Detective Robbertse

Detective Robbertse's outer characterisation from “Life for a Life” by Alan Paton suggests that he is a big man who dresses fashionably: “They wore smart sports jackets and grey flannels, and felt hats on their heads.” (p. 11, ll. 19-20); “…his head almost touching the ceiling, and his body almost filling the small room, and he was shouting in a tremendous voice, then why did you lie?” (p. 12, ll. 11-14).

Inner characterisation

His inner characterisation focuses on the fact that the detective has a short-temper and is probably mad: “… the big detective with a temper that got out of hand, so that reddish foam would come out of his mouth, and he would hold a man by the throat till one of his colleagues would shout at him…” (p. 11, ll. 6-10); “…could never be sure whether Robbertse was mad or only pretending to be, but that it didn’t really matter, because whoever i...