Caleb Williams

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1794

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Volume 1, Chapters 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Volume 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Caleb Williams addresses the reader, saying that his “life has for several years been a theatre of calamity” and that he “did not deserve this treatment” (59); he is only writing the memoir to distract his mind and find some sort of justice for everything that has happened to him. Caleb describes himself as being “above middle stature” and says he excelled in sports when younger; however, the thing that characterizes him the most is his curiosity (60). Caleb’s parents’ home was a residence on the property of Ferdinando Falkland, and when his father died shortly after his mother, Caleb got a job as a literary assistant to Ferdinando.

Ferdinando is a man of “small stature” and delicate appearance, with a manner that is “kind, attentive and humane,” but with a “grave and sad solemnity in his air” (60). As Caleb continues to study his master’s mannerisms, he begins to see Ferdinando as living a very solitary life, with “features hardly ever relaxed into a smile” (62). After working at the estate for around three months, Caleb enters a small apartment attached to the offices intending to clean it and walks in on Ferdinando. Ferdinando is very angry and yells at him to leave, calling him a “Villain” and a “Wretch” for spying on him, even though Caleb explain that was not his intention. Later, Ferdinando seems to apologize by giving Caleb five guineas. Confused about the behavior of Ferdinando, Caleb seeks out Mr. Collins, who gives some insight into their master’s past. Before beginning this flashback, Caleb writes that he will drop Mr. Collins as an intermediary narrator and explain the story as if he were its main narrator (66).

Volume 1, Chapter 2 Summary

As a young man, Ferdinando dreamed of the adventures written about in romance novels and began traveling when he was old enough; he spent the majority of his travels in Italy making connections (67). When he was in Rome, he was well received at the house of Marquis Pisani, who had one daughter and heir named Lady Lucretia Pisani. Ferdinando and Lucretia became close before Ferdinando left for a short trip. While he was gone, Lucretia was meant to marry Count Malvesi, but Malvesi’s own absence delayed the wedding. When Ferdinando got back from his trip to Naples, Lucretia asked him to help her read English poetry, saying she had a strong interest in it and her fiancé was still away (69). When Malvesi returned, he was upset with how close Ferdinando was with Lucretia. He argued with Lucretia, who banished him for his rudeness he was, and he left to confront Ferdinando.

Ferdinando asked Malvesi to come back the next day after calming down and promised to “attend him to any scene of action” that Malvesi felt necessary (71). Meanwhile, Ferdinando visited Lucretia and brought her with him to meet Malvesi the next day. Persuaded that Ferdinando and Lucretia’s relationship was innocent, Malvesi begged for forgiveness from Lucretia. Afterwards, Ferdinando continued to travel abroad until he felt it was right to go back to England and settle down near his ancestors’ roots.

Volume 1, Chapters 1-2 Analysis

The opening paragraph shows the personality of the novel’s main character: Caleb immediately denies responsibility for his own actions having led to his downfall. Caleb was a victim in his own estimation, but it is his curiosity that starts all of his problems. Caleb states that curiosity defines him (60), which foreshadows the events he later describes. It is his curiosity that leads Caleb to look into Ferdinando’s past after finding him with the chest (65); the anger his master displays sparks Caleb’s interest in studying him further, and it is in doing this that he ultimately pushes Ferdinando too far. Caleb’s curiosity is one of the factors that defines him as a tragic hero: a character who brings about their own downfall.

Ferdinando and Caleb are surprisingly similar in the beginning of the novel, both in their taste for adventure and the role that literature played in inspiring it; however, as the novel progresses, the two characters change in drastically different ways as the injustice of the legal system wears them down.

The ending paragraph of Chapter 2 has Caleb speaking to the reader to explain how he will recount the story in the following chapters. This habit of addressing the assumed reader directly is something that continues throughout the story. There are many instances where the narrative breaks from its normal structure to have Caleb explain something or make a point outside the story he is currently retelling.