Question

Compare the character traits of Lord Weston and his wife.

Answer 1

Lord Weston is a well-established judge. He is respected for being the most impartial judge in England. He is inflated with pride in his success as a judge. He keeps on advising Roger about diligence, courage, and attention to detail to climb the ladder of success. He reprimands him for seeking half a day's leave. When Roger qualifies his request with the purpose of interviewing the clerk Mr. Clays to get the data required for his case. A scrap of paper upsets him. He reads it out “Remember Caesar”. Mr. Weston interprets those two words as “death warrant”. Mrs. Weston doesn’t take those words as any threat to anybody. But the judge senses something evil. He declares some illiterate must have scribbled those words. He deduces that a pirate he

had punished or the offenders in the treason case could be behind the conspiracy to eliminate him. His undue fear of ‘velvet coat parcel’ is really comic. His wife’s efforts to be normal provokes him. She casually indicates that she was wondering why he was not assassinated earlier as he must have won the hatred of many lawbreakers. She is a charming woman and an excellent housewife. But one is never sure how much intelligence and sweet malice there lies behind her practical simplicity. She teasingly says were she to shoot him, she would choose the ilex tree as it had thick foliage to hide any sniper and still give him enough room to aim at the judge. Mrs. Weston mocks at Weston’s idea of shutting all the doors leaving large space on the roof. When someone knocks it is she who tells Weston that it could be some perfectly innocent person. She is right. It was an innocent Caesar who he had agreed to meet on that day. Mrs. Weston is more practical and level-headed than Mr. Weston.