Hetty Sorrel's Trial

Its effect on Adam. He takes hope from it. Hetty took the child with her, so she cannot have meant to kill it; the child may have died naturally and she hid it. Eliot lets the reader share that hope for one page.

Four. John Olding's evidence. A labourer of Tedd's Hole. He saw Hetty in a red cloak sitting under a haystack near Hetton Coppice, looking white and scared. Later, in the wood, he heard a cry, could not place it, went on, came back an hour later, and saw "something odd and round and whitish lying on the ground under a nut-bush". He stooped and found it was a little baby's hand. He dug the child out from among the timber choppings and it was cold. The next morning, returning with a constable, he found Hetty sitting against the same bush with a big piece of bread on her lap.

Its effect. Adam gives a faint groan and hides his face. Eliot writes that it was the supreme moment of his suffering, and Hetty, for the first time in the trial, is seen to tremble.

Five. Character evidence. Mr Irwine goes into the witness box and speaks of Hetty's unblemished character in her own parish and the virtuous habits in which she was brought up. Eliot's comment on it is the most important legal sentence in the novel.

This testimony could have no influence on the verdict, but it was given as part of that plea for mercy which her own counsel would have made if he had been allowed to speak for her, a favour not granted to criminals in those stern times.

Six. The verdict. The jury retire for hardly more than a quarter of an hour. The prisoner is made to hold up her hand. The verdict is "Guilty", and Eliot records that there was a sigh of disappointment from some hearts that it was followed by no recommendation to mercy.

Seven. The sentence. The judge puts on the black cap, the chaplain appears behind him in his canonicals, and the judge speaks her full name, "Hester Sorrel". Then the words MU quoted.

But at the words "and then to be hanged by the neck till you be dead," a piercing shriek rang through the hall. It was Hetty's shriek.

She falls in a fainting fit and is carried out of court.

Why her counsel could not speak for her

This is the point that makes the chapter more than sad, and it should be in every answer on this trial.

The rule. Until 1836, a person on trial for a felony, that is, a serious crime, was not allowed the assistance of counsel in the fullest sense. Counsel could examine and cross-examine witnesses and could argue points of law, but could not address the jury on the facts on the prisoner's behalf. The prisoner had to speak for herself or not at all.

The change. The rule was altered by the Prisoners' Counsel Act 1836, also called the Trials for Felony Act 1836, which allowed counsel to make a full defence for a prisoner charged with felony. Hetty is tried in 1800, so the old rule applies to her.

What it means in this case. Hetty cannot or will not speak. Her counsel may not speak for her on the facts. So the only version of events the jury ever hears is the prosecution's, and the story she eventually tells Dinah in the cell, which is materially different, is told after conviction to a person with no standing in the case.

The question it raises, and it is a good essay question. Would the verdict have been the same if her account had been before the jury? The answer is not obviously yes: her account is of abandonment and panic, not of killing, and a jury told that she went back because she heard it cry might have returned a different verdict, or added the recommendation to mercy that they conspicuously withheld.

The defendant who never speaks

Count what Hetty says in three chapters of trial: nothing. She does not plead. She does not testify, and at this date she could not have testified even if she had wished, because a prisoner was not a competent witness in her own defence. She stands, in Eliot's words, "like a statue of dull despair", her hands crossed and her eyes fixed on them.

The three effects Eliot gets from that silence.

She makes the trial happen to Hetty rather than involve her, which is what a trial felt like to most prisoners in 1800.

She makes the reader supply what the court cannot hear, so that we condemn the process rather than the girl.

She saves the confession for chapter XLV, where it is given to a woman in a cell and to God, and not to a court at all.

How to answer "Describe the trial of Hetty Sorrel"

Paragraph one. The charge, the court, and Hetty's silence at arraignment.

Paragraph two. Sarah Stone's evidence, and why it gives Adam hope.

Paragraph three. John Olding's evidence, and the moment the hope ends.

Paragraph four. What could not be done for her: no address to the jury by counsel, no evidence from the prisoner, character evidence admitted only as a plea for mercy that could not affect the verdict.

