Here’s who Martin is in The Killing of a Sacred Deer and why he targets Dr. Steven Murphy:
Who is Martin
Martin Lang — a 16-year-old teenager whose father died during surgery performed by Steven Murphy. He was left fatherless and comes into Steven’s life under a mix of vulnerability and quiet menace. Martin demonstrates close familiarity with Steven’s moral lapses and lives in an impoverished context, sharing his home life with his widowed mother.
Why he targets Steven
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Retributive justice for his father’s death Martin believes Steven is responsible—negligently so—for his father’s death during an operation. As retribution, he forces Steven to “balance things” by sacrificing a member of his own family.
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A supernatural or curse-like threat Martin claims to have placed a curse on Steven’s family. The kids show strange symptoms—paralysis, inability to eat, and eventually bleeding from the eyes—unless Steven chooses which family member will die.
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Moral reckoning and inevitable fate The situation echoes themes from Greek tragedy (specifically Iphigenia in Aulis) where Steven functions like Agamemnon, forced into impossible moral demands. Martin becomes a god-like force of fate, making Steven confront his guilt and inability to avoid responsibility.
If you want, I can walk through how each symptom in the “curse” plays out and how Martin enforces his demands.
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