Remembering Plots
[To review literary terms, read through glossary in CEA]
1984
Winston Smith is a low-ranking member of the ruling Party in London, in the nation of Oceania. Everywhere Winston goes, even his
own home, the Party watches him through telescreens; everywhere he looks he sees the face of the Party’s seemingly omniscient
leader, a figure known only as Big Brother. The Party controls everything in Oceania, even the people’s history and language.
Currently, the Party is forcing the implementation of an invented language called Newspeak, which attempts to prevent political
rebellion by eliminating all words related to it. Even thinking rebellious thoughts is illegal. Such thought crime is, in fact, the worst of
all crimes. As the novel opens, Winston feels frustrated by the oppression and rigid control of the Party, which prohibits free thought,
sex, and any expression of individuality. Winston dislikes the party and has illegally purchased a diary in which to write his criminal
thoughts. He has also become fixated on a powerful Party member named O’Brien, whom Winston believes is a secret member of the
Brotherhood—the mysterious, legendary group that works to overthrow the Party. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, where he
alters historical records to fit the needs of the Party. He notices a coworker, a beautiful dark-haired girl, staring at him, and worries
that she is an informant who will turn him in for his thought crime. He is troubled by the Party’s control of history: the Party claims
that Oceania has always been allied with Eastasia in a war against Eurasia, but Winston seems to recall a time when this was not true.
The Party also claims that Emmanuel Goldstein, the alleged leader of the Brotherhood, is the most dangerous man alive, but this does
not seem plausible to Winston. Winston spends his evenings wandering through the poorest neighborhoods in London, where the
proletarians, or proles, live squalid lives, relatively free of Party monitoring. One day, Winston receives a note from the dark-haired
girl that reads “I love you.” She tells him her name, Julia, and they begin a covert affair, always on the lookout for signs of Party
monitoring. Eventually they rent a room above the secondhand store in the prole district where Winston bought the diary. This
relationship lasts for some time. Winston is sure that they will be caught and punished sooner or later (the fatalistic Winston knows
that he has been doomed since he wrote his first diary entry), while Julia is more pragmatic and optimistic. As Winston’s affair with
Julia progresses, his hatred for the Party grows more and more intense. At last, he receives the message that he has been waiting for:
O’Brien wants to see him. Winston and Julia travel to O’Brien’s luxurious apartment. As a member of the powerful Inner Party
(Winston belongs to the Outer Party), O’Brien leads a life of luxury that Winston can only imagine. O’Brien confirms to Winston and
Julia that, like them, he hates the Party, and says that he works against it as a member of the Brotherhood. He indoctrinates Winston
and Julia into the Brotherhood, and gives Winston a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein’s book, the manifesto of the Brotherhood. Winston
reads the book—an amalgam of several forms of class-based twentieth-century social theory—to Julia in the room above the store.
Suddenly, soldiers barge in and seize them. Mr. Charrington, the proprietor of the store, is revealed as having been a member of the
Thought Police all along. Torn away from Julia and taken to a place called the Ministry of Love, Winston finds that O’Brien, too, is a
Party spy who simply pretended to be a member of the Brotherhood in order to trap Winston into committing an open act of rebellion
against the Party. O’Brien spends months torturing and brainwashing Winston, who struggles to resist. At last, O’Brien sends him to
the dreaded Room 101, the final destination for anyone who opposes the Party. Here, O’Brien tells Winston that he will be forced to
confront his worst fear. Throughout the novel, Winston has had recurring nightmares about rats; O’Brien now straps a cage full of rats
onto Winston’s head and prepares to allow the rats to eat his face. Winston snaps, pleading with O’Brien to do it to Julia, not to him.
Giving up Julia is what O’Brien wanted from Winston all along. His spirit broken, Winston is released to the outside world. He meets
Julia, but no longer feels anything for her. He has accepted the Party entirely and has learned to love Big Brother.
Iliad
After many Achaeans die, Agamemnon consults the prophet Calchas to determine the cause of the plague. When he learns that
Chryseis is the cause, he reluctantly gives her up but then demands Briseis from Achilles as compensation. Furious at this insult,
Achilles returns to his tent in the army camp and refuses to fight in the war any longer. He vengefully yearns to see the Achaeans
destroyed and asks his mother, the sea-nymph Thetis, to enlist the services of Zeus, king of the gods, toward this end. The Trojan and
Achaean sides have declared a cease-fire with each other, but now the Trojans breach the treaty and Zeus comes to their aid.
With Zeus supporting the Trojans and Achilles refusing to fight, the Achaeans suffer great losses. Several days of fierce conflict
ensue, including duels between Paris and Menelaus and between Hector and Ajax. The Achaeans make no progress; even the heroism
of the great Achaean warrior Diomedes proves fruitless. The Trojans push the Achaeans back, forcing them to take refuge behind the
ramparts that protect their ships. The Achaeans begin to nurture some hope for the future when a nighttime reconnaissance mission by
Diomedes and Odysseus yields information about the Trojans’ plans, but the next day brings disaster. Several Achaean commanders
become wounded, and the Trojans break through the Achaean ramparts. They advance all the way up to the boundary of the Achaean
camp and set fire to one of the ships. Defeat seems imminent, because without the ships, the army will be stranded at Troy and almost
certainly destroyed.
Concerned for his comrades but still too proud to help them himself, Achilles agrees to a plan proposed by Nestor that will allow
his beloved friend Patroclus to take his place in battle, wearing his armor. Patroclus is a fine warrior, and his presence on the
battlefield helps the Achaeans push the Trojans away from the ships and back to the city walls. But the counterattack soon falters.
Apollo knocks Patroclus’s armor to the ground, and Hector slays him. Fighting then breaks out as both sides try to lay claim to the
body and armor. Hector ends up with the armor, but the Achaeans, thanks to a courageous effort by Menelaus and others, manage to
bring the body back to their camp. When Achilles discovers that Hector has killed Patroclus, he fills with such grief and rage that he
agrees to reconcile with Agamemnon and rejoin the battle. Thetis goes to Mount Olympus and persuades the god Hephaestus to forge
Achilles a new suit of armor, which she presents to him the next morning. Achilles then rides out to battle at the head of the Achaean
army.
Meanwhile, Hector, not expecting Achilles to rejoin the battle, has ordered his men to camp outside the walls of Troy. But when
the Trojan army glimpses Achilles, it flees in terror back behind the city walls. Achilles cuts down every Trojan he sees. Strengthened
by his rage, he even fights the god of the river Xanthus, who is angered that Achilles has caused so many corpses to fall into his
streams. Finally, Achilles confronts Hector outside the walls of Troy. Ashamed at the poor advice that he gave his comrades, Hector
refuses to flee inside the city with them. Achilles chases him around the city’s periphery three times, but the goddess Athena finally
tricks Hector into turning around and fighting Achilles. In a dramatic duel, Achilles kills Hector. He then lashes the body to the back
of his chariot and drags it across the battlefield to the Achaean camp. Upon Achilles’ arrival, the triumphant Achaeans celebrate
Patroclus’s funeral with a long series of athletic games in his honor. Each day for the next nine days, Achilles drags Hector’s body in
circles around Patroclus’s funeral bier.
At last, the gods agree that Hector deserves a proper burial. Zeus sends the god Hermes to escort King Priam, Hector’s father and
the ruler of Troy, into the Achaean camp. Priam tearfully pleads with Achilles to take pity on a father bereft of his son and return
Hector’s body. He invokes the memory of Achilles’ own father, Peleus. Deeply moved, Achilles finally relents and returns Hector’s
corpse to the Trojans. Both sides agree to a temporary truce, and Hector receives a hero’s funeral.
Canterbury Tales
Wife of Bath’s Tale: In the days of King Arthur, the Wife of Bath begins, the isle of Britain was full of fairies and elves. Now,
those creatures are gone because their spots have been taken by the friars and other mendicants that seem to fill every nook and cranny
of the isle. And though the friars rape women, just as the incubi did in the days of the fairies, the friars only cause women dishonor—
the incubi always got them pregnant.
In Arthur’s court, however, a young, lusty knight comes across a beautiful young maiden one day. Overcome by lust and his
sense of his own power, he rapes her. The court is scandalized by the crime and decrees that the knight should be put to death by
decapitation. However, Arthur’s queen and other ladies of the court intercede on his behalf and ask the king to give him one chance to
save his own life. Arthur, wisely obedient to wifely counsel, grants their request. The queen presents the knight with the following
challenge: if, within one year, he can discover what women want most in the world and report his findings back to the court, he will
keep his life. If he cannot find the answer to the queen’s question, or if his answer is wrong, he will lose his head.
The knight sets forth in sorrow. He roams throughout the country, posing the question to every woman he meets. To the knight’s
dismay, nearly every one of them answers differently. Some claim women love money best, some honor, some jolliness, some looks,
some sex, some remarriage, some flattery, and some say that women most want to be free to do as they wish. Finally, says the Wife,
some say that women most want to be considered discreet and secretive, although she argues that such an answer is clearly untrue,
since no woman can keep a secret. As proof, she retells Ovid’s story of Midas. Midas had two ass’s ears growing under his hair, which
he concealed from everybody except his wife, whom he begged not to disclose his secret. She swore she would not, but the secret
burned so much inside her that she ran down to a marsh and whispered her husband’s secret to the water. The Wife then says that if
her listeners would like to hear how the tale ends, they should read Ovid.
She returns to her story of the knight. When his day of judgment draws near, the knight sorrowfully heads for home. As he rides
near a forest, he sees a large group of women dancing and decides to approach them to ask his question. But as he approaches, the
group vanishes, and all he can see is an ugly old woman. The woman asks if she can be of help, and the knight explains his
predicament and promises to reward her if she can help him. The woman tells the knight that he must pledge himself to her in return
for her help, and the knight, having no options left, gladly consents. She then guarantees that his life will be saved.
The knight and the old woman travel together to the court, where, in front of a large audience, the knight tells the queen the
answer with which the old woman supplied him: what women most desire is to be in charge of their husbands and lovers. The women
agree resoundingly that this is the answer, and the queen spares the knight’s life. The old hag comes forth and publicly asks the knight
to marry her. The knight cries out in horror. He begs her to take his material possessions rather than his body, but she refuses to yield,
and in the end he is forced to consent. The two are married in a small, private wedding and go to bed together the same night.
Throughout the entire ordeal, the knight remains miserable.
While in bed, the loathsome hag asks the knight why he is so sad. He replies that he could hardly bear the shame of having such
an ugly, lowborn wife. She does not take offense at the insult, but calmly asks him whether real “gentillesse,” or noble character, can
be hereditary (1109). There have been sons of noble fathers, she argues, who were shameful and villainous, though they shared the
same blood. Her family may be poor, but real poverty lies in covetousness, and real riches lie in having little and wanting nothing. She
offers the knight a choice: either he can have her be ugly but loyal and good, or he can have her young and fair but also coquettish and
unfaithful. The knight ponders in silence. Finally, he replies that he would rather trust her judgment, and he asks her to choose
whatever she thinks best. Because the knight’s answer gave the woman what she most desired, the authority to choose for herself, she
becomes both beautiful and good. The two have a long, happy marriage, and the woman becomes completely obedient to her husband.
The Wife of Bath concludes with a plea that Jesus Christ send all women husbands who are young, meek, and fresh in bed, and the
grace to outlive their husbands.
Knight’s Tale
Summary: Part I
Long ago in Ancient Greece, a great conqueror and duke named Theseus ruled the city of Athens. One day, four women kneel in
front of Theseus’s horse and weep, halting his passage into the city. The eldest woman informs him that they are grieving the loss of
their husbands, who were killed at the siege of the city of Thebes. Creon, the lord of Thebes, has dishonored them by refusing to bury
or cremate their bodies. Enraged at the ladies’ plight, Theseus marches on Thebes, which he easily conquers. After returning the bones
of their husbands to the four women for the funeral rites, Theseus discovers two wounded enemy soldiers lying on the battlefield,
nearing death. Rather than kill them, he mercifully heals the Theban soldiers’ injuries, but condemns them to a life of imprisonment in
an Athenian tower.
The prisoners, named Palamon and Arcite, are cousins and sworn brothers. Both live in the prison tower for several years. One
spring morning, Palamon awakes early, looks out the window, and sees fair-haired Emelye, Theseus’s sister-in-law. She is making
flower garlands, “To doon honour to May” (1047). He falls in love and moans with heartache. His cry awakens Arcite, who comes to
investigate the matter. As Arcite peers out the window, he too falls in love with the beautiful flower-clad maiden. They argue over her,
but eventually realize the futility of such a struggle when neither can ever leave the prison.
One day, a duke named Perotheus, friend both to Theseus and Arcite, petitions for Arcite’s freedom. Theseus agrees, on the
condition that Arcite be banished permanently from Athens on pain of death. Arcite returns to Thebes, miserable and jealous of
Palamon, who can still see Emelye every day from the tower. But Palamon, too, grows more sorrowful than ever; he believes Arcite
will lay siege to Athens and take Emelye by force. The knight poses the question to the listeners, rhetorically: who is worse off, Arcite
or Palamon?
Summary: Part II
Some time later, winged Mercury, messenger to the gods, appears to Arcite in a dream and urges him to return to Athens. By this
time, Arcite has grown gaunt and frail from lovesickness. He realizes that he could enter the city disguised and not be recognized. He
does so and takes on a job as a page in Emelye’s chamber under the pseudonym Philostrate. This puts him close to Emelye but not
close enough. Wandering in the woods one spring day, he fashions garlands of leaves and laments the conflict in his heart—his desire
to return to Thebes and his need to be near his beloved. As it -happens, Palamon has escaped from seven years of imprisonment that
very day and hears Arcite’s song and monologue while -sneaking through the woods. They confront each other, each claiming the
right to Emelye. Arcite challenges his old friend to a duel the next day. They meet in a field and bludgeon each other ruthlessly.
