The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

Setting

Edinburgh and elsewhere in Scotland, 1687 – 1700s

Main Characters

Robert Wringhim: A staunch Calvinist who believes he is predestined for heaven.
Rabina Orde: Robert’s mother.
George Colwan: Robert’s older brother, raised by his father, George Colwan.
Reverend Wringhim: Rabina’s trusted advisor, and Robert’s adoptive father.
Gil-Martin: Robert’s enigmatic companion who holds murderous influence over him.

Summary

The tale starts with Rabina’s wedding in 1687 to George Colwan, Laird of Dalcastle. Rabina despises George as he does not share her extreme religious beliefs, but she gives birth to two sons, George and Robert.

George is raised by his father, the Laird, and becomes a popular young man. Robert, believed to be the son of the Reverend Wringhim rather than the Laird, is brought up in isolation by his mother and the Reverend. He is raised in the Reverend’s radical antinomian Calvinism, believing that only certain people are predestined to be saved by God, regardless of how they live their lives.

The two brothers meet as young men in Edinburgh, where Robert appears wherever George goes, mocking and provoking him. When on Arthur’s Seat, George sees a vision of Robert in the sky and turns to find his brother preparing to throw him off the cliff. George stops Robert’s attempt, but not long after George is murdered by being stabbed in the back, apparently during a duel with a friend. The only witnesses were a sex worker and her client, who claim that Robert was the culprit, aided by what appeared to be the double of one of George’s friends who had been with him that evening.

The novel then switches to the account of “the sinner”, Robert, as he recounts how he became under the control of Gil-Martin. This stranger, who could be the devil, appears after Reverend Wringhim declares Robert to be a member of “the elect” and so predestined to eternal salvation. The shapeshifting Gil-Martin convinces Wringhim that it is his mission to rid the world of sinners, murdering all who may get in his way.

The confession follows Robert’s decline into despair and madness, as any doubts he has about his actions are diminished by Gil-Martin’s control over his life. Robert loses control of his own identity and track of time. During this lost time, it is suggested that Gil-Martin assumes Robert’s appearance to commit further crimes. However, Robert also writes that he felt “as if I were the same person” [as Gil-Martin].

Robert tries to flee but is pursued and tormented, only finding refuge as a shepherd. He hangs himself, and his journal is found with his body. The novel concludes with the editor explaining how the memoir was discovered in Robert’s grave, and Hogg himself criticising the decision to open the grave.