Anatomy of a Murder Critique - Essay Example

ANATOMY OF A MURDER Published in 1958, the novel under the “Anatomy of a Murder” is one of the best-seller novels of twentieth century, which look for the review of existing judicial system on the one hand, and the reconsideration of prevailing social norms on the other. Written by Justice John D. Voelker (pen-name Robert Traver), the theme of the novel lies upon the reality that the judicial system is more helpful for the offenders than the victims. The author strives to submit how difficult it is to prove the malafide intention as well as the offender’s actual motive behind a criminal assault, and how the criminals are rescued and supported by the statute of the law and provisions of the jurisprudence, which turn the judicial trial into a highly complex phenomenon. While elaborating the court trial of a murder case, the novel discusses and explores the manners, under which the professionals related to the field of law and justice, perform their activities, forgetting about legal ethics they are bound to observe in while performing their duties and obligations. The novel also describes the problems faced by the accused, defendants and convicts, and projects the role of lawyers and judges during various phases of the court trial. The author points out the flaws and weaknesses the contemporary justice system that it contains in its fold, prevailing in the American society. The story of the novel revolves round the protagonist Paul Biegler, a small town lawyer, who takes the case of the alleged murderer Lt. Frederick Manion. Lt. Manion has murdered a bar owner named Barney Quill, and takes the plea that he had caught Quill red-handed while raping his wife Laura Manion. Since the rape of his wife is quite an intolerable thing for a husband, it also compelled him commit the murder of the rapist; hence, Manion pleads that his offence serves as an immediate reaction to the rape of his wife. Laura also supports her husband in his plea that Quill had raped her, though the medico-legal report finds no clue of any rape with Laura at all. During the trial, the lawyer Mr. Biegler collects sufficient evidences of the murder incident, in order to set his client free from the murder case, but he explores the very fact that Laura is not the woman of strong character, and was indulged in sexual relationships with many men including the murdered bar owner Quill. Hence, her husband has killed Barney Quill out of sheer feelings of jealousy and resentment he maintains for Quill, the paramour of his wife. Since there are no solid grounds on which Biegler could defend his client; so he generates the false witnesses in order to prove that Manion has been undergoing mental retardation, and he has also committed the murder under the same fit of madness. The story indicates the faults of the legal system and trial procedure, which are supportive to the convict, rather than the victim. The most pitiable aspect of the contemporary legal system includes the availability of false, fake and counterfeit witnesses, which help the convicts in such a way that he escapes penalty, punishment and prosecution even his crime has been proved at the court of law. Under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C.), physical examination is a valid proof to announce sentence to the offender as well as set the innocent free, but the case is quite reverse sin practical sense, because the offenders are set free and the victims themselves are declared as the guilty of crime. Though medico-legal report as well as the physical examination of the so called victim of rape, i.e. Laura, nullifies the confirmation of rape and sexual violence against her, under the court trial described in the novel, yet the court does not declare the dead bartender as the innocent one. The author has tried to prove the bartender as the innocent person; even he had established the sexual relationships with the wife of some other person beyond his marital knot. No moral laws and ethical values can view Quill as a person free from the guilt of revelry making with a married woman at all. Former Judge of High Court and famous social reformer and writer Patrick Devlin has also criticized the absence of moral law from the modern society. Devlin (1957) exhorted the question to examine and interpreted the fact that the statute of law must also declare immoral offences as the criminal act, to create a strong judicial system on the one hand, and alleviate the crime rate from the society on the other. Hence, there is a strong relationship between the enforcement of the provisions of law and moral values. Famous English Political Economist, J. S. Mill (1863) states that the only justification for limiting one persons liberty is to prevent harm to another. Hence, the novel submits that neither the statute of the prevailing law bars Laura from indulging into dissipation, nor the jury even rebukes and censures her on presenting false evidence just to support her husband during the trial case. A justice system must be the custodian of the individuals, who seek its help while undergoing the cruelties and criminal assaults. Since, the justice system is the outcome of the utter need of rules and system to preserve peace and harmony in society, on the basis of which social norms, mores and taboos have been determined to bring regularity in society, it must be comprehensive and beneficial for the victims and the oppressed as well. It is the fruit of long struggle that the socio-cultural and political authorities have come into being, to protect human right, evade disturbance and control deviancy from the prescribed manners prevailing in some specific area. The system of punishment and penalties has been introduced and implemented leading towards the formulation of the sets of laws and penal codes just for the welfare and uplift of the individuals and the protection of their life. The formation of law enforcing agencies has also been originated to cope with the individuals deteriorating the peace and stability of society. The author has skillfully projected all these issues. The role played by the attorney Biegler is the most condemnable one. It is right that he was unaware of the malafide intentions of the culprit in the beginning, but he must have stood by the truth rather than supporting the murderer in order to win the case and sound reputation as a successful attorney. Here also appears the question of the implementation and observing of moral values and professional ethics particularly in the occupations of medical and law. The presentation of false evidence and appearance of fake witnesses to prove Manion as an insane depicts the insufficiency of the court trial and the jury’s inability to analyze the whole situation in a critical way. The novel also drags the attention of the readers towards the reality that the law and order system was unable to provide the murderer with the justice before committing his crime. Had the social values and prevailing laws condemned the immoral and shameful activities being exercised at bars, clubs, hotels and other public places quite openly, Manion would have no need of killing a person, who had developed illicit physical relations with the Manion’s wife. Hence, Manion’s action was the retaliation against the injustices being exercised for the deterioration of his domestic life as well as the peace of his mind. Traver’s wonderful novel provokes the law making authorities to take serious action against the social injustices, flaws existing in the judicial set up and constant decline of the moral values, the combination of which instigates the individual to take law in their own hands to teach the offenders a lesson. In addition, the prevailing social injustices and inequalities serve as the root cause of giving birth to doing wrong whenever the individuals obtain any chances of it; the Manion’s so called insanity is the case in point. The play “Justice in Four Acts” (1924) by John Galsworthy, Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1960) and Shane Pollock’s “Blood Relations” (1981) also criticize the prevailing unjust trial system, which afflicts pains and sufferings upon the victims, and adds to their miseries rather than announcing sentence to the offenders and criminals and leading them to their ultimate destination i.e. prison. The pitiable judicial system, favoring the influential groups on the basis of fake evidence, influential position of the offender and mercilessness of the prevailing laws, portray a very drab, dull, dismal and disappointing picture of the judicial system, which serves as the imperative element of the novel. REFERENCES: Galsworthy, John. Justice: A Play in Four Acts. 1924 Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. 1960 Pollock, Shane. Blood Relations 1981 Traver, Robert. Anatomy of a Murder ISBN 1958 Read More