Theseus, out on a hunt, finds these two warriors brutally hacking away at each other. Palamon reveals their identities and love
for Emelye. He implores the duke to justly decide their fate, suggesting that they both deserve to die. Theseus is about to respond by
killing them, but the women of his court—especially his queen and Emelye—intervene, pleading for Palamon and Arcite’s lives. The
duke consents and decides instead to hold a tournament fifty weeks from that day. The two men will be pitted against one another,
each with a hundred of the finest men he can gather. The winner will be awarded Emelye’s hand.
Miller’s Tale
The pilgrims applaud the Knight’s Tale, and the pleased Host asks the Monk to match it. Before the Monk can utter a word,
however, the Miller interrupts. Drunk and belligerent, he promises that he has a “noble” tale that will repay the Knight’s (3126). The
Host tries to persuade the Miller to let some “bettre” man tell the next tale (3130). When the Miller threatens to leave, however, the
Host acquiesces. After the Miller reminds everyone that he is drunk and therefore shouldn’t be held accountable for anything he says,
he introduces his tale as a legend and a life of a carpenter and of his wife, and of how a clerk made a fool of the carpenter, which
everyone understands to mean that the clerk slept with the carpenter’s wife (3141–3143). The Reeve shouts out his immediate
objection to such ridicule, but the Miller insists on proceeding with his tale. He points out that he is married himself, but doesn’t worry
whether some other man is sleeping with his wife, because it is none of his business. The narrator apologizes to us in advance for the
tale’s bawdiness, and warns that those who are easily offended should skip to another tale.
The Miller begins his story: there was once an Oxford student named Nicholas, who studied astrology and was well acquainted
with the art of love. Nicholas boarded with a wealthy but ignorant old carpenter named John, who was jealous and highly possessive
of his sexy eighteen-year-old wife, Alisoun. One day, the carpenter leaves, and Nicholas and Alisoun begin flirting. Nicholas grabs
Alisoun, and she threatens to cry for help. He then begins to cry, and after a few sweet words, she agrees to sleep with him when it is
safe to do so. She is worried that John will find out, but Nicholas is confident he can outwit the carpenter.
Nicholas is not alone in desiring Alisoun. A merry, vain parish clerk named Absolon also fancies Alisoun. He serenades her
every night, buys her gifts, and gives her money, but to no avail—Alisoun loves Nicholas. Nicholas devises a plan that will allow him
and Alisoun to spend an entire night together. He has Alisoun tell John that Nicholas is ill. John sends a servant to check on his
boarder, who arrives to find Nicholas immobile, staring at the ceiling. When the servant reports back to John, John is not surprised,
saying that madness is what one gets for inquiring into “Goddes pryvetee,” which is what he believes Nicholas’s astronomy studies
amount to. Nevertheless, he feels sorry for the student and goes to check on him.
Nicholas tells John he has had a vision from God and offers to tell John about it. He explains that he has foreseen a terrible
event. The next Monday, waters twice as great as Noah’s flood will cover the land, exterminating all life. The carpenter believes him
and fears for his wife, just what Nicholas had hoped would occur. Nicholas instructs John to fasten three tubs, each loaded with
provisions and an ax, to the roof of the barn. On Monday night, they will sleep in the tubs, so that when the flood comes, they can
release the tubs, hack through the roof, and float until the water subsides. Nicholas also warns John that it is God’s commandment that
they may do nothing but pray once they are in the tubs—no one is to speak a word.
Monday night arrives, and Nicholas, John, and Alisoun ascend by ladder into the hanging tubs. As soon as the carpenter begins
to snore, Nicholas and Alisoun climb down, run back to the house, and sleep together in the carpenter’s bed. In the early dawn,
Absolon passes by. Hoping to stop in for a kiss, or perhaps more, from Alisoun, Absalon sidles up to the window and calls to her. She
harshly replies that she loves another. Absolon persists, and Alisoun offers him one quick kiss in the dark.
Absolon leaps forward eagerly, offering a lingering kiss. But it is not her lips he finds at the window, but her “naked ers [arse]”
(3734). She and Nicholas collapse with laughter, while Absolon blindly tries to wipe his mouth. Determined to avenge Alisoun’s
prank, Absolon hurries back into town to the blacksmith and obtains a red-hot iron poker. He returns with it to the window and knocks
again, asking for a kiss and promising Alisoun a golden ring. This time, Nicholas, having gotten up to relieve himself anyway, sticks
his rear out the window and farts thunderously in Absolon’s face. Absolon brands his buttocks with the poker. Nicholas leaps up and
cries out, “Help! Water! Water!” (3815). John, still hanging from the roof, wakes up and assumes Nicholas’s cries mean that the flood
has come. He grabs the ax, cuts free the tub, and comes crashing to the ground, breaking his arm. The noise and commotion attract
many of the townspeople. The carpenter tells the story of the predicted flood, but Nicholas and Alisoun pretend ignorance, telling
everyone that the carpenter is mad. The townspeople laugh that all have received their dues, and the Miller merrily asks that God save
the company.
Pardoner’s Tale
The Pardoner describes a group of young Flemish people who spend their time drinking and reveling, indulging in all forms of
excess. After commenting on their lifestyle of debauchery, the Pardoner enters into a tirade against the vices that they practice. First
and foremost is gluttony, which he identifies as the sin that first caused the fall of mankind in Eden. Next, he attacks drunkenness,
which makes a man seem mad and witless. Next is gambling, the temptation that ruins men of power and wealth. Finally, he
denounces swearing. He argues that it so offends God that he forbade swearing in the Second Commandment—placing it higher up on
the list than homicide. After almost two hundred lines of sermonizing, the Pardoner finally returns to his story of the lecherous
Flemish youngsters.
As three of these rioters sit drinking, they hear a funeral knell. One of the revelers’ servants tells the group that an old friend of
theirs was slain that very night by a mysterious figure named Death. The rioters are outraged and, in their drunkenness, decide to find
and kill Death to avenge their friend. Traveling down the road, they meet an old man who appears sorrowful. He says his sorrow stems
from old age—he has been waiting for Death to come and take him for some time, and he has wandered all over the world. The
youths, hearing the name of Death, demand to know where they can find him. The old man directs them into a grove, where he says he
just left Death under an oak tree. The rioters rush to the tree, underneath which they find not Death but eight bushels of gold coins
with no owner in sight.
At first, they are speechless, but, then, the slyest of the three reminds them that if they carry the gold into town in daylight, they
will be taken for thieves. They must transport the gold under cover of night, and so someone must run into town to fetch bread and
wine in the meantime. They draw lots, and the youngest of the three loses and runs off toward town. As soon as he is gone, the sly
plotter turns to his friend and divulges his plan: when their friend returns from town, they will kill him and therefore receive greater
shares of the wealth. The second rioter agrees, and they prepare their trap. Back in town, the youngest vagrant is having similar
thoughts. He could easily be the richest man in town, he realizes, if he could have all the gold to himself. He goes to the apothecary
and buys the strongest poison available, then puts the poison into two bottles of wine, leaving a third bottle pure for himself. He
returns to the tree, but the other two rioters leap out and kill him.
They sit down to drink their friend’s wine and celebrate, but each happens to pick up a poisoned bottle. Within minutes, they lie
dead next to their friend. Thus, concludes the Pardoner, all must beware the sin of avarice, which can only bring treachery and death.
He realizes that he has forgotten something: he has relics and pardons in his bag. According to his custom, he tells the pilgrims the
value of his relics and asks for contributions—even though he has just told them the relics are fake. He offers the Host the first chance
to come forth and kiss the relics, since the Host is clearly the most enveloped in sin (942). The Host is outraged and proposes to make
a relic out of the Pardoner’s genitals, but the Knight calms everybody down. The Host and Pardoner kiss and make up, and all have a
good laugh as they continue on their way.
A Tale of Two Cities
THE YEAR IS 1775, and social ills plague both France and England. Jerry Cruncher, an odd-job-man who works for Tellson’s
Bank, stops the Dover mail-coach with an urgent message for Jarvis Lorry. The message instructs Lorry to wait at Dover for a young
woman, and Lorry responds with the cryptic words, “Recalled to Life.” At Dover, Lorry is met by Lucie Manette, a young orphan
whose father, a once-eminent doctor whom she supposed dead, has been discovered in France. Lorry escorts Lucie to Paris, where
they meet Defarge, a former servant of Doctor Manette, who has kept Manette safe in a garret. Driven mad by eighteen years in the
Bastille, Manette spends all of his time making shoes, a hobby he learned while in prison. Lorry assures Lucie that her love and
devotion can recall her father to life, and indeed they do.
The year is now 1780. Charles Darnay stands accused of treason against the English crown. A bombastic lawyer named Stryver
pleads Darnay’s case, but it is not until his drunk, good-for-nothing colleague, Sydney Carton, assists him that the court acquits
Darnay. Carton clinches his argument by pointing out that he himself bears an uncanny resemblance to the defendant, which
undermines the prosecution’s case for unmistakably identifying Darnay as the spy the authorities spotted. Lucie and Doctor Manette
watched the court proceedings, and that night, Carton escorts Darnay to a tavern and asks how it feels to receive the sympathy of a
woman like Lucie. Carton despises and resents Darnay because he reminds him of all that he himself has given up and might have
been.
In France, the cruel Marquis Evrémonde runs down a plebian child with his carriage. Manifesting an attitude typical of the
aristocracy in regard to the poor at that time, the Marquis shows no regret, but instead curses the peasantry and hurries home to his
chateau, where he awaits the arrival of his nephew, Darnay, from England. Arriving later that night, Darnay curses his uncle and the
French aristocracy for its abominable treatment of the people. He renounces his identity as an Evrémonde and announces his intention
to return to England. That night, the Marquis is murdered; the murderer has left a note signed with the nickname adopted by French
revolutionaries: “Jacques.”
A year passes, and Darnay asks Manette for permission to marry Lucie. He says that, if Lucie accepts, he will reveal his true
identity to Manette. Carton, meanwhile, also pledges his love to Lucie, admitting that, though his life is worthless, she has helped him
dream of a better, more valuable existence. On the streets of London, Jerry Cruncher gets swept up in the funeral procession for a spy
named Roger Cly. Later that night, he demonstrates his talents as a “Resurrection-Man,” sneaking into the cemetery to steal and sell
Cly’s body. In Paris, meanwhile, another English spy known as John Barsad drops into Defarge’s wine-shop. Barsad hopes to turn up
evidence concerning the mounting revolution, which is still in its covert stages. Madame Defarge sits in the shop knitting a secret
registry of those whom the revolution seeks to execute. Back in London, Darnay, on the morning of his wedding, keeps his promise to
Manette; he reveals his true identity and, that night, Manette relapses into his old prison habit of making shoes. After nine days,
Manette regains his presence of mind, and soon joins the newlyweds on their honeymoon. Upon Darnay’s return, Carton pays him a
visit and asks for his friendship. Darnay assures Carton that he is always welcome in their home.
The year is now 1789. The peasants in Paris storm the Bastille and the French Revolution begins. The revolutionaries murder
aristocrats in the streets, and Gabelle, a man charged with the maintenance of the Evrémonde estate, is imprisoned. Three years later,
he writes to Darnay, asking to be rescued. Despite the threat of great danger to his person, Darnay departs immediately for France.
As soon as Darnay arrives in Paris, the French revolutionaries arrest him as an emigrant. Lucie and Manette make their way to
Paris in hopes of saving him. Darnay remains in prison for a year and three months before receiving a trial. In order to help free him,
Manette uses his considerable influence with the revolutionaries, who sympathize with him for having served time in the Bastille.
Darnay receives an acquittal, but that same night he is arrested again. The charges, this time, come from Defarge and his vengeful
wife. Carton arrives in Paris with a plan to rescue Darnay and obtains the help of John Barsad, who turns out to be Solomon Pross, the
long-lost brother of Miss Pross, Lucie’s loyal servant.
At Darnay’s trial, Defarge produces a letter that he discovered in Manette’s old jail cell in the Bastille. The letter explains the
cause of Manette’s imprisonment. Years ago, the brothers Evrémonde (Darnay’s father and uncle) enlisted Manette’s medical
assistance. They asked him to tend to a woman, whom one of the brothers had raped, and her brother, whom the same brother had
stabbed fatally. Fearing that Manette might report their misdeeds, the Evrémondes had him arrested. Upon hearing this story, the jury
condemns Darnay for the crimes of his ancestors and sentences him to die within twenty-four hours. That night, at the Defarge’s wineshop, Carton overhears Madame Defarge plotting to have Lucie and her daughter (also Darnay’s daughter) executed as well; Madame
Defarge, it turns out, is the surviving sibling of the man and woman killed by the Evrémondes. Carton arranges for the Manettes’
immediate departure from France. He then visits Darnay in prison, tricks him into changing clothes with him, and, after dictating a
letter of explanation, drugs his friend unconscious. Barsad carries Darnay, now disguised as Carton, to an awaiting coach, while
Carton, disguised as Darnay, awaits execution. As Darnay, Lucie, their child, and Dr. Manette speed away from Paris, Madame
Defarge arrives at Lucie’s apartment, hoping to arrest her. There she finds the supremely protective Miss Pross. A scuffle ensues, and
Madame Defarge dies by the bullet of her own gun. Sydney Carton meets his death at the guillotine, and the narrator confidently
asserts that Carton dies with the knowledge that he has finally imbued his life with meaning.
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter opens with a long preamble about how the book came to be written. The nameless narrator was the surveyor of the
customhouse in Salem, Massachusetts. In the customhouse’s attic, he discovered a number of documents, among them a manuscript
that was bundled with a scarlet, gold-embroidered patch of cloth in the shape of an “A.” The manuscript, the work of a past surveyor,
detailed events that occurred some two hundred years before the narrator’s time. When the narrator lost his customs post, he decided
to write a fictional account of the events recorded in the manuscript. The Scarlet Letter is the final product.
The story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, then a Puritan settlement. A young woman, Hester Prynne, is led from the town
prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter “A” on her breast. A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker
that Hester is being punished for adultery. Hester’s husband, a scholar much older than she is, sent her ahead to America, but he never
arrived in Boston. The consensus is that he has been lost at sea. While waiting for her husband, Hester has apparently had an affair, as
she has given birth to a child. She will not reveal her lover’s identity, however, and the scarlet letter, along with her public shaming, is
her punishment for her sin and her secrecy. On this day Hester is led to the town scaffold and harangued by the town fathers, but she
again refuses to identify her child’s father.
The elderly onlooker is Hester’s missing husband, who is now practicing medicine and calling himself Roger Chillingworth. He settles
in Boston, intent on revenge. He reveals his true identity to no one but Hester, whom he has sworn to secrecy. Several years pass.
Hester supports herself by working as a seamstress, and Pearl grows into a willful, impish child. Shunned by the community, they live
in a small cottage on the outskirts of Boston. Community officials attempt to take Pearl away from Hester, but, with the help of Arthur
Dimmesdale, a young and eloquent minister, the mother and daughter manage to stay together. Dimmesdale, however, appears to be
wasting away and suffers from mysterious heart trouble, seemingly caused by psychological distress. Chillingworth attaches himself
to the ailing minister and eventually moves in with him so that he can provide his patient with round-the-clock care. Chillingworth
also suspects that there may be a connection between the minister’s torments and Hester’s secret, and he begins to test Dimmesdale to
see what he can learn. One afternoon, while the minister sleeps, Chillingworth discovers a mark on the man’s breast (the details of
which are kept from the reader), which convinces him that his suspicions are correct.
Dimmesdale’s psychological anguish deepens, and he invents new tortures for himself. In the meantime, Hester’s charitable deeds and
quiet humility have earned her a reprieve from the scorn of the community. One night, when Pearl is about seven years old, she and
her mother are returning home from a visit to a deathbed when they encounter Dimmesdale atop the town scaffold, trying to punish
himself for his sins. Hester and Pearl join him, and the three link hands. Dimmesdale refuses Pearl’s request that he acknowledge her
publicly the next day, and a meteor marks a dull red “A” in the night sky. Hester can see that the minister’s condition is worsening,
and she resolves to intervene. She goes to Chillingworth and asks him to stop adding to Dimmesdale’s self-torment. Chillingworth
refuses.
Hester arranges an encounter with Dimmesdale in the forest because she is aware that Chillingworth has probably guessed that she
plans to reveal his identity to Dimmesdale. The former lovers decide to flee to Europe, where they can live with Pearl as a family.
They will take a ship sailing from Boston in four days. Both feel a sense of release, and Hester removes her scarlet letter and lets down
her hair. Pearl, playing nearby, does not recognize her mother without the letter. The day before the ship is to sail, the townspeople
gather for a holiday and Dimmesdale preaches his most eloquent sermon ever. Meanwhile, Hester has learned that Chillingworth
knows of their plan and has booked passage on the same ship. Dimmesdale, leaving the church after his sermon, sees Hester and Pearl
standing before the town scaffold. He impulsively mounts the scaffold with his lover and his daughter, and confesses publicly,
exposing a scarlet letter seared into the flesh of his chest. He falls dead, as Pearl kisses him.
Frustrated in his revenge, Chillingworth dies a year later. Hester and Pearl leave Boston, and no one knows what has happened to
them. Many years later, Hester returns alone, still wearing the scarlet letter, to live in her old cottage and resume her charitable work.
She receives occasional letters from Pearl, who has married a European aristocrat and established a family of her own. When Hester
dies, she is buried next to Dimmesdale. The two share a single tombstone, which bears a scarlet “A.”
The Great Gatsby
NICK CARRAWAY, A YOUNG MAN from Minnesota, moves to New York in the summer of 1922 to learn about the bond
business. He rents a house in the West Egg district of Long Island, a wealthy but unfashionable area populated by the new rich, a
group who have made their fortunes too recently to have established social connections and who are prone to garish displays of
wealth. Nick’s next-door neighbor in West Egg is a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby, who lives in a gigantic Gothic mansion and
throws extravagant parties every Saturday night.
Nick is unlike the other inhabitants of West Egg—he was educated at Yale and has social connections in East Egg, a fashionable
area of Long Island home to the established upper class. Nick drives out to East Egg one evening for dinner with his cousin, Daisy
Buchanan, and her husband, Tom, an erstwhile classmate of Nick’s at Yale. Daisy and Tom introduce Nick to Jordan Baker, a
beautiful, cynical young woman with whom Nick begins a romantic relationship. Nick also learns a bit about Daisy and Tom’s
marriage: Jordan tells him that Tom has a lover, Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the valley of ashes, a gray industrial dumping ground
between West Egg and New York City. Not long after this revelation, Nick travels to New York City with Tom and Myrtle. At a
vulgar, gaudy party in the apartment that Tom keeps for the affair, Myrtle begins to taunt Tom about Daisy, and Tom responds by
breaking her nose.
As the summer progresses, Nick eventually garners an invitation to one of Gatsby’s legendary parties. He encounters Jordan
Baker at the party, and they meet Gatsby himself, a surprisingly young man who affects an English accent, has a remarkable smile,
and calls everyone “old sport.” Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone, and, through Jordan, Nick later learns more about his mysterious
neighbor. Gatsby tells Jordan that he knew Daisy in Louisville in 1917 and is deeply in love with her. He spends many nights staring
at the green light at the end of her dock, across the bay from his mansion. Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle and wild parties are simply an
attempt to impress Daisy. Gatsby now wants Nick to arrange a reunion between himself and Daisy, but he is afraid that Daisy will
refuse to see him if she knows that he still loves her. Nick invites Daisy to have tea at his house, without telling her that Gatsby will
also be there. After an initially awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy reestablish their connection. Their love rekindled, they begin an
affair.
After a short time, Tom grows increasingly suspicious of his wife’s relationship with Gatsby. At a luncheon at the Buchanans’
house, Gatsby stares at Daisy with such undisguised passion that Tom realizes Gatsby is in love with her. Though Tom is himself
involved in an extramarital affair, he is deeply outraged by the thought that his wife could be unfaithful to him. He forces the group to
drive into New York City, where he confronts Gatsby in a suite at the Plaza Hotel. Tom asserts that he and Daisy have a history that
Gatsby could never understand, and he announces to his wife that Gatsby is a criminal—his fortune comes from bootlegging alcohol
and other illegal activities. Daisy realizes that her allegiance is to Tom, and Tom contemptuously sends her back to East Egg with
Gatsby, attempting to prove that Gatsby cannot hurt him.
When Nick, Jordan, and Tom drive through the valley of ashes, however, they discover that Gatsby’s car has struck and killed
Myrtle, Tom’s lover. They rush back to Long Island, where Nick learns from Gatsby that Daisy was driving the car when it struck
Myrtle, but that Gatsby intends to take the blame. The next day, Tom tells Myrtle’s husband, George, that Gatsby was the driver of the
car. George, who has leapt to the conclusion that the driver of the car that killed Myrtle must have been her lover, finds Gatsby in the
pool at his mansion and shoots him dead. He then fatally shoots himself.
Nick stages a small funeral for Gatsby, ends his relationship with Jordan, and moves back to the Midwest to escape the disgust
he feels for the people surrounding Gatsby’s life and for the emptiness and moral decay of life among the wealthy on the East Coast.
Nick reflects that just as Gatsby’s dream of Daisy was corrupted by money and dishonesty, the American dream of happiness and
individualism has disintegrated into the mere pursuit of wealth. Though Gatsby’s power to transform his dreams into reality is what
makes him “great,” Nick reflects that the era of dreaming—both Gatsby’s dream and the American dream—is over.
The Catcher in the Rye
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is set around the 1950s and is narrated by a young man named Holden Caulfield. Holden is not
specific about his location while he’s telling the story, but he makes it clear that he is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital or
sanatorium. The events he narrates take place in the few days between the end of the fall school term and Christmas, when Holden is
sixteen years old.
Holden’s story begins on the Saturday following the end of classes at the Pencey prep school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania.
Pencey is Holden’s fourth school; he has already failed out of three others. At Pencey, he has failed four out of five of his classes and
has received notice that he is being expelled, but he is not scheduled to return home to Manhattan until Wednesday. He visits his
elderly history teacher, Spencer, to say goodbye, but when Spencer tries to reprimand him for his poor academic performance, Holden
becomes annoyed.
Back in the dormitory, Holden is further irritated by his unhygienic neighbor, Ackley, and by his own roommate, Stradlater.
Stradlater spends the evening on a date with Jane Gallagher, a girl whom Holden used to date and whom he still admires. During the
course of the evening, Holden grows increasingly nervous about Stradlater’s taking Jane out, and when Stradlater returns, Holden
questions him insistently about whether he tried to have sex with her. Stradlater teases Holden, who flies into a rage and attacks
Stradlater. Stradlater pins Holden down and bloodies his nose. Holden decides that he’s had enough of Pencey and will go to
Manhattan three days early, stay in a hotel, and not tell his parents that he is back.
On the train to New York, Holden meets the mother of one of his fellow Pencey students. Though he thinks this student is a
complete “bastard,” he tells the woman made-up stories about how shy her son is and how well respected he is at school. When he
arrives at Penn Station, he goes into a phone booth and considers calling several people, but for various reasons he decides against it.
He gets in a cab and asks the cab driver where the ducks in Central Park go when the lagoon freezes, but his question annoys the
driver. Holden has the cab take him to the Edmont Hotel, where he checks himself in.
From his room at the Edmont, Holden can see into the rooms of some of the guests in the opposite wing. He observes a man
putting on silk stockings, high heels, a bra, a corset, and an evening gown. He also sees a man and a woman in another room taking
turns spitting mouthfuls of their drinks into each other’s faces and laughing hysterically. He interprets the couple’s behavior as a form
of sexual play and is both upset and aroused by it. After smoking a couple of cigarettes, he calls Faith Cavendish, a woman he has
never met but whose number he got from an acquaintance at Princeton. Holden thinks he remembers hearing that she used to be a
stripper, and he believes he can persuade her to have sex with him. He calls her, and though she is at first annoyed to be called at such
a late hour by a complete stranger, she eventually suggests that they meet the next day. Holden doesn’t want to wait that long and
winds up hanging up without arranging a meeting.
Holden goes downstairs to the Lavender Room and sits at a table, but the waiter realizes he’s a minor and refuses to serve him.
He flirts with three women in their thirties, who seem like they’re from out of town and are mostly interested in catching a glimpse of
a celebrity. Nevertheless, Holden dances with them and feels that he is “half in love” with the blonde one after seeing how well she
dances. After making some wisecracks about his age, they leave, letting him pay their entire tab.
As Holden goes out to the lobby, he starts to think about Jane Gallagher and, in a flashback, recounts how he got to know her.
They met while spending a summer vacation in Maine, played golf and checkers, and held hands at the movies. One afternoon, during
a game of checkers, her stepfather came onto the porch where they were playing, and when he left Jane began to cry. Holden had
moved to sit beside her and kissed her all over her face, but she wouldn’t let him kiss her on the mouth. That was the closest they
came to “necking.”
Holden leaves the Edmont and takes a cab to Ernie’s jazz club in Greenwich Village. Again, he asks the cab driver where the
ducks in Central Park go in the winter, and this cabbie is even more irritable than the first one. Holden sits alone at a table in Ernie’s
and observes the other patrons with distaste. He runs into Lillian Simmons, one of his older brother’s former girlfriends, who invites
him to sit with her and her date. Holden says he has to meet someone, leaves, and walks back to the Edmont.
Maurice, the elevator operator at the Edmont, offers to send a prostitute to Holden’s room for five dollars, and Holden agrees.
A young woman, identifying herself as “Sunny,” arrives at his door. She pulls off her dress, but Holden starts to feel “peculiar” and
tries to make conversation with her. He claims that he recently underwent a spinal operation and isn’t sufficiently -recovered to have
sex with her, but he offers to pay her anyway. She sits on his lap and talks dirty to him, but he insists on paying her five dollars and
showing her the door. Sunny returns with Maurice, who demands another five dollars from Holden. When Holden refuses to pay,
Maurice punches him in the stomach and leaves him on the floor, while Sunny takes five dollars from his wallet. Holden goes to bed.
He wakes up at ten o’clock on Sunday and calls Sally Hayes, an attractive girl whom he has dated in the past. They arrange to
meet for a matinee showing of a Broadway play. He eats breakfast at a sandwich bar, where he converses with two nuns about Romeo
and Juliet. He gives the nuns ten dollars. He tries to telephone Jane Gallagher, but her mother answers the phone, and he hangs up. He
takes a cab to Central Park to look for his younger sister, Phoebe, but she isn’t there. He helps one of Phoebe’s schoolmates tighten
her skate, and the girl tells him that Phoebe might be in the Museum of Natural History. Though he knows that Phoebe’s class
wouldn’t be at the museum on a Sunday, he goes there anyway, but when he gets there he decides not to go in and instead takes a cab
to the Biltmore Hotel to meet Sally.
