2. Socio Historical Background
Karel Čapek, (born Jan. 9, 1890, died Dec. 25, 1938, Prague, Czech.), Czech novelist, short-story writer,
playwright, and essayist.
The son of a country doctor, Čapek suffered all his life from a spinal disease, and writing seemed a
compensation. He studied philosophy in Prague, Berlin, and Paris and in 1917 settled in Prague as a writer and
journalist.
Nonetheless, he is best known for his science fiction including his novel War with the Newts and the
play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), which introduced the word robot.
The Brothers Čapek were Josef and Karel Čapek, Czech writers who sometimes wrote together. They are
commemorated both for their literary/artistic works and political activism against oppressive government.
Their house is now a cultural monument of the Czech Republic, and there are various memorials to them.
Their most famous work is the play Pictures from the Insects' Life, a humorous political allegory.
3. Literary Style
“Tales from two pockets” was the Origin of Mr. Havelena’s Verdict.
1929: First part was Introduced named as Tales From One Pocket.
Mr. Havlena’s Verdict was from the Tales from other Pocket.
Mr. Havlena’s ‘Verdict is an interesting account of an imaginary criminal case which got wide publicity. The
author highlights the general trend of reporting sensational criminal case in newspaper almost every day in
order to attract the reading public.
Mr. Havlena the person who supplied the case in the essay was a law student who discontinued his studies.
Still he was well-versed in legal matters, especially criminal cases. He used to supply cases for police
reporters. His cases were well received by the readers and he was paid in terms of cigar and beer.
Basically the story consists of Human Nature & Justice including Eccentric, Complexity, Faith & Morality.
Karel Čapek wrote with intelligence and humor on a wide variety of subjects. His works are known for
their interesting and precise description of reality.
4. Plot Structure
It is the case of an old bachelor who had a quarrel with a widow who lived
opposite to him. So he got a parrot and trained it well so that wherever the lady
appeared on her balcony it screeched out at the top of its voice “You slut” which
means “dirty woman” The widow brought an action against him for defamation of
character. The district courts sentenced him to fourteen days imprisonment.
This case appeared in about six newspapers under various headlines such as “Far
from the Madding Crowd “Landlord and Poor Widow” “Accusation against parrot”
etc.
The Ministry of Justice decided to file an appeal against the order of the district
court and asked for the particulars of the case from the newspaper. When this was
taken to the knowledge of Havlena, he got angry, drew up a detailed statement to
vindicate the Verdict and sent it to the Ministry of Justice. It was not taken notice
of by Ministry and Havlena stopped giving judgments afterwards.
5. Mr. Havlena got a parrot, trained it up and made it utter the words ‘You slut’ at the old
woman living opposite to his house. Contrary to his expectation the woman was not offended
by the words uttered by the parrot.
Havlena tried his best to persuade her to bring an action against him and at last succeeded in
his attempt. She brought an action for defamation of character.
When the case came up for trial, Havlena gave a long speech admitting all the allegations
against him. But the magistrate wanted to hear the parrot and adjourned the case.
At the next hearing the parrot was brought to the court. The parrot uttered the words ‘you
slut’ towards all persons irrespective of sex. Therefore, it became clear that the words were
not intended to defame the woman. Havlena strongly argued, that it was his intention to
defame her, but he miserably failed.
6. Theme
Complexity of Human Nature
Humorous Manner to Describe the Story
Use of Newspaper to reach every Individual
Interesting and precise description of reality.
Idea of Justice
