Galsworthy’s Justice: WBSSC English Pass

Ø  Notable works: The Forsyte Saga and A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter.

Ø  Took the pseudonym of John Sinjohn

Ø  Won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932.

Ø  Joseph Conrad was a close friend

Ø  Studied law at Oxford but did not follow the profession

Ø  Justice was produced in 1910

Ø  Winston Churchill attended an early performance of the play at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London

2.     The title is an impassionate commentary on the legal system and the prison administration in the commercial society in which hypocrisy and false values heap injustice on the Falders and make them find peace in death.

3.     The title is also ironic.

4.     The play opens in the month of July (morning) at a Solicitor’s firm, ‘James and Walter How’.

5.     Cokeson was the managing clerk in the office

6.      Falder asks Ruth to get ready to run away with him and be at the booking office at 11:45 pm

7.     He gives her seven pounds

8.     It is found that Walter drew by cheque and took $90, but in the entry in the passbook, it is $90.

9.     Falder is tried in a court of law on a foggy October afternoon

10.   Frome- the defence counsel

11.     Cleaver- the prosecution counsel

12. Cokeson visits the prison on Christmas Eve and prays for a visit to be arranged between Falder and Ruth.

13. Falder is released after two years, and Ruth has the chance to meet him at Hyde Park.

14.   ‘The room is old-fashioned’: the room of the managing clerk is in the Victorian style. The description of the clerk’s room shows that both the place and the man are old and conservative. Galsworthy himself belonged to the conservative aristocracy.

15. The stone stairway indicates the old Victorian style.

16.   The passbook is of immediate significance. Cokeson is a conservative clerk standing for the respectability and discipline of the house. The passbook is the centre of interest because it will lead to the detection of Falder’s crime

17.    Ruth Honeywill is poor and modestly dressed. She is presented as a dignified woman.

18.   ‘with tragic insanity’: with a deep glance betraying a sense of sorrow and pathos in his heart. This indicates his scruples and moral feeling in running away with a married girl.

19.   The conversation between Ruth and Falder reveals that Falder is worried about rescuing a distressed woman. He is in love with Ruth. Romance is not the origin of love. His love is born of the sight of a woman persecuted by her husband. His motive for the crime has a humanitarian side.

20.  Davis is another clerk who left the office about a week ago to go to Australia.

21.    ‘Sir- for good’: Here is a double meaning. Apparently, he means that he will complete it in full, but he also means that he will complete his office for good, i.e., forever. He will leave England for good that night. But this is ironic, because he will not be able to do what he intends.

22. Walter is a man of thirty-five, with a pleasant, almost apologetic voice.

23.   Guildhall:  a public building between 1411 and 1435, reconstructed in 1864. It now houses a museum and art gallery. Walter, a young man of artistic taste, goes there to see pictures and antiquities. This artistic taste of the young man has sobered his outlook on law and given him a humanitarian outlook.

24.  Pince-nez: eyeglasses worn only by a clutch on the nose.

25.    Scotland Yard is the building in London where the metropolitan police has its headquarters.

26. A cashier is called a sedentary dragon because they sit all day and stare with a fierce look at the payments at the counter, so that they can detect cheating or false payments.

27.   ‘Do you keep dogs?’: Cokeson is keeping the cashier engaged in conversation. This sudden question is funny. Cokeson talks about dogs on several occasions. A dog image comes to his mind as he thinks of men in chains.

28.  Morass: bog, marshy place; the confusion and upheaval of the feelings of his mind are compared to a boggy place where no one can have any foothold.

29.  According to James, forgery was planned and worked for four days, from Friday to Tuesday.

30.  A real bad egg: a man of no principle; a worthless lewd man.

31.    Sine qua non– an essential condition.

32.   Nettled- annoyed

33.   “The quality of mercy strained”- This is taken from Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice”. Walter pleads for mercy to Falder.

34.   Foggy October afternoon: cold and gloomy with vapour usual in London in October. This gloomy atmosphere accords with the matter-of-fact and dull transactions of the court.

35.   October afternoon: Falder was arrested on 18^th July, and his trial takes place in October. This indicates that Falder has already served a two-month prison sentence. This is an example of ‘law’s delay’ which inflicts suffering s on the accused.

36.  Ogre: man-eating giant.

37. Poor Law: In Great Britain, a law passed in 1601, each parish was to provide for its poor, aged people. The parish levies a tax, the “poor rate,” on its people to meet the expenses. A regular poor law is now administered by county councils.

38.   “All but seventy days”: Cokeson corrects the statement by faultlessly accurate. Falder was in service for less than two years, wanting 17 days to make up the difference to reach two years. Cokeson has taken the oath to tell the truth. So he wants to be correct. Cokeson here provides some fun by showing his respect for the sanctity of the law court and by being absurdly correct.

39.  ‘I’m a little deaf’: Galsworthy makes Cokeson a comic character. There is a mixture of seriousness and comicality in his character.

40.  Third party: Sweedle, the office boy.

41.   ‘Have you ever seen a dog that’s lost its master?’Cokeson refers to ‘dog’, which seems to be an object of particular interest to him. A dog that has lost his master looks around with a quick, impatient glance to find his master. Falder seems to look out for something he has lost.

42. ‘Does funny mean mad?’ Cleaver wants to demolish Frome’s argument that Falder was mad when he committed the crime.

43.   ‘could not fix my mind on anything’: Falder expresses his state of mind when he saw Ruth injured and insulted by her husband.

44.  The admission of Falder proves that Frome’s plea is not supported by facts. Falder did not know that the cheque book was in Walter’s pocket, and so any alteration might be attributed to Davis, who might have altered it on Friday or Saturday.

45.  ‘Luckless crews’: unfortunate gallery slaves who man the ship. Here, ‘crews’ means prisoners.

46.  ‘Dark ill-stared ships’: Ships that are led astray. ‘Ships’ means prisons.

47. Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables” describes the sufferings of Jean Valjean as a galleys prisoner.

48.   Lunatic asylum: a hospital for the mad people.

49.  Clerk of Assize: clerk of the court. Assize- is the periodical sessions in the countries of England for the administration of civil and criminal justice.

50. ‘With what truth I am unable to gauge’: The judge says here that the love between Falder and Ruth is not mental attraction only, but an immoral relationship.

51.    ‘Call the next case’: This is significant. The judge works in a mechanical, callous manner. The judge will pass on to the following case in a business-like manner. The judge has no feeling for the pathetic case of Falder and Ruth. Criminal cases are routine affairs to them.

52. Christmas Eve is chosen to highlight the emptiness of the Christmas charity.

53.   Rough saw: poorly shaped saw- a cutting instrument. The saw was made by Moaney a prisoner who wanted to cut the railing of his cell window and escape.

54. The philosopher: The prisoner Cripton is called a ‘philosopher’ in an ironic manner for his attitude toward prison life.

55.   Not much afterwards: If their will-power is broken, nothing remains afterwards. The governor is considerate and sympathetic, but the Chaplain, whose duty it is to provide spiritual consolation to the condemned, is indifferent and hard. He is interested in playing Golf play

56.  Not the church of England: he does not belong to the Protestant Christianity which is the state religion. Falder is a dissenter like Cokeson.

57.   Galsworthy is very ironical about the doctor and the chaplain. The doctor cannot minister to a mind diseased, and the chaplain, whose task is to give religious teaching, does his job in a mechanical manner. He thinks that separate confinement makes the prisoners fit for receiving religious lessons.

58.   Q. 3007: This is Falder’s number.

59.  Clipton is a nervous wreck. He is afraid of Wooder the wader.

60.  O’Cleary bangs the door and this disturbs Clipton

61. Clipton is a veteran jailbird while the prisoner in the next room is a novice. He bangs the door out of nervousness. Such a novice should not be with the veterans like Clipton.

62.   O’Cleary makes a mat out of the dried leaves.

63.   Larna Doone: a romantic novel by R.D. Blackmore published in 1869. This romantic story of love appeals to Falder.

64.  ‘Didn’t they find him a place when his time was up’: There is a provision that a criminal on release should be provided with a suitable job by jail authorities or aftercare Society so that the criminal may stand on his own legs.

65.  Cis: sister

66. James suspects something amiss in Ruth’s life. That is why he insists on Ruth’s giving up Falder. Falder at first could not realize it. But gradually truth comes to him.

67.  The words ‘shrink’ ‘drop’ ‘crouch’ ‘steal’ suggest the nervous frightened movement of Ruth.

§  D—d: damned

§  Button holing: detaining in conversation

§  Bursting into voice: suddenly raising the voice

§  Like the eyes of rabbit fastened on a snake: hypnotized

§  Lurch: evading a topic by going to other topics

§  Blind spot: weakness in character

§  Dissolute: immoral

§  Fatuously: foolishly

§  Aberration: mental disorder

§  Prima facie: on the face of

§  A flash of darkness: temporary fit of madness

§  Perjury: false evidence

§  Raw-boned: having not much flesh after losing weight

§  Tumbrel: prison van/cart

§  A leg up: help

§  Fluster: a state of nervousness

• What is the pseudonym that Galsworthy took? What kind of aesthetic theory did he believe in?

Ans: Galsworthy took the pseudonym ‘John Sinjohn’. Galsworthy was a representative of the literary tradition that has regarded art as an instrument of social debate. He believed that it was the duty of an artist to examine a problem, but not to provide a solution.

