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" A truthful traveller, who should have seen some extraordinary
creature in the likeness of a sea-serpent, would have no fear of mentioning
it; but the same traveller, having had some singular presentiment, impulse,
vagary of thought, vision (so-called), dream, or other remarkable mental
impression, would hesitate considerably before he would own to it."
Charles Dickens may be known world wide for A Christmas Carol, but his short ghost stories are just as horrifying as his popular tale of societal greed. Rae Wilson shares her observations on Dicken's work and and invites you question your own reluctance related to what fantastical events you are willing to share.
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Sneaky Snitch by Kevin MacLeod http://incompetech.com
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-------------
Darkest Hour- by Steve Oxen
https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★In the oral tradition of storytelling, Echoes in the Dark, delivers classic works of gothic fiction weekly. Hosted and curated by Ms. Rae (an award-winning educator, actor, and literary analyst) the collection of stories spans popular works by authors like Edgar Allan Poe as well as lesser known works by authors such as Guy de Maupassant. Each story is followed by a literary analysis.
If you’re looking to enjoy more classic literature, struggle to find the time to read, hate reading, or just love listening to stories, then this podcast is for you.
A Note on Content: While these stories are generally appropriate for listeners aged 12 and up, classic Gothic literature frequently explores themes of murder, romantic affairs, and "tortured souls." Stories are performed exactly as written in their original historical context.
If you are looking to learn more ways to boost your literary analysis visit:
Speaker 1: Welcome to Echoes in the
Dark, a podcast dedicated to the
oral
Speaker 1: tradition of
storytelling.
Speaker 1: If you're looking to
enjoy more classic literature,
struggle
Speaker 1: to find the time to read,
hate reading, or just love listening
Speaker 1: to stories, then this
podcast is for you.
Speaker 1: At the end of each story,
I'll share my analysis on the
story's
Speaker 1: deeper meanings.
Speaker 1: The Trial for Murder by
Charles Dickens is a short story
that
Speaker 1: was originally published
in 1865 in the literary magazine All
Speaker 1: the Year Round.
Speaker 1: Dickens was a prolific
writer and wrote hundreds of short
stories
Speaker 1: as well as 15 books, with
a Christmas Carol being one of his
Speaker 1: most notable works.
Speaker 1: The entire story is told
in first-person narration.
Speaker 1: If you want to follow
along, you can get a copy on my
website,
Speaker 1: betteressaywriting.com.
Speaker 1: The Trial for Murder by
Charles Dickens.
Speaker 1: I have always noticed the
prevalent want of courage, even
among
Speaker 1: persons of superior
intelligence and culture, as to
imparting
Speaker 1: their own psychological
experiences when those have been of
Speaker 1: a strange sort.
Speaker 1: Almost all men are afraid
that what they could relate in such
Speaker 1: wise would find no
parallel or response in a listener's
internal
Speaker 1: life, and might be
suspected or laughed at.
Speaker 1: A truthful traveler, who
should have some extraordinary
creature
Speaker 1: in the likeness of a sea
serpent, would have no fear of
mentioning
Speaker 1: it.
Speaker 1: But the same traveler,
having had some singular
presentment,
Speaker 1: impulse, vagary of
thought, vision, so-called, dream,
or other
Speaker 1: remarkable mental
oppression, would hesitate
considerably before
Speaker 1: he would own to it.
Speaker 1: To this reticence, I
attribute much of the obscurity in
which
Speaker 1: such subjects are
involved.
Speaker 1: We do not communicate our
experiences of these subjective
things
Speaker 1: as we do our experiences
of objective creation.
Speaker 1: The consequence is that
the general stock of experience in
this
Speaker 1: regard appears
exceptional, and really is so, in
respect of
Speaker 1: being miserably
imperfect.
Speaker 1: In what I'm going to
relate, I have no intention of
setting
Speaker 1: up, opposing or
supporting any theory whatever.
Speaker 1: I know the history of the
bookseller of Berlin, I have studied
Speaker 1: the case of the wife of a
late astronomer royal, as related
Speaker 1: by Sir David Brewster,
and I have followed the minutest
details
Speaker 1: of a much more remarkable
case of spectral illusion occurring
Speaker 1: within my private circle
of friends.
Speaker 1: It may be necessary to
state as to this last that the
sufferer,
Speaker 1: a lady, was in no degree,
however distant, related to me.
Speaker 1: A mistaken assumption on
that head might suggest an
explanation
Speaker 1: of a part of my own case,
but only a part which would be
wholly
Speaker 1: without foundation.
Speaker 1: It cannot be referred to
my inheritance of any developed
peculiarity,
Speaker 1: nor had I ever before any
at all similar experience, nor have
Speaker 1: I ever had any at all
similar experience since.
Speaker 1: It does not signify how
many years ago or how few a certain
Speaker 1: murder was committed in
England which attracted great
attention.
Speaker 1: We hear more than enough
of murders as they rise in
succession
Speaker 1: to their atrocious
eminence, and I would bury the
memory of
Speaker 1: this particular brute if
I could, as his body was buried in
Speaker 1: Newgate jail.
Speaker 1: I purposely abstained
from giving any direct clue to the
criminal's
Speaker 1: individuality.
Speaker 1: When the murder was first
discovered, no suspicion fell, or
Speaker 1: I ought rather to say,
for I cannot be too precise in my
facts,
Speaker 1: it was nowhere publicly
hinted that any suspicion fell on
the
Speaker 1: man who was afterwards
brought to trial.
Speaker 1: As no reference was at
that time made to him in the
newspapers,
Speaker 1: it is obviously
impossible that any description of
him can at
Speaker 1: that time have been given
in the newspapers.
Speaker 1: It is essential that this
fact be remembered.
Speaker 1: And I read it with close
attention.
Speaker 1: I read it twice, if not
three times.
Speaker 1: The discovery had been
made in a bedroom, and when I laid
down
Speaker 1: the paper, I was aware of
a flash, rush, flow, I do not know
Speaker 1: what to call it.
Speaker 1: No word I can find is
satisfactorily descriptive in which
I
Speaker 1: seemed to see that
bedroom passing through my room,
like a picture
Speaker 1: impossibly painted on a
running river, though almost
instantaneous
Speaker 1: in its passing.
