Judgement Day Pale Fire Journal Judgement Day Pale Fire Journal | Page 18

caused so many dead fish to float up, that I was forced to leave New Wye
soon after my last interview with the jailed killer” (17). This specific killer
was Jakob Gradus, an assassin who was allegedly hired by the Zemblan
government to kill Kinbote. However, when Gradus finally shows up to
shoot Kinbote, Kinbote narrates, “oh he was aiming at me alright, but
missing me every time…” (294). He then states, “one of the bullets that
spared me struck [Shade] in the side and went through his heart” (294).
He specifically indicates that John Shade was killed by a bullet through the
heart that was not even intended for him.
Defendant: It’s possible, however, that excitement of the moment had
lead to a hear attack. In Shade’s own poem, he mentions, “And then in
happened—the attack, the trance, / Or one of my old fits. There sat by
chance / A doctor in the front row. At his feet / Patly I fell. My heart stopped
to beat, …” (58-59). Shade refers to his heart trouble he experienced dur-
ing a seminar where he was speaking. He also claims that it was an
“attack” or one of his “old fits”. This suggests that this isn’t the first time
Shade has dealt with heart problems. When Shade recalls the incident lat-
er in his poem, he refers to his heart as “a limp blimp, an old unstable
heart” (60). This statement, written by the dead man, further confirms that
John Shade was a poet with a physically weak heart.
Plaintiff: Yes, he was a man with heart issues, but how do you explain the
killer admitting to his crimes? Kinbote stated that he, “… forced him to con-
fess his heinous crime—his deceiving the police and the nation by posing
as Jack Grey, escapee from an asylum, who mistook Shade for the man
who sent him there” (299). Although he isn’t admitting to be the assassin,
Gradus, or Jack Grey, was admitting to the murder of John Shade.
Defendant: We cannot avoid evidence of the old poet with an unstable
heart. When Kinbote walks into John Shade’s house and notices him sit-
ting down, he describes that, “his elbow was on the table, his fist support-
ed his temple, his wrinkles were all awry, his eyes moist and misty; he
looked like an old tipsy witch” (287). Kinbote is literally describing Shade in
a drunken state. However, a man with a weak heart should not be drinking
alcohol, because alcohol will raise his blood pressure, thus leading to an
accident waiting to happen. This poses the potential of Shade’s death oc-
curring through a heart attack.
Final decision for Case 1: Inconclusive
Final decision for Case 2: Inconclusive
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