Caleb Williams

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1794

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Volume 1, Chapters 9-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Volume 1, Chapter 9 Summary

Mr. Hawkins was a man who inherited a freehold estate from his father, which meant that he could vote in county elections. However, it was expected that Hawkins would vote in favor of his landlord, Barnabas. Hawkins chose to vote otherwise, and his landlord found out and sent an eviction letter telling him that he wanted the Hawkins family to leave. Worried, Hawkins sought help from Barnabas, who let him rent a place on the Tyrrel estate.

Barnabas wanted Hawkins’s son to come work for him, but Hawkins said that he needed his son’s help on his farm and that he didn’t want his son, Leonard, to be a servant, as his family were all clergymen (134). Barnabas was angry and wanted to evict Hawkins, but Hawkins, having learned his lesson from last time, reminded Barnabas that he had a lease that the law would protect (137). Barnabas therefore began to sabotage Hawkins, hurting his livestock and making the family’s work difficult. Hawkins’s driveway ran along the property of another of Barnabas’s tenants, so Barnabas cut it off to make his commute longer. Leonard removed all the blocks in the driveway by night, but he was seen doing it and a warrant went out. The next day, Leonard was arrested under “The Black Act,” which criminalized being out at night and in disguise (140). Hawkins was crushed when he realized that the justice system would not protect him or his son.

Ferdinando had been away for three months; when he returned and heard the news, he went to see Hawkins but ran into Barnabas on the way. Ferdinando stated that “it [was] his right to show when [Barnabas] [was] in the wrong” and said that Barnabas’s mistreatment of people would make him hated (144), which Barnabas later admitted to himself was his biggest fear. By the time Ferdinando reached Hawkins’s home, he found their place empty: Leonard had escaped from jail, and the family had vanished.

Volume 1, Chapter 10 Summary

Now living with Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Jakeman’s sister, Emily struggled with anxiety and the disruption of her formerly comfortable life. She woke up with a fever, sick from stress, and slowly became delirious. Meanwhile, she was found and arrested: Barnabas was suing her for the debt she incurred living with the Tyrrels for 14 years (148). The man arresting Emily, Barnes, didn’t understand Barnabas’s actions, saying that he believed that what Barnabas had given to Emily was charity and that Emily was a good woman. Barnabas, however, said that the law justified his actions (149). Mrs. Hammond asked Barnes if they could get Ferdinando to come help so Emily might not have to go to jail, but Barnes said that they were not allowed to wait.

In jail and hallucinating, Emily constantly called out for Ferdinando and addressed him as her husband and love. Ferdinando brought a doctor to see her and was so upset by her condition that he had to leave (154). Emily temporarily improved but then convulsed. Though dying, she was at peace because she did not want to marry Grimes or be controlled by Barnabas.

Volume 1, Chapters 9-10 Analysis

Hawkins’s wishes for his son strike Barnabas as a personal slight; from his perspective, it is an honor for someone from a lower social class to serve him. This insult to his pride brings out his uglier side. The story of Mr. Hawkins and his conflict with Barnabas is important when viewed within the context of the novel’s societal critique. Mr. Hawkins fights back against Barnabas by going to court and defending himself. Because Mr. Hawkins has a lease, Barnabas legally cannot evict him; as Mr. Hawkins remarks, the upper-class capture of the legal system is not complete, and the lower classes do enjoy some protections. This presumably infuriates Barnabas all the more because he feels the law exists to serve him.

However, Barnabas also wields considerable power outside the law, which he uses to make it so difficult for the Hawkins to live their lives that they must ultimately break the law to go about their business. Although the driveway that connected to their home and the road was technically part of Hawkins’s lease, the Black Act made Leonard a criminal simply for being outside at night with his face covered. This law effectively criminalized those who didn’t own property and grew out of the class tensions of the era; it was a response to poaching on private property, which was itself a lower-class response to the ever-increasing privatization of lands that were once public. Leonard’s arrest is therefore a double injustice: He wasn’t poaching, but the anti-poaching measures were themselves a crackdown on the lower classes. The Hawkins’ flight at the end of the chapter shows the desperation that they felt at the justice system failing them.

Similarly, Emily’s arrest shows the power that Barnabas has over her as a woman. A woman of her social class (i.e., one who was not raised with the expectation that she would work) was almost completely financially dependent on her male relatives. Barnabas uses this against her, arguing that she owes him money for the years she spent living with his family and having a warrant issued for her arrest. Emily is content to die at the end of the chapter, revealing that for a woman in her predicament, death is the only escape.