AP English Books/Plays

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Characters

• Prince Hamlet - protagonist; killed by Laertes from poison

• Ex-King Hamlet - father of the prince; killed by Claudius and is now a ghost

• Claudius - king of Denmark; killed his brother for the throne; killed by Hamlet

• Gertrude - queen of Denmark; ex-wife of King Hamlet; now married to Claudius; Hamlet’s mother; killed by drinking poison that was meant for Hamlet

• Ophelia - Hamlet’s kinda-girlfriend; drowns herself because she is driven mad because of her father’s murder by Hamlet

• Polonius - Ophelia and Laertes father; also the King’s advisor; killed by Hamlet because he was mistaken for Claudius

• Laertes - son of Polonius; challenged Hamlet to a dual; killed by poison from his own sword

• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - “friends” of Hamlet; true loyalty is to Claudius; tries to spy on Hamlet; ends up being murdered by pirates

• Horatio - Hamlet’s best friend; only main character that survives; promises to tell Hamlet’s story

• Fortinbras - Crown Prince of Norway; claims throne of Denmark after everyone’s deaths; gives hope for Denmark at the end of the play

Setting

• Denmark - Hamlet’s kingdom

Themes

• Corrupting nature of Revenge

• Appearance of madness vs Reality

• Effect of loss and grief on the human psyche

• Loyalty vs Betrayal

• Loyalty to Family

Story Summary

On a dark winter night, a ghost walks the ramparts of Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Discovered first by a pair of watchmen, then by the scholar Horatio, the ghost resembles the recently deceased King Hamlet, whose brother Claudius has inherited the throne and married the king’s widow, Queen Gertrude. When Horatio and the watchmen bring Prince Hamlet, the son of Gertrude and the dead king, to see the ghost, it speaks to him, declaring ominously that it is indeed his father’s spirit, and that he was murdered by none other than Claudius. Ordering Hamlet to seek revenge on the man who usurped his throne and married his wife, the ghost disappears with the dawn.

Prince Hamlet devotes himself to avenging his father’s death, but, because he is contemplative and thoughtful by nature, he delays, entering into a deep melancholy and even apparent madness. Claudius and Gertrude worry about the prince’s erratic behavior and attempt to discover its cause. They employ a pair of Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to watch him. When Polonius, the pompous Lord Chamberlain, suggests that Hamlet may be mad with love for his daughter, Ophelia, Claudius agrees to spy on Hamlet in conversation with the girl. But though Hamlet certainly seems mad, he does not seem to love Ophelia: he orders her to enter a nunnery and declares that he wishes to ban marriages.

A group of traveling actors comes to Elsinore, and Hamlet seizes upon an idea to test his uncle’s guilt. He will have the players perform a scene closely resembling the sequence by which Hamlet imagines his uncle to have murdered his father, so that if Claudius is guilty, he will surely react. When the moment of the murder arrives in the theater, Claudius leaps up and leaves the room. Hamlet and Horatio agree that this proves his guilt. Hamlet goes to kill Claudius but finds him praying. Since he believes that killing Claudius while in prayer would send Claudius’s soul to heaven, Hamlet considers that it would be an inadequate revenge and decides to wait. Claudius, now frightened of Hamlet’s madness and fearing for his own safety, orders that Hamlet be sent to England at once.

Hamlet goes to confront his mother, in whose bedchamber Polonius has hidden behind a tapestry. Hearing a noise from behind the tapestry, Hamlet believes the king is hiding there. He draws his sword and stabs through the fabric, killing Polonius. For this crime, he is immediately dispatched to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. However, Claudius’s plan for Hamlet includes more than banishment, as he has given Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sealed orders for the King of England demanding that Hamlet be put to death.

In the aftermath of her father’s death, Ophelia goes mad with grief and drowns in the river. Polonius’s son, Laertes, who has been staying in France, returns to Denmark in a rage. Claudius convinces him that Hamlet is to blame for his father’s and sister’s deaths. When Horatio and the king receive letters from Hamlet indicating that the prince has returned to Denmark after pirates attacked his ship en route to England, Claudius concocts a plan to use Laertes’ desire for revenge to secure Hamlet’s death. Laertes will fence with Hamlet in innocent sport, but Claudius will poison Laertes’ blade so that if he draws blood, Hamlet will die. As a backup plan, the king decides to poison a goblet, which he will give Hamlet to drink should Hamlet score the first or second hits of the match. Hamlet returns to the vicinity of Elsinore just as Ophelia’s funeral is taking place. Stricken with grief, he attacks Laertes and declares that he had in fact always loved Ophelia. Back at the castle, he tells Horatio that he believes one must be prepared to die, since death can come at any moment. A foolish courtier named Osric arrives on Claudius’s orders to arrange the fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes.

The sword-fighting begins. Hamlet scores the first hit, but declines to drink from the king’s proffered goblet. Instead, Gertrude takes a drink from it and is swiftly killed by the poison. Laertes succeeds in wounding Hamlet, though Hamlet does not die of the poison immediately. First, Laertes is cut by his own sword’s blade, and, after revealing to Hamlet that Claudius is responsible for the queen’s death, he dies from the blade’s poison. Hamlet then stabs Claudius through with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink down the rest of the poisoned wine. Claudius dies, and Hamlet dies immediately after achieving his revenge.

At this moment, a Norwegian prince named Fortinbras, who has led an army to Denmark and attacked Poland earlier in the play, enters with ambassadors from England, who report that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Fortinbras is stunned by the gruesome sight of the entire royal family lying sprawled on the floor dead. He moves to take power of the kingdom. Horatio, fulfilling Hamlet’s last request, tells him Hamlet’s tragic story. Fortinbras orders that Hamlet be carried away in a manner befitting a fallen soldier.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Characters

• Macbeth - Scottish general and thane of Glamis; fatal flaw is ambition; led into wicked acts by the three witches prophecies; easily tempted to murder king; unable to bear the psychological consequences of his actions

• Lady Macbeth - Macbeth’s wife; deeply ambitious who lusts for power; in the beginning seems to be more ruthless than her husband, but she soon becomes overcome by guilt and madness over what they’ve done and eventually commits suicide

• Three Witches - plot mischief against Macbeth using spells and prophecies; delight in using their knowledge to toy with and destroy humans

• Banquo - brave, noble general whose children will inherit the throne; character is the opposite of Macbeth, representing the path Macbeth chose not to take; his ghost haunts Macbeth

• King Duncan - good king whom is murdered by Macbeth; death symbolizes the destruction of order in Scotland that can only be restored when Malcolm is placed on the throne

• Macduff - Scottish nobleman who hates Macbeth’s kingship from the start; becomes a leader of the crusade to unseat Macbeth and place Malcolm on the throne; wants revenge for Macbeth murdering his wife and entire family

• Malcolm - son of Duncan who returns Scotland to order after becoming king

• Fleance - Banquo’s son who survives Macbeth’s attempt to murder him; does not show up in the play after this event

• Donalbain - Duncan’s son and Malcolm’s younger brother; flees to Ireland after his father’s murder

Setting

• Scotland

Themes

• Destructive Nature of Unchecked Ambition

• Psychological Effects of Guilt and Remorse

• Corrupting Influence of Power

• Role of Fate vs Free Will in Human Actions

Summary

The play begins with the brief appearance of a trio of witches and then moves to a military camp, where the Scottish King Duncan hears the news that his generals, Macbeth and Banquo, have defeated two separate invading armies—one from Ireland, led by the rebel Macdonwald, and one from Norway. Following their pitched battle with these enemy forces, Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches as they cross a moor. The witches prophesy that Macbeth will be made thane (a rank of Scottish nobility) of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland. They also prophesy that Macbeth’s companion, Banquo, will beget a line of Scottish kings, although Banquo will never be king himself.

The witches vanish, and Macbeth and Banquo treat their prophecies skeptically until some of King Duncan’s men come to thank the two generals for their victories in battle and to tell Macbeth that he has indeed been named thane of Cawdor. The previous thane betrayed Scotland by fighting for the Norwegians and Duncan has condemned him to death. Macbeth is intrigued by the possibility that the remainder of the witches’ prophecy—that he will be crowned king—might be true, but he is uncertain what to expect. He visits with King Duncan, and they plan to dine together at Inverness, Macbeth’s castle, that night. Macbeth writes ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, telling her all that has happened.

Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband’s uncertainty. She desires the kingship for him and wants him to murder Duncan in order to obtain it. When Macbeth arrives at Inverness, she overrides all of her husband’s objections and persuades him to kill the king that very night. He and Lady Macbeth plan to get Duncan’s two chamberlains drunk so they will black out; the next morning they will blame the murder on the chamberlains, who will be defenseless, as they will remember nothing. While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his doubts and a number of supernatural portents, including a vision of a bloody dagger. When Duncan’s death is discovered the next morning, Macbeth kills the chamberlains—ostensibly out of rage at their crime—and easily assumes the kingship. Duncan’s sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee to England and Ireland, respectively, fearing that whoever killed Duncan desires their demise as well.