Holden and Sally go to the play, and Holden is annoyed that Sally talks with a boy she knows from Andover afterward. At
Sally’s suggestion, they go to Radio City to ice skate. They both skate poorly and decide to get a table instead. Holden tries to explain
to Sally why he is unhappy at school, and actually urges her to run away with him to Massachusetts or Vermont and live in a cabin.
When she refuses, he calls her a “pain in the ass” and laughs at her when she reacts angrily. She refuses to listen to his apologies and
leaves.
Holden calls Jane again, but there is no answer. He calls Carl Luce, a young man who had been Holden’s student advisor at the
Whooton School and who is now a student at Columbia University. Luce arranges to meet him for a drink after dinner, and Holden
goes to a movie at Radio City to kill time. Holden and Luce meet at the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel. At Whooton, Luce had spoken
frankly with some of the boys about sex, and Holden tries to draw him into a conversation about it once more. Luce grows irritated by
Holden’s juvenile remarks about homosexuals and about Luce’s Chinese girlfriend, and he makes an excuse to leave early. Holden
continues to drink Scotch and listen to the pianist and singer.
Quite drunk, Holden telephones Sally Hayes and babbles about their Christmas Eve plans. Then he goes to the lagoon in Central
Park, where he used to watch the ducks as a child. It takes him a long time to find it, and by the time he does, he is freezing cold. He
then decides to sneak into his own apartment building and wake his sister, Phoebe. He is forced to admit to Phoebe that he was kicked
out of school, which makes her mad at him. When he tries to explain why he hates school, she accuses him of not liking anything. He
tells her his fantasy of being “the catcher in the rye,” a person who catches little children as they are about to fall off of a cliff. Phoebe
tells him that he has misremembered the poem that he took the image from: Robert Burns’s poem says “if a body meet a body, coming
through the rye,” not “catch a body.”
Holden calls his former English teacher, Mr. Antolini, who tells Holden he can come to his apartment. Mr. Antolini asks Holden
about his expulsion and tries to counsel him about his future. Holden can’t hide his sleepiness, and Mr. Antolini puts him to bed on the
couch. Holden awakens to find Mr. Antolini stroking his forehead. Thinking that Mr. Antolini is making a homosexual overture,
Holden hastily excuses himself and leaves, sleeping for a few hours on a bench at Grand Central Station.
Holden goes to Phoebe’s school and sends her a note saying that he is leaving home for good and that she should meet him at
lunchtime at the museum. When Phoebe arrives, she is carrying a suitcase full of clothes, and she asks Holden to take her with him.
He refuses angrily, and she cries and then refuses to speak to him. Knowing she will follow him, he walks to the zoo, and then takes
her across the park to a carousel. He buys her a ticket and watches her ride it. It starts to rain heavily, but Holden is so happy watching
his sister ride the carousel that he is close to tears.
Holden ends his narrative here, telling the reader that he is not going to tell the story of how he went home and got “sick.” He
plans to go to a new school in the fall and is cautiously optimistic about his future.
Huckleberry Finn
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN opens by familiarizing us with the events of the novel that preceded it, The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Both novels are set in the town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, which lies on the banks of the Mississippi
River. At the end of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, a poor boy with a drunken bum for a father, and his friend Tom Sawyer, a
middle-class boy with an imagination too active for his own good, found a robber’s stash of gold. As a result of his adventure, Huck
gained quite a bit of money, which the bank held for him in trust. Huck was adopted by the Widow Douglas, a kind but stifling woman
who lives with her sister, the self-righteous Miss Watson.
As Huckleberry Finn opens, Huck is none too thrilled with his new life of cleanliness, manners, church, and school. However, he
sticks it out at the bequest of Tom Sawyer, who tells him that in order to take part in Tom’s new “robbers’ gang,” Huck must stay
“respectable.” All is well and good until Huck’s brutish, drunken father, Pap, reappears in town and demands Huck’s money. The
local judge, Judge Thatcher, and the Widow try to get legal custody of Huck, but another well-intentioned new judge in town believes
in the rights of Huck’s natural father and even takes the old drunk into his own home in an attempt to reform him. This effort fails
miserably, and Pap soon returns to his old ways. He hangs around town for several months, harassing his son, who in the meantime
has learned to read and to tolerate the Widow’s attempts to improve him. Finally, outraged when the Widow Douglas warns him to
stay away from her house, Pap kidnaps Huck and holds him in a cabin across the river from St. Petersburg.
Whenever Pap goes out, he locks Huck in the cabin, and when he returns home drunk, he beats the boy. Tired of his confinement
and fearing the beatings will worsen, Huck escapes from Pap by faking his own death, killing a pig and spreading its blood all over the
cabin. Hiding on Jackson’s Island in the middle of the Mississippi River, Huck watches the townspeople search the river for his body.
After a few days on the island, he encounters Jim, one of Miss Watson’s slaves. Jim has run away from Miss Watson after hearing her
talk about selling him to a plantation down the river, where he would be treated horribly and separated from his wife and children.
Huck and Jim team up, despite Huck’s uncertainty about the legality or morality of helping a runaway slave. While they camp out on
the island, a great storm causes the Mississippi to flood. Huck and Jim spy a log raft and a house floating past the island. They capture
the raft and loot the house, finding in it the body of a man who has been shot. Jim refuses to let Huck see the dead man’s face.
Although the island is blissful, Huck and Jim are forced to leave after Huck learns from a woman onshore that her husband has
seen smoke coming from the island and believes that Jim is hiding out there. Huck also learns that a reward has been offered for Jim’s
capture. Huck and Jim start downriver on the raft, intending to leave it at the mouth of the Ohio River and proceed up that river by
steamboat to the free states, where slavery is prohibited. Several days’ travel takes them past St. Louis, and they have a close
encounter with a gang of robbers on a wrecked steamboat. They manage to escape with the robbers’ loot.
During a night of thick fog, Huck and Jim miss the mouth of the Ohio and encounter a group of men looking for escaped slaves.
Huck has a brief moral crisis about concealing stolen “property”—Jim, after all, belongs to Miss Watson—but then lies to the men and
tells them that his father is on the raft suffering from smallpox. Terrified of the disease, the men give Huck money and hurry away.
Unable to backtrack to the mouth of the Ohio, Huck and Jim continue downriver. The next night, a steamboat slams into their raft, and
Huck and Jim are separated.
Huck ends up in the home of the kindly Grangerfords, a family of Southern aristocrats locked in a bitter and silly feud with a
neighboring clan, the Shepherdsons. The elopement of a Grangerford daughter with a Shepherdson son leads to a gun battle in which
many in the families are killed. While Huck is caught up in the feud, Jim shows up with the repaired raft. Huck hurries to Jim’s hiding
place, and they take off down the river.
A few days later, Huck and Jim rescue a pair of men who are being pursued by armed bandits. The men, clearly con artists,
claim to be a displaced English duke (the duke) and the long-lost heir to the French throne (the dauphin). Powerless to tell two white
adults to leave, Huck and Jim continue down the river with the pair of “aristocrats.” The duke and the dauphin pull several scams in
the small towns along the river. Coming into one town, they hear the story of a man, Peter Wilks, who has recently died and left much
of his inheritance to his two brothers, who should be arriving from England any day. The duke and the dauphin enter the town
pretending to be Wilks’s brothers. Wilks’s three nieces welcome the con men and quickly set about liquidating the estate. A few
townspeople become skeptical, and Huck, who grows to admire the Wilks sisters, decides to thwart the scam. He steals the dead Peter
Wilks’s gold from the duke and the dauphin but is forced to stash it in Wilks’s coffin. Huck then reveals all to the eldest Wilks sister,
Mary Jane. Huck’s plan for exposing the duke and the dauphin is about to unfold when Wilks’s real brothers arrive from England. The
angry townspeople hold both sets of Wilks claimants, and the duke and the dauphin just barely escape in the ensuing confusion.
Fortunately for the sisters, the gold is found. Unfortunately for Huck and Jim, the duke and the dauphin make it back to the raft just as
Huck and Jim are pushing off.
After a few more small scams, the duke and dauphin commit their worst crime yet: they sell Jim to a local farmer, telling him
Jim is a runaway for whom a large reward is being offered. Huck finds out where Jim is being held and resolves to free him. At the
house where Jim is a prisoner, a woman greets Huck excitedly and calls him “Tom.” As Huck quickly discovers, the people holding
Jim are none other than Tom Sawyer’s aunt and uncle, Silas and Sally Phelps. The Phelpses mistake Huck for Tom, who is due to
arrive for a visit, and Huck goes along with their mistake. He intercepts Tom between the Phelps house and the steamboat dock, and
Tom pretends to be his own younger brother, Sid.
Tom hatches a wild plan to free Jim, adding all sorts of unnecessary obstacles even though Jim is only lightly secured. Huck is
sure Tom’s plan will get them all killed, but he complies nonetheless. After a seeming eternity of pointless preparation, during which
the boys ransack the Phelps’s house and make Aunt Sally miserable, they put the plan into action. Jim is freed, but a pursuer shoots
Tom in the leg. Huck is forced to get a doctor, and Jim sacrifices his freedom to nurse Tom. All are returned to the Phelps’s house,
where Jim ends up back in chains.
When Tom wakes the next morning, he reveals that Jim has actually been a free man all along, as Miss Watson, who made a
provision in her will to free Jim, died two months earlier. Tom had planned the entire escape idea all as a game and had intended to
pay Jim for his troubles. Tom’s Aunt Polly then shows up, identifying “Tom” and “Sid” as Huck and Tom. Jim tells Huck, who fears
for his future—particularly that his father might reappear—that the body they found on the floating house off Jackson’s Island had
been Pap’s. Aunt Sally then steps in and offers to adopt Huck, but Huck, who has had enough “sivilizing,” announces his plan to set
out for the West.
The Crucible
IN THE PURITAN NEW ENGLAND TOWN of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls goes dancing in the forest with a black
slave named Tituba. While dancing, they are caught by the local minister, Reverend Parris. One of the girls, Parris’s daughter Betty,
falls into a coma-like state. A crowd gathers in the Parris home while rumors of witchcraft fill the town. Having sent for Reverend
Hale, an expert on witchcraft, Parris questions Abigail Williams, the girls’ ringleader, about the events that took place in the forest.
Abigail, who is Parris’s niece and ward, admits to doing nothing beyond “dancing.”
While Parris tries to calm the crowd that has gathered in his home, Abigail talks to some of the other girls, telling them not to
admit to anything. John Proctor, a local farmer, then enters and talks to Abigail alone. Unbeknownst to anyone else in the town, while
working in Proctor’s home the previous year she engaged in an affair with him, which led to her being fired by his wife, Elizabeth.
Abigail still desires Proctor, but he fends her off and tells her to end her foolishness with the girls.
Betty wakes up and begins screaming. Much of the crowd rushes upstairs and gathers in her bedroom, arguing over whether she
is bewitched. A separate argument between Proctor, Parris, the argumentative Giles Corey, and the wealthy Thomas Putnam soon
ensues. This dispute centers on money and land deeds, and it suggests that deep fault lines run through the Salem community. As the
men argue, Reverend Hale arrives and examines Betty, while Proctor departs. Hale quizzes Abigail about the girls’ activities in the
forest, grows suspicious of her behavior, and demands to speak to Tituba. After Parris and Hale interrogate her for a brief time, Tituba
confesses to communing with the devil, and she hysterically accuses various townsfolk of consorting with the devil. Suddenly, Abigail
joins her, confessing to having seen the devil conspiring and cavorting with other townspeople. Betty joins them in naming witches,
and the crowd is thrown into an uproar.
A week later, alone in their farmhouse outside of town, John and Elizabeth Proctor discuss the ongoing trials and the escalating
number of townsfolk who have been accused of being witches. Elizabeth urges her husband to denounce Abigail as a fraud; he
refuses, and she becomes jealous, accusing him of still harboring feelings for her. Mary Warren, their servant and one of Abigail’s
circle, returns from Salem with news that Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft but the court did not pursue the accusation. Mary is
sent up to bed, and John and Elizabeth continue their argument, only to be interrupted by a visit from Reverend Hale. While they
discuss matters, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse come to the Proctor home with news that their wives have been arrested. Officers of
the court suddenly arrive and arrest Elizabeth. After they have taken her, Proctor browbeats Mary, insisting that she must go to Salem
and expose Abigail and the other girls as frauds.
The next day, Proctor brings Mary to court and tells Judge Danforth that she will testify that the girls are lying. Danforth is
suspicious of Proctor’s motives and tells Proctor, truthfully, that Elizabeth is pregnant and will be spared for a time. Proctor persists in
his charge, convincing Danforth to allow Mary to testify. Mary tells the court that the girls are lying. When the girls are brought in,
they turn the tables by accusing Mary of bewitching them. Furious, Proctor confesses his affair with Abigail and accuses her of being
motivated by jealousy of his wife. To test Proctor’s claim, Danforth summons Elizabeth and asks her if Proctor has been unfaithful to
her. Despite her natural honesty, she lies to protect Proctor’s honor, and Danforth denounces Proctor as a liar. Meanwhile, Abigail and
the girls again pretend that Mary is bewitching them, and Mary breaks down and accuses Proctor of being a witch. Proctor rages
against her and against the court. He is arrested, and Hale quits the proceedings.
The summer passes and autumn arrives. The witch trials have caused unrest in neighboring towns, and Danforth grows nervous.
Abigail has run away, taking all of Parris’s money with her. Hale, who has lost faith in the court, begs the accused witches to confess
falsely in order to save their lives, but they refuse. Danforth, however, has an idea: he asks Elizabeth to talk John into confessing, and
she agrees. Conflicted, but desiring to live, John agrees to confess, and the officers of the court rejoice. But he refuses to incriminate
anyone else, and when the court insists that the confession must be made public, Proctor grows angry, tears it up, and retracts his
admission of guilt. Despite Hale’s desperate pleas, Proctor goes to the gallows with the others, and the witch trials reach their awful
conclusion.
Twelve Angry Men
Twelve Angry Men takes place in a jury room in the late afternoon on a hot summer's day in New York City. After the curtain rises, the
judge's voice is heard offstage, giving instructions to the jury. He says that the defendant is being tried for first-degree murder, which
carries a mandatory death penalty. The judge adds that if the jury has reasonable doubt about the guilt of the accused, they must acquit
him. The verdict must be unanimous.
The jurors, all men, file into the jury room and sit in straight-backed chairs around a long conference table. The weather is hot, and
there is no air-conditioning; some of the men are irritable. From the initial chitchat, it is clear that most members of the jury regard the
man as guilty. Jurors Seven and Ten ridicule the defendant's story. Apparently, a young man has stabbed his father to death with a
knife. He admits that he bought a knife that night but claims that he lost it.
The jury takes a vote. Eleven jurors vote guilty, and one juror, Juror Eight, votes not guilty. Jurors Three, Seven, and Twelve criticize
him, but Juror Eight says that he does not know whether the man is guilty or not but that it is not easy for him to send a boy to his
death without discussing it first. After some argument, they agree to discuss the facts of the case. Juror Three reviews what they know.
An old man who lives underneath the room where the murder took place heard loud noises just after midnight. He heard the son yell at
the father that he was going to kill him. Then he heard a body falling and moments later, saw the boy running out of the house. Juror
Four says the boy's story is flimsy. He said that he was at the movies at the time of the murder, but no one remembers seeing him
there. Also, a woman living opposite looked out of her window and saw the murder through the windows of a passing elevated train.
During the trial, it was verified that this was possible. Further facts emerge: the father regularly beat his son, and the son had been
arrested for car theft, mugging, and knife fighting. He had been sent to reform school for knifing someone.
Juror Eight insists that, during the trial, too many questions were left unasked. He asks for the murder weapon to be brought in and
says that it is possible that someone else stabbed the boy's father with a similar knife. Several jurors insist the knife is a very unusual
one, but then Juror Eight produces from his pocket a switchblade that is exactly the same. He says that it is possible the boy is telling
the truth. The other jurors scoff at this, but Juror Eight calls for another vote, a secret one this time. He says that he will abstain. When
the votes are counted, there are ten guilty votes and one not guilty.
Act 2
Juror Three is angry with Juror Five because he thinks that Juror Five is the one who changed his vote. It transpires that the not-guilty
vote was cast by Juror Nine. This juror says that he wants to hear more discussion of the case, even though there is still a strong
feeling among the other jurors that the defendant is guilty. Jurors Three and Twelve start to play a game of tic-tac-toe to pass the time,
but Juror Eight angrily snatches the piece of paper away, saying that jury deliberations are not a game. Pressured by Juror Eight, the
jury agrees that it would take about ten seconds for the train to pass by the apartment. Juror Eight also establishes that the train is
noisy, so the old man could not have heard the boy yell that he was going to kill his father, as the old man testified. Juror Nine
suggests that the old man may have convinced himself that he heard the words because he has never had any recognition from anyone
and has a strong need for attention. Juror Three responds to this with hostility, but Juror Eight argues additionally that even if the boy
had said he was going to kill his father, that does not mean he intended to do so, since people often use that or similar phrases without
meaning them. Convinced by these arguments, Juror Five changes his vote to not guilty, making the vote nine to three.
Juror Eight then questions the old man's testimony that he took only fifteen seconds to get downstairs, open the front door, and see the
boy fleeing. He says that bearing in mind that the man cannot walk well, it probably took longer. Using a diagram of the apartment,
Juror Eight acts out the old man's steps and is timed at thirty-nine seconds. He says that the old man must have heard, rather than seen,
someone racing down the stairs and assumed it was the boy. An argument erupts between Jurors Three and Eight, as Juror Three
insists the boy is guilty and must be executed. Juror Eight accuses him of being a sadist. Juror Three lunges at him, screaming that he
will kill him. Juror Eight replies softly, suggesting that perhaps Juror Three does not really mean what he is saying.
Act 3
The jurors take another vote, this time an open one, which is evenly split, six to six. Jurors Two, Six, and Eleven have switched their
votes, to the annoyance of Jurors Three and Ten. The possibility of being a hung jury is brought up, but Juror Eight refuses to accept
the possibility. They take a vote on that, too. Six jurors vote in favor of declaring themselves a hung jury; six vote against. Juror Four
changes his vote, so it is seven to five against declaring a hung jury. Juror Four then argues persuasively for a guilty verdict, based on
the evidence. He raises the possibility that although the old man may have taken longer to get to the door than he testified, the
murderer might also have taken longer to escape. Reenacting the actions of the murderer, the jurors time it at twenty-nine and a half
seconds. This suggests that the old man's testimony that he saw the boy fleeing may be correct after all. As a result, three jurors
change their votes back, leaving the tally at nine to three in favor of guilt.
Juror Two raises a question about the fact that the fatal wound was caused by a downward thrust of the knife. How could that be, since
the son is six inches shorter than his father, which would make such an action very awkward? Juror Three demonstrates on Juror Eight
how it could be done, crouching down to approximate the boy's height and then raising the knife and making a downward stabbing
motion. But Juror Five, who has witnessed knife fights, says that anyone using a switchblade would use it underhand, stabbing
upward, thus making it unlikely that the boy, who was an experienced knife fighter, could have caused the fatal wound. Another vote
is taken, and it is nine to three in favor of acquittal. Juror Ten goes off on a prejudiced rant about how all people from the slums are
liars and violent and have no respect for human life. Disgusted with his views, most of the other jurors get up and walk to the window,
where they turn their backs on Juror Ten.
Juror Four still insists that the boy is guilty. He says the most important testimony is that of the woman who says she saw the murder.
She was in bed, unable to sleep, when she looked out the window and saw the boy stab his father. Juror Eight reminds them that the
woman wears glasses, but she would not wear them in bed and would not have had time to put them on to see what she claims to have
seen. He contends that she could have seen only a blur. At this, Jurors Four and Ten change their votes to not guilty, leaving the tally
at eleven to one. Only Juror Three insists on a guilty verdict, but when he sees that he stands alone and cannot change anyone else's
opinion, he begrudgingly votes not guilty. The jury has reached a unanimous decision, and the defendant is acquitted.
Characters
Foreman
The foreman is described in the author's notes to the play as "a small, petty man who is impressed with the authority he has." The
foreman tries to run the meeting in an orderly fashion, but in the film he is too sensitive and sulks when his attempt to stick to the way
they had agreed to proceed is questioned. His contribution to the deliberations comes when they are discussing how long the killer
would have taken to get downstairs. The foreman points out that since the killer wiped his fingerprints off the knife, he would also
have done so off the doorknob, which would have taken some time. He votes guilty several times, but in act 3 he switches his vote,
along with two others, to make the total nine to three for acquittal.
Juror Two
Juror Two is a quiet, meek figure who finds it difficult to maintain an independent opinion. In the 1957 film, he is a bank clerk. Juror
Two does, however, make one useful contribution to the jury deliberations. He mentions that it seems awkward that the defendant,
who was six inches shorter than his father, would stab him with a downward motion, as the fatal wound indicates. Although this is not
a conclusive point, it does jog Juror Five's memory of how a switchblade is used and so helps to induce doubt in the minds of a
number of jurors. Juror Two changes his vote to not guilty at the beginning of act 3, along with Jurors Eleven and Six.
Juror Three
Juror Three is a forceful, intolerant man who is also a bully. In the 1957 film, he runs a messenger service called Beck and Call. He
believes that there is no point in discussing the case, since the defendant's guilt is plain, and he is quick to insult and browbeat anyone
who suggests otherwise. At one point, Juror Three describes how he fell out with his son. He raised his son to be tough, but when the
boy was fifteen, he hit his father in the face, and Juror Three has not seen his son for three years. He condemns his son as ungrateful.
As the play develops, it becomes clear that Juror Three is the principal antagonist of Juror Eight. This is brought out visually when
Juror Three demonstrates on Juror Eight how he would use a knife to stab a taller man. His animosity to Juror Eight comes out in the
aggressive way he makes the demonstration, which shocks some of the jurors. Also, when Juror Eight calls him a sadist, Juror Three is
incensed and threatens to kill him.
Juror Three is the last to hold out for a guilty verdict. For a few moments after it becomes apparent that he stands alone, he sticks to
his guns, saying there will be a hung jury, but he finally gives in to the pressure and votes not guilty. In the film, he pulls out his wallet
to produce some facts of the case — perhaps notes he has made — and a photograph of himself with his son falls out. He stares at it
for a few moments and then tears it up and begins to sob. He recognizes that his desire to convict and punish the defendant is bound
up with his feelings of anger and betrayal in regard to his own son.
Juror Four
Juror Four is described in the author's notes as seeming to be "a man of wealth and position, and a practiced speaker who presents
himself well at all times." In the 1957 film, he is a stockbroker, a well-dressed man in an expensive suit who, unlike the others, does
not remove his jacket and shows no signs of distress in the heat. He is an arch rationalist who insists that the jury should avoid
emotional arguments in deciding the case. He has a good grasp of the facts and an excellent memory, and he presents the case for guilt
as well as it can be done. He is extremely skeptical of the defendant's story that he was at the movies on the night of the murder.
However, his pride in his memory is shaken when, under questioning from Juror Eight, he discovers that he cannot accurately recall
the title of one of the movies he saw only a few days ago, nor can he remember the names of the actors. (This incident is not in the
play, but it appears in the film.) However, he still believes strongly in the defendant's guilt and is the last juror but one to change his
vote. This occurs when it is demonstrated that the piece of evidence on which he places greatest value — the woman's eyewitness
testimony that she saw the murder take place — is undermined. He then admits that he has a reasonable doubt.
Juror Five
Juror Five is described in the author's notes as "a naive, very frightened young man who takes his obligations in this case very
seriously but who finds it difficult to speak up when his elders have the floor." When, at the beginning, jurors are asked to speak in
turn, Juror Five declines the opportunity. Later, he protests when Jurors Four and Ten speak disparagingly of kids from slum
backgrounds, saying that he has lived in a slum all his life. Juror Five's main contribution is in pointing out that an experienced knife
fighter would use a switchblade underhand, stabbing upward rather than down. He knows this because he has witnessed such fights.
Juror Five is the second juror to switch his vote to not guilty. He acquires a reasonable doubt when it is shown that, because of the
noise from the train, the old man could not have heard the boy yell that he would kill his father.
Juror Six
Juror Six is a housepainter, a man who is used to working with his hands rather than analyzing with his brain. He is more of a listener
than a talker. In the film version, he suggests early in the debate that the defendant had a motive to kill his father, because there was
testimony in the trial about an argument between father and son earlier in the evening. But Juror Eight dismisses this as a possible
motive. Juror Six stands up for Juror Nine when Juror Three speaks rudely to him, threatening to strike Juror Three if he says anything
like that again. Juror Six also speaks up for himself when he changes his vote, succinctly explaining why he did so. In the film version,
he talks to Juror Eight in the washroom, asking him how he would feel if he succeeded in getting the defendant acquitted but later
found out that he was guilty.
Juror Seven
Juror Seven is a salesman. He assumes that the defendant is guilty and has no interest in discussing it. His only concern is that the
deliberations should be over quickly, so that he does not miss the Broad-way show he has tickets for. (In the film version, he has
tickets for a baseball game.) At no time does he make any serious contribution to the debate, other than to point out that the defendant
has a record of arrests. In the film, he is a baseball fan and uses baseball allusions in almost everything he says. At one point, he gets
into an argument with Juror Eleven about why Juror Eleven changed his vote, and he makes some prejudiced remarks about
immigrants. He favors declaring a hung jury, because that will mean he will get out of the jury room quickly. Eventually, he changes
his vote to not guilty, for the same reason. In the film version, Juror Eleven harshly rebukes him for caring only about ending the
proceedings as quickly as possible, rather than whether the man is guilty or not.
Juror Eight
Juror Eight is a quiet, thoughtful man whose main concern is that justice should be done. In the film, he is an architect. Although he is
usually gentle in his manner, he is also prepared to be assertive in the search for truth. He is the only juror who, in the initial ballot,
votes not guilty. He does not argue that the man is innocent but says that he cannot condemn a man to death without discussing the
case first. As he probes the evidence, he manages to cast reasonable doubt on many aspects of the testimony given at the trial. He is
resolute in suggesting that although, on its face, the evidence may suggest guilt, it is possible that there are other explanations for what
happened that night. Juror Eight is a natural leader, and one by one he persuades the other jurors to accept his arguments. A telling
moment comes when he produces a knife from his pocket that is exactly the same as the murder weapon; when he says that he bought
it cheaply in the neighborhood, he disproves the jury's belief up to that point that the knife is a very unusual one.
Juror Eight remains calm throughout the deliberations. The only times (in the film version) that he becomes heated is when he stops
the game of tic-tac-toe that Jurors Ten and Twelve have started and when he calls Juror Three a sadist. The latter incident serves his
purpose, however, because it goads Juror Three into saying that he will kill Juror Eight, thus proving Juror Eight's earlier point that
when such expression are used, they are not always meant literally.
Juror Nine
Juror Nine is an old man. In the author's notes, he is described as "long since defeated by life, and now merely waiting to die." In the
film version, however, he is given more strength and dignity, and other jurors insist that he be heard. It is Juror Nine (in both play and
film) who is the first to switch his vote to not guilty, saying that he wants a fuller discussion of the case, as Juror Eight has requested.
It is Juror Nine who offers an explanation of why the old man might have lied about hearing the boy yell that he was going to kill his
father. Juror Nine's explanation is that, because the old man has led an insignificant life and no one has ever taken any notice of him,
this is his one chance for recognition. Juror Nine is also extremely observant, and the film version amplifies his role in the final
discussion, when he is the one to point out that the female witness at the trial, in an effort to look younger, omitted to wear the glasses
that she habitually wore, as shown by the marks on either side of her nose. This is the key point that results in the discrediting of the
woman's testimony.
Juror Ten
Juror Ten is described in the author's notes as "an angry, bitter man — a man who antagonizes almost at sight. He is also a bigot." He
is automatically prejudiced against anyone who comes from a slum. He believes strongly that the defendant is guilty, argues the case
forcefully, and is one of the last three to hold out for a guilty verdict. But he loses credibility with the other jurors when he makes a
long speech near the end of the play that reveals his bigotry in full. He insists that people from slums are drunks and liars who fight all
the time. The other jurors repudiate him, and Juror Four tells him not to say another word; he does not, other than to finally admit that
there is a reasonable doubt in the case.
Juror Eleven
Juror Eleven is an immigrant from Europe, a refugee from persecution. He is possibly Jewish, although this is not stated explicitly. In
the film, he is a watchmaker. Juror Eleven feels fortunate to be living in a country known for its democracy, and he has great respect
for the American judicial system. He takes his responsibility as a juror very seriously. He is one of three jurors who change their
minds, to make the vote split six to six. He further expresses reasonable doubt about the old man's ability to recognize the son in a
dimly lit tenement building. In the author's notes, he is described as "ashamed, humble, almost subservient to the people around him,"
but in the film his character is strengthened. He rebukes Juror Seven for not taking the trial more seriously, and he is prepared to stand
up for what he believes. Also in the film version, he questions whether the son would have returned to his father's house at three
o'clock in the morning if he had been the murderer.
Juror Twelve
Juror Twelve works for an advertising agency. He is clever, but as the author's notes point out, he "thinks of human beings in terms of
percentages, graphs and polls, and has no real understanding of people." When Juror Three presses him, near the end of the play, to
explain his not-guilty vote, he finds it very hard to do so, since he does not, in fact, have strong opinions one way or the other. He is
reduced to mumbling about the complexity of the evidence.
Julius Ceasar
TWO TRIBUNES, FLAVIUS AND MURELLUS, find scores of Roman citizens wandering the streets, neglecting their work in
order to watch Julius Caesar’s triumphal parade: Caesar has defeated the Roman general Pompey, his archrival, in battle. The tribunes
scold the citizens for abandoning their duties and remove decorations from Caesar’s statues. Caesar enters with his entourage,
including the military and political figures Brutus, Cassius, and Antony. A Soothsayer calls out to Caesar to “beware the Ides of
March,” but Caesar ignores him and proceeds with his victory celebration (I.ii.19, I.ii.25).
Cassius and Brutus, both longtime intimates of Caesar and each other, converse. Cassius tells Brutus that he has seemed distant
lately; Brutus replies that he has been at war with himself. Cassius states that he wishes Brutus could see himself as others see him, for
then Brutus would realize how honored and respected he is. Brutus says that he fears that the people want Caesar to become king,
which would overturn the republic. Cassius concurs that Caesar is treated like a god though he is merely a man, no better than Brutus
or Cassius. Cassius recalls incidents of Caesar’s physical weakness and marvels that this fallible man has become so powerful. He
blames his and Brutus’s lack of will for allowing Caesar’s rise to power: surely the rise of such a man cannot be the work of fate.
Brutus considers Cassius’s words as Caesar returns. Upon seeing Cassius, Caesar tells Antony that he deeply distrusts Cassius.
Caesar departs, and another politician, Casca, tells Brutus and Cassius that, during the celebration, Antony offered the crown to
Caesar three times and the people cheered, but Caesar refused it each time. He reports that Caesar then fell to the ground and had some
kind of seizure before the crowd; his demonstration of weakness, however, did not alter the plebeians’ devotion to him. Brutus goes
home to consider Cassius’s words regarding Caesar’s poor qualifications to rule, while Cassius hatches a plot to draw Brutus into a
conspiracy against Caesar.
That night, Rome is plagued with violent weather and a variety of bad omens and portents. Brutus finds letters in his house
apparently written by Roman citizens worried that Caesar has become too powerful. The letters have in fact been forged and planted
by Cassius, who knows that if Brutus believes it is the people’s will, he will support a plot to remove Caesar from power. A
committed supporter of the republic, Brutus fears the possibility of a dictator-led empire, worrying that the populace would lose its
voice. Cassius arrives at Brutus’s home with his conspirators, and Brutus, who has already been won over by the letters, takes control
of the meeting. The men agree to lure Caesar from his house and kill him. Cassius wants to kill Antony too, for Antony will surely try
to hinder their plans, but Brutus disagrees, believing that too many deaths will render their plot too bloody and dishonor them. Having
agreed to spare Antony, the conspirators depart. Portia, Brutus’s wife, observes that Brutus appears preoccupied. She pleads with him
to confide in her, but he rebuffs her.
Caesar prepares to go to the Senate. His wife, Calpurnia, begs him not to go, describing recent nightmares she has had in which a
statue of Caesar streamed with blood and smiling men bathed their hands in the blood. Caesar refuses to yield to fear and insists on
going about his daily business. Finally, Calpurnia convinces him to stay home—if not out of caution, then as a favor to her. But
Decius, one of the conspirators, then arrives and convinces Caesar that Calpurnia has misinterpreted her dreams and the recent omens.
Caesar departs for the Senate in the company of the conspirators.
As Caesar proceeds through the streets toward the Senate, the Soothsayer again tries but fails to get his attention. The citizen
Artemidorus hands him a letter warning him about the conspirators, but Caesar refuses to read it, saying that his closest personal
concerns are his last priority. At the Senate, the conspirators speak to Caesar, bowing at his feet and encircling him. One by one, they
stab him to death. When Caesar sees his dear friend Brutus among his murderers, he gives up his struggle and dies.
The murderers bathe their hands and swords in Caesar’s blood, thus bringing Calpurnia’s premonition to fruition. Antony,
having been led away on a false pretext, returns and pledges allegiance to Brutus but weeps over Caesar’s body. He shakes hands with
the conspirators, thus marking them all as guilty while appearing to make a gesture of conciliation. When Antony asks why they killed
Caesar, Brutus replies that he will explain their purpose in a funeral oration. Antony asks to be allowed to speak over the body as well;
Brutus grants his permission, though Cassius remains suspicious of Antony. The conspirators depart, and Antony, alone now, swears
that Caesar’s death shall be avenged.
Brutus and Cassius go to the Forum to speak to the public. Cassius exits to address another part of the crowd. Brutus declares to
the masses that though he loved Caesar, he loves Rome more, and Caesar’s ambition posed a danger to Roman liberty. The speech
placates the crowd. Antony appears with Caesar’s body, and Brutus departs after turning the pulpit over to Antony. Repeatedly
referring to Brutus as “an honorable man,” Antony’s speech becomes increasingly sarcastic; questioning the claims that Brutus made
in his speech that Caesar acted only out of ambition, Antony points out that Caesar brought much wealth and glory to Rome, and three
times turned down offers of the crown. Antony then produces Caesar’s will but announces that he will not read it for it would upset
the people inordinately. The crowd nevertheless begs him to read the will, so he descends from the pulpit to stand next to Caesar’s
body. He describes Caesar’s horrible death and shows Caesar’s wounded body to the crowd. He then reads Caesar’s will, which
bequeaths a sum of money to every citizen and orders that his private gardens be made public. The crowd becomes enraged that this
generous man lies dead; calling Brutus and Cassius traitors, the masses set off to drive them from the city.
Meanwhile, Caesar’s adopted son and appointed successor, Octavius, arrives in Rome and forms a three-person coalition with
Antony and Lepidus. They prepare to fight Cassius and Brutus, who have been driven into exile and are raising armies outside the
city. At the conspirators’ camp, Brutus and Cassius have a heated argument regarding matters of money and honor, but they ultimately
reconcile. Brutus reveals that he is sick with grief, for in his absence Portia has killed herself. The two continue to prepare for battle
with Antony and Octavius. That night, the Ghost of Caesar appears to Brutus, announcing that Brutus will meet him again on the
battlefield.
Octavius and Antony march their army toward Brutus and Cassius. Antony tells Octavius where to attack, but Octavius says that
he will make his own orders; he is already asserting his authority as the heir of Caesar and the next ruler of Rome. The opposing
generals meet on the battlefield and exchange insults before beginning combat.
Cassius witnesses his own men fleeing and hears that Brutus’s men are not performing effectively. Cassius sends one of his men,
Pindarus, to see how matters are progressing. From afar, Pindarus sees one of their leaders, Cassius’s best friend, Titinius, being
surrounded by cheering troops and concludes that he has been captured. Cassius despairs and orders Pindarus to kill him with his own
sword. He dies proclaiming that Caesar is avenged. Titinius himself then arrives—the men encircling him were actually his comrades,
cheering a victory he had earned. Titinius sees Cassius’s corpse and, mourning the death of his friend, kills himself.
Brutus learns of the deaths of Cassius and Titinius with a heavy heart, and prepares to take on the Romans again. When his army
loses, doom appears imminent. Brutus asks one of his men to hold his sword while he impales himself on it. Finally, Caesar can rest
satisfied, he says as he dies. Octavius and Antony arrive. Antony speaks over Brutus’s body, calling him the noblest Roman of all.
While the other conspirators acted out of envy and ambition, he observes, Brutus genuinely believed that he acted for the benefit of
Rome. Octavius orders that Brutus be buried in the most honorable way. The men then depart to celebrate their victory.
Merchant of Venice
ANTONIO, A VENETIAN MERCHANT, complains to his friends of a melancholy that he cannot explain. His friend Bassanio
is desperately in need of money to court Portia, a wealthy heiress who lives in the city of Belmont. Bassanio asks Antonio for a loan in
order to travel in style to Portia’s estate. Antonio agrees, but is unable to make the loan himself because his own money is all invested
in a number of trade ships that are still at sea. Antonio suggests that Bassanio secure the loan from one of the city’s moneylenders and
name Antonio as the loan’s guarantor. In Belmont, Portia expresses sadness over the terms of her father’s will, which stipulates that
she must marry the man who correctly chooses one of three caskets. None of Portia’s current suitors are to her liking, and she and her
lady-in-waiting, Nerissa, fondly remember a visit paid some time before by Bassanio.
In Venice, Antonio and Bassanio approach Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, for a loan. Shylock nurses a long-standing grudge
against Antonio, who has made a habit of berating Shylock and other Jews for their usury, the practice of loaning money at exorbitant
rates of interest, and who undermines their business by offering interest-free loans. Although Antonio refuses to apologize for his
behavior, Shylock acts agreeably and offers to lend Bassanio three thousand ducats with no interest. Shylock adds, however, that
should the loan go unpaid, Shylock will be entitled to a pound of Antonio’s own flesh. Despite Bassanio’s warnings, Antonio agrees.
In Shylock’s own household, his servant Lancelot decides to leave Shylock’s service to work for Bassanio, and Shylock’s daughter
Jessica schemes to elope with Antonio’s friend Lorenzo. That night, the streets of Venice fill up with revelers, and Jessica escapes
with Lorenzo by dressing as his page. After a night of celebration, Bassanio and his friend Graziano leave for Belmont, where
Bassanio intends to win Portia’s hand.
In Belmont, Portia welcomes the prince of Morocco, who has come in an attempt to choose the right casket to marry her. The
prince studies the inscriptions on the three caskets and chooses the gold one, which proves to be an incorrect choice. In Venice,
Shylock is furious to find that his daughter has run away, but rejoices in the fact that Antonio’s ships are rumored to have been
wrecked and that he will soon be able to claim his debt. In Belmont, the prince of Aragon also visits Portia. He, too, studies the caskets
carefully, but he picks the silver one, which is also incorrect. Bassanio arrives at Portia’s estate, and they declare their love for one
another. Despite Portia’s request that he wait before choosing, Bassanio immediately picks the correct casket, which is made of lead.
He and Portia rejoice, and Graziano confesses that he has fallen in love with Nerissa. The couples decide on a double wedding. Portia
gives Bassanio a ring as a token of love, and makes him swear that under no circumstances will he part with it. They are joined,
unexpectedly, by Lorenzo and Jessica. The celebration, however, is cut short by the news that Antonio has indeed lost his ships, and
that he has forfeited his bond to Shylock. Bassanio and Graziano immediately travel to Venice to try and save Antonio’s life. After
they leave, Portia tells Nerissa that they will go to Venice disguised as men.
Shylock ignores the many pleas to spare Antonio’s life, and a trial is called to decide the matter. The duke of Venice, who
presides over the trial, announces that he has sent for a legal expert, who turns out to be Portia disguised as a young man of law. Portia
asks Shylock to show mercy, but he remains inflexible and insists the pound of flesh is rightfully his. Bassanio offers Shylock twice
the money due him, but Shylock insists on collecting the bond as it is written. Portia examines the contract and, finding it legally
binding, declares that Shylock is entitled to the merchant’s flesh. Shylock ecstatically praises her wisdom, but as he is on the verge of
collecting his due, Portia reminds him that he must do so without causing Antonio to bleed, as the contract does not entitle him to any
blood. Trapped by this logic, Shylock hastily agrees to take Bassanio’s money instead, but Portia insists that Shylock take his bond as
written, or nothing at all. Portia informs Shylock that he is guilty of conspiring against the life of a Venetian citizen, which means he
must turn over half of his property to the state and the other half to Antonio. The duke spares Shylock’s life and takes a fine instead of
Shylock’s property. Antonio also forgoes his half of Shylock’s wealth on two conditions: first, Shylock must convert to Christianity,
and second, he must will the entirety of his estate to Lorenzo and Jessica upon his death. Shylock agrees and takes his leave.
