# A Madman explained — Short Fiction > Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Guy de Maupassant. ## What happens The posthumous diary of a revered high-court judge reveals his secret identity as a cunning, undetected madman who murders for pleasure and frames an innocent man for his crime. ## Themes in this chapter ### Obsession and Delusion The judge's diary reveals his obsessive compulsion to kill and his delusional justification of murder as a natural law. ### Cruelty and Suffering The judge derives pleasure from killing and witnessing executions, highlighting his cruelty and the suffering he inflicts. ### Illusion vs. Reality The judge's public reputation as an upright magistrate contrasts sharply with his private reality as a murderer, illustrating the theme of illusion versus reality. ## Character check-ins ### Guy de Maupassant Author of the story, presenting the judge's diary as a discovered document. ## Key lines > I have condemned Blondel to death. Why did this man kill his five children? Why? The judge sentences a man to death and questions the motive behind his crime. _Opening of the diary, establishing the judge's role and his philosophical inquiry into killing._ > I took it, I came back; I lifted it like a club and, cutting through it with a single blow, I split the fisherman's head right open. The judge murders a sleeping fisherman with a spade. _First-person account of the judge's first murder, showing his method and lack of remorse._ > I have condemned him to death. Ah! Ah! The solicitor-general spoke like an angel. Ah! Ah! Yet another. I shall go to see him executed. The judge sentences the innocent nephew to death and looks forward to witnessing the execution. _The judge's delight in condemning an innocent man, revealing his sadistic nature._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/a-madman - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters