Previous
Act 1
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Winslow Boy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Principles and Sacrifice
Family
Women and Patriarchy
Media and Spectacle
Summary
Analysis
It’s nine months later. Dickie and Catherine are in the living room. Dickie’s gramophone, back downstairs again, is playing some early ragtime. Dickie asks his sister if she thinks Arthur can hear it upstairs, but she reckons not.
The gramophone has been taken back downstairs, perhaps hinting at a slight weakening of Arthur’s authority. That said, Dickie and Catherine are still worried he can hear it.
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Dickie praises the dress Catherine is wearing; she’s about to go out on a date with John. Dickie asks Catherine whether in the “new feminist world” women will sometimes foot the bill instead of men. She says “certainly,” to which Dickie jokingly commits to joining the cause.
Violet comes in with a copy of The Star newspaper. She asks Dickie and Catherine not to throw it away when they’re done, so that she and the cook can read it.
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Catherine flicks to the letters page of the paper, with Dickie watching attentively over her shoulder. She reads the first letter, which offers support for “the Osborne Cadet”—Ronnie—in light of his “high-handed treatment by the Admiralty.” The letter goes on to praise Arthur for his defense of Ronnie against the “soulless oligarchy.”
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Catherine reads aloud the next letter, signed by “Perplexed.” This letter-write “cannot understand what all the fuss is about in the case of the Osborne Cadet.” “Perplexed” thinks there are more important matters than a fourteen-year-old boy and a five-shilling postal order. Furthermore, it goes on, the case is a major distraction for the Navy when it should be concentrating on Germany’s rearmament—Ronnie’s case is a “storm in a teacup.”
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Dickie says, a little guiltily, that he can kind of see the point of the second letter-writer. He thinks it does seem like a bit of an expensive fuss over such a small matter. He tells Catherine to dance with him to cheer them both up.
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As they dance, Dickie asks Catherine about her upcoming wedding. Catherine tells him that it’s been postponed again as John’s father is abroad for six months. She says that her and John have differences of opinion, but that she’ll marry him even if she has to drag him up the aisle.
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Dickie tells Catherine that she should “suppress” her opinions: “Men don’t like ‘em in their lady friends, even if they agree with ‘em. And if they don’t—it’s fatal.” It’s best if she pretends to be “half-witted”; then John will “adore” her. Catherine reassures him that if there’s ever “a clash between what I believe and what I feel, there’s no doubt about which will win.” Dickie takes this to mean she will choose marriage.
Arthur enters, walking with difficulty. Dickie hastily switches off the gramophone. Dickie asks Arthur what the doctor said, who has evidently just been to visit. The doctor reportedly said that Arthur isn’t as well as he last saw him, which to Arthur seems like expensive information. Arthur notices the paper and asks Catherine to bring it to him.
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Reading the letter page, Arthur wonders if he could sue “Perplexed.” Catherine asks him if Sir Robert Morton is coming to the house. Sir Robert is considered the best barrister in the business. Arthur says he could hardly go and see Sir Robert himself.
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Catherine leaves the room, and Arthur goes over to Dickie, staring at him intently. Arthur asks Dickie to answer a question for him truthfully: what odds would Dickie place on him successfully completing his Oxford degree? Dickie responds that it’s more or less “evens,” before reducing the likelihood to “seven to four against.”
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Arthur tells Dickie that he’s no longer able to pay for “such a gamble.” Dickie will have to quit university; Arthur says he will get him a job at the bank. Dickie, clearly disappointed, asks if it’s because of the case. Arthur , “it’s costing him a lot of money,” and then apologizes for the shock. Dickie had been kind of expecting it anyway—especially with the knowledge that Sir Robert Morton is to get involved in the case. He admits, though, that it’s “a bit of a slap in the face.”
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The doorbell rings, and Arthur knows that it is a journalist who has come to see him. He asks Dickie if they can continue their conversation another time. Arthur then asks how Dickie’s love interest, Edwina, is doing, before giving Dickie some money so he can take her to the theatre. Dickie thanks Arthur, and asks if he can pour himself an alcoholic drink. Arthur agrees, and Dickie leaves the room.
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Violet appears at the door and announces the arrival of Miss Barnes, a journalist from the Daily News. She says she wants to take a picture of Arthur and Ronnie; her paper specializes in “stories with a little heart … a father’s fight for his little boy’s honour.” Arthur is visibly offended, and says he thinks the case has “wider implications” than Miss Barnes implies.
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Miss Barnes quizzes Arthur about the case but doesn’t seem especially interested. Arthur outlines the long process they’ve already been through: they had to fight to even see the evidence against Ronnie. Eventually there was an inquiry, but in Arthur’s opinion that wasn’t conducted fairly either—Ronnie had no representation and was judged by someone involved in the Navy. That’s why he is now hiring Sir Robert Morton. Miss Barnes seems more interested in the Winslows’ curtains.