Bassanio, who does not see through Portia’s disguise, showers the young law clerk with thanks, and is eventually pressured into
giving Portia the ring with which he promised never to part. Graziano gives Nerissa, who is disguised as Portia’s clerk, his ring. The
two women return to Belmont, where they find Lorenzo and Jessica declaring their love to each other under the moonlight. When
Bassanio and Graziano arrive the next day, their wives accuse them of faithlessly giving their rings to other women. Before the
deception goes too far, however, Portia reveals that she was, in fact, the law clerk, and both she and Nerissa reconcile with their
husbands. Lorenzo and Jessica are pleased to learn of their inheritance from Shylock, and the joyful news arrives that Antonio’s ships
have in fact made it back safely. The group celebrates its good fortune.
Hamlet
ON A DARK WINTER NIGHT, a ghost walks the ramparts of Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Discovered first by a pair of
watchmen, then by the scholar Horatio, the ghost resembles the recently deceased King Hamlet, whose brother Claudius has inherited
the throne and married the king’s widow, Queen Gertrude. When Horatio and the watchmen bring Prince Hamlet, the son of Gertrude
and the dead king, to see the ghost, it speaks to him, declaring ominously that it is indeed his father’s spirit, and that he was murdered
by none other than Claudius. Ordering Hamlet to seek revenge on the man who usurped his throne and married his wife, the ghost
disappears with the dawn.
Prince Hamlet devotes himself to avenging his father’s death, but, because he is contemplative and thoughtful by nature, he
delays, entering into a deep melancholy and even apparent madness. Claudius and Gertrude worry about the prince’s erratic behavior
and attempt to discover its cause. They employ a pair of Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to watch him. When
Polonius, the pompous Lord Chamberlain, suggests that Hamlet may be mad with love for his daughter, Ophelia, Claudius agrees to
spy on Hamlet in conversation with the girl. But though Hamlet certainly seems mad, he does not seem to love Ophelia: he orders her
to enter a nunnery and declares that he wishes to ban marriages.
A group of traveling actors comes to Elsinore, and Hamlet seizes upon an idea to test his uncle’s guilt. He will have the players
perform a scene closely resembling the sequence by which Hamlet imagines his uncle to have murdered his father, so that if Claudius
is guilty, he will surely react. When the moment of the murder arrives in the theater, Claudius leaps up and leaves the room. Hamlet
and Horatio agree that this proves his guilt. Hamlet goes to kill Claudius but finds him praying. Since he believes that killing Claudius
while in prayer would send Claudius’s soul to heaven, Hamlet considers that it would be an inadequate revenge and decides to wait.
Claudius, now frightened of Hamlet’s madness and fearing for his own safety, orders that Hamlet be sent to England at once.
Hamlet goes to confront his mother, in whose bedchamber Polonius has hidden behind a tapestry. Hearing a noise from behind
the tapestry, Hamlet believes the king is hiding there. He draws his sword and stabs through the fabric, killing Polonius. For this
crime, he is immediately dispatched to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. However, Claudius’s plan for Hamlet includes
more than banishment, as he has given Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sealed orders for the King of England demanding that Hamlet be
put to death.
In the aftermath of her father’s death, Ophelia goes mad with grief and drowns in the river. Polonius’s son, Laertes, who has
been staying in France, returns to Denmark in a rage. Claudius convinces him that Hamlet is to blame for his father’s and sister’s
deaths. When Horatio and the king receive letters from Hamlet indicating that the prince has returned to Denmark after pirates
attacked his ship en route to England, Claudius concocts a plan to use Laertes’ desire for revenge to secure Hamlet’s death. Laertes
will fence with Hamlet in innocent sport, but Claudius will poison Laertes’ blade so that if he draws blood, Hamlet will die. As a
backup plan, the king decides to poison a goblet, which he will give Hamlet to drink should Hamlet score the first or second hits of the
match. Hamlet returns to the vicinity of Elsinore just as Ophelia’s funeral is taking place. Stricken with grief, he attacks Laertes and
declares that he had in fact always loved Ophelia. Back at the castle, he tells Horatio that he believes one must be prepared to die,
since death can come at any moment. A foolish courtier named Osric arrives on Claudius’s orders to arrange the fencing match
between Hamlet and Laertes.
The sword-fighting begins. Hamlet scores the first hit, but declines to drink from the king’s proffered goblet. Instead, Gertrude
takes a drink from it and is swiftly killed by the poison. Laertes succeeds in wounding Hamlet, though Hamlet does not die of the
poison immediately. First, Laertes is cut by his own sword’s blade, and, after revealing to Hamlet that Claudius is responsible for the
queen’s death, he dies from the blade’s poison. Hamlet then stabs Claudius through with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink
down the rest of the poisoned wine. Claudius dies, and Hamlet dies immediately after achieving his revenge.
At this moment, a Norwegian prince named Fortinbras, who has led an army to Denmark and attacked Poland earlier in the play,
enters with ambassadors from England, who report that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Fortinbras is stunned by the gruesome
sight of the entire royal family lying sprawled on the floor dead. He moves to take power of the kingdom. Horatio, fulfilling Hamlet’s
last request, tells him Hamlet’s tragic story. Fortinbras orders that Hamlet be carried away in a manner befitting a fallen soldier.
Romeo and Juliet
IN THE STREETS OF VERONA another brawl breaks out between the servants of the feuding noble families of Capulet and
Montague. Benvolio, a Montague, tries to stop the fighting, but is himself embroiled when the rash Capulet, Tybalt, arrives on the
scene. After citizens outraged by the constant violence beat back the warring factions, Prince Escalus, the ruler of Verona, attempts to
prevent any further conflicts between the families by decreeing death for any individual who disturbs the peace in the future.
Romeo, the son of Montague, runs into his cousin Benvolio, who had earlier seen Romeo moping in a grove of sycamores. After
some prodding by Benvolio, Romeo confides that he is in love with Rosaline, a woman who does not return his affections. Benvolio
counsels him to forget this woman and find another, more beautiful one, but Romeo remains despondent.
Meanwhile, Paris, a kinsman of the Prince, seeks Juliet’s hand in marriage. Her father Capulet, though happy at the match, asks
Paris to wait two years, since Juliet is not yet even fourteen. Capulet dispatches a servant with a list of people to invite to a
masquerade and feast he traditionally holds. He invites Paris to the feast, hoping that Paris will begin to win Juliet’s heart.
Romeo and Benvolio, still discussing Rosaline, encounter the Capulet servant bearing the list of invitations. Benvolio suggests
that they attend, since that will allow Romeo to compare his beloved to other beautiful women of Verona. Romeo agrees to go with
Benvolio to the feast, but only because Rosaline, whose name he reads on the list, will be there.
In Capulet’s household, young Juliet talks with her mother, Lady Capulet, and her nurse about the possibility of marrying Paris.
Juliet has not yet considered marriage, but agrees to look at Paris during the feast to see if she thinks she could fall in love with him.
The feast begins. A melancholy Romeo follows Benvolio and their witty friend Mercutio to Capulet’s house. Once inside,
Romeo sees Juliet from a distance and instantly falls in love with her; he forgets about Rosaline completely. As Romeo watches Juliet,
entranced, a young Capulet, Tybalt, recognizes him, and is enraged that a Montague would sneak into a Capulet feast. He prepares to
attack, but Capulet holds him back. Soon, Romeo speaks to Juliet, and the two experience a profound attraction. They kiss, not even
knowing each other’s names. When he finds out from Juliet’s nurse that she is the daughter of Capulet—his family’s enemy—he
becomes distraught. When Juliet learns that the young man she has just kissed is the son of Montague, she grows equally upset.
As Mercutio and Benvolio leave the Capulet estate, Romeo leaps over the orchard wall into the garden, unable to leave Juliet
behind. From his hiding place, he sees Juliet in a window above the orchard and hears her speak his name. He calls out to her, and
they exchange vows of love.
Romeo hurries to see his friend and confessor Friar Lawrence, who, though shocked at the sudden turn of Romeo’s heart, agrees
to marry the young lovers in secret since he sees in their love the possibility of ending the age-old feud between Capulet and
Montague. The following day, Romeo and Juliet meet at Friar Lawrence’s cell and are married. The Nurse, who is privy to the secret,
procures a ladder, which Romeo will use to climb into Juliet’s window for their wedding night.
The next day, Benvolio and Mercutio encounter Tybalt—Juliet’s cousin—who, still enraged that Romeo attended Capulet’s
feast, has challenged Romeo to a duel. Romeo appears. Now Tybalt’s kinsman by marriage, Romeo begs the Capulet to hold off the
duel until he understands why Romeo does not want to fight. Disgusted with this plea for peace, Mercutio says that he will fight
Tybalt himself. The two begin to duel. Romeo tries to stop them by leaping between the combatants. Tybalt stabs Mercutio under
Romeo’s arm, and Mercutio dies. Romeo, in a rage, kills Tybalt. Romeo flees from the scene. Soon after, the Prince declares him
forever banished from Verona for his crime. Friar Lawrence arranges for Romeo to spend his wedding night with Juliet before he has
to leave for Mantua the following morning.
In her room, Juliet awaits the arrival of her new husband. The Nurse enters, and, after some confusion, tells Juliet that Romeo
has killed Tybalt. Distraught, Juliet suddenly finds herself married to a man who has killed her kinsman. But she resettles herself, and
realizes that her duty belongs with her love: to Romeo.
Romeo sneaks into Juliet’s room that night, and at last they consummate their marriage and their love. Morning comes, and the
lovers bid farewell, unsure when they will see each other again. Juliet learns that her father, affected by the recent events, now intends
for her to marry Paris in just three days. Unsure of how to proceed—unable to reveal to her parents that she is married to Romeo, but
unwilling to marry Paris now that she is Romeo’s wife—Juliet asks her Nurse for advice. She counsels Juliet to proceed as if Romeo
were dead and to marry Paris, who is a better match anyway. Disgusted with the Nurse’s disloyalty, Juliet disregards her advice and
hurries to Friar Lawrence. He concocts a plan to reunite Juliet with Romeo in Mantua. The night before her wedding to Paris, Juliet
must drink a potion that will make her appear to be dead. After she is laid to rest in the family’s crypt, the Friar and Romeo will
secretly retrieve her, and she will be free to live with Romeo, away from their parents’ feuding.
Juliet returns home to discover the wedding has been moved ahead one day, and she is to be married tomorrow. That night, Juliet
drinks the potion, and the Nurse discovers her, apparently dead, the next morning. The Capulets grieve, and Juliet is entombed
according to plan. But Friar Lawrence’s message explaining the plan to Romeo never reaches Mantua. Its bearer, Friar John, gets
confined to a quarantined house. Romeo hears only that Juliet is dead.
Romeo learns only of Juliet’s death and decides to kill himself rather than live without her. He buys a vial of poison from a
reluctant Apothecary, then speeds back to Verona to take his own life at Juliet’s tomb. Outside the Capulet crypt, Romeo comes upon
Paris, who is scattering flowers on Juliet’s grave. They fight, and Romeo kills Paris. He enters the tomb, sees Juliet’s inanimate body,
drinks the poison, and dies by her side. Just then, Friar Lawrence enters and realizes that Romeo has killed Paris and himself. At the
same time, Juliet awakes. Friar Lawrence hears the coming of the watch. When Juliet refuses to leave with him, he flees alone. Juliet
sees her beloved Romeo and realizes he has killed himself with poison. She kisses his poisoned lips, and when that does not kill her,
buries his dagger in her chest, falling dead upon his body.
The watch arrives, followed closely by the Prince, the Capulets, and Montague. Montague declares that Lady Montague has died
of grief over Romeo’s exile. Seeing their children’s bodies, Capulet and Montague agree to end their long-standing feud and to raise
gold statues of their children side-by-side in a newly peaceful Verona.
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
CHIEF BROMDEN, THE HALF-INDIAN NARRATOR of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has been a patient in an Oregon
psychiatric hospital for ten years. His paranoia is evident from the first lines of the book, and he suffers from hallucinations and
delusions. Bromden’s worldview is dominated by his fear of what he calls the Combine, a huge conglomeration that controls society
and forces people into conformity. Bromden pretends to be deaf and dumb and tries to go unnoticed, even though he is six feet seven
inches tall.
The mental patients, all male, are divided into Acutes, who can be cured, and Chronics, who cannot be cured. They are ruled by
Nurse Ratched, a former army nurse who runs the ward with harsh, mechanical precision. During daily Group Meetings, she
encourages the Acutes to attack each other in their most vulnerable places, shaming them into submission. If a patient rebels, he is sent
to receive electroshock treatments and sometimes a lobotomy, even though both practices have fallen out of favor with the -medical
community.
When Randle McMurphy arrives as a transfer from the Pendleton Work Farm, Bromden senses that something is different about
him. McMurphy swaggers into the ward and introduces himself as a gambling man with a zest for women and cards. After McMurphy
experiences his first Group Meeting, he tells the patients that Nurse Ratched is a ball-cutter. The other patients tell him that there is no
defying her, because in their eyes she is an all-powerful force. McMurphy makes a bet that he can make Ratched lose her temper
within a week.
