The Odyssey Case
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Unjustified Circumstances
Set in a small town in Switzerland, The Pledge, by Friedrich Durrenmatt centers around the murder of a young girl named Gritli Moser and veteran police detective Matthai who promises Gritlis mother he will find the perpetrator. The pledge becomes an obsession to Matthai when he finds that unlike his previous cases, science, and logic will not solve the crime. Once Matthai is assigned to the murder investigation, he becomes “embroiled in a case that suddenly stirred him to passion” (10) —getting himself caught into dilemmas that change his life forever. Matthai proceeds in the peddler, von Gunten taken in to custody knowing he is innocent; Matthai does this injustice act to please the town. He allows the police to interrogate the peddler, forcing him to plead guilty of the murder of Gritli. As Matthai becomes emotionally involved with the case he manipulates a mother and her young daughter Annemarie, using her for bait to catch the killer. Matthai confronts the dilemmas in the novel as unjustified because he represents that he only cares about solving the case for the pleasure of fulfilling the pledge.
Suspicion falls upon von Gunten in the murder of Gritli. Unfortunately for him, his past record of molesting a minor causes him to be a suspect, and he is taken into custody. Matthai, however, does not believe this man is the killer. He told the peddler, I believe you, von Gunten, and noticed that he was not quite convinced of that and said, I know you are innocent (38). It is inappropriate that Matthai states he believes the peddler, but for some reason does not stop the interrogation “that the poor guy went through for over twenty four hours” (64). Finally, through the intense questioning the peddler admits to the murder of Gritli. The following morning the peddler is found dead by hanging himself. If Matthai would had stood up for the innocents of the peddler the outcome would not have ended in death.
Apparently, Matthai finds out that two other young girls, both resembling the recent victim, have been killed within the past several years. While each was from a different small town in the mountains, there is an intersection where roads to each of the small towns meet. This is the place near the woods where the killer meets the children. At this intersection is a gas station with a few rooms for travelers. Matthai decides to buy the station, hoping to see the killer passing through.
Matthai, now on inactive duty, goes to an orphanage and attempts to adopt a young girl, but he is refused. He then hires a local woman to clean the place and help him with customers. The woman has a girl about the same age and description, even to having blond hair, as the previous victims. This being a coincidence, Mattahi has the girl with him out in front of the gas station, by the side of the road where drivers cant miss seeing her. He tries using Annemarie in many ways for bait. Here Friedrich Dürrenmatt expresses his brilliant ear for conversation and a devastating sense of timing and suspense.
Meanwhile, Matthai begins allowing Annemarie to travel to school by herself, soon finding out that she begins skipping school “waiting for the wizard” she met in the woods (128). Several days later, Annemarie brought home chocolate truffles that also were given to Gritli before she was murdered. Matthai allows Annemarie to go visit the wizard once again and follows her in hopes to catch the killer. After waiting for days, the wizard Annemarie mentioned never shows; making the public prosecutor who was helping Matthai, go nuts screaming, “who are you waiting for” (139)? She never answers the men and runs into her mothers arms. This incident shows Annemaries mother that the only reason Matthai took them in was to find the killer.
Throughout both of the dilemmas Matthai faces, his actions are portrayed unjustified. Matthai should not allowed the peddler to be arrested because people kept proclaiming that he killed Gritli. He should have used his instincts in believing that the peddler was innocent allowing him to not go to jail. Matthai showed he was much more worried about his reputation in the town rather than letting the innocent peddler free. Also, Matthai willingly uses a young girl as bait to lure the killer into a trap. What is most chilling is that when confronted with what he was doing, he is confused, for he doesnt see the problem. The killer is a threat and must be stopped, but he still allows Annemarie to go by herself thinking nothing could happen for she was well protected. Perhaps it is overly sensitive, but there is no justification for putting a young child at risk. An adult could weigh the risks and decide whether to allow this to happen, but not a young child.
Even though Matthai was a great detective, he let the crime over take his life making decisions that caused harm in the lives of others. He made it clear in that he was going to do whatever it took to find the killer. Matthai chose many unjustified measures in attempting to solve the case. Though careless in his actions, Matthai was never able to fulfill the pledge that was made to Gritlis mother. Even though it was later determined that the predator was killed in an accident on the way to murder Annemarie, Matthai never knew. He let the case consume his life, driving him insane and turning to alcohol to fill the void.