Speaker 1: It was perfectly clear,
so clear that I distinctly, and with
Speaker 1: a sense of relief,
observed the absence of the dead
body from
Speaker 1: the bed.
Speaker 1: It was in no romantic
place that I had this curious
sensation,
Speaker 1: but in the chambers in
Piccadilly, very near to the corner
of
Speaker 1: St.
Speaker 1: James's Street.
Speaker 1: It was entirely new to
me.
Speaker 1: I was in my easy chair at
the moment, and the sensation was
Speaker 1: accompanied with a
peculiar shiver which started the
chair from
Speaker 1: its position.
Speaker 1: But it is to be noted
that the chair ran easily on
Caster's.
Speaker 1: I went to one of the
windows.
Speaker 1: There are two in the
room, and the room is on the second
floor.
Speaker 1: I have to refresh my eyes
with the moving objects down in
Piccadilly.
Speaker 1: It was a bright autumn
morning and the street was sparkling
Speaker 1: and cheerful.
Speaker 1: The wind was high, and as
I looked out, it was brought down
Speaker 1: from the park a quantity
of fallen leaves, which a gust took
Speaker 1: and whirled into a spiral
pillar.
Speaker 1: As the pillar fell and
the leaves dispersed, I saw two men
on
Speaker 1: the opposite side of the
way going west to east.
Speaker 1: They were one behind the
other.
Speaker 1: The foremost man often
looked back over his shoulder.
Speaker 1: The second man followed
him at a distance of some thirty
paces
Speaker 1: with his right hand
menacingly raised.
Speaker 1: First, the singularity
and steadiness of this threatening
gesture
Speaker 1: in so public a
thoroughfare attracted my attention,
and next,
Speaker 1: the more remarkable
circumstance that nobody heeded it.
Speaker 1: Both men threaded their
way among other passengers with a
smoothness
Speaker 1: hardly consistent even
with the action of walking on a
pavement.
Speaker 1: And no single creature
that I could see gave them place,
touched
Speaker 1: them, or looked after
them.
Speaker 1: In passing before my
windows, they both stared up at me.
Speaker 1: I saw their two faces
very distinctly, and I knew that I
could
Speaker 1: recognize them anywhere.
Speaker 1: Not that I had
consciously noticed anything very
remarkable
Speaker 1: in either face, except
that the man who went first had an
unusually
Speaker 1: lowering appearance, and
that the face of the man who
followed
Speaker 1: was of the color of
impure wax.
Speaker 1: I am a bachelor, and my
valet and his wife constitute my
whole
Speaker 1: establishment.
Speaker 1: My occupation is in a
certain branch bank, and I wish that
my
Speaker 1: duties as head of a
department were as light as they are
popularly
Speaker 1: supposed to be.
Speaker 1: They kept me in town that
autumn when I stood in need of
change.
Speaker 1: I was not ill, but I was
not well.
Speaker 1: My reader is to make the
most that can be reasonably made of
Speaker 1: my feeling jaded, having
a depressing sense upon me of a
monotonous
Speaker 1: life and being slightly
deceptic.
Speaker 1: I am assured by my
renowned doctor that my real state
of health
Speaker 1: at that time justifies no
stronger description.
Speaker 1: And I quote his own from
his written answer to my request for
Speaker 1: it.
Speaker 1: As the circumstances of
the murder, gradually unraveling,
took
Speaker 1: stronger and stronger
possession of the public mind, I
kept
Speaker 1: them away from mine by
knowing as little about them as was
possible
Speaker 1: in the midst of the
universal excitement.
Speaker 1: But I knew that a verdict
of the willful murder had been found
Speaker 1: against the suspected
murderer and that he had been
committed
Speaker 1: to Newgate for trial.
Speaker 1: I also knew that his
trial had been postponed over one
session
Speaker 1: of the Central Criminal
Court on the ground of general
prejudice
Speaker 1: and want of time for the
preparation of the defense.
Speaker 1: I may further have known,
but I believe I did not.
Speaker 1: When or about when the
sessions to which his trial stood
postponed
Speaker 1: would come on.
Speaker 1: My sitting room, bedroom,
and dressing room are all on one
floor.
Speaker 1: With the last there is no
communication but through the
bedroom.
Speaker 1: True there is a door in
it, once communicating with the
staircase,
Speaker 1: but a part of the fitting
of my bath has been and has then
been
Speaker 1: for some years, fixed
across it.
Speaker 1: At the same period and as
a part of the same arrangement, the
Speaker 1: door had been nailed up
and canvassed over.
Speaker 1: I was standing in my
bedroom late one night, giving some
directions
Speaker 1: to my servant before he
went to bed.
Speaker 1: My face was towards the
only available door of communication
Speaker 1: with the dressing room
and it was closed.
Speaker 1: My servant's back was
towards that door.
Speaker 1: While I was speaking to
him, I saw it open and a man looked
Speaker 1: in who very earnestly and
mysteriously beckoned to me.
Speaker 1: That man was the man who
had gone second of the two along
Piccadilly,
Speaker 1: and whose face was of the
color of impure wax.
Speaker: The figure, having
beckoned, drew back and closed the
door.
Speaker 1: With no longer pause than
was made by my crossing the bedroom,
Speaker 1: I opened the dressing
room door and looked in.
Speaker 1: I had a lighted candle
already in my hand.
Speaker 1: I felt no inward
expectation of seeing the figure in
the dressing
Speaker 1: room, and I did not see
it there.
Speaker 1: Conscious that my servant
stood amazed, I turned round to him
Speaker 1: and said Derrick, could
you believe that in my cool sentence
Speaker 1: I fancied I saw a as I
there laid my hand upon his breast
with
Speaker 1: a sudden start, he
trembled violently and said, Oh
Lord, yes,
Speaker 1: sir, a dead man
beckoning.
Speaker 1: Now I do not believe that
this John Derrick, my trusty,
attached
Speaker 1: servant for more than
twenty years had any impression
whatever
Speaker 1: of having seen any such
figure until I touched him.
Speaker 1: The change in him was so
startling.