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Ronnie and Grace enter, clearly in high spirits. Ronnie excitedly tells Arthur that he has grown an inch taller. He notices Miss Barnes and asks who she is. Miss Barnes calls in her photographer, Fred.
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Posing with Ronnie, Arthur explains to Grace about Miss Barnes. Grace and Miss Barnes discuss the curtains. Ronnie is excited to be in the Daily News as it’s a paper they get at his new school’s library. Miss Barnes departs with her photographer, thanking Grace rather than Arthur.
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Arthur tells Ronnie that his half term report was pretty fair, but Ronnie is more interested in talking about a train he has just been on. He knocks Arthur’s leg, which Arthur complains about. Ronnie exits, excited to find Violet.
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The doctor left ointment for Arthur’s back, instructing him to have four massages a day. Grace says he should have one now, to which he grudgingly agrees. She says it’s stupid to spend so much money on a doctor and then not to follow his advice.
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Grace goes upstairs to attend to Ronnie and prepare Arthur’s ointment. Arthur turns wearily to Catherine, saying he feels “suicidally inclined.” He asks her if they’re both mad for committing to the case.
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Arthur asks Catherine if he should drop the case, which she steadfastly refuses. He admits that the great expense will prevent him from keeping his dowry agreement for Catherine’s marriage, but she says she’s already given up on that.
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Relieved at Catherine’s attitude, Arthur says that they have to “pin all their faith” on Sir Robert Morton. After an awkward silence, Catherine complains about Sir Robert. She thinks he’s untrustworthy and self-serving, and she disagrees with his political leaning. Arthur sympathizes but asks Catherine, as his “only ally,” to have faith in his decision to hire Sir Robert as their barrister.
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The doorbell rings. Catherine goes to get the door, thinking it will be John; instead, it’s Desmond Curry with Sir Robert Morton. Sir Robert is elegantly dressed and has a refined, formal manner. He bows to Catherine, who offers him a seat; he refuses.
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Desmond stresses how short Sir Robert is on time, so Catherine instructs Desmond to go upstairs and get Arthur. She offers Sir Robert a drink or a smoke, but he declines both.
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Catherine and Sir Robert strike up awkward conversation. She expresses surprise that he’s even interested in the case. She saw his rigorous cross-examination of Len Rogers, and asks if Sir Robert knew that Rogers committed suicide soon after. Sir Robert says he had heard, but that Rogers was still guilty.
Arthur and Grace come down. Arthur introduces himself to Sir Robert and tells him that Ronnie will be down soon. Sir Robert just wants to ask him a few questions; he needs to rush off to an important dinner. Arthur expected Sir Robert to stay longer.
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Sir Robert explains that he thinks they need to apply for a “Petition of Right.” This gives an individual express permission to sue part of the Crown, in this case the Admiralty of the Navy. Customarily, the King’s representative has to agree using the words “let Right be done.” Both Sir Robert and Arthur agree that they like the phrase.
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Ronnie comes in. Arthur explains that Sir Robert will ask Ronnie a few questions, and Sir Robert insists that nobody interrupt him. Sir Robert makes Ronnie stand at the table, facing him.
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Sir Robert quickly begins interrogating Ronnie. Ronnie explains that he did go to the Post Office on the day of the alleged incident, but that he didn’t steal anyone’s postal order. Arthur interjects a couple of times, annoying Sir Robert greatly.
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Sir Robert’s questions intensify. He gets Ronnie to admit that he had practiced the signature of his roommate, Elliot, whose postal order he is supposed to have stolen. Ronnie says they used to practice each other’s signatures, but just for fun. Sir Robert tells Ronnie that the Admiralty had the handwriting on the postal order analyzed and confirmed that the signature came from Ronnie, not Elliot.
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Ronnie is increasingly tearful, asking Sir Robert whose side he is on. Sir Robert keeps pressing him on the details of that day, which Ronnie seems unsure of. There are inconsistencies in his story that clearly make him feel stressed. Finally, Sir Robert accuses Ronnie of committing the crime, telling him that the Admiralty’s account of the event is patently true.
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Sir Robert says that by continuing to lie, Ronnie is bringing great strain upon his family. Catherine stands up, objecting strongly. Sir Robert says that Ronnie should “undo some of the misery you have caused by confessing to us all now that you are a forger, a liar, and a thief!” Ronnie, crying, insists that he’s not.
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Arthur tells Sir Robert that he is being “outrageous.” John enters, clearly taken aback by the scene he walks into. Suddenly, Sir Robert turns to Desmond and calmly asks him if he can drop him off anywhere as he drives to dinner.
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With an air of indifference, Sir Robert asks Desmond to drop off the materials relevant to Ronnie’s case at his office in the morning. Desmond is surprised—but Sir Robert says, “the boy is plainly innocent,” before bowing to Arthur and Catherine and leaving the house. Ronnie sobs hysterically.
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