The murderer's confession tells us that he didn't intend to kill the samurai. When he raped the woman and tried to escape, the woman asked him to kill her husband. The murderer hinted that he killed the samurai entirely because of the temptation of that woman, and he admired the deceased because the samurai played with him for 23 rounds! There is only one samurai in the world who can play 23 rounds with him!
Through the witch's confession, we can see that the deceased was forgiving to the murderer, because the murderer asked him whether to kill his wife. With this sentence, he was "willing to forgive the robber's sins." He was angry with his wife because he listened to the temptation of robbers and was willing to go with him and let them kill her husband. In the panic, the wife fled for her life, the robber was untied by the samurai, and the samurai committed suicide in pain.
The confession of the raped woman shows that she is in great pain. After being raped, she saw sarcasm and ridicule in her husband's face. She couldn't stand this cold contempt and hatred, so she was going to kill her husband and commit suicide. After killing her husband, she didn't have the courage to commit suicide, but lived in pain and regret.
The confessions of the three men are contradictory, and there is only one thing in common, that is, both the murderer and the victim condemn the raped woman, and the woman lives in remorse because she lacks the courage to commit suicide.
It really doesn't matter what the truth is. Through their confessions, we can see something more important than the truth. The robber raped a woman and killed her husband without feeling guilty at all. His confession book is full of heroic spirit of "a hero should do what a hero should do", but he blames the temptation of the woman for inspiring his idea of killing. He showed us the robber logic in human history: let women bear all the sins. According to this logic, the country's demise, the brutality of Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the debauchery of Emperor Tang and Ming Dynasties were all the results of women's seduction.
Look at that weak husband again. Being greedy for money, he was trapped by a robber. As a result, his wife fell into the hands of robbers. He was unable to protect his wife, but he was full of blame for her. Maybe if he committed suicide after his wife was raped, he could forgive her fortitude. As a result, his wife escaped and he died of incompetence.
That woman is a strong-willed woman. Both the robber and her mother described her as "strong-willed". She has been living in remorse since she fled. She doesn't resent her husband's incompetence, but his sarcastic and contemptuous eyes filled her with pain. Women always live in the eyes of others and establish their identity and value in the affirmation or negation of others. In fact, what qualifications does a cowardly man have to ridicule and despise her? Her ability to escape from robbers showed her courage.
In the face of different stories of the same murder case, information beyond the truth is revealed, and all the accusations point to the weak who is also the victim: a woman who was raped by a robber. This shows the position of women in eastern culture. Men have the right to speak. They can bully, laugh at and condemn women at will. They are above morality, violate morality and then condemn morality. Even if they raped a woman, they should condemn her infidelity and blame her for not completely resisting: committing suicide.
Narratology theory has a term: unreliable narrator. This "unreliability" is a narrative trap deliberately set by the author. His purpose is not to guide readers to understand the truth behind the story, because the truth is not important. The author tries to remind readers of the social and cultural information permeated in the process of telling through the different positions, postures and psychology adopted by different narrators, which is far greater than the shock brought by the truth.
At the same time, the author tells us that the truth is unattainable, because all narrators are unreliable, and he is bound to be limited by his own vision and cultural psychology. In literary works, the unreliability of narration brings charm and tension to the text.