Caleb Williams

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1794

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Themes

Curiosity Killed the Cat, While Pride Cemented its Grave: Caleb Williams and Ferdinando Falkland as Tragic Heroes

Both main characters in Caleb Williams fall victim to their own faults throughout the course of the novel: Caleb lives to feed his curiosity, and Ferdinando allows pride to dictate his actions. The consequences make both of them tragic heroes—characters of great or virtuous standing who are fated for downfalls brought on by their own faults or choices (other literary tragic heroes include Oedipus or Dr. Victor Frankenstein). In Caleb Williams, these flaws are class-inflected: Caleb is from a lower class and has only risen in society through his intellectual curiosity, whereas Ferdinando has the entitlement of a man born into wealth.

Caleb notes early on that his most defining quality is his curiosity (60). It is not only his most obvious trait, but it is also his most fatal flaw. Caleb’s curiosity is what pushes him to begin keeping an eye on Ferdinando after hearing Mr. Collins’s account of his backstory. Caleb even states how, try as he might, he kept coming back to Ferdinando and he had to satisfy his curiosity. Caleb pushes too far, and once he satisfies his curiosity with the truth, he begins to feel its consequences in his relationship with Ferdinando. Ferdinando now keeps such a close eye on Caleb that Caleb no longer feels free, and he realizes that his prying has condemned him to slavery under Ferdinando. After Caleb flees, his curiosity nearly gets him in trouble in several instances—for example, when he remains in an unsafe place to listen to what some men are saying about him.

Ferdinando shares Caleb’s desire for adventure, which he found reading books; however, it is his pride that becomes his fatal flaw. The tension between Ferdinando and Barnabas stems from the similar pride the two men hold; Ferdinando does at one point try his best to settle things with Barnabas, but it is done under the impression that neither man will concede, so it is best to just stay out of each other’s way. Several scenes between the two men resemble a sort of alpha contest, such as when they fight over the woman at the dance. The final straw for Ferdinando happens after a drunk Barnabas attacks him at the town meeting. Ferdinando is upset because he feels Barnabas has embarrassed him in front of the town. The rage surrounding that incident incited Ferdinando to kill Barnabas, which led to the crumbling of his life and the slow change of his character over time. Pride also drives Ferdinando’s need to ruin Caleb, who just wants to be free. Ferdinando refuses to let the conflict between them go, and in the end, he pushes Caleb far enough that he pursues bringing murder charges against Ferdinando. The flaw that made Ferdinando a murderer is therefore the same one that leads to his conviction for that crime.

The Justice that the Justice System Lacks: Inequalities in the Class System

William Godwin wrote Caleb Williams during a time of great political discontent and upheaval—in particular, the French Revolution, with which Godwin sympathized. Though the novel is a fictional story, the claims that the author makes about the English prison system reflect real-world injustices. Godwin’s novel highlights the absence of true justice within the very system that is supposed to protect it. Godwin wrote many nonfictional political pieces, but the care he took in selecting the novel’s ending suggests that he saw fiction as having a particular power to elicit empathy and prompt societal change.

Godwin, who was married to feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, was an early British proponent of women’s rights, and through Emily, he illustrates the type of injustices that women faced in 18th-century England. Though Emily, unlike many women at the time, enjoys a good education thanks to her class and her extended family’s generosity, she ultimately has little control over her life. Rather, she is at the mercy of the men surrounding her. When Barnabas arranges a marriage for Emily, she refuses, and he locks her up while ruining her reputation around town; the fact that Emily has to flee her situation instead of seeking help shows how few options are available to her. When Emily is fighting off the sexual assault, she talks about how society, far from bringing charges against her would-be rapist, will see her as a ruined woman. The only way for Emily to save her reputation would be to marry the man who had “ruined” her.

Mr. Hawkins is another example whose story shows the injustice of the justice system. Though the law has Mr. Hawkins’s back when it comes to the lease, the law does not protect him from these tricks (whereas, if the situation were reversed, Mr. Hawkins would never get away with the things Barnabas does). When Leonard is arrested for being out clearing the blockades during the night, Mr. Hawkins is at his wit’s end and flees with his son in the middle of the night rather than engage with the legal system further.

Living Outside the Law but Inside its Morals: Captain Raymond Versus the Upper Class

As the novel itself mentions, the English consider themselves civilized people; however, the state of the prisoners that Caleb comes across makes it clear that England is anything but what it has claimed itself to be. One of the convicts calls out sarcastically that England has no Bastille—even though it is obvious that they treat their people just as terribly as France. The contrast between Captain Raymond and his thieves versus upper-class characters such as Barnabas and Ferdinando reveals a surprising turn of morality: Those who are living outside the law are the only ones living within its morals.

Captain Raymond is the head of a group of thieves. Society perceives thieves as “low-lifes,” and they all live outside the law because they are wanted by those who hold its power. Although guilty of the charges against them, however, the members of the group follow their own moral code. Captain Raymond immediately votes to kick out Caleb’s abuser, even though he knew the man well, simply because he feels that Gines was unnecessarily cruel. The group does not steal from the poor and considers itself at war with the group of thieves who operate within the law to take what they want. Captain Raymond does not believe in murder or hurting others and lives by a code of honor to not hurt those who are not hurting anyone. The issue that the thieves have is with the injustice of the law, not the poor people trying to survive amidst that injustice.

The same cannot be said about the upper-class characters. Godwin compares the upper and lower classes in several scenes, often illustrating how the legal system favors the former: The law fails Mr. Hawkins and his son in his conflict with Barnabas, and Caleb reaches an impasse because it is his word against Ferdinando’s. Barnabas and Ferdinando use the law to fulfill their ill intentions towards others but do not follow any broader moral code. Barnabas uses his status to intimidate people for his own gain and feels that he is entitled to everything that he wants. Similarly, Ferdinando lies and sets up Caleb as a thief when he isn’t one and denies reading letters in order to have the outcome of the law be in his favor. Ferdinando is even acquitted of a murder that he was guilty of by defending himself in front of his peers. The two men may live inside the law and have it on their side throughout the novel, but their actions show that they are the real criminals.