Speaker 1: When I touched him that I
fully believe he derived his
impression
Speaker 1: in some occult manner
from me at that instant.
Speaker 1: I bade John Derrick bring
some brandy and I gave him a dram
Speaker 1: and was glad to take one
myself.
Speaker 1: Of what had preceded that
night's phenomenon, I told him not
Speaker 1: a single word.
Speaker 1: Reflecting on it, I was
absolutely certain that I had never
Speaker 1: seen that face before
except on the one occasion in
Piccadilly,
Speaker 1: comparing its expression
when beckoning at the door with its
Speaker 1: expression when it had
stared up at me as I stood at my
window.
Speaker 1: I came to the conclusion
that on the first occasion it had
sought
Speaker 1: to fasten itself upon my
memory, and that on the second
occasion
Speaker 1: it had made sure of being
immediately remembered.
Speaker 1: I was not very
comfortable that night, though I
felt a certainty
Speaker 1: difficult to explain,
that the figure would not return.
Speaker 1: At daylight I fell into a
heavy sleep from which I was
awakened
Speaker 1: by John Derrick's coming
to my bedside with a paper in his
hand.
Speaker 1: This paper, it appeared,
had been the subject of an
altercation
Speaker 1: at the door between its
bearer and my servant.
Speaker 1: It was a summons to me to
serve upon a jury at the forthcoming
Speaker 1: sessions of the Central
Criminal Court at the Old Bailey.
Speaker 1: I had never before been
summoned on such a jury as John
Derrick
Speaker 1: well knew.
Speaker 1: He believed, I am not
certain at this hour whether with
reason
Speaker 1: or otherwise, that class
of jurors were customarily chosen on
Speaker 1: a lower qualification
than mine, and he had at first
refused
Speaker 1: to accept the summons.
Speaker 1: The man who served it had
taken the matter very coolly.
Speaker 1: He had said that my
attendance or non attendance was
nothing
Speaker 1: to him.
Speaker 1: There the summons was,
and I should deal with it at my own
peril
Speaker 1: and not at his.
Speaker 1: For a day or two I was
undecided whether to respond to this
Speaker 1: call or to take notice of
it.
Speaker 1: I was not conscious of
the slightest mysterious bias,
influence,
Speaker 1: or attraction one way or
the other.
Speaker 1: Of that I am as strictly
sure as of every other statement
that
Speaker 1: I make here.
Speaker 1: Ultimately I decided, as
a break in the monotony of my life,
Speaker 1: that I would go.
Speaker 1: The appointed morning was
a raw morning in the month of
November.
Speaker 1: There was a dense brown
fog in Piccadilly, and it became
positively
Speaker 1: black and in the last
degree, oppressive east of Temple
Bar.
Speaker 1: I found the passages and
staircases of the courthouse
flaringly
Speaker 1: lighted with gas, and the
court itself similarly illuminated.
Speaker 1: I think that until I was
conducted by officers into the old
Speaker 1: court and saw its crowded
state, I did not know that the
murderer
Speaker 1: was to be tried that day.
Speaker 1: I think that until I was
so helped into the old court with
considerable
Speaker 1: difficulty, I did not
know into which of the two courts
sending
Speaker 1: my summons would take me.
Speaker 1: But this must not be
received as a positive assertion,
for I
Speaker 1: am not completely
satisfied in my mind on either
point.
Speaker 1: I took my seat in the
place appropriated to jurors in
waiting,
Speaker 1: and I looked about the
court as well as I could through the
Speaker 1: cloud of fog and breath
that was heavy in it.
Speaker 1: I noticed the black vapor
hanging like a murky curtain outside
Speaker 1: the great windows, and I
noticed the stifled sound of wheels
Speaker 1: on the straw or tan that
was littered in the street.
Speaker 1: Also, the hum of the
people gathered there, which a
shrill whistle
Speaker 1: or a louder song or hail
than the rest occasionally pierced.
Speaker 1: Soon afterwards the
judges, two in number, entered and
took
Speaker 1: their seats.
Speaker 1: The buzz and the court
was awfully hushed.
Speaker 1: The direction was given
to put the murderer to the bar.
Speaker 1: He appeared there, and in
that same instant I recognized in
Speaker 1: him the first of the two
men who had gone down Piccadilly.
Speaker 1: If my name had been
called then, I doubt if I could have
answered
Speaker 1: it audibly, but it was
called about the sixth or eighth of
the
Speaker 1: panel, and I was by that
time able to say here, now observe.
Speaker 1: As I stepped into the
box, the prisoner, who had been
looking
Speaker 1: on attentively, but with
no sign of concern, became violently
Speaker 1: agitated and beckoned to
his attorney.
Speaker 1: The prisoner's wish to
challenge me was so manifest that it
Speaker 1: occasioned a pause,
during which the attorney, with his
hand
Speaker 1: upon the dock, whispered
with his client and shook his head.
Speaker 1: I afterwards had it from
that gentleman that the prisoner's
Speaker 1: first affrighted words to
him were at all hazards challenge
Speaker 1: that man.
Speaker 1: But that, as he would
give no reason for it and admitted
that
Speaker 1: he had not even known my
name until he heard it called, and
Speaker 1: I appeared.
Speaker 1: It was not done.
Speaker 1: Both on the ground
already explained that I wished to
avoid
Speaker 1: reviving the unwholesome
memory of that murderer, and also
because
Speaker 1: a detailed account of his
long trial is by no means
indispensable
Speaker 1: to my narrative, I shall
confine myself closely to such
incidents
Speaker 1: in the ten days and
nights during which we, the jury,
were kept
Speaker 1: together as directly bare
on my own curious personal
experience.
Speaker 1: It is in that, and not in
the murderer, that I seek to
interest
Speaker 1: my reader.
Speaker 1: It is to that and not to
a page of the Newgate calendar that
Speaker 1: I beg attention.
Speaker 1: I was chosen foreman of
the jury.
Speaker 1: On the second morning of
the trial after evidence had been
taken
Speaker 1: for two hours, I heard
the church clock strike.
Speaker 1: Happening to cast my eyes
over my brother juryman, I found an
Speaker 1: inexplicable difficulty
in counting them.