• Justify the significance of the title ‘Justice’.

Ans: John Galsworthy deliberately chose the title Justice in order to satirise the contemporary social and legal systems of the country, which in the name of ‘justice’ forced the helpless individuals like Falder and Ruth to suffer and perish finally in the most inhuman way in a ‘civilised’ society.

• Justify the sub-title of the drama ‘A tragedy’. Or, Do you think Justice a social tragedy?

Ans: Justice is different from the other tragedies written in the Aristotelian formula. There is no conventional hero-villain conflict in the play. The central protagonist, Falder, is not at all a heroic figure; rather, he is of a weak-willed and nervous personality. Again, the villain’s place has been taken by inhuman social and legal systems, to which the hero becomes a victim.

• Character of Falder/Falder as a tragic hero.

Ans: In Galsworthy’s Justice, the central protagonist, Falder, is a weak-willed and nervous person with a good intention of providing relief to a suffering woman. In so doing, he commits a crime which leads him to prison and to death. Thus, he becomes a pathetic figure rather than a tragic one.

• Ruth Honeywill

Ans: Ruth is a poor, unimpressive woman married to a brutish drunkard. Her suffering makes her love Falder sincerely. Again, she does all this more for her children than for herself. Like Ruth in the Old Testament, she is a sad and gloomy figure. All her hopes, however, get shattered at the death of Falder.

• Who is James How? How and what does he declare about Falder?

Ans: James How is the embodiment of the cruel, inhuman social and legal system. It is not, of course, that he is the villain of the piece. He judges and acts on the prevalent conventional morality that makes him blind to the serious flaws in the systems. He is the owner of the firm in which Falder is a junior clerk. When he comes to know of the crime, he decides to send him to jail.

• Who is Walter How? What does he decide about Falder?

Ans: Walter How, the son of James How, stands as a foil to his father. Owing to his generosity and a clear view of events, he judges everything on human grounds and tries his best to dissuade his father from sending Falder to prison. While his father represents conventional morality, Walter How represents the kind of morality Galsworthy wants the social and legal institutions to go by. When Walter learns of the crime committed by Falder, he decides not to send him to jail, as it is his first offense.

• The character of Cokeson

Ans: In Galsworthy’s Justice Cokeson, the head clerk of How’s firm, is a good-natured person, but he has his limitations as a member of the lower middle class. He understands Falder and feels for him, but he cannot go against his employer. Finally, he answers all fittingly at the end when Falder dies.

• “It is a matter of life and death”.Who says this, to whom, and why?

Ans: Tortured by her drunkard husband almost to death, Ruth Honeywell comes to meet Falder for being rescued from him. But in the office, Cokeson tells her that such personal affairs are not entertained. This forces Ruth to entreat him with these words.

• “Justice is a machine.” Who says this and why?

Ans: Falder’s defence counsel, Mr. Frome, introduces the metaphor of a machine in order to convey the sense that the legal system operates in such an inhuman way that it makes a mockery of the concept of ‘justice’ and destroys the individual completely. The end of the drama, the end of Falder’s life, proves his words.

• “Law is what it is, a majestic edifice sheltering all of us.” Who says this, when and why?

Ans: In the course of sentencing Falder to imprisonment, the judge, as a protector and agent of the existing legal system, asserts that the institution of law is a noble one. It seeks to protect the good citizens from the bad ones, to protect society. The judge is the spokesman of the conventional concept of ‘justice’ in the contemporary judicial system. Naturally, his opinions and views do not go by human norms.

• “It must have been temptation of the moment” …A man does not succumb like this.” Who says this? Why does he say so? What do you think of his character from the speech?

Ans: After the detection of Falder’s forgery and his confession, James How decides to prosecute Falder. Walter How, his son, pleads for Falder’s case. He opines that Falder, a gentleman, must have been tempted to do this. His words indicate that he is a good-natured youth who judges everything on human grounds.

• “The quality of mercy is not strained…” Where does the speaker quote the line from? Why does he do so?

Ans: The speaker, Walter How, quotes the famous line from Portia’s speech in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, where she appeals to Shylock for Antonio’s case. Walter How wants to convey that mercy is a greater virtue and, therefore, greater justice, which makes everyone happy. He tries to convince his father that they should pardon this virtue.

• Significance of the Mute Scene in Justice.

Ans: The Mute Scene (Act III, scene iii) is very important from the theatrical point of view since through this Galsworthy presents the deep agony of a helpless man, Falder in the solitary confinement. The scene arouses not only our pity and fear, but also our hatred for the system.

• Significance of the Trial Scene in Justice.

