The McGregor Affair story
Edinburgh, Scotland, 1827. John McGregor must take care of his alcoholic wife Aggie. He works for Dr. Knox and must lug large boxes of tanbark to his medical academy. When John learns that the boxes actually contain the murdered victims of two body snatchers named Burke and Hare, he decides to get rid of his wife by getting her drunk and leaving her on the body snatchers' doorstep. The plan is successful, but John is overtaken by remorse. Unfortunately, he ends up being Burke and Hare's next victim. Directed by: David Friedkin. Story by: David Friedkin.
15 total · 2 choice · 7 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| how to murder someone and get away with it | choice | John McGregor indirectly killed his good-for-nothing wife by leaving her at the doorstep of two other men who he knew would do the job. |
| spouse murder | choice | The main motif in the story was John McGregor racking his mind over what to do about his fat, lazy, abusive and alcoholic wife and qualms about killing her by leaving her at the door of two men he knew would do the job for him. In one notable scene, John played out his his mind how dispatching his wife by means of strangling, drowning, and hanging were all bound to fail. |
| alcohol abuse | major | Among Aggie's various vices was an acute addiction to the tipple. |
| be careful what you wish for | major | John McGregor mooned over how good life would be out from under the yolk of his drunk heap of a wife. But after doing her in, he became lonely and remorseful, and longer for her to be back. |
| disintegrating romantic relationship | major | Between McGregor's flashbacks and recounting of happier days and the squalid present in which he was henpecked by a fat alcoholic, we are given a vivid picture of marriage breakdown. |
| human aspiration | major | John McGregor did in his fat, lazy, abusive, alcoholic wife to relieve himself of the burden of having her around the house. In John's words, he wanted "a happy life" where he could drink when he wanted to drink, and be alone when he wanted to be alone. |
| husband and wife | major | John McGregor was brought to his wits end by his fat, lazy, alcoholic wife, Aggie. When he couldn't take it anymore he made a sacrificial lamb of Aggie to the notorious Burke and Hare killers, but later came to regret his actions. |
| murder | major | The story concerned the infamous body snatchers Burke and Hare killing people in order to sell their corpses to the university to be experimented upon by medical students. |
| unethical human experimentation | major | In the historical setting featured it was an ethical dilemma whether recently deceased corpses could be experimented upon by medical students. |
| loneliness | minor | After disposing of his disagreeable wife, John found that he felt lonely. |