Han's Crime

Han's Crime Summary | Detailed Summary

"Han's Crime" is Shiga Naoya's short story of a circus performer named Han who kills his wife during a knife act on stage. The question of his guilt or innocence rests on nuances of psychological interpretation of Han's true motives.

Han has killed his wife by severing her carotid artery during a knife throwing performance. The young woman dies immediately on the stage, and Han is taken into custody. The managers and other performers in the troupe are uncertain whether Han deliberately killed his wife or whether it was a horrible accident.

The judge on the case questions the circus manager, a stagehand and then Han himself in order to determine whether the woman's death is murder or unpremeditated manslaughter. The circus owner tells the judge that the act performed by Han and his wife on the fateful night is not a particularly difficult one for an experienced performer, which Han is. In fact, the owner would not allow the act in the circus had he not been sure of Han's skills.

The judge learns more personal information about Han and his wife from the stagehand, who knew the couple more intimately than the owner of the circus did. The stagehand confirms that although Han and his wife were kind and amiable with other people, they seemed to be especially cruel to each other. The premature death of their child seemed to have altered the nature of their relationship in a negative way, and the animosity was almost palpable.

At one time, Han revealed to the stagehand that he no longer loved his wife but could not bring himself to the point of divorcing her. Leaving Han had not been an option for Han's wife, either, because her family had disintegrated. The prospect of another marriage was negligible, as no self-respecting man would ever marry a woman who had worked in the circus.

The stagehand tells the judge that Han converted to Christianity and read the Bible in attempts to inject some tranquility into his life. Han's religious beliefs make him drop to his knees and pray at the moment of his wife's death, according to the stagehand's observations.

At the time of the death, the stagehand thought that Han had finally figured out a way to kill his wife, but now he is not so clear about his position on it. The stagehand second-guesses his opinion because he knows too much personal information on the volatile relationship between Han and his wife.

Finally, the judge interviews Han, who admits that he loved his wife up until the day she had a baby that was fathered by another man, probably his wife's cousin. Han deceived the others in the circus by saying that the child was premature, but in actuality, Han's wife was pregnant when he married her, although Han had not been aware of that fact. The baby died by choking at the breast. Han's wife claimed it was an accident, but Han could not be sure. Han thinks that the child's death was a sign of judgment about his wife's illicit behavior, and the couple was forced to live with the pain of it every day, which ultimately brought the destruction of their relationship.

Han echoes his position on divorce as stated earlier by the stagehand and admits that he did think periodically that it would be good if she were dead. Han reveals that he lived in a constant state of agitation. The night before the murder, Han was especially upset because his wife took too long in preparing dinner. After going to bed, Han could not calm down, thinking about the limitations his wife had placed on his life with their loveless marriage.

Han could feel his own life ebbing away as he lived daily with the poisoning of a relationship that drained him of all energy and hope. Han even considered the idea of killing his wife and weighed the consequences. He determined that a life in jail would not be any worse than what he was experiencing. Finally, the thoughts of murder gave way to feelings of loneliness, despite his wife lying next to him in the bed.

The sleepless night created edginess in Han that made him unfit to perform that fateful night, but he tried to calm himself between knife throws. Han's aim on the first four throws was slightly off, the last one coming very close to the left side of his wife's throat. In this moment, Han's eyes met those of his wife, and he read a terror there. He wondered if she had a premonition that the next throw would be fatal.

Han admits that his composure was less than steady, and he threw the knife almost as if he were throwing in the dark. With this fatal throw, Han remembers thinking that at last he had killed his wife. He reveals to the judge that he felt at the time that he had done it intentionally. Han's kneeling on the stage was not done in prayer, but rather to give himself time to collect his thoughts and determine his behavior.

Han feels that any perceptive person could have seen through his performance and determined his guilt despite the show of grief and shock. Han later reasoned that he would have to be found innocent of the murder charge because there was no evidence or proof of the crime in spite of the volatile relationship shared with his wife.

As Han continues to examine the murder and the events leading up to it, he cannot convincingly say that he committed the crime intentionally. He thinks that perhaps it was actually just a horrible accident after all. Han's perspective of the murder is buoyed by the fact that the event and his motives for his actions are unclear.

The absolute truth is that Han is not sure what happened. He feels no remorse about her death and never imagined that he could ever speak so cheerfully about the loss of his wife. The judge dismisses Han, feels an unnamed excitement building up in himself and quickly writes a verdict of "innocent."