The curtain rises on the Barthwick’s dining room. There is a tray with whisky and a silver cigarette box on the dining table. Thus, the very opening paragraph draws our attention to the silver box which is going to play a crucial role later in the drama.

           The defective functioning of the legal machinery is the major theme of The Silver Box. The law discriminates between the rich and the poor, condoning the for mer and condemning the latter. Jack steals his mistress’s purse which is later stolen along with Jack’s silver box by Jones, husband of the charwoman of the Barthwick household. The theft is discovered and reported to the police who promptly arrest Jones. In the court, all the arguments put forward by Jones are rejected by the magistrate. Jones’s first argument is that he cannot be held responsible for the theft that he committed in a drunken state. The magistrate says sarcastically that, if this argument is accepted, a man can deliberately get drunk and later commit a crime with impunity. His second argument is that his act cannot be branded stealing. For, he did not do it with any deliberate planning. He merely took the silver box in an impulsive manner…