Essay Question:

Analyse how Characters were used to Explore the Concept of Justice

Introduction

Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” portrays the theme of justice through the characters as they fight to survive the mysterious U.N.Owen on Soldier Island. Christie’s storyline, however, does not follow the predisposed murder mystery events instead the story has been interweaved, bringing justice to the table as the victims of Soldier Island are all murderers themselves. The novel “And Then There Were None” portrays the concept of justice through many of its characters and their actions and thoughts as well as they way Agatha Christie portrays them.

First Concept

In the text “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie the idea of Justice is explored through the thoughts and actions of the character Justice Wargrave (also known as the hanging judge). There are many angles in which Agatha Christie explores justice using Wargrave, one of which is the fact that he is dying. “My death should not be a slow and protracted one as it would be in the course of nature. No, my death should take place in a blaze of excitement. I would live before I died.” This quote is interesting, as since Justice Wargrave is already dying, if he killed himself he would be freeing himself from the pain of his cancer and also the guilt he would have had after killing so many people even if they weren’t innocent, therefore in a way Wargrave is freeing himself from his own justice. This is interesting since he portrays himself as the white night, bringing justice to the rest of the company but when it comes to himself he views getting himself out of a painful long death as justice when it’s really not.

Second Concept

Agatha Christie is trying to contort your idea of justice as when on Soldier Island the guests are put in a situation where they are forced to come clean over their own wrongdoings and the lack of justice that was served with their crime. This has a karmatic effect as each of the guests get judged by their associates and they have to admit to what they have done to avoid losing trust and avoiding suspicion. From your perspective, you also get to read the story of each character and also what they think so that you can figure out for yourself who you think is guilty or innocent.  “Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions.”  Christie uses a murderer to serve justice and throughout the text as the characters start dying off you are urged to see murder as justice itself for the untouchable crimes that they have committed, which, depending on perspective can be viewed as unethical as when they are dead they are freed from the guilt, shame and regret of killing someone or many someone’s which I believe would be justice better served, than if you strip all that punishment and guilt letting them sleep peacefully.

Third Concept

Throughout the novel the plot leads you to believe, with its constant twists and turns, every individual character could be the murderer, and when a character dies you think the decision of who you think the murder is gets easier as the book progresses as you think the possibilities of who the murderer is slim down due to them supposedly dying. “One of us in this very room is in fact the murderer.”  But the final twist that delivers justice is when Justice Wargrave steeps out of the shadows as Vera is killing herself. Vera gets to glimpse a look of satisfaction on the Judges face as her neck snaps and she realises that she didn’t have to kill Herself or Phillip Lombard.

Conclusion

Agatha Christie’s “and then there were none portrays the theme of justice through many of its characters. Justice Wargrave serves justice throughout the text by slowly killing off all his associates in order of morality