Question

‘A Case for the Defence’ by Graham Greene

Answer 1

‘A Case for the Defence’ is a gripping mystery by Graham Greene that explores the strangeness of justice and how a seemingly perfect case can fall apart in an instant.

The story begins with a brutal crime known as the Peckham murder. An old woman is struck down with a hammer in the middle of the night. It seems like the easiest case in the world to solve, often described by the narrator as an open-and-shut case. The prosecution has a star witness: a very respectable, honest, and calm woman named Mrs. Salmon. On the night of the murder, she had been unable to sleep, looked out her window, and saw the murderer clearly in the moonlight. The man had dropped the hammer and looked right up at her, allowing her to memorise his face.

During the trial, the accused man, a stout fellow named Adams, sits in the dock. When Mrs. Salmon takes the stand, she confidently points straight at him. She has no doubts whatsoever that he is the man she saw outside her window that night. The jury, the judge, and the audience are completely convinced by her testimony. It looks like Adams will definitely hang for his crime.

However, the story takes a shocking turn when the defence lawyer begins his cross-examination. Instead of arguing with Mrs. Salmon about what she saw, he simply asks her to look at a man standing at the back of the courtroom. As Mrs. Salmon looks, she gasps in horror. The man at the back of the room is the exact identical twin of the man sitting in the dock. They have the same stout build, the same face, and the same eyes.

The lawyer asks Mrs. Salmon if she can swear which of the two men she saw that night. Bewildered and honest to a fault, she admits that she cannot tell them apart. Because the twins look exactly the same and both refuse to provide an alibi to protect each other, the jury cannot be one hundred per cent certain which brother committed the murder. The law requires guilt to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and the existence of an identical twin creates the ultimate doubt. Adams is acquitted, and both brothers are allowed to walk free.

But Greene does not let the story end there. As the twins leave the courthouse, an angry crowd gathers outside, furious that a murderer is getting away. The police try to clear a path. In the confusion, one of the twins is pushed or steps off the pavement into the street. A massive bus hits him, and he is killed instantly.

The story ends with a chilling, lingering question. The surviving brother stands there looking down at the dead twin, and the narrator wonders: Was it divine justice that struck down the guilty brother who had just escaped the law? Or did the bus kill the innocent brother, leaving the real murderer alive but haunted by the death of his twin?