Speaker 1: I counted them several
times, yet always with the same
difficulty.
Speaker 1: In short, I made them one
too many.
Speaker 1: I touched the brother
Dryman whose place was next me, and
I
Speaker 1: whispered to him oblige
me by counting us.
Speaker 1: He looked surprised by
the request, but turned his head and
Speaker 1:counted.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: says he suddenly.
Speaker 1: But no, it's not
possible.
Speaker 1: No, we are twelve.
Speaker 1: According to my counting
that day, we were always right in
detail,
Speaker 1: but in the gross we were
always one too many.
Speaker 1: There was no appearance,
no figure to account for it, but I
Speaker 1: had now an inward
foreshadowing of the figure that was
surely
Speaker 1: coming.
Speaker 1: The jury were housed at
the London Tavern.
Speaker 1: We all slept in one large
room on separate tables, and we were
Speaker 1: constantly in the charge
and under the eye of the officer
sworn
Speaker 1: to hold us in
safekeeping.
Speaker 1: I see no reason for
suppressing the real name of that
officer.
Speaker 1: He was intelligent,
highly polite, and obliging, and I
was glad
Speaker 1: to hear, much respected
in the city.
Speaker 1: He had an agreeable
presence, good eyes, enviable black
whiskers,
Speaker 1: and a fine, sorenous
voice.
Speaker 1: His name was Mr Harker.
Speaker 1: When we turned into our
twelve beds at night, Mr Harker's
bed
Speaker 1: was drawn across the
door.
Speaker 1: On the night of the
second day, not being disposed to
lie down
Speaker 1: and seeing Mr Harker
sitting on his bed, I went and sat
beside
Speaker 1: him and offered him a
pinch of snuff.
Speaker 1: As Mrs Harker's hand
touched mine and taking it from my
box,
Speaker 1: a peculiar shiver crossed
him and he said Who is this?
Speaker 1: Following Mr Harker's
eyes and looking along the room, I
saw
Speaker 1: again the figure expected
the second of the two men who had
Speaker 1: gone down Piccadilly.
Speaker 1: I rose and advanced a few
steps then stopped and looked round
Speaker 1: at Mr Harker.
Speaker 1: He was quite unconcerned,
laughed and said in a pleasant way,
Speaker 1: I thought for a moment we
had a thirteenth juryman without a
Speaker 1: bed, but I see it is the
moonlight.
Speaker 1: Making no revelation to
mister Harker, but inviting him to
take
Speaker 1: a walk with me to the end
of the room, I watched what the
figure
Speaker 1: did.
Speaker 1: It stood for a few
moments by the bedside of each of my
eleven
Speaker 1: brother jurymen, close to
the pillow.
Speaker 1: It always went to the
right hand side of the bed and
always
Speaker 1: passed out crossing the
foot of the next bed.
Speaker 1: It seemed from the action
of the head, merely to look down
pensively
Speaker 1: at each recumbent figure.
Speaker 1: It took no notice of me
or of my bed, which was the nearest
Speaker 1: to mister Harker's.
Speaker 1: It seemed to go out where
the moonlight came in, through a
high
Speaker 1: window, as by an aerial
flight of stairs.
Speaker 1: Next morning at breakfast
it appeared that everybody present
Speaker 1: had dreamed of the
murdered man last night, except
myself and
Speaker 1: mister Harker.
Speaker 1: I now felt as convinced
that the second man who had gone
down
Speaker 1: Piccadilly was the
murdered man, so to speak, as if it
had been
Speaker 1: borne into my
comprehension by his immediate
testimony.
Speaker 1: But even this took place
and a manner for which I was not not
Speaker 1: at all prepared.
Speaker 1: On the fifth day of the
trial, when the case of the
prosecution
Speaker 1: was drawing to a close, a
miniature of the murdered man,
missing
Speaker 1: from his bedroom upon the
discovery of the deed, and
afterwards
Speaker 1: found in a hiding place
where the murderer had been seen
digging,
Speaker 1: was put in evidence.
Speaker 1: Having been identified by
the witness under examination, it
Speaker 1: was handed up to the
bench and thence handed down to be
inspected
Speaker 1: by the jury.
Speaker 1: As an officer in a black
gown was making his way with it
across
Speaker 1: to me, the figure of the
second man, who had gone down
Piccadilly,
Speaker 1: impetuously started from
the crowd, caught the miniature from
Speaker 1: the officer, and gave it
to me with his own hands at the same
Speaker 1: time saying in a low and
hollow tone, before I saw the
miniature
Speaker 1: which was in a locket I
was younger then, and my face was
not
Speaker 1: then drained of blood.
Speaker 1: It also came between me
and the brother jurryman to whom I
would
Speaker 1: have given the miniature,
and between him and the brother
juryman
Speaker 1: to whom he would have
given it and so passed it on through
the
Speaker 1: whole of our number and
back into my possession.
Speaker 1: Not one of them, however,
detected this at table and generally
Speaker 1: when we were shut up
together in Mr Hawker's custody, we
had
Speaker 1: from the first naturally
discussed the day's proceedings a
good
Speaker 1: deal.
Speaker 1: On the fifth day, the
case for the prosecution being
closed
Speaker 1: and we having that side
of the question in a completed shape
Speaker 1: before us, our discussion
was more animated and serious.
Speaker 1: Among our number was the
vestry man, the densest idiot I have
Speaker 1: ever seen at large, who
met the plainest evidence with the
most
Speaker 1: preposterous objections,
and who was sided with by two flabby
Speaker 1: parochial parasites, all
the three impaneled with a district
Speaker 1: so delivered over to
fever that they ought to have been
upon
Speaker 1: their own trial for five
hundred murders.
Speaker 1: When these mischievous
blockheads were at their loudest,
which
Speaker 1: was towards midnight,
while some of us were already
preparing
Speaker 1: for bed, I again saw the
murdered man.
Speaker 1: He stood grimly behind
them, beckoning to me.
Speaker 1: On my going towards them
and striking into the conversation
Speaker 1: he immediately retired.
Speaker 1: This was the beginning of
a separate series of appearances
confined
Speaker 1: to that long room in
which we were confined.
