Caleb Williams

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1794

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Volume 1, Chapters 5-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Volume 1, Chapter 5 Summary

Mr. Clare fell ill, devastating Ferdinando, who chose to visit even though he knew Mr. Clare could be contagious (91). Mr. Clare knew he was dying, and they spent the day together talking and reflecting on the “curious […] line that separates life and death to mortal men” (92). Eventually, Mr. Clare confessed that he had made Ferdinando the executor of his will. He told Ferdinando to “not let the world be defrauded of [his] virtues” and that he knew that Ferdinando had a bad side when he felt that his honor was being disrespected (94). Ferdinando promised him that he would try to do better and stayed with him until he died.

Though still angry that Mr. Clare sided with Ferdinando, Barnabas acknowledged on hearing of the man’s death that he would otherwise have missed him. The chapter ends by noting that Mr. Clare was the only one who could have mediated the conflict between Ferdinando and Barnabas (97).

Volume 1, Chapter 6 Summary

Barnabas’s cousin, Emily Melville, was placed with Mrs. Tyrrel (Barnabas’s mother) after the loss of her parents. She grew into a small brunette with a sensible personality and a face scarred by smallpox (98-9). When living on the estate, she had become very close with a Mrs. Jakeman but not with her aunt, so when Mrs. Tyrrel died, not much changed for Emily. She was six years younger than Barnabas, who felt a sort of paternal instinct for her. She was 17 when Ferdinando came back to town, and she felt admiration for him anytime she saw him (101).

While Ferdinando was returning to town after attending to Mr. Clare’s will, he witnessed a bunch of houses burning. Ferdinando jumped in to help put out the fire, directing people to follow him (103). After hearing that there was a woman inside, Ferdinando ran inside to save her. That woman was Emily, whom he afterwards brought to the Tyrrel mansion, where she told Barnabas about how Ferdinando saved her. Angry, Barnabas came up with a plan to get revenge on her (108).

Volume 1, Chapters 5-6 Analysis

When Mr. Clare points out how one of Ferdinando’s weaknesses is his pride, he foreshadows Barnabas’s murder and Caleb’s conflict with Ferdinando even as he tries to stop Ferdinando from becoming a tragic hero. Ferdinando shows his heroic tendencies by saving Emily and many homes from the fire; however, but his earlier conversation with Mr. Clare hints at another side, which could lead to his downfall. Ferdinando promises Mr. Clare that he will reform but doesn’t, going after Barnabas in a vengeful rage. By revealing this weakness early on, Godwin creates a sense of inevitability, as though Ferdinando’s downfall were fated.

It is not until Chapter 6 that a woman becomes a recurring part of the novel’s plot. There are no real love stories in this novel, and women appear primarily either as victims of the system they are living in or as threats to Caleb’s life. Emily is an example of the former down to her physical appearance; her pox scars desexualize her, the implication being that she will have a difficult time attracting a husband. Notably, however, her appearance does not “protect” her from attempted sexual assault. Godwin thus uses Emily’s character to illustrate the patriarchal power dynamics that underlie such violence, challenging the idea, widespread at the time, that women’s own sexuality was somehow responsible for rape. More broadly, the novel suggests that Barnabas’s revenge against Emily is only possible because society considers her a form of property.