Judgement Day Pale Fire Journal Judgement Day Pale Fire Journal | Page 67

King’s personal thoughts and beliefs.
Moreover, I propose the possibility that the estimable Kinbote may truly be
the king. Is it not at least worth considering this possibility? His exasperat-
ingly detailed commentary to the poem Pale Fire would seem to align itself
with the King’s claim that he, too, is an esteemed man of literary studies.
Moreover, the two bear an uncanny resemblance. To a degree, all bearded
Zemblans do look much alike (I myself have even been compared to the
King at certain social gatherings), but there are many similarities between
the two, and we know that there is a secret which Kinbote always held
back from Shade relating to his Zemblan origins. Could it not be possible
that this secret, as the Commentary does admittedly seem to imply, may
truly be that Kinbote is the long-lost king? If this is the case, then it is cer-
tainly crude logic to write off these statements as if they were the blather-
ings of a deranged lunatic, when in fact they may be the heretofore un-
whispered confessions of a once-noble, long-forgotten king.
I do not wish to simply write off the views of the prosecutor, for fear of al-
ienating any members of the jury who may still find validity in his views.
Thus, I will take into account the idea that the writings of Kinbote are those
of a deranged lunatic, and that the commentary to Pale Fire does imply
that he is Shade’s killer. If we are to take these two ideas together, then do
they not negate one another? If Kinbote suffers from some form of mental
affliction, would it not be impossible to take anything stated in Pale Fire as
true, especially in a court setting? Perhaps it is regrettable that Kinbote is
not with us today - nevertheless, I will do my best to represent him in this
case, as an interpreter of his writings. If Kinbote is, in fact, describing hal-
lucinations in his portrayal of the King of Zembla, then we may ask our-
selves whether Shade’s murder, which is vividly described in the footnote
to line 1000, is not also a hallucination. Shade is dead, of this we are sure
- but perhaps he died of natural causes! After speaking with Kinbote and
getting to know him at a deeply personal level, I do believe that Shade
was murdered, but for the sake of argument, I point the jury to lines 691-
692 of the poem, in which Shade writes: “And then it happened - the at-
tack, the trance, / or one of my old fits.” This description of his chronic
heart condition leads us to believe that the poet was not of good health
during his adult life, possibly even up until the time of his death, and we
may ask ourselves whether, assuming Kinbote is unable to convey any
form of the truth in his commentary to Pale Fire, as the prosecutor has
construed, this heart condition may be the cause of his death. It would
seem that Pale Fire leaves us with more questions than answers.
I truly hope all that I have said finds the jury well, and that the Jury has
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