Speaker 1: Whenever a knot of my
brother journeymen laid their hands
together,
Speaker 1: I saw the head of the
murdered man among theirs.
Speaker 1: Whenever their comparison
of notes was going against him, he
Speaker 1: would solemnly and
irresistibly beckon to me.
Speaker 1: It will be borne in mind
that down to the production of the
Speaker 1: miniature on the fifth
day of the trial I had never seen
the
Speaker 1: appearance in court.
Speaker 1: Three changes occurred
now that we entered on the case for
the
Speaker 1: defense.
Speaker 1: Two of them I will
mention together first the figure
was now
Speaker 1: in court continuing and
it never there addressed itself to
me
Speaker 1: but always to the person
who was speaking at the time.
Speaker 1: For instance, the throat
of the murdered man had been cut
straight
Speaker 1: across in the opening
speech for the defense it was
suggested
Speaker 1: that the deceased might
have cut his own throat at that very
Speaker 1: moment the figure with
its throat in the dreadful condition
Speaker 1: referred to this it had
concealed before stood at the
speaker's
Speaker 1: elbow, motioning across
and across its windpipe, now with
the
Speaker 1: right hand, now with the
left, vigorously suggesting to the
Speaker 1: speaker himself the
impossibility of such a wound having
been
Speaker 1: self inflicted by either
hand.
Speaker 1: For another instance, a
witness to character, a woman
deposed
Speaker 1: to the prisoner's being
the most amiable of mankind.
Speaker 1: The figure at that
instant stood on the floor before
her, looking
Speaker 1: her full in the face and
pointing out the prisoner's evil
countenance
Speaker 1: and an extended arm and
an outstretched finger.
Speaker 1: The third change now to
be added impressed me strongly as
the
Speaker 1: most marked and striking
of all.
Speaker 1: I do not theorize upon
it, I accurately stated and there
leave
Speaker 1: it.
Speaker 1: Although the appearance
was not itself perceived by those
whom
Speaker 1: it addressed, its coming
close to such persons was invariably
Speaker 1: attended by some
trepidation or disturbance on their
part.
Speaker 1: Seemed to me as if it
were prevented by laws to which I
was
Speaker 1: not amiable, from fully
revealing itself to others and yet
as
Speaker 1: if it could invisibly,
dumbly and darkly overshadow their
minds.
Speaker 1: When the leading counsel
for the defense suggested that
hypothesis
Speaker 1: of suicide and the figure
stood at the learned gentleman's
elbow,
Speaker 1: frightfully sawing at its
severed throat, it is undeniable
that
Speaker 1: the counsel faltered in
his speech, lost for a few seconds
the
Speaker 1: thread of his ingenious
discourse, wiped his forehead with
his
Speaker 1: handkerchief, and turned
extremely pale.
Speaker 1: When the witness
character was confronted by the
appearance
Speaker 1: her eyes most certainly
did follow direction of its pointed
Speaker 1: finger and rest in great
hesitation and trouble upon the
prisoner's
Speaker 1: face.
Speaker 1: Two additional
illustrations will suffice on the
eighth day
Speaker 1: of the trial after the
pause which was every day made early
Speaker 1: in the afternoon for a
few minutes rest and refreshment, I
came
Speaker 1: back into court with the
rest of the jury some little time
before
Speaker 1: the return of the judges.
Speaker 1: Standing up in the box
and looking about me, I thought the
figure
Speaker 1: was not there until,
chancing to raise my eyes to the
gallery,
Speaker 1: I saw it bending forward
and leaning over a very decent woman
Speaker 1: as if to assure itself
whether the judges had resumed their
Speaker 1: seats or not.
Speaker: Immediately afterwards that
woman screamed, fainted and was
carried
Speaker: out so with the vernable,
sagacious and patient judge who
conducted
Speaker: the trial when the case was
over and he settled himself in his
Speaker: papers to sum up, the
murdered man, entering by the
judge's door,
Speaker: advanced to his lordship's
desk and looked eagerly over his
shoulder
Speaker: at the pages of his notes
which was turning a change came over
Speaker: his lordship's face his
hand stopped the peculiar shiver
that
Speaker: I knew so well passed over
him.
Speaker 1: He faltered excuse me,
gentlemen for a few moments I am
somewhat
Speaker 1: oppressed by the vitiated
air and did not quite recover until
Speaker 1: he had drunk a glass of
water.
Speaker 1: Through all the monotony
of six of those interminable ten
days,
Speaker 1: the same judges and
others on the bench same murderer in
the
Speaker 1: dock the same lawyers at
the table, the same tones of
question
Speaker 1: and answer rising to the
roof of the court the same
scratching
Speaker 1: of the judge's pen, the
same ushers going in and out the
same
Speaker 1: lights kindled at the
same hour when there had been any
natural
Speaker 1: light of day the same
foggy curtain outside the great
windows
Speaker 1: when it was foggy the
same rain pattering and dripping
when
Speaker 1: it was rainy the same
footmarks of turnkeys and prisoners
day
Speaker 1: after day on the same
sawdust, the same keys locking and
unlocking
Speaker 1: the same heavy doors
through all the wearisome monotony
which
Speaker 1: made me feel as if I had
been foreman of the jury for a vast
Speaker 1: period of time and
Piccadilly had flourished covely
with Babylon.
Speaker 1: The murdered man never
lost one trace of his distinctness
in
Speaker 1: my eyes nor was he at any
moment less distinct than anybody
Speaker 1:else.
Speaker 1: I must not omit as a
matter of fact that I never once saw
the
Speaker 1: appearance which I call
by the name of the murdered man look
Speaker 1: at the murderer.
Speaker: Again and again I wondered
why does he not?
Speaker 1: But he never did nor did
he look at me after the production
Speaker 1: of the miniature until
the last closing minutes of the
trial
Speaker 1: arrived we retired to
consider at seven minutes before ten
at
Speaker 1: night.
Speaker 1: The idiotic vestry man
and his two parochial parasites gave
Speaker 1: us so much trouble that
we twice returned into court to beg
Speaker 1: to have certain extracts
from the judge's notes reread.
