The Exorcist

Kinderman reviews his case notes. He now knows that Karl is innocent—he was with his secret daughter on the night of the murder. Analysis from the desecrated altar card found the fingerprints of a child, while its typeface matches that of Sharon Spencer’s typewriter, connecting the church desecrations to Burke’s murder. Kinderman also knows that Chris’s daughter Regan spent time in a mental health clinic, but he cannot bring himself to believe that a child killed Burke. 

That night, a black cab brings a tall elderly man in a black raincoat to the MacNeil house. Inside the house, Karras and Karl pin down Regan while Sharon administers a sedative. Karras had hardly slept as Regan’s condition worsened. He expects Father Merrin soon; Merrin’s reputation precedes him. Karras knows that an exorcism can last “weeks, even months [and] frequently it failed altogether” (191). Karras knows that his own fleeting faith may hinder his efforts. 

Chris has been reading Merrin’s books and she shares a passage she finds particularly beautiful with Karras. Chris still cannot bring herself to tell Howard what has happened. Regan falls silent just as the doorbell chimes—it is Father Merrin, who has arrived a day early. He greets her with a voice that is “gentle, refined, yet as full as the harvest” (193) and she welcomes him in. Merrin insists on seeing Regan before anything else. From above, a deep guttural voice calls out Merrin’s name, but he is not shocked. Merrin calmly ascends the stairs and enters Regan’s room. Karras and Chris follow but Merrin closes the door behind him. The demon laughs, and Merrin comes out—he means to begin as soon as Karras fetches items from the residence, including priestly attire and religious books. 

Merrin and Chris talk of “homely things, little things” (196-97). Chris feels a sense of peace when she is near the old priest. Chris asks Sharon what happened in Regan’s bedroom. Merrin stared at the possessed girl for a short while before the demon told him that, this time, he is destined to lose. Karras returns and finds Merrin deep in prayer. They dress themselves in the priestly garments. Merrin warns Karras not to converse with the demon, which is extremely dangerous: The demon’s lies will only confuse them. 

Merrin and Karras tell Chris to stay out of Regan’s room. They enter, immediately hit by the stench and the icy coldness. As the demon swears and mocks them, Merrin douses Regan in holy water. Both priests recite prayers. Regan spits in Merrin’s face, but he does not stop, so Karras tries to hide his doubts and fears. Karl and Sharon watch the bed levitate a foot of the floor. An elation thrills “up through [Karras’s] being” (201) as he sees proof of the supernatural, and Merrin has to urge Karras to resume praying. Chris bursts into the room. Regan vomits green putrid slime onto Merrin’s hand but he does not withdraw it. Chris runs from the room. 

The bed rocks violently. As Merrin implores the demon to leave Regan’s body, the walls of the house pound with Regan’s pulse, faster and faster. As Merrin prays, the racing, thundering pulse slows. The pounding on the walls stops. The demon shouts at Willie, telling her that her daughter is alive, until Karl rushes her from the room. Merrin continues to pray as Chris reenters. The demon mocks Chris for prioritizing her career before her family, blaming her for driving Regan to madness and murder. Chris runs from the room again. 

The demon turns on Karras. After sedating Regan, Merrin reveals that he and the demon have met before. This powerful demon hopes to make the observers turn to despair. Merrin confesses that he lost his faith, as he and Karras stand in silence and reflect. 

Karras checks Regan’s pulse and she begins to talk to him with his mother’s voice, then with Burke’s voice. Burke’s voice describes how Regan killed Burke. Then, the demon’s voice returns, telling Karras not to believe Merrin, threatening to kill Regan. Karras explains to Merrin that the demon is denying Regan the chance to rest. Karras calls a cardiac specialist, who arrives quickly to examine Regan, but his only advice is to let her sleep. Karras and Merrin begin the ritual again. 

Regan cannot sleep and her pulse fades. Karras does not sleep either; he and Merrin perform the ritual repeatedly for days and nights. Karras worries that he has given Regan too many sedatives and blames himself for her inevitable death. As the two priests rest beside Regan’s bed, the demon speaks again in Karras’s mother’s voice. 

Karras goes home, where Kinderman comes to speak to him. Kinderman suspects that Regan killed Burke. He also mentions Merrin and Merrin’s history of exorcism, seemingly asking Karras for moral advice. Karras tells him to “put it in the hands of a higher authority” (214). Visibly relieved, Kinderman thanks Karras and tells Karras to pass along a message to Karl: Karl’s daughter is now in a rehabilitation facility. 

Back at the MacNeil house, Chris looks at old photographs of Regan, but runs from the room overcome with emotion. Karras looks at the pictures and decides that he must act. He returns to Regan’s room, where he sees Merrin dead on the floor, pills spilled around him. Filled with fury, Karras turns on the demon, which mocks him. Karras shouts at the demon, taunting it to possess him rather than the little girl. 

Chris and Sharon hear stumbling and shouting followed by the breaking of glass. Upstairs, the window is broken and Karras’s body lies on the stairs below. Then, a “small, wan voice” calls out to Chris. It is Regan, freed from the demon. Sharon runs to the Jesuit hall for help while Chris embraces her daughter. Sharon returns with the priest Dyer, who kneels beside Karras’s still living body. Dyer takes a final confession from Karras, noting that his friend’s eyes are “filled with peace; and with something else: something mysteriously like joy at the end of a heart’s longing” (218). Sharon watches as an ambulance arrives and takes Karras’s body away.