Nature VS Nurture: Nature and Nurture James Hoggs classic novel, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, portrays the fictional story of Robert Wringhim, a strong Calvinist who justifies murder by quickening the inevitable. Robert commits infamous acts of evil, believing that these murderous actions glorify God by annihilating sinners not chosen to be saved. I believe that a combination of factors involving both nurture and nature shape Wringhim into the suffering creature that he becomes. The greatest of these factors include Paranoia Schizophrenia, Multiple Personality Disorder, and the rejection of society.To my limited medical knowledge, I understand Wringhim to suffer from a severe case of Paranoia Schizophrenia among other forms of mental illnesses. There is evidence for this theory in the novel. For example, it is typical for victims of this medical condition to have an immense fear that literally controls their life. In the early pages of the book, Wringhim discusses this paranoid fear which consumes his life. My heart quakes with terror, when I thought of being still living in a state of reprobation, subjected to the awful issues of death, judgment, and eternal misery( Hobbes 118). This fear of death, judgment and eternal misery controls him and becomes all he thinks about. He goes on to describe that he prays three times a day and seven times on the Sabbath to cope with this fear of damnation. However, even though Wringhim is obsessed with the security of his salvation earlier in the novel, this fear appears to diminish by an overwhelming sense of security that he is elected to be saved from the eternal flames fire, after his father bargains with God for Roberts soul (130). Although there is little evidence to support this theory, it is not unintelligent for one to believe that Wringhims original fear of eternal damnation persists throughout his lifetime, even after he realizes he is one of the...