Speaker 1: Nine of us had not the
smallest doubt about those passages,
Speaker 1: neither, I believe, had
anyone in the court Theunderheaded
triumvirate
Speaker 1: having no idea but
obstruction disputed them for that
very reason.
Speaker 1: At length we prevailed
and finally the jury returned into
court
Speaker 1: at ten minutes past
twelve.
Speaker 1: The murdered man at that
time stood directly opposite the
jury
Speaker 1: box.
Speaker 1: On the other side of the
court as I took my place his eyes
rested
Speaker 1: on me with great
attention he seemed satisfied and
slowly shook
Speaker 1: a great grey veil which
he carried on his arm for the first
Speaker 1: time over his head and
whole form.
Speaker 1: As I gave in our verdict
guilty the veil collapsed all was
gone
Speaker 1: and his place was empty
The murderer being asked by the
judge
Speaker 1: according to usage
whether he had anything to say
before sentence
Speaker 1: of death should be passed
upon him and distinctly muttered
something
Speaker 1: which was described in
the leading newspapers of the
following
Speaker 1: day as a few rambling,
incoherent and half audible words in
Speaker 1: which he was understood
to complain that he had not had a
fair
Speaker 1: trial, because the
foreman of the jury was prepossessed
against
Speaker 1: him.
Speaker 1: The remarkable
declaration that he really made was
this My lord
Speaker 1: I knew I was a doomed man
when the foreman of the jury came
Speaker 1: into the box.
Speaker 1: My lord I knew he would
never let me off because before I
was
Speaker 1: taken he somehow got to
my bedside at night woke me and put
Speaker 1: a rope round my neck so
that was a trial for murder by
Charles
Speaker 1: Dickens and it looks like
this story originally had a
different
Speaker 1: title.
Speaker 1: That title was To Be
Taken with a grain of salt um this
was
Speaker 1: originally published as a
chapter in Dr.
Speaker 1: Marigold's prescriptions
a according to Wikipedia a December
Speaker 1: 1865 extra Christmas
volume of the weekly literary
magazine
Speaker 1: all the year round so um
I find the original title to be very
Speaker 1: very interesting this
idea to be taken with a grain of
salt
Speaker 1: like yeah I'm gonna tell
you something but you can believe it
Speaker 1: or not um now under the
new title The Trial for Murder this
Speaker 1: has more weight to it in
terms of um the story in its of
itself
Speaker 1: is this recount of this
guy's experience on jury duty and we
Speaker 1: kinda have to wonder
what's on trial here.
Speaker 1: Not really who we're
never told anything about the guy
who um
Speaker 1: died or the man who
killed him but I do feel that the
justice
Speaker 1: system and society in
itself might be on trial in
Dickens's
Speaker 1: uh story so if you are
familiar with the Christmas story
then
Speaker 1: you are probably used to
um the very uh playful usage of
words
Speaker 1: and really grim way that
Dickens portrays uh English society
Speaker 1: which you know there are
a lot of things that weren't fair or
Speaker 1: nice so he has he has the
right to share his opinion in his
Speaker 1: writings um I guess I'm
just laughing because it's kind of
like
Speaker 1: it's very clear that you
don't love uh a lot of things about
Speaker 1: English society but with
all that being said um the justice
Speaker 1: system now I'm gonna just
kind of mention this little
Wikipedia
Speaker 1: thing that I saw and then
I'm gonna move away from it because
Speaker 1: I generally give my
impressions without doing uh major
research
Speaker 1: on other people's take or
impressions.
Speaker 1: Um why do I do this?
Speaker 1: Because I want to tell
you what stands out to me as someone
Speaker 1: who studies stories and I
want you to see if this sparks
something
Speaker 1: in you is it something
that you've already considered I
mean
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna come on
here just tell you what everyone
else
Speaker 1: has already said because
you can just look that up for
yourself.
Speaker 1: So this uh this analysis
is a way for you to to think for
yourself
Speaker 1: to agree with me to
disagree with me to hopefully call
out some
Speaker 1: things that you may have
noticed or may not have noticed all
Speaker 1: right so da da da da da
ooh questionable authorship what is
Speaker 1: this Wikipedia although
it is typically credited owing to
Dickens
Speaker 1: it is occasionally
thought to be a collaborative work.
Speaker 1: Okay well no one cares no
one cares Wikipedia um okay so let's
Speaker 1: see Wikipedia says
Dickinson's criticism of the
Victorian justice
Speaker 1: system the murderer could
only be rightfully charged when the
Speaker 1: ghost of the murder
victim influences the trial
presenting an
Speaker 1: argument that the justice
system can only be just under
supernatural
Speaker 1: circumstances.
Speaker 1: I don't know about that I
don't really agree with that
Wikipedia
Speaker 1: um that's no one cares.
Speaker 1: However the patrol
narrator's ability to see past the
idiocy
Speaker 1: of the jurors and the
corruption of the witnesses to
continue
Speaker 1: fighting for the right
sentence may also convey that each
individual
Speaker 1: has the power to rise up
against the corruption rife in the
Speaker 1: Victorian justice system.
Speaker 1: I don't really know about
that either I don't I don't know I
Speaker 1: kind of feel like that is
a a stretch there as well but um
yeah
Speaker 1: actually I feel like
that's all a bit of a stretch it's
not
Speaker 1: really taking into
account the rest of the story.
Speaker 1: I mean we've got the
lawyer who is defending his client
and
Speaker 1: then suddenly finds
himself uh getting the chills and
being
Speaker 1: stricken we've got the uh
the judge who is about to read the
Speaker 1: um read the verdict well
I guess the jury yeah yeah the jury
Speaker 1: wants to give him their
verdict but the judge when he
returns
Speaker 1: to the proceedings and is
ready to get things started he also
Speaker 1: has a moment of whoa
something's going on here right so
we don't
Speaker 1: have any I'm finding
myself debating Wikipedia we don't
have
Speaker 1: anything for me at least
in the writing it's not said that
the
Speaker 1: person who takes a stand
on behalf of the murderer is lying
Speaker 1: it's said that this
person believes him to be a good
person.
