63 pages • 2 hours read
Charles DickensBarnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1841A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 33-44Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 33 Summary
On March 19th, 1780—27 years to the day after the murder of Rueben Haredale and five after the beginning of the novel—Solomon Daisy runs into the Maypole and tells its usual inhabitants that he has seen a ghost. Old John assumes it to be the ghost of Rueben Haredale, but suggests they all keep it a secret unless someone sees the ghost again. Old John has never spoken of his son’s disappearance five years earlier, though he has put out a reward for whom he has called a “young boy” and portrayed to be someone much younger and smaller than Joe.
Chapter 34 Summary
Thinking more on Solomon’s story, Old John decides that it would actually be a good idea to tell Mr. Haredale, and plans to go to the Warren with Hugh before bed. When John tells Haredale his story, Haredale asks Hugh to wait outside, not trusting him. While they are leaving, John notices Hugh looks pale, and shortly after Hugh sweeps him out of the way of three oncoming horsemen.
Chapter 35 Summary
The horsemen ask if they are on the London road and if there is an inn nearby, and Old John happily shows them to the Maypole to stay for the night. While he is preparing their rooms, Old John studies the three men. The nobleman among them is Lord George Gordon, and he travels with his secretary, Gashford, and another man, John Grueby. In Gashford’s room, he and Gordon talk about how they are traveling through England speaking against Catholics and recent British laws that strive to reduce discrimination against them. Gashford praises Gordon and Grueby worries that he is stoking the fires too much and will shortly be dealing with more of a riot than he can handle.
Chapter 36 Summary
The malicious Gashford goes to Lord George’s room, unaware that he is not yet asleep. The two men discuss their supporters and who stands out. One is known as Dennis the Hangman, whom Gordon thinks would be good for their cause. They also have great support from the United Bulldogs, the new name of the ’Prentice Knights, and discuss Sim Tappertit’s dedication to the cause and how he always brings along Mrs. Varden and Miggs. Once Gordon is asleep, Gashford scatters anti-Catholic pamphlets around the inn.
Chapter 37 Summary
Dickens describes Lord George and how not even he was ever sure of how many followers he had. Though Gashford cheers him on, he appears to be nervous about his success. The men leave the Maypole and head to London, where Gordon is recognized and either praised or mocked by many.
Gashford meets with Dennis, whose aims are more violent than those of Gordon’s cause outwardly appear to be. He is afraid that his work as a hangman at Tyburn gallows will be affected if Catholics are given more political power, and Gashford presses him to act calmer than he does. Grueby escorts another man to meet with Gashford, who turns out to be Hugh.
Chapter 38 Summary
Gashford remembers Hugh from the Maypole and Hugh shows him the pamphlet he found. They enroll Hugh into the Protestant Association of England and Dennis takes Hugh under his wing, thinking he could be a good asset. Dennis and Hugh head toward Parliament and watch members of the houses. Hugh sees several members of the crowd doing the same and slipping pamphlets into the pockets of others nearby, appearing to all be part of the same movement without communicating to one another. The two men go to a pub called The Boot, in which Hugh recognizes several other members of the Protestant Association.
Chapter 39 Summary
Several members of the United Bulldogs enter The Boot, including Sim Tappertit, who recognizes Hugh from the Maypole. The two men and Dennis quickly become friendly.
Chapter 40 Summary
Hugh breaks away from the others to see Sir John Chester, who has become a member of Parliament and been knighted in the last five years. Hugh went to see him earlier in the day and asked Sir John to read him the pamphlet. Though Sir John agrees with Lord George’s anti-Catholic sentiments, as a member of Parliament he thinks Gordon is too radical, but is glad to still have Hugh on his side to inform him of Gordon’s doings.
Chapter 41 Summary
The Varden household has hardly changed within five years, excepting that Martha and Miggs have grown more temperamental and Dolly more beautiful. Dolly has just come home from staying with Emma and asks her father why Mr. Haredale has not been at home the last few days. They discuss Martha’s dedication to the Protestant Association and Gabriel’s disdain for it. When Gabriel brings up the name of Joe Willet, Dolly runs away crying.
