hey! so for my psych class our homework is to tell a group of people a story our professor told us in class, then have them answer a question about the story. there's no wrong or right answer; just reply with what you think and maybe some reasoning behind it if you'd like to include it.

here's the story:

Once upon a time there was a married couple living in a big city. The husband worked a night shift, so he left home for work in the evening and returned early in the morning. His wife was busy with her own work, but soon became bored due to this arrangement and felt distanced from her husband. She decided to begin a series of affairs on the other side of the city. When her husband was at work, she would take the ferry across the river and meet up with her current lover. When she felt like one affair had gone on long enough, she would precipitate an argument and break the relationship off.

On one particular night, the wife got into a fight with her current lover (let's call him Lover A) and stormed off, saying she wouldn't meet with him again. On her way to the ferry, however, she realized she'd forgotten her wallet and didn't have money for the fare. She went back to Lover A's apartment, but he slammed the door in her face. Remembering that one of her past lovers lived nearby (Lover B), she decided to stop by and ask to borrow some money from him; however, he also refused to help.

Dawn was approaching, and the wife was becoming desperate. About a mile from the ferry station was a road she could use to get back to her side of the city, but there was a risk of being attacked by a highwayman if she chose that route. The wife decided that she'd first ask the ferryman if he would be kind enough to let her cross back over the river for free. She pleaded with him, pointing out that she was a regular customer and promising to pay him back, but in response the ferryman simply shook his head and told her that rules were rules – if she couldn't pay, she couldn't take the ferry.

At this point, the wife decided to risk the dangerous road to get home and set off at a brisk pace. At first she found no trouble, but about halfway along she was suddenly ambushed by a highwayman. He demanded that she give him all her money, and she told him that she had nothing to give him. This led to a physical struggle. During the fight, the highwayman took out a knife and stabbed her multiple times, fatally wounding her. She died, and the highwayman ran off into the night.

aaand here's the question: Who is most responsible for the wife's death? (you can answer as a numbered list from the characters below)

• The Wife
• The Husband
• Lover A
• Lover B
• The Ferryman
• The Highwayman

(psst your answer to this?)

The Highwayman. Whatever the wife's choices were, they were hers, but in no way did she choose to be murdered.. It was the highway man's choice to kill her, therefore he is responsible.

The highway man is most responsible.

the guy with the knife. Highway man.

The Highway Man is the most responsible party.

The highwayman, aka the person that killed her. I don't understand how there could be another answer, I feel like I'm missing the point.

the highwayman of course. I agree with , but could also imagine some idiot saying "she got what was coming to her" even though that's obviously bs

The Highwayman. Yes, it was her choice to have relationships on the other side of the city but it was the Highwayman's choice to stab and kill her. Had he not killed her, she could have made it home. The ferryman is doing his job along with the husband. And both lovers did not owe her anything. A decent person would have returned her wallet or helped her with money but are not required. And if you blame her, you would be blaming the victim. So, the Highwayman

The highwayman. None of the people who turned her away or refused her money knew she would be taking that route, ultimately walking into danger. However, it was the highwayman's knife which ended her life, which is the fault of no one else but him.

I'm going to say the Highwayman. None of her lovers had killed her, they simply refused to help her. It was her choice to take the dangerous route home, so she could be back on time for her husband.

The Highwayman. He was the one who stabbed her. It's so simple.

"she got what was coming to her" was the argument of like 90% of my class lol

thanks to everyone who commented!! i guess since i've got a decent amount of replies and everyone's pretty much agreeing the highwayman's most responsible, i don't have to refrain myself from talking about this or w/e... but yeah, i agreed with the sentiments here. maybe that bias affected how i told the story? though i tried to keep it neutral and tell the story the way my teacher told it to the class.

the majority of my class pretty firmly insisted it was the wife's fault for ending up in that situation, which personally... even if you believe that i don't see how that makes the highwayman any less responsible for having literally killed her. i heard people say she should have slept on one of her lover's doorsteps, she should have communicated with her husband in the beginning so that none of this would have happened, etc. there were also some pretty wild lines of reasoning, like one of the people in my discussion group said the highwayman wasn't responsible because he was just doing his job (is highwayman even a ""job""?) which a) it's not like he's inherently a criminal and is therefore obligated to kill people b) doing your job doesn't make you less responsible for what you do in the name of your job and c) the same student put the ferryman on the top of his most responsible list because he wasn't nice enough to let the wife take the ferry for free... even though... the ferryman was just doing HIS job???

but again, it's not like i'd be all "bingo! correct!" to any of the answers people gave me here. the point is that many people will choose the wife because (from one perspective) it's a way to reassure themselves that if they make smart choices they'll be safe and won't have to worry about becoming a victim of crime, and there'll also be people who choose the highwayman because they reason that the one who commits the crime is more responsible than the victim of it. so i guess it's a lesson in awareness or s/t, of how people blame the victim? (tbh i'm not entirely sure because our discussion didn't wrap up neatly before class let out)

tbh not surprised at all.... also apparently highwaymen are robbers? so killing her wasn't actually necessary??