48 pages • 1 hour read
Cassandra ClareClockwork Angel
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010A 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 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “The Enclave”
Over the next two days, Will and Jem help Tessa practice pretending to be Camille Belcourt, but Tessa struggles to connect to Camille’s thoughts as if there is a barrier between them. That afternoon, members of the Shadowhunters’ leadership, the Enclave, arrive at the Institute to discuss the upcoming mission. Jem, Will, and Tessa are not allowed at the meeting, but they hide in a closet to spy on the meeting through a vent. Henry is late to the meeting, which makes it difficult for Charlotte to maintain control, as several of the older, male members do not respect her leadership or her report about de Quincey. The Enclave agrees to the plan to send Will and Tessa in disguise to de Quincey’s party, with a group of Shadowhunters ready to raid once there is evidence of de Quincey breaking the Accords.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Pale Kings and Princes”
Will and Tessa, who is disguised as Camille, travel by carriage to de Quincey’s home for the party. Tessa is concerned for her safety and her ability to keep up the disguise, so Will encourages her using lines from A Tale of Two Cities. Will holds Tessa’s hands and they share a moment of tenderness. Tessa’s feelings for Will open her mental connection to Camille, and she is able to embody her personality, hearing advice from Camille about the party in her head. Tessa and Will meet the vampire de Quincey, who nearly drinks Will’s blood, and then they meet Magnus Bane. The three leave the party to go investigate the library, where they find blueprints for an automaton and notes regarding some kind of binding spell. Magnus reads the spell, discovering that it is meant to “infuse demonic energy into an inanimate object, thus giving that object a sort of life” (239).
Evidence in hand, Will tells Magnus to escort Tessa out of the house before the Shadowhunters arrive for the raid. Will must witness de Quincey and the vampires drawing blood before he can send the signal, so he, Tessa, and Magnus take a seat in the parlor. The vampires bring out a mundane man whose face is covered and manacle him to a chair in the middle of the room. De Quincey draws blood from the man, and Will tells Magnus and Tessa to leave so he can send the signal. Before Tessa can leave the building, the mundane man’s hood falls off to reveal her brother, Nathaniel.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Few Are Angels”
Will shoots Henry’s invention, the Phosphor, which is supposed to send a quick flare as a signal to the waiting Shadowhunters. Instead, the Phosphor causes all the candle flames in the house to flare, catching the house on fire. In the chaos, Tessa runs to save her brother, and the Shadowhunters—including Jem, Charlotte, and the Clave members—descend on the house to confront de Quincey. Benedict Lightwood, one of the Clave members, advances on de Quincey, and de Quincey tries to claim protection under the law. When Charlotte shows de Quincey their evidence of his wrongdoing, the blueprints and spellwork Will found, de Quincey seems genuinely confused and furious at the Shadowhunters’ attack. The vampires and the Shadowhunters dissolve into battle, and de Quincey finds Tessa in the melee, still disguised as Camille.
De Quincey attacks Tessa, and the spirit of Camille takes over her body completely, screaming at de Quincey for his murder of Camille’s former lover. Will saves Tessa from de Quincey, and the Shadowhunters survive the fight, though Will has ingested some vampire blood. Charlotte, Will, Jem, Tessa, and Nate all return to the Institute.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Blood and Water”
Back at the Institute, the Shadowhunters arrange a room for Nate. Charlotte invites a Silent Brother, Brother Enoch, to heal Nate of a hallucinogen that the vampires had used to sedate him during his time with de Quincey. Brother Enoch, who speaks directly to Tessa’s mind, seems to know about her power, “a power no other warlock does,” beyond her Changing ability (278). Nate reveals that the members of the Pandemonium Club told him that the Shadowhunters were frightening, dangerous creatures. Tessa convinces him to let Brother Enoch try to heal him.
Tessa finds Jem as she leaves her brother’s room and she shares her growing fears about her identity, abilities, and whether it is right for a woman to feel warrior feelings. Jem tells her, “Whatever you are physically [...] male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy—all those things matter less than what your heart contains” (283). Jem goes to meet Charlotte to debrief the mission, and Tessa returns to her room. On her way, she runs into Sophie, who is bringing pails of water up to the attic where Will is detoxing from vampire blood. Tessa offers to take over for Sophie, who is frustrated with Will’s attitude. In the attic, Will is surrounded by empty water pails. He tells Tessa that the water is holy water, meant to cleanse him of the vampire blood toxin. Tessa challenges Will’s apathetic attitude: “You never laugh [...] you behave as if everything is funny to you, but you never laugh. Sometimes you smile when you think no one is paying attention” (288). Will confesses that Tessa makes him laugh and the two kiss. Will abruptly ends the kiss and sends Tessa away.
Chapters 9-12 Analysis
When Tessa, disguised as Camille, goes to de Quincey’s party, she is conflicted about the nature of Downworlders. She is appalled by the vampires, whom Magnus Bane calls “the worst of them” (241), but she can empathize with Camille’s feelings of love and loyalty and appreciate Magnus’s sense of justice. Through Tessa’s and the Shadowhunters’ conflicting views of the Downworlders, the novel connects the motif of humans versus monsters to the theme of Love in the Face of Despair Creates Hope. Benedict Lightwood and the male leadership in the Clave claim that only Shadowhunters are reliable and oppose the plan to trust Camille Belcourt and her plan to infiltrate the party. Similarly, Will tells Tessa after the raid on de Quincey’s party that he does not find it difficult to kill vampires. Yet Tessa notes that “Camille feels [...] she loves and hates” (265). For Tessa, Camille’s ability to love makes Camille more human than a monster. Jem reinforces Tessa’s belief, soothing her growing fears about the implications of her abilities. After the battle, when Tessa learns that Nate does not have powers, Tessa tells Jem, “[Y]ou must think I’m a terrible coward, crying because my brother isn’t a monster and I don’t have the courage to be a monster all by myself” (282). Jem argues that no matter what powers she might have, her heart and her actions prove that she is not monstrous. Jem represents Tessa’s challenge to love herself in the face of despair, creating hope for herself and others.
The raid of the Pandemonium Club not only unveils the depth of the stigma against Downworlders but also introduces the theme of The Nuanced Effects of Addiction. Will disguises himself as Camille’s human subjugate, a mundane servant addicted to vampire blood and power. Camille and Magnus both refer to human subjugates as pets, invoking the way those manipulated by addiction are portrayed as weak or less than human. In Chapter 12, Will has to detox from the vampire blood using holy water. The author shows the physical effects of detoxing through Will’s reaction to the holy water and his conflicting feelings about following through with the treatment. At this point, the novel seems to uphold the stigma against those with addiction struggles. The addictive substance, in this case, vampire blood, is described in terms of evil, sin, and death. Detoxification is literally a holy activity, in which Will must drink and douse himself with holy water to purify his body from the blood. Nate, according to Brother Enoch, has also been poisoned during his time with the vampires and will suffer from hallucinations and withdrawal symptoms now that he has escaped. In keeping with the strong stigma against Downworlders among Shadowhunters, they also express disdain for humans who have become addicted to vampire blood, treating the addiction as a form of corruption rather than expressing empathy for the victims. Just as Tessa is developing a more nuanced view of the difference between humans and monsters, the novel will eventually develop a more nuanced portrayal of addiction.
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By Cassandra Clare
