‘When concerned with crime fiction, justice is
only served when punishment is accordedʼ.
Discuss the significance of justice in two crime
texts. [25 Marker] The Poetry Anthology and
Murder of Roger Ackroyd
‘When concerned with crime fiction, justice is only served when punishment is accordedʼ.
Discuss the significance of justice in two crime texts.
[25 Marker]
The Poetry Anthology and Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Ballad of Reading Gaol – injustice in justice.
Peter Grimes – lack of justice (ideas of religion enacting justice).
Justice in the suicide of Dr Sheppard being contradictory.
All the characters appear guilty in Christieʼs society.
Throughout centuries, critics have discussed the portrayal of the punishment of criminals as
being justice and to what extent this provides poetic justice for the crime committed. In ‘The
Murder of Roger Ackroydʼ this idea of punishment serving justice is exemplified in the suicide of
Dr Sheppard which serves as the restoration of natural order in the otherwise sunny Kingʼs
Abbot Society. However, in the poetry collection Peter Grimes and The Ballad of Reading Gaol
present a subversion of the crime trope suggesting an element of injustice in the punishment of
the criminal. In this essay I will therefore discuss to what extent in crime fiction justice is only
served when punishment occurs.
In 1993, Seamus Heaney stated that Wildeʼs predatory portray of the executioner as the “icy
lord of death” who came with “icy breath” marks the poem as a polemic on the justice system
presenting the injustice of the criminals punishment in the 19th century Victorian prison. This is
presented in the cruel and hard manual labour which the prisoners undergo with Canto III
describing how they; “tore the tarry rope to shreds With blunt and bleeding nails; We rubbed
the doors and scrubbed the floors And cleaned the shining rails”. The long-ended descriptions
of the punishment with the regular circular rhyme emphasises the monotonous and almost
never-ending suffering which the prisoners experience. The harsh ‘ʼbʼ and ‘tʼ plosive sounds
alongside the repetition of the excruciating onomatopoeic ‘ailʼ sound, which correlates so
strongly to the word ‘wailʼ suggests that these are the noises within the prison which the men
unitedly experience together. Through this Wilde introduces a question to society and also the
reader. By removing the victims of the criminals, for example Charles Woolridgeʼs wife, Laura
Ellen, who was killed on a street corner but whose death is simply described with the
insignificant line “poor dead woman” “who was murdered in her bed” like Desdemona. The
only served when punishment is accordedʼ.
Discuss the significance of justice in two crime
texts. [25 Marker] The Poetry Anthology and
Murder of Roger Ackroyd
‘When concerned with crime fiction, justice is only served when punishment is accordedʼ.
Discuss the significance of justice in two crime texts.
[25 Marker]
The Poetry Anthology and Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Ballad of Reading Gaol – injustice in justice.
Peter Grimes – lack of justice (ideas of religion enacting justice).
Justice in the suicide of Dr Sheppard being contradictory.
All the characters appear guilty in Christieʼs society.
Throughout centuries, critics have discussed the portrayal of the punishment of criminals as
being justice and to what extent this provides poetic justice for the crime committed. In ‘The
Murder of Roger Ackroydʼ this idea of punishment serving justice is exemplified in the suicide of
Dr Sheppard which serves as the restoration of natural order in the otherwise sunny Kingʼs
Abbot Society. However, in the poetry collection Peter Grimes and The Ballad of Reading Gaol
present a subversion of the crime trope suggesting an element of injustice in the punishment of
the criminal. In this essay I will therefore discuss to what extent in crime fiction justice is only
served when punishment occurs.
In 1993, Seamus Heaney stated that Wildeʼs predatory portray of the executioner as the “icy
lord of death” who came with “icy breath” marks the poem as a polemic on the justice system
presenting the injustice of the criminals punishment in the 19th century Victorian prison. This is
presented in the cruel and hard manual labour which the prisoners undergo with Canto III
describing how they; “tore the tarry rope to shreds With blunt and bleeding nails; We rubbed
the doors and scrubbed the floors And cleaned the shining rails”. The long-ended descriptions
of the punishment with the regular circular rhyme emphasises the monotonous and almost
never-ending suffering which the prisoners experience. The harsh ‘ʼbʼ and ‘tʼ plosive sounds
alongside the repetition of the excruciating onomatopoeic ‘ailʼ sound, which correlates so
strongly to the word ‘wailʼ suggests that these are the noises within the prison which the men
unitedly experience together. Through this Wilde introduces a question to society and also the
reader. By removing the victims of the criminals, for example Charles Woolridgeʼs wife, Laura
Ellen, who was killed on a street corner but whose death is simply described with the
insignificant line “poor dead woman” “who was murdered in her bed” like Desdemona. The
