“Indeed, the transformation that had now occurred to my spirit was more thorough than it had been in either previous instance; I could scarce convince myself I had not been born the being I represented; my past existence began to appear to my reflections only as some idle dream, that the fever of sickness had brought upon my mind; and I forgot that I was, or had been, Sheppard Lee.”
Here, Lee endorses that his Self-Concept Clarity is shrinking. As a result, Lee lacks an in-depth comprehension of who he is. This could be ascribed to his undertakings to be another person other than himself. Disremembering himself is a signal of a crisis which is attributed to his convoluted identity.
“I saw him no more, as I said; but coming home the following evening from the club, I found my strong-box broken open and rifled of the money that I left in it.The sum was indeed but small, but the robbery had been perpetrated by my own son; and the reader, if he be a father, will judge what effect this discovery produced upon my mind. In good truth, I felt now that I was the most wretched of human beings, and was reduced nearly to distraction.”
Abbot steals from Sheppard Lee after Lee’s confirmation that he would not incur even a dime even if it were to emancipate his son. Abbot’s robbery is a portrayal of defiance which is intended to emotionally wound Sheppard Lee. Disagreements of money are the prime foundations of conflicts in the household. Abbot considers his father to be a miser who should be castigated through the theft of his money because it seems to him that Lee values the money more than his son’s existence.
"You can undoubtedly do so, if you will…but do not dream that that will discharge the prisoner from arrest, or from the necessity of answering the felony of which he now stands accused, before a court and jury. The extent of the forgeries, and the temper displayed by the accused, are such, that he must and shall abide the fruits of his delinquency. He stands committed—officer, remove him."
The magistrate makes this pronouncement when Sheppard Lee settles that he will pay for all the forgeries committed by Ralph Skinner. Manifestly, the magistrate is persuaded that Ralph’s involvements are satisfactorily criminal; hence, Sheppard Lee’s disposition to pay for them would not discharge Ralph from his criminal liability. Furthermore, Ralph’s temper authorizes that he would indulge in the same criminalities should he be released.
