Caleb Williams

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1794

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Volume 3, Chapters 7-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Volume 3, Chapter 7 Summary

Caleb tries to plead with the man who was left in charge of him. Caleb argues that the men are extorting him by threatening him with jail even though they know he is innocent. The man takes pity on him and tells Caleb that “he had always felt an abhorrence to the sort of people who had [him] in their hands” (344). After staring at him for a while, the man asks Caleb his name. When Caleb reveals it, the man recognizes Caleb as a wanted man and calls him a wretch (345). Once he has calmed down, he tells Caleb that he does not know the details and still feels Caleb is guilty; however, since Caleb was honest and revealed his identity, he will not turn Caleb in (though he also will not help him).

When the other men come back, Caleb decides to give in to their demands for money, though he negotiates them down to 11 guineas; Caleb remarks on the irony that they arrested him believing they would receive 100 guineas, yet they accepted the 11 he offered (347). The men hold up their end and agree to let Caleb go a bit outside of town. Caleb then gets lost on his way to the ferry and is almost recognized in town, but he is able to disguise himself and make it to London.

Volume 3, Chapter 8 Summary

On Caleb's first night in London, he sleeps in an “obscure inn” (351). By the next morning, he has disguised himself as a “deserted, solitary lad, of Jewish extraction” (356). While at the inn, he decides that he must make some money and recalls that he has “read of money being acquired” in the field of literature (354). Caleb knows that he cannot personally deliver any of his writing because he is a wanted man, so he seeks out Mrs. Marney, a “solitary woman, of middle age, who tenant[s] a chamber in the house, upon the same floor with” Caleb (355). He charms her and asks her to deliver the writing for him; she agrees.

After making some changes to his work, he sends it to an editor of a magazine. The editor tells Mrs. Marney to leave the work with him until the following day; when she goes back, the man says that he will accept the submission but that they do not pay for poetic pieces. Caleb does his best to write a “paper in the style” requested (357); however, he soon gets distracted when he realizes that it just isn’t the style he prefers (357). He decides to find a place in town to settle down, but he only lets himself go out at night for exercise.

Volume 3, Chapters 7-8 Analysis

The man at the inn almost sides with Caleb because he has always had a soft spot for those who are victims of the law. The short conversation between the two men holds a lot of meaning because it shows that recognition of the legal system’s injustice was somewhat widespread and not confined to prisoners or wanted men.

This is the second time that Caleb has used a disguise, and he always opts a persona that will allow him to blend into his surroundings. He does not dress as a beggar this time because he is now trying to assimilate into society. He instead dresses as a solitary man and designs the disguise to be one that he can maintain over time. Caleb needs to appear approachable and trustworthy so that he can begin making connections with new people. However, Caleb resents having to disguise himself, feeling that every part of his life is now a lie.

Caleb’s luck in these chapters is so bad that he gets lost trying to get to the ferry and misses it, which almost results in him being spotted. The motif of darkness also reappears. Caleb believes that the only time he is safe to go out and do things is under the cover of darkness, though Leonard Hawkins’s fate suggests that this is not necessarily the case.