At first, the confrontations between Ratched and McMurphy provide entertainment for the other patients. McMurphy’s
insubordination, however, soon stimulates the rest of them into rebellion. The success of his bet hinges on a failed vote to change the
television schedule to show the World Series, which is on during the time allotted for cleaning chores. McMurphy stages a protest by
sitting in front of the blank television instead of doing his work, and one by one the other patients join him. Nurse Ratched loses
control and screams at them. Bromden observes that an outsider would think all of them were crazy, including the nurse.
In Part II, McMurphy, flush with victory, taunts Nurse Ratched and the staff with abandon. Everyone expects him to get sent to
the Disturbed ward, but Nurse Ratched keeps him in the regular ward, thinking the patients will soon see that he is just as cowardly as
everyone else. McMurphy eventually learns that involuntarily committed patients are stuck in the hospital until the staff decides they
are cured. When McMurphy realizes that he is at Nurse Ratched’s mercy, he begins to submit to her authority. By this time, however,
he has unintentionally become the leader for the other patients, and they are confused when he stops standing up for them. Cheswick,
dismayed when McMurphy fails to join him in a stand against Nurse Ratched, drowns in the pool in a possible suicide.
Cheswick’s death signals to McMurphy that he has unwittingly taken on the responsibility of rehabilitating the other patients. He
also witnesses the harsh reality of electroshock therapy and becomes genuinely frightened by the power wielded by the staff. The
weight of his obligation to the other patients and his fear for his own life begins to wear down his strength and his sanity.
Nevertheless, in Part III, McMurphy arranges a fishing trip for himself and ten other patients. He shows them how to defuse the
hostility of the outside world and enables them to feel powerful and masculine as they catch large fish without his help. He also
arranges for Billy Bibbit to lose his virginity later in the novel, by making a date between Billy and Candy Starr, a prostitute from
Portland.
Back on the ward in Part IV, McMurphy reignites the rebellion by getting into a fistfight with the aides to defend George
Sorenson. Bromden joins in, and they are both sent to the Disturbed ward for electroshock therapy. McMurphy acts as if the shock
treatments do not affect him, and his heroic reputation grows. Nurse Ratched brings him back to the ward so the other patients can see
his weakened state. The patients urge McMurphy to escape, but he has arranged Billy’s date for that night, and he refuses to let Billy
down. McMurphy bribes Mr. Turkle, the night aide, to sneak Candy into the hospital, and they have a party on the ward. Billy has sex
with Candy while McMurphy and the other patients smoke marijuana and drink. Harding tries to get McMurphy to escape with Candy
and Sandy to Mexico, but McMurphy is too wasted and falls asleep.
The aides discover the mess the next morning, setting off a series of violent events. When Nurse Ratched finds Billy with Candy, she
threatens to tell Billy’s mother. Billy becomes hysterical and commits suicide by cutting his throat. McMurphy attacks Ratched,
ripping open the front of her dress and attempting to strangle her. In retaliation, she has him lobotomized, and he returns to the ward as
a vegetable. However, Ratched has lost her tyrannical power over the ward. The patients transfer to other wards or check themselves
out of the hospital. Bromden suffocates McMurphy in his bed, enabling him to die with some dignity rather than live as a symbol of
Ratched’s power. Bromden, having recovered the immense strength that he had believed lost during his time in the mental ward,
escapes from the hospital by breaking through a window.
The Odyssey
T en years have passed since the fall of Troy, and the Greek hero Odysseus still has not returned to his kingdom in Ithaca. A large and
rowdy mob of suitors who have overrun Odysseus’s palace and pillaged his land continue to court his wife, Penelope. She has
remained faithful to Odysseus. Prince Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, wants desperately to throw them out but does not have the
confidence or experience to fight them. One of the suitors, Antinous, plans to assassinate the young prince, eliminating the only
opposition to their dominion over the palace.
Unknown to the suitors, Odysseus is still alive. The beautiful nymph Calypso, possessed by love for him, has imprisoned him on her
island, Ogygia. He longs to return to his wife and son, but he has no ship or crew to help him escape. While the gods and goddesses of
Mount Olympus debate Odysseus’s future, Athena, Odysseus’s strongest supporter among the gods, resolves to help Telemachus.
Disguised as a friend of the prince’s grandfather, Laertes, she convinces the prince to call a meeting of the assembly at which he
reproaches the suitors. Athena also prepares him for a great journey to Pylos and Sparta, where the kings Nestor and Menelaus,
Odysseus’s companions during the war, inform him that Odysseus is alive and trapped on Calypso’s island. Telemachus makes plans
to return home, while, back in Ithaca, Antinous and the other suitors prepare an ambush to kill him when he reaches port.
On Mount Olympus, Zeus sends Hermes to rescue Odysseus from Calypso. Hermes persuades Calypso to let Odysseus build a ship
and leave. The homesick hero sets sail, but when Poseidon, god of the sea, finds him sailing home, he sends a storm to wreck
Odysseus’s ship. Poseidon has harbored a bitter grudge against Odysseus since the hero blinded his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus,
earlier in his travels. Athena intervenes to save Odysseus from Poseidon’s wrath, and the beleaguered king lands at Scheria, home of
the Phaeacians. Nausicaa, the Phaeacian princess, shows him to the royal palace, and Odysseus receives a warm welcome from the
king and queen. When he identifies himself as Odysseus, his hosts, who have heard of his exploits at Troy, are stunned. They promise
to give him safe passage to Ithaca, but first they beg to hear the story of his adventures.
Odysseus spends the night describing the fantastic chain of events leading up to his arrival on Calypso’s island. He recounts his trip to
the Land of the Lotus Eaters, his battle with Polyphemus the Cyclops, his love affair with the witch-goddess Circe, his temptation by
the deadly Sirens, his journey into Hades to consult the prophet Tiresias, and his fight with the sea monster Scylla. When he finishes
his story, the Phaeacians return Odysseus to Ithaca, where he seeks out the hut of his faithful swineherd, Eumaeus. Though Athena has
disguised Odysseus as a beggar, Eumaeus warmly receives and nourishes him in the hut. He soon encounters Telemachus, who has
returned from Pylos and Sparta despite the suitors’ ambush, and reveals to him his true identity. Odysseus and Telemachus devise a
plan to massacre the suitors and regain control of Ithaca.
When Odysseus arrives at the palace the next day, still disguised as a beggar, he endures abuse and insults from the suitors. The only
person who recognizes him is his old nurse, Eurycleia, but she swears not to disclose his secret. Penelope takes an interest in this
strange beggar, suspecting that he might be her long-lost husband. Quite crafty herself, Penelope organizes an archery contest the
following day and promises to marry any man who can string Odysseus’s great bow and fire an arrow through a row of twelve axes—
a feat that only Odysseus has ever been able to accomplish. At the contest, each suitor tries to string the bow and fails. Odysseus steps
up to the bow and, with little effort, fires an arrow through all twelve axes. He then turns the bow on the suitors. He and Telemachus,
assisted by a few faithful servants, kill every last suitor.
Odysseus reveals himself to the entire palace and reunites with his loving Penelope. He travels to the outskirts of Ithaca to see his
aging father, Laertes. They come under attack from the vengeful family members of the dead suitors, but Laertes, reinvigorated by his
son’s return, successfully kills Antinous’s father and puts a stop to the attack. Zeus dispatches Athena to restore peace. With his power
secure and his family reunited, Odysseus’s long ordeal comes to an end.
Odysseus - The protagonist of the Odyssey. Odysseus fought among the other Greek heroes at Troy and now struggles to return to his
kingdom in Ithaca. Odysseus is the husband of Queen Penelope and the father of Prince Telemachus. Though a strong and courageous
warrior, he is most renowned for his cunning. He is a favorite of the goddess Athena, who often sends him divine aid, but a bitter
enemy of Poseidon, who frustrates his journey at every turn.
Read an in-depth analysis of Odysseus.
Telemachus - Odysseus’s son. An infant when Odysseus left for Troy, Telemachus is about twenty at the beginning of the story. He is
a natural obstacle to the suitors desperately courting his mother, but despite his courage and good heart, he initially lacks the poise and
confidence to oppose them. His maturation, especially during his trip to Pylos and Sparta in Books 3 and 4, provides a subplot to the
epic. Athena often assists him.
Read an in-depth analysis of Telemachus.
Penelope - Wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus. Penelope spends her days in the palace pining for the husband who left for
Troy twenty years earlier and never returned. Homer portrays her as sometimes flighty and excitable but also clever and steadfastly
true to her husband.
Read an in-depth analysis of Penelope.
Athena - Daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom, purposeful battle, and the womanly arts. Athena assists Odysseus and
Telemachus with divine powers throughout the epic, and she speaks up for them in the councils of the gods on Mount Olympus. She
often appears in disguise as Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus.
Read an in-depth analysis of Athena.
Poseidon - God of the sea. As the suitors are Odysseus’s mortal antagonists, Poseidon is his divine antagonist. He despises Odysseus
for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, and constantly hampers his journey home. Ironically, Poseidon is the patron of the
seafaring Phaeacians, who ultimately help to return Odysseus to Ithaca.
Zeus - King of gods and men, who mediates the disputes of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is occasionally depicted as weighing
men’s fates in his scales. He sometimes helps Odysseus or permits Athena to do the same.
Antinous - The most arrogant of Penelope’s suitors. Antinous leads the campaign to have Telemachus killed. Unlike the other suitors,
he is never portrayed sympathetically, and he is the first to die when Odysseus returns.
Eurymachus - A manipulative, deceitful suitor. Eurymachus’s charisma and duplicity allow him to exert some influence over the
other suitors.
Amphinomus - Among the dozens of suitors, the only decent man seeking Penelope’s hand in marriage. Amphinomus sometimes
speaks up for Odysseus and Telemachus, but he is killed like the rest of the suitors in the final fight.
Eumaeus - The loyal shepherd who, along with the cowherd Philoetius, helps Odysseus reclaim his throne after his return to Ithaca.
Even though he does not know that the vagabond who appears at his hut is Odysseus, Eumaeus gives the man food and shelter.
Eurycleia - The aged and loyal servant who nursed Odysseus and Telemachus when they were babies. Eurycleia is well informed
about palace intrigues and serves as confidante to her masters. She keeps Telemachus’s journey secret from Penelope, and she later
keeps Odysseus’s identity a secret after she recognizes a scar on his leg.
Melanthius - The brother of Melantho. Melanthius is a treacherous and opportunistic goatherd who supports the suitors, especially
Eurymachus, and abuses the beggar who appears in Odysseus’s palace, not realizing that the man is Odysseus himself.
Melantho - Sister of Melanthius and maidservant in Odysseus’s palace. Like her brother, Melantho abuses the beggar in the palace,
not knowing that the man is Odysseus. She is having an affair with Eurymachus.
Calypso - The beautiful nymph who falls in love with Odysseus when he lands on her island-home of Ogygia. Calypso holds him
prisoner there for seven years until Hermes, the messenger god, persuades her to let him go.
Polyphemus - One of the Cyclopes (uncivilized one-eyed giants) whose island Odysseus comes to soon after leaving Troy.
Polyphemus imprisons Odysseus and his crew and tries to eat them, but Odysseus blinds him through a clever ruse and manages to
escape. In doing so, however, Odysseus angers Polyphemus’s father, Poseidon.
Circe - The beautiful witch-goddess who transforms Odysseus’s crew into swine when he lands on her island. With Hermes’ help,
Odysseus resists Circe’s powers and then becomes her lover, living in luxury at her side for a year.
Laertes - Odysseus’s aging father, who resides on a farm in Ithaca. In despair and physical decline, Laertes regains his spirit when
Odysseus returns and eventually kills Antinous’s father.
Tiresias - A Theban prophet who inhabits the underworld. Tiresias meets Odysseus when Odysseus journeys to the underworld in
Book 11. He shows Odysseus how to get back to Ithaca and allows Odysseus to communicate with the other souls in Hades.
Nestor - King of Pylos and a former warrior in the Trojan War. Like Odysseus, Nestor is known as a clever speaker. Telemachus
visits him in Book 3 to ask about his father, but Nestor knows little of Odysseus’s whereabouts.
Menelaus - King of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, and husband of Helen, he helped lead the Greeks in the Trojan War. He offers
Telemachus assistance in his quest to find Odysseus when Telemachus visits him in Book 4.
Helen - Wife of Menelaus and queen of Sparta. Helen’s abduction from Sparta by the Trojans sparked the Trojan War. Her beauty is
without parallel, but she is criticized for giving in to her Trojan captors and thereby costing many Greek men their lives. She offers
Telemachus assistance in his quest to find his father.
Agamemnon - Former king of Mycenae, brother of Menelaus, and commander of the Achaean forces at Troy. Odysseus encounters
Agamemnon’s spirit in Hades. Agamemnon was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, upon his return from
the war. He was later avenged by his son Orestes. Their story is constantly repeated in the Odyssey to offer an inverted image of the
fortunes of Odysseus and Telemachus.
Nausicaa - The beautiful daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians. Nausicaa discovers Odysseus on the beach at
Scheria and, out of budding affection for him, ensures his warm reception at her parents’ palace.
Alcinous - King of the Phaeacians, who offers Odysseus hospitality in his island kingdom of Scheria. Alcinous hears the story of
Odysseus’s wanderings and provides him with safe passage back to Ithaca.
Arete - Queen of the Phaeacians, wife of Alcinous, and mother of Nausicaa. Arete is intelligent and influential. Nausicaa tells
Odysseus to make his appeal for assistance to Arete.