Chapter 42 Summary
Mr. Haredale visits Gabriel. Gabriel assumes he has been looking for Barnaby and Mary. Haredale tells Gabriel he is haunted, but asks him not to question him further, though he admits this is why he has been looking for the Rudges again. He tells Gabriel—the only one to know he is in London—that he must keep it a secret that he will be staying at the Rudges’ old house for the next few days. Haredale invites Gabriel inside and the locksmith is reminded of all that passed five years before, but Haredale does not let him stay to help with his watch.
Chapter 43 Summary
Haredale has been seeing more anti-Catholic assemblies in London. Near one he passes Sir John and Gashford, both old school fellows, and Gashford, a former Catholic as well. Lord George arrives and refuses to speak with Haredale as he thinks they have nothing in common, and onlookers see this interaction.
Once Gordon leaves, a mob follows Haredale and someone throws a stone at him. Haredale draws his sword and challenges whoever did so, knowing it was at Gashford’s command, but is told he is outnumbered and John Grueby helps him get away safely.
Chapter 44 Summary
Once the mob disperses, only Gashford, Dennis, and Hugh are left. Gashford follows the two to where they are staying and asks which one threw the stone. Dennis proudly claims it was Hugh, who would have incited a riot if he could have. Gashford then charges them with the serious business of ruining Haredale and all he has, telling them to raze the Warren to the ground. Hugh and Dennis are somewhat surprised, but willing to do what is asked of them.
Chapters 33-44 Analysis
The Inescapability of the Past is again at the forefront in this section of Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 33 jumps forward in the narrative exactly five years from the beginning of the novel, which was also 22 years after an important moment in Chigwell’s history. There are many parallels between Chapters 1 and 33, as if little has changed at the Maypole in the five years since March 19th, 1775. Relationships from the past have not been forgotten in those five years either, as seen by Dolly’s reaction to Gabriel bringing up Joe.
Certain relationships have gone unchanged as well, as Hugh and Sir John Chester are still plotting together despite Sir John’s rise in power and Hugh’s increased political and religious fervor. It is known earlier in the novel that Haredale and Sir John have a history, yet their connection to their old schoolfellow Gashford is also revealed in this section, as are more of the reasons behind Haredale’s distaste for both men. Five years after the beginning of the novel, the past seems to be even more entwined with the present.
Dickens’s take on history also starts to come to light in this section of the novel, as here he introduces actual historical figures and events. Though Gashford and Grueby are characters from Dickens’s imagination, Lord George Gordon is Dickens’s fictionalization of an actual historical figure, who is attributed with starting the real Gordon Riots of 1780 (See: Background). By including actual figures and events from history, Dickens blends fact and fiction into the narrative. Though dismissive of the riots as a whole, Dickens is somewhat sympathetic in his portrayal of Lord George as someone who got in over his head due to his convictions. The Gordon riots carry Lord George’s name, but Dickens makes a point of separating them and showing exactly what Lord George was involved in and what he was not.
Dickens’s hindsight on this moment of history also allows him to do quite a bit of foreshadowing, such as when Grueby tells Gashford, “One of these evenings, when the weather gets warmer and Protestants are thirsty, they’ll be pulling London down” (363). Dickens is thus able to hint at the pivotal events that will take place later in the novel, when some of the characters—especially Barnaby—will get caught up in the riots. The historical elements of Barnaby Rudge bring the past closer to the present, revealing the patterns and similarities they share.
This section of Barnaby Rudge is focused on how a riot begins. Like his earlier references to religious fanaticism, Dickens shows in these chapters how feelings of religious supremacy lead to hate and corruption. Though the goals of Gordon and the rioters eventually split apart, they are all first spurred by their belief that Protestants are superior to Catholics and that more Catholic influence in the British government would destroy their way of life. When Lord George tells Gashford of the people he thinks would be good for their cause, all the people he chooses have misplaced feelings of superiority, either due to their religious beliefs or disguised by them.
For example, Sim Tappertit is characterized as vain and selfish from his introduction, yet the belief that he, as a Protestant, should have more rights than a Catholic, fits perfectly with his own beliefs of superiority. Others who don’t believe in the equity of restricting Catholic discrimination, such as Dennis and Hugh, show how much the riots are driven by hate, rather than just religious beliefs. As the novel and riots progress, the cause becomes less and less about religious beliefs and more about hatred and power. As the riots begin, Dickens puts the focus of the novel on these elements, foreshadowing what is truly driving the riots and what will also cause their downfall.
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By Charles Dickens
