Markheim

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Markheim is a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson usually found in the collection The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables (1887). It was first published in 1885 in The Broken Shaft: Tales of Mid-Ocean (ed. H. Norman) [Unwin’s Christmas Annual]. London: T. Fisher Unwin (Dec 1885).

1 Plot
2 Analysis
3 Opera
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story opens in an antique store, where the proprietor (called a "dealer") is complaining that his customer, a shifty man named Markheim, is bothering him on Christmas day. The dealer, who is previously acquainted with him, clearly believes that Markheim is a thief, come to pawn stolen goods. Markheim claims that he has come this time not to sell, but to buy a Christmas present for a women he will soon marry. Somewhat incredulous but willing to make a sale, the dealer presents a mirror, to which Markheim takes fright at his own reflection, claiming that no man wants to see what a mirror shows him. Markheim is strangely reluctant to end the transaction, trying to draw the dealer into conversation on one pretext or another; but when the dealer insists that Markheim must buy or leave, Markheim consents to buy. The dealer turns his back, and Markheim pulls out a knife and stabs him to death.

Markheim spends some minutes recovering his nerve, when he hears someone moving about upstairs, though he knows the servant has taken the day off and no one should be there. He reassures himself that the outer door is locked, then searches the dead body for keys and goes to the upper rooms where the dealer lived to look for money. As he searches, he hears footsteps on the stairs, and a man opens the door and asks, "Did you call me?"

Markheim believes the stranger is the Devil. Though he never identifies himself, the stranger is clearly supernatural; he says that he has watched Markheim his whole life. He tells Markheim that the servant has left her friends early and is returning to the store, so Markheim had best hurry. Rather than continue looting, however, Markheim tries to justify his life and conduct to the stranger, entering into a discussion of the nature of good and evil. The stranger refutes him on every point, and Markheim is at last obliged to admit that he has thrown his life away and turned to evil. The servant returns, and as she knocks on the door the stranger advises Markheim that he can entice her in by telling her that her master is hurt, then kill her and have the whole night to ransack the house. Markheim retorts that if he has lost the love of good, he still hates evil, and can still do one worthwhile thing by ending his life. As he goes to the door the stranger smiles and disappears. Markheim opens the door and tells the servant, "You had best go and fetch the police; I have just killed your master."

[edit] Analysis

Four of the other five stories in this collection involve mysterious strangers who may be the Devil. It is also possible that the stranger is an angel, come to turn Markheim from his crimes (or to save the life of the servant.) Or it may be that Markheim is overridden with guilt, and only imagining the stranger, who may be a manifestation of Markheim's own conscience.

[edit] Opera

Carlisle Floyd's operatic version of Markheim premiered at the New Orleans Opera Association, on March 31, 1966, with Norman Treigle and Audrey Schuh heading the cast. That premiere was published on a Compact Disc by VAI, in 1995.