“And then there were none” essay (analyse how characters were used to explore the concept of justice)

Justice Agatha Christies “And Then There Were None” novel depicts many meanings and definitions of justices particularly through the characters. In the text the characters explore justice through the order in which they died through the text, the common theme of crime between the guests being they were all untouched by law for their crimes and finally how General MacArthur explores justice when he is broken by guilt and feels he deserves death.

The characters were used to explore the concept of justice through the order in which each character died and at what time through the text they died. Justice in this sense is getting revenge for the ones who died as their murderers should’ve been prosecuted to truly get justice for what happened to them. The idea of justice that is explored by the characters is that the severity of their murders should determine the severity of their punishments. For justice to be served equally between all guests they must all die at different points to satisfy for the crimes they committed. Because the characters who committed the worst crimes were left on the island for the longest time it meant they had to suffer longer, they did not get the easy way out. Justice Wargrave states in his confession, “those who guilt was the lightest should, I decided, pass out first, and not suffer the prolonged mental strain and fear that the more cold-blooded offenders were to suffer.” This quote shows that for justice to be really served to the guests the order was crucial. In the novel Anthony Marston and Mrs Rogers die first, their crimes although murder was far less severe, they did not deserve the “mental strain” that some of the others deserved. This is why the characters Lombard and Vera were left last. These two final characters explored the concept of justice as in the novel for justice to be served to them and to their victims a simple death or hanging would not satisfy. Why should two people who are accused of murder but at different scales get the same fate? That would be unfair and meet and an unjustified end to their crimes. Justice cannot be given to the victim and their family and friends if all people in those days who committed a murder meet the same fate. Justice is explored as we learn how if a repeating serial killer and a murder of one person should not meet the same fate. A murderer could already be suicidal and use the outcome of an easy way of punishment such as being hanged as a reason to go round and kill anyone they wanted and from there to get hung as they wanted. This order explores a more justifiable end to a murderers life that is much more likely to discourage murder. Vera in the text is haunted by her crime, the ongoing confrontation of her murder and the isolation is tormenting which is slow but painful torture leading up to death. This represents justice as it explores how differently it can be served. Although this way of justice isn’t exactly the same as the justices we see in the law, it makes sense for the different scale of murders to be tortured based on the severity of their crime. It helps us to understand that the more drastic the murder the more justice must be served which must be done by another form of punishment other than death.

The law, the intent to be fair or justice through court sentences. But with so many flaws and loopholes how can the law define justice. Justice war graves understands these flaws in the law and seek out to fix them under his own actions. The characters explore this idea as under the law they are all safe, unconvicted or left unpunished. In the text, Justice Wargrave selects his victims by the common factor that they are all guilty of murder but protected by law. The guests committed crimes that when posed to the court either had insufficient proof that they were guilty or for example in the case of Lombard he was untouchable by the law under the fact his crimes occurred amongst the army. Wargraves character explores this idea of justice as he intends to serve justice to what they did because through the law it could not. Wargrave states in his manuscript “The innocent must not suffer” followed by what a doctor stated about “how often murder must be committed which the law was unable to touch.” Which lead Wargrave to use deliberate murders who were all “untouchable by the law.” This description of the law uses the language technique of personification by humanising the law as if it could grab or touch. This is done by the author as it connects the law to something with flaws. Humans are flawed, they hold many weaknesses all the way from the way we look to the way we act. Humans are not perfect and we understand how neither is the law. We learn how the law is flawed, there are out of place rules and gaps that can allow things to slip through. To a character such as Justice Wargrave, this imperfection is tedious and annoying as he spends his life having to aby by something that is not perfect. We learn what lead the character of Justice Wargrave to want to carry out such a crime, being a judge he already had the passion and motivation to accuse and punish those who did wrong. we understand that to avenge the mistakes the law has made and truly feel as if he succeeds in finding/enforcing justice before his death. Through Wargraves scheme to kill those who got away with crimes they should’ve been accused and hung for we start to understand how rarely justice is truly achievable and the idea of it can be very dictated by our perception of justice. Justice is a concept that cannot be satisfied, as we see by the characters on the island the law can only achieve so much justice and for the rest of the unjustified and unprosecuted peoples matters must be taken beyond the law.

In the text, justice is explored by the characters as it looks at the concept that each character must accept their crime and regret or feel guilty for their murder. This is specifically seen in the character of General Macarthur. General MacArthur. General MacArthur sent a war officer to death because he was having an affair with his wife. The death that MacArthur caused had a toll on his wife who he loved so much that seeing her in pain for what he did was horrible. When General MacArthur decides to go to the island he realises that it is the end. He accepts his fate and his guilt overwhelms him to the point where he regrets killing Richmond and accepts his fate that now he must die. General MacArthur says to Vera: “it’s not much good denying it now – not when we’re all going to die… you’ll be glad, too, when the end comes” The quote can be seen as a form of hyperbole as he is over exaggerating his fate, going on about the end and about death, when Vera just sees him as an old man gone crazy. The purpose of this exaggeration is to truly show the regret and the guilt has tipped him over the edge and he now no longer see the need to live and has come to peace with the idea of death. This shows the concept of justice within General MacArthur because he came to understand his wrong and he understood that the only way out of the torture of guilt is death. This satisfies justice as it means he is not just dying still proud of his murder but he is dying full of guilt and regret knowing he must die, he needed to be punished for his crime to give justice to his wife and to Richmond. This represents justice as we learn how if a person died without feeling guilt like MacArthur did then no wrong is learnt of enforced. This connection can be seen in jail, people are sent to jail to regret what they did and learn not to do it again. When people are just hanged like that straight after a trial they feel no remorse they still are proud of their crime which gives no redemption to the victim or victims family. The real importance of jail is that they regret it and don’t do it again. When we see the guilt eat up General MacArthur it shows us that he’s learnt from his crime and understands that it was wrong all from just being punished by being stuck on this island which tells us that true justice has been served.

“And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie explores the theme of justice through the characters in the text. The order in which they died through the text teaches us about the importance of basing the severity of the punishment on the severity of the crime in order to be fair and equal or in other words be just. The common theme of murder crimes between the guests being they were all untouched by law showed us how the law is flawed and can only achieve a part of the justice in the world that needs to be achieved and it teaches us that the only way to be fully just is to take matters into your own hands like Wargrave. Finally, the character of General MacArthur teaches us how that to retain justice for his crime he must feel guilty for what he did as a punishment, for if no regret was realised then they die still pleased by their act of murder. All characters, their crimes and their punishments teach us about the intricacy of justice, murder and punishment and that there can be no simplicity in it.

The End By Maddy