casts Robert into a severe depression, during which time Gil-Martin appears again. This time, Robert agrees to die by suicide. He ends the memories with a final entry, claiming that his fate is “inevitable” (178).