Speaker 1: Now that could just be
this person's knowledge right this
happens
Speaker 1: all the time where
someone's saying hey I've always
known that
Speaker 1: person to be nice and
kind and I never saw them do
anything
Speaker 1: wrong especially when you
think about parents like that's not
Speaker 1: the child I raise I I
mean he was always a good boy
growing
Speaker 1: up you know maybe a
little mischief every now and then
but nothing
Speaker 1: nothing major you know
that's not who I raised um so I
don't
Speaker 1: know Wikipedia this is
why I don't bother looking up things
Speaker 1: but this is one thing
that I did want to share with you
dear
Speaker 1: listener.
Speaker 1: Okay um potential
inspiration under the Wikipedia
listing after
Speaker 1: reading Elizabeth
Gaskell's hello because I'm loving
some Elizabeth
Speaker 1: Gaskell so after reading
Elizabeth Gaskell's The Old Nurses
Speaker 1: Story we have not read
that together my friends but it is
on
Speaker 1: the list oh my gosh I
just realized don't be a spoiler
okay
Speaker 1: after reading Elizabeth
Gaskell's The Old Nurses Story
Dickens
Speaker 1: was critical of its
ending where everyone in the story
could
Speaker 1: see the ghost he felt
that it was too similar to others'
famous
Speaker 1: works such as William
Shakespeare's representation of
ghosts
Speaker 1: and would be
uninteresting to readers well
William Shakespeare
Speaker 1: didn't have everyone in
the play being able to see ghosts um
Speaker 1: Hamlet was seeing stuff
but it's not really said that the
soldiers
Speaker 1: were seeing things so
yeah go away Wikipedia no one has
time
Speaker 1: for that okay so let's
get to the things that stood out to
me
Speaker 1: well I love Dickens'
description of the uh the jurors who
were
Speaker 1: as he felt could have
been or should have been on trial
for
Speaker 1: the 500 crimes they
themselves had committed so these
kind of
Speaker 1: thick-headed guys who
just didn't seem to want to convict
um
Speaker 1: or want to believe the
information being presented now to
be
Speaker 1: fair okay um on every
trial it is it's not uncommon I say
on
Speaker 1: every trial but let me
change that it is not uncommon for
there
Speaker 1: to be a trial where
there's one or two jurors who just
uh they
Speaker 1: just don't believe it
they just don't buy it with no
matter
Speaker 1: what it is like uh I
don't buy it why would that happen
this
Speaker 1: is silly right um and
does he say that these are blue
collar
Speaker 1: guys let's see um
dunderheaded I thought that was
dunderheaded
Speaker 1: triumvirate I thought
that was really fancy fancy wording
to
Speaker 1: show the complete
opposite in education and standing
than the
Speaker 1: people he's describing
right um so these guys what do they
know
Speaker 1: come on they know nothing
um yeah I just I don't know I just
Speaker 1: thought that was pretty
funny humorous to me and um the the
Speaker 1: idea that he winds up
talking with these guys and getting
into
Speaker 1: the conversation
hopefully possibly trying to change
some minds
Speaker 1: I mean I ultimately he's
successful because everyone goes to
Speaker 1: guilty but originally
he's just like oh my gosh these guys
are
Speaker 1: just stupid they're just
come on what's going on here I
thought
Speaker 1: that was kind of fun kind
of interesting um so what is the
reason
Speaker 1: for that well I think
it's a statement on often even if
something
Speaker 1: seems as clear as day to
everyone else there's always someone
Speaker 1: who's just like nah not
buying it don't get it don't care
and
Speaker 1: maybe these guys really
aren't um opposed to the idea that
the
Speaker 1: murderer is indeed a
murderer but they are not um they're
not
Speaker 1: convinced so far with the
legal process and that I kind of
comes
Speaker 1: to the question of well
there's a lot of reasons why they
could
Speaker 1: not be convinced you know
if these guys really have had a
record
Speaker 1: of committing their own
crimes maybe they just don't like
the
Speaker 1: prosecution and they
don't want for the prosecution to
win regardless
Speaker 1: Regardless of whether or
not this guy is seemingly guilty.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's very much
something to be taken into account.
Speaker 1: A lot of times, people
will look at a um a lawyer and go,
you
Speaker 1: know, I just don't like
that guy, right?
Speaker 1: Uh, which is why it's so
important for the defense to have
strong
Speaker 1: counsel.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 1: So yeah, um, we have this
idea that your jurors um are not,
Speaker 1: they're supposed to be
your peers, right?
Speaker 1: Juror of your peers.
Speaker 1: And so your jurors, if
you roll around the mud, your jurors
Speaker 1: might also be people who
roll around the mud.
Speaker 1: And that's not, is that
fair?
Speaker 1: Is that fair to the guy
who was killed?
Speaker 1: We don't really know
anything about the guy who was
killed.
Speaker 1: Why he was killed, was he
a good person?
Speaker 1: Maybe he also rolled
around the mud and was a bit of a
creep
Speaker 1: and a crook, but he just
got the wrong end of a blade.
Speaker 1: We don't know.
Speaker 1: We have no idea.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 1: Um, the other thing that
really stands out to me is this idea
Speaker 1: that only our narrator
can see these two guys walking down
the
Speaker 1: street during the
daytime, um, and they both fixate on
the narrator,
Speaker 1: kind of imprinting.
Speaker 1: Um so why was he chosen?
Speaker 1: He is the chosen one.
Speaker 1: We don't have any idea.
Speaker 1: But there are times in
life when we can feel that we are
the
Speaker 1: only ones who can see the
truth.
Speaker 1: We're the only ones who
get it.
Speaker 1: Like, why doesn't
everyone else see this?
Speaker 1: Why is everyone else
following along with this uh trend?
Speaker 1: Or why is everyone else
completely okay with whatever
corruption
Speaker 1: is going on around us
based on that little Wikipedia bit
that
Speaker 1: I shared with you?
Speaker 1: Maybe Dickens felt why
was he the only one who could see
the
Speaker 1: problems with um society
at the time or with the court
system?
Speaker 1: Maybe, yeah.
Speaker 1: But the idea of why is it
that only I get it?
Speaker 1: And then running around
and trying to convince other people
Speaker 1: or hearing other people
out and wondering, gosh, is there
something
Speaker 1: I can do that will sway
them?
