The Witness for the Prosecution
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Witness for the Prosecution is a short story written by Agatha Christie and published for the first time as Traitor Hands in Flynn's Weekly edition of January 31, 1925. In 1933 the story was published for the first time in the collection The Hound of Death that appeared only in the United Kingdom. The American audience had to wait until 1948 when it was included in the collection The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Leonard Vole is arrested for the murder of his elderly friend Emily French, a woman who depended on his advice in managing her money. Because Emily made him her principal heir, not aware that he was a married man, things look bad for Leonard's defense. But the final blow comes when his wife, Romaine, agrees to testify, not in Leonard's defense, but as a witness for the prosecution.
In a much-celebrated plot twist, it turns out that Romaine was in fact working to free her husband all along. By first giving the prosecution its strongest evidence and then arranging for new evidence to come to light that discredits her testimony, it is more likely that Leonard will be acquitted than if she was simply a defense witness. It is then revealed that Leonard actually did kill Emily.
[edit] Plot alteration
The original story ended abruptly with the major twist, Mrs. Vole's revelation that her husband was indeed guilty. Over time, Agatha Christie grew dissatisfied with this ending (one of the few Christie endings in which a murderer escapes punishment), and added the tidier coda when she adapted the story as a play.
[edit] Publishing History
- 1925 Flynn's Weekly January 31 - as Traitor Hands
- 1933 The Hound of Death
- 1948 The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories
[edit] Film adaptation
[edit] TV Adaptation
[edit] Play
- 1953 Witness for the Prosecution
- 2002 Witness for the Prosecution (Russian: Свидетель обвинения)