Paragraph five. The verdict, the absence of a recommendation to mercy, the black cap, and the shriek.

Paragraph six. The confession in chapter XLV set against the verdict, and your judgment on whether the trial did justice.

What beginners get wrong

They give Hetty a defence speech. She says nothing at any point in the trial.

They say her counsel was incompetent. He was doing everything the law of 1800 permitted, and Eliot says so.

They treat the confession as part of the trial. It comes after conviction, in the condemned cell, to Dinah.

They forget the missing recommendation to mercy. The jury could have added one and did not, and Eliot draws attention to it.

A worked answer

Question. "Describe the trial of Hetty Sorrel."

Paragraph one. Hetty Sorrel is tried at the Stoniton assizes for the murder of her newborn child, in a grand old hall fitted up as a court. Asked whether she pleads guilty or not guilty she does not answer, and a plea of not guilty is entered for her. She says nothing at any point in the trial and gives no evidence, since a prisoner was not then a competent witness in her own defence.

Paragraph two. Two witnesses prove the case. Sarah Stone, a widow of Church Lane, Stoniton, took her in on a Saturday evening in February, saw the child born in her house, made the baby clothes and identified them in court, and returned after an hour and a half to find the candle burning and the girl and the baby gone. John Olding, a labourer, heard a cry in Hetton Coppice, came back an hour later and found a little baby's hand under a nut-bush among timber choppings, and the next morning found Hetty sitting against the same bush.

Paragraph three. Mr Irwine gives evidence of her unblemished character, and Eliot records that it could have no influence on the verdict, being part of a plea for mercy which her own counsel would have made if he had been allowed to speak for her, a favour not granted to criminals in those stern times.

Paragraph four. The jury retire for hardly more than a quarter of an hour and return a verdict of guilty, with no recommendation to mercy, at which Eliot notes a sigh of disappointment. The judge puts on the black cap and speaks her name, and at the words about being hanged by the neck a piercing shriek rings through the hall and she faints and is carried out.

Paragraph five, the judgment. The trial was regular and the girl was unrepresented in the only way that mattered: her account, given afterwards to Dinah in the cell, was never before the jury, and on that account she abandoned a living child and returned because she heard it cry, which is not the same as killing it.

Quick revision

Chapters XLI to XLIII: the eve, the morning, the verdict. Stoniton assizes, a great hall fitted up as a court.

Hetty does not plead; not guilty is entered for her. She never speaks and never gives evidence.

Sarah Stone: the lodging, the birth, the baby clothes she made, the empty room.

John Olding: the cry in the coppice, the baby's hand under the choppings, Hetty against the bush the next morning.

Mr Irwine's character evidence could not affect the verdict; it was part of a plea for mercy that counsel was not allowed to make, because counsel could not address the jury for a prisoner charged with felony until the Prisoners' Counsel Act 1836.

Guilty, with no recommendation to mercy. The black cap, "Hester Sorrel", and the shriek at the words of the sentence.

Test yourself

1. Why does Hetty plead nothing? She does not answer when asked, and the court enters a plea of not guilty on her behalf. She is silent throughout the trial.

2. What could Hetty's counsel do, and what could he not do? He could cross-examine the prosecution witnesses and argue points of law. He could not address the jury on the facts on her behalf, because until the Prisoners' Counsel Act 1836 a prisoner charged with felony was not allowed a full defence by counsel.

3. Why does Eliot say Mr Irwine's evidence could have no influence on the verdict? Because it was character evidence offered in support of a plea for mercy, and a plea for mercy is directed to the sentence and to the prerogative of pardon rather than to the question the jury has to answer.

4. What is the significance of the jury adding no recommendation to mercy? It shows how completely the court was against her. Eliot notes the sigh of disappointment, and the omission is what leaves the death sentence standing until Arthur obtains a commutation.

5. Would her confession have changed the verdict? It is arguable both ways, and an answer should say so. Her account is of abandoning a living child in panic and returning because she heard it cry, which is not the same as killing it, and a jury that heard it might at least have recommended mercy. Against that, the law of the time treated concealment of the child's death by an unmarried mother as strong evidence of murder, which is the subject of the next chapter.