Page 5 - Oscar Wilde

LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME
The main character, Lord Arthur Savile, is introduced by Lady Windermere to a palm reader, Mr Podgers who reads his palm and tells him he will commit a murder. Obsessed with the revelaKon, Lord Savile is worried he might murder his fiancée, Sybil Merton. In order to avoid killing the woman he loves, he finds a soluKon: he must kill someone else. It is the only way he can fulfill the prophecy and protect his future. First he postpones his marriage and plans to kill his aunt ClemenKna, who is old and ill. He gives her a liUle silver box containing a capsule of poison. He reads about his aunt's death when in Venice, and is suddenly relieved. He later finds out she has not touched the capsule, and she died of natural death.
He postpones his marriage with Sybil a second Kme. Disappointed with his unsuccessful first aUempt at murder, he plans to murder the Dean of Chichester, a distant family relaKve. He buys an explosive clock German anarchist and sends it to his future vicKm. But the explosive clock does not explode. Disappointed and depressed, Lord Savile goes out for a walk in London when he meets the chiromanKst on a bridge over the river Thames. Lord Savile has a brilliant idea. He catches the man, throws him into the river, and goes away. The prophecy comes true and Lord Savile can live happily