Speaker 1: Um and just watching
other people slowly come to the
realization
Speaker 1: on their own that maybe
their belief is not fully supported.
Speaker 1: Maybe they should
reconsider.
Speaker 1: Maybe that witness should
reconsider um her belief that the
Speaker 1: defendant is a good
person.
Speaker 1: Uh that is something very
relatable to.
Speaker 1: Originally, I was looking
at this story as this was this was
Speaker 1: alright.
Speaker 1: You know, it got the
creepy ghosts going around.
Speaker 1: Um again, we have a
narrator telling us of something
that happened.
Speaker 1: But, you know, it's all
right.
Speaker 1: It's all right.
Speaker 1: Uh, not a whole lot here
in terms of things to really learn
Speaker 1: from, but I am actually
going to correct myself in the sense
Speaker 1: that I do think Dickens,
who in my opinion is really good at
Speaker 1: playing with words, um, I
found myself reading this and uh
just
Speaker 1: fascinated, not with word
just with word choice, but the
combination
Speaker 1: of various phrases.
Speaker 1: I thought this is this is
great.
Speaker 1: Um, not easy to read, but
this is great.
Speaker 1: But um, so not just great
with the English language, but also
Speaker 1: he did a really good job
of picking a few key points that he
Speaker 1: really wanted to drive
home and just focusing on those
points.
Speaker 1: Um, and I think the the
real big point of this story is that
Speaker 1: you can feel you are the
only one who gets it, the only one
Speaker 1: who sees it.
Speaker 1: It's so obvious to you,
clear as day, and yet you're
watching
Speaker 1: everyone else slowly come
to that realization, wondering if
Speaker 1: the rest of the world
will come to the same realization
that
Speaker 1: you have about something.
Speaker 1: Um, and you're not even
sure why you see it that way.
Speaker 1: Why do you get it?
Speaker 1: Like, why is it that you
could see it and not anyone else?
Speaker 1: It is not a matter of
this man's education or standing and
um
Speaker 1: or training or anything
of that nature.
Speaker 1: He just gets it.
Speaker 1: The idea of touching his
um attendant or servant and the guy
Speaker 1: be just kind of waking up
and being able to see what was so
Speaker 1: clear as day to him.
Speaker 1: And you know, he's able
to handle it.
Speaker 1: The the servant was like,
What?
Speaker 1: He's like, yo, let's
well, he didn't say yo, but in terms
of,
Speaker 1: hey, you know what?
Speaker 1: I need a drink.
Speaker 1: You should have a drink
too, we'll be fine.
Speaker 1: So, not just being able
to see what others can't see, and
being
Speaker 1: it's also the ability to
understand it to handle it.
Speaker 1: Um, even if you feel like
you have to wait an eternity for the
Speaker 1: rest of the world to
catch on.
Speaker 1: The other thing that I
think is a really major point in
this
Speaker 1: story is, and this is
from the beginning of the story,
it's
Speaker 1: where Dickens uh points
out, and I'm gonna quote Um almost
all
Speaker 1: men are afraid that what
they could relate in such wise would
Speaker 1: find no parallel or
response in a listener's internal
life.
Speaker 1: Okay, so almost everybody
feels that what they can tell
somebody
Speaker 1: else, they want it to be
relatable.
Speaker 1: They they they want the
other person who's listening to be
like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I get that, I
saw that.
Speaker 1: And they don't want to
be, and I quote, and might be
suspected
Speaker 1: or laughed at.
Speaker 1: So no one wants to tell
something and pour their heart out,
Speaker 1: and then find everyone
else is like, what are you talking
about?
Speaker 1: Ha ha ha ha, you're
stupid, or uh no, that's not it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that is
something that really keeps people
from wanting
Speaker 1: to share things.
Speaker 1: Um, a truthful traveler
who should have seen some
extraordinary
Speaker 1: creature in the likeness
of a sea serpent, right?
Speaker 1: Someone who is known to
be honest and they see something
that
Speaker 1: is pretty unbelievable,
they'll happily mention that, quote,
Speaker 1: would have no fear of
mentioning it.
Speaker 1: But the same traveler,
having had some singular
presentment,
Speaker 1: impulse, vagary of
thought, vision, so-called dream, or
other
Speaker 1: remarkable mental
impression, would hesitate
considerably before
Speaker 1: he would own to it.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, you think you
saw Bigfoot running through the
forest?
Speaker 1: You're telling somebody,
I think I just saw Bigfoot.
Speaker 1: You have anything related
to your mental state.
Speaker 1: So, not anything related
to something that you didn't
necessarily
Speaker 1: see with your own eyes.
Speaker 1: Um, something like uh you
had a dream that Bigfoot was running
Speaker 1: through the forest, or
you had a dream or a feeling that
there
Speaker 1: might be an earthquake.
Speaker 1: I just had this feeling
that something bad's gonna happen
today.
Speaker 1: You ain't telling nobody.
Speaker 1: You're not telling
anybody I had a dream that that
there was
Speaker 1: gonna be a major
earthquake today.
Speaker 1: People be like, what are
you talking about?
Speaker 1: No one's gonna believe
you.
Speaker 1: Even if you do tell them.
Speaker 1: Like, what are you
talking about?
Speaker 1: That's weird.
Speaker 1: Don't dream that.
Speaker 1: If you say, yo, I could
have sworn I saw that guy that they
Speaker 1: were talking about on TV.
Speaker 1: I don't know why, but I
could have sworn I saw that guy
they're
Speaker 1: talking about who's
dressed as a killer clown.
Speaker 1: People are like, oh my
gosh, maybe you did.
Speaker 1: So I found that statement
to be really fascinating and full
Speaker 1: of truth, even today,
over a century after this story has
been
Speaker 1: written.
Speaker 1: That's all I got for you.
Speaker 1: I hope you found this
story interesting.
Speaker 1: I surely found it
interesting.
Speaker 1: Um, it was fun to dive
into some dickens that was not about
Speaker 1: the Christmas Carol.
Speaker 1: So there you have it.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed this
story and do come back for another
Gothic
Speaker 1: Tish.