Resumen
Resumen de Justice
Para quién es
For readers who love moral questions, courtroom scenes and plays that stay in the mind. It suits anyone curious about crime and punishment, law and mercy.
De qué trata este libro
Justice is a play in four acts by John Galsworthy, first staged in London in 1910. Galsworthy was a lawyer by training and a novelist and playwright by choice. He wrote this play to show what happens when a single human mistake meets the full weight of the law. It follows one young man, a lawyer's clerk, from a moment of weakness to the cells of a prison.
You get the whole shape of the drama here: the office where the crime happens, the courtroom where it is judged, and the prison where its cost is felt. You also meet the people who surround the accused, none of them villains and each of them sure of their own good sense. That is the play's trick. Nobody is cruel, and yet something cruel is done. The story begins in a solicitor's office, with a clerk, a cheque and a number that has been changed.
En este resumen
- 1A clerk, a cheque and a changed numberFree
- 2Falder's reason is a woman in danger
- 3The courtroom weighs the act, not the man
- 4Prison closes in on a nervous man
- 5What the play says about law and mercy
- 6How Galsworthy builds the drama
Idea clave 1 de 6
A clerk, a cheque and a changed number
The play opens in the London office of James and Walter How, a firm of solicitors. The place is orderly, dusty and respectable. The managing clerk is Cokeson, a fussy, kindly man who runs the junior staff and takes pride in the firm's good name. Among the juniors is William Falder, a quiet young man with a nervous manner.
A problem comes to light. A cheque made out by the firm for nine pounds has been paid at the bank for ninety. Someone has altered the figures. Cokeson is troubled by this, partly because he likes Falder and partly because he fears what the partners will say. The discovery spreads through the office in small, tense exchanges.
The partners are the elder James How and his son Walter. They are not monsters. They run a respectable business and they believe that honesty in a clerk is the foundation of everything they do. When suspicion falls on Falder, they treat it as a matter of duty, not of feeling.
Galsworthy lets the facts arrive without hurry. We watch Falder's face as the questions close in. By the end of the first act, the audience knows that a young man is in serious trouble. We also begin to wonder what pushed him to such a desperate act, and whether the answer will matter to anyone who has the power to judge him.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Justice
What is the play Justice by John Galsworthy about?
It follows William Falder, a young solicitor's clerk who forges a cheque to help a woman in a violent marriage. The play shows his trial and his time in prison, and asks whether the law can be fair and merciful at once.
When was Justice by Galsworthy written and first performed?
Galsworthy wrote Justice in 1910, and it was first staged in London that year. It is a work of fiction, though it draws on real concerns of the time about prisons and punishment.
Did Justice change prison law in Britain?
It is often said that the play, especially its scene of solitary confinement, helped shape public debate about prison conditions at the time. Reforms to the use of solitary confinement followed soon after, though many factors played a part.
Who is Cokeson in Justice?
Cokeson is the managing clerk at the firm of James and Walter How. He is a fussy, anxious but kind man who likes Falder, and he remains one of the few people who show him real care.
Is Justice by John Galsworthy hard to read?
No. It is a short play in plain, direct language, and the plot is easy to follow.