Let's get one (er, two) things clear: Justice is about morality—what is just behavior or treatment—while judgment is calling a shot, either about someone else's actions or your own. We talked about the big guy in the sky (a.k.a. God) in our other themes (Religion and Sin), so here we'll be focusing on that ruthless medieval code of conduct.
Edmund is kind of haunted by the idea of judgment throughout The Book of the Lion. The law kind of comes at him from all angles. He's not free to move where he wants because he needs to have a master, and he's not free to feel good about himself because he keeps being told that he's guilty because his old boss committed a crime. Basically, Edmund feels like both God and King Richard are going to have their way with his wretched self for the rest of his life.
But Edmund has something else to realize about judgment: Although he may feel like the odds are against him, he still has to figure out what he thinks is right and wrong. He'll be better off if he stops acting like a kicked puppy and gets better at calling his own shots.
Questions About Justice and Judgment
- What is the least just rule in the book? Why? How about the most just rule? Why? How do these two rules relate to each other?
- Is Edmund a victim of the medieval system of justice or does he rise above it? If so, how? And in either care, what does this reveal about the justice system?
- Can Edmund's sense of judgment be seen as part of his conscience, guiding him toward doing the right thing? Why or why not?
Chew on This
Even though they live under the same government and religious system, characters have highly individualized senses of what constitutes just behavior. For instance, Edmund believes it's unjust to kill an enemy soldier off the battlefield, while Hubert believes it's unjust to beat a horse.
The different interpretations of justice show that even though everyone has the same religion, there's actually a whole lot of room for interpretation of what religion expects.