The Witness for the Defence Literary Elements

Crime thriller/Mystery

Sussex, England briefly at the beginning of the novel in a year not identified, but presumably around the turn of the 20th century. Eight years later the narrative moves to Bombay and Chitipir, India before returning back to England for its conclusion.

Third-person narration with limited omniscience by an external observer.

For the most part, the tone is established in the opening paragraphs as almost callously fatalistic with a moody undercurrent of bitterly sardonic deception.

Protagonist: Henry Thresk, Stella Ballantyne. Antagonist: Stella’s husband, Capt. Ballantyne and, to some degree, Stella.

The major conflict at hand occurs when Capt. Ballantyne is shot to death by Stella using the rock-rifle which belonged to her.

There are several points which could be identified as the climax of the story: the moment when Henry commits perjury to heighten the odds of Stella’s not being convicted; the verdict once it is delivered; Stella’s confession of hidden truths and deceptions.

When Henry thinks to himself: “He had got what he had wanted—the career of distinction, and he wondered whether he was to begin now to learn its price.”

“She was then nineteen and accounted lovely by others besides Henry Thresk.” Stella’s life is entirely directed by the actions of the men whose accounting finds her lovely.

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One specific example of imagery is central to the story to the point that it is repeated over and over again at several points throughout the novel: "You can get any single thing in life you want if you want it enough, but you cannot control the price you will have to pay for it.”

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In a particularly striking harangue against “youth” by an aging Stella, several literary devices are employed, including parallelism: "Generous when its sympathies are enlisted, generous so long as all goes well with it: generous because it is confident of triumph.”

The constant reference to The Bar is a metonymic reference to Henry’s being a barrister—a British attorney.

The concept of “Youth” in Stella’s harangue also get an especially intense dose of personification: “Youth was a graceful thing of high-sounding words and impetuous thoughts, but like many other graceful things it could be hard and cruel…And once affronted, once hurt, youth finds it difficult to forgive."