Ans: The Trial Scene in Justice sets the play in motion. The title of the play is directly related to the Trial Scene, which concretizes the conflict between two abstract forces of antagonism—law versus humanity.

o   “You may depend on it, my boy, if a man is going to do this sort of thing he’ll do it, pressure or no pressure…” Act 1

o   “one wrong is no excuse for another wrong…” Act 2

o   “Divested of …forgery?” Act 2

o   “My friend…of a crime” Act 2

o   “Now, gentlemen…what then”?” Act 2

o   “believe me gentlemen, there is nothing more tragic in life than the utter impossibility…” Act 2

o   “…men like the prisoner are destroyed daily under our law for want of that human insight…” Act 2

o   “Justice is machine…was one of weakness”. Act 2

o   “Is that to be his voyage—from which few return?” Act 2

o   “The rolling of chariot wheels…that for him.” Act 2

o   “They come down on you like a cartload of bricks, flatten you out….in my time”. Act 4

o   “When a man is down, never hit him…It’s a sound policy”. Act 4

o   “I seem to be struggling against a thing that’s all around me…grows up there” Act 4

o   “That finishes him. It’ll go on forever now” Act 4

o   “He’s failed to report himself lately.” Act 4

A.    3 years

2.     What was Falder’s crime in the play?

A.    Altering the cheque and counterfoil

3.     How many children does Ruth have?

4.     What is the significance of the name ‘Ruth’?

A.    Just like Ruth in the biblical story, Ruth in the play suffers hardships and tragedy in life

5.     “He is safe with gentle Jesus” Who says this?

6.     Wister is from

A.    Scotland Yard

7.     Justice is a tragedy that is different from the

A.    Aristotelian concept [the role of fate and villain is taken up by the social and legal system]

8.     Falder died at the age of

A.    Twenty three

9.     The solitary confinement is presented in the

A.    Act III

10.   “I felt, it was too much for me” Who says this?

A.    Falder [He tells the court that he could not stand mentally the suffering of Ruth at the hand of her husband.]

11.     “Justice is a machine” Whose voice do you hear here?

A.    The authorial voice presented through Frome, the advocate [Galsworthy is speaking through the mouth of Frome]

12.    “Law is what it is, a majestic edifice, sheltering all of us.” Whose voice is this actually?

A. Through the voice of the judge, the dramatist actually presents the view of the system, which is devoid of feeling like a machine.

13.    What is the main difference between James How and Walter How?

A.    Generation gap—with the new generation having new view of the system

14.   Why did Galsworthy present the Solitary Confinement scene?

A. To present to the audience a spectacle of the inhuman system of solitary confinement, and of course, to form a public opinion.

15.    What was the binding principle behind Falder’s falling in love with Ruth?

A.    Sympathy for her suffering

16.   The play is set in

A.    Morning. B. Noon. C. Afternoon

17.    What is the name of the firm?

A.    ‘James  And Walter How’

18.   What is the significance of the stage setting with “old-fashioned with well-worn mahogany…”

A.    It symbolically and psychologically suggests something which has not gone through reformation just like the legal system

19.   What could be the significance of the foggy October afternoon when Falder is tried?

A.    The fog is used to anticipate Falder’s tragic fate full of uncertainties

20.  ‘Sir- for good’ has a

A.    Double meaning

21.    “It is too late. Here’s seven pounds. Booking office—___ tonight”. Fill in the blank space.

A.    11.45

22.   “They cling together passionately…” Here ‘cling’ points to their

A.    Attachment and dependence

23.   “it’s improper use of the premises”. After saying this, Cokeson hands over a book to Falder. What is its name?

A.      The Purity in the Home

24.  “Why this’d be a felony”. What is the meaning of the word here?

A.    Serious crime

25.   What is the name of the ship by which Davis sailed to Australia?

A.    “City of Rangoon”

26.  “The quality of mercy is not strained.” Who says this?

A.    xxx

27.   “Sweedle, rushing to the door with open mouth, pursues them…” Why did the dramatist include this in the drama?

A.    To convey the amazement at the treatment meted out to Falder

28.  “Here! Here! What are we doing?”  What is the intended meaning through this dialogue and sight?

A.    Cokeson does this, utter frustration and helplessness with the system

29. What type of language does the lawyer use in court?

A. The formal language of a lawyer but aiming at the merciful aspect of justice.

30.  “…he was jumpy at the time”. What is the meaning of the word ‘jumpy’?

A.    Perplexed

31.    “What are? What were?” What is referred to here as ‘what’?

A.    Ruth’s children

32.   When did Falder give the money to Ruth for going to America?

A.    On Saturday, 8^th

33.   What is the time gap between Act II and IV?

A.    2 years

34.   By what number was Falder known in the prison?

35.   The title of the play is

A.    Ironical