Fearful of the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s heirs will seize the throne, Macbeth hires a group of murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. They ambush Banquo on his way to a royal feast, but they fail to kill Fleance, who escapes into the night. Macbeth becomes furious: as long as Fleance is alive, he fears that his power remains insecure. At the feast that night, Banquo’s ghost visits Macbeth. When he sees the ghost, Macbeth raves fearfully, startling his guests, who include most of the great Scottish nobility. Lady Macbeth tries to neutralize the damage, but Macbeth’s kingship incites increasing resistance from his nobles and subjects.

Frightened, Macbeth goes to visit the witches in their cavern. There, they show him a sequence of demons and spirits who present him with further prophecies: he must beware of Macduff, a Scottish nobleman who opposed Macbeth’s accession to the throne; he is incapable of being harmed by any man born of woman; and he will be safe until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Castle. Macbeth is relieved and feels secure, because he knows that all men are born of women and that forests cannot move. When he learns that Macduff has fled to England to join Malcolm, Macbeth orders that Macduff’s castle be seized and, most cruelly, that Lady Macduff and her children be murdered.

When news of his family’s execution reaches Macduff in England, he is stricken with grief and vows revenge. Prince Malcolm, Duncan’s son, has succeeded in raising an army in England, and Macduff joins him as he rides to Scotland to challenge Macbeth’s forces. The invasion has the support of the Scottish nobles, who are appalled and frightened by Macbeth’s tyrannical and murderous behavior. Lady Macbeth, meanwhile, becomes plagued with fits of sleepwalking in which she bemoans what she believes to be bloodstains on her hands. Before Macbeth’s opponents arrive, Macbeth receives news that she has killed herself, causing him to sink into a deep and pessimistic despair. Nevertheless, he awaits the English and fortifies Dunsinane, to which he seems to have withdrawn in order to defend himself, certain that the witches’ prophecies guarantee his invincibility. He is struck numb with fear, however, when he learns that the English army is advancing on Dunsinane shielded with boughs cut from Birnam Wood. Birnam Wood is indeed coming to Dunsinane, fulfilling half of the witches’ prophecy.

In the battle, Macbeth hews violently, but the English forces gradually overwhelm his army and castle. On the battlefield, Macbeth encounters the vengeful Macduff, who declares that he was not “of woman born” but was instead “untimely ripped” from his mother’s womb (what we now call birth by cesarean section). Though he realizes that he is doomed, Macbeth continues to fight until Macduff kills and beheads him. Malcolm, now the King of Scotland, declares his benevolent intentions for the country and invites all to see him crowned at Scone.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles

Characters

• Oedipus - protagonist; blinds himself after finding the truth

• Jocasta - mother and wife of Oedipus; hangs herself after realizing the truth

• Laius - father of Oedipus; killed by Oedipus when he tries to kill him

• Tiresias - prophet that warns Oedipus to quit searching for the truth

• Prophet - Unnamed prophet who told Oedipus’s parents that he would kill his father and marry his mother

• Creon - brother-in-law to Oedipus; becomes king after Oedipus blinds himself

• Shephard - one that is supposed to kill Oedipus as a baby, but instead just leaves him; is the one to tell Oedipus the truth

Setting

• Athens - Oedipus’s kingdom

Themes

• Fate vs Free Will

• Ethical and Moral Questioning

• Deadliness of Pride

• Corruption from Power

• Knowledge vs Ignorance

• Consequences of Actions

Summary

A plague has stricken Thebes. The citizens gather outside the palace of their king, Oedipus, asking him to take action. Oedipus replies that he already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle at Delphi to learn how to help the city. Creon returns with a message from the oracle: the plague will end when the murderer of Laius, former king of Thebes, is caught and expelled; the murderer is within the city. Oedipus questions Creon about the murder of Laius, who was killed by thieves on his way to consult an oracle. Only one of his fellow travelers escaped alive. Oedipus promises to solve the mystery of Laius’s death, vowing to curse and drive out the murderer.

Oedipus sends for Tiresias, the blind prophet, and asks him what he knows about the murder. Tiresias responds cryptically, lamenting his ability to see the truth when the truth brings nothing but pain. At first he refuses to tell Oedipus what he knows. Oedipus curses and insults the old man, going so far as to accuse him of the murder. These taunts provoke Tiresias into revealing that Oedipus himself is the murderer. Oedipus naturally refuses to believe Tiresias’s accusation. He accuses Creon and Tiresias of conspiring against his life, and charges Tiresias with insanity. He asks why Tiresias did nothing when Thebes suffered under a plague once before. At that time, a Sphinx held the city captive and refused to leave until someone answered her riddle. Oedipus brags that he alone was able to solve the puzzle. Tiresias defends his skills as a prophet, noting that Oedipus’s parents found him trustworthy. At this mention of his parents, Oedipus, who grew up in the distant city of Corinth, asks how Tiresias knew his parents. But Tiresias answers enigmatically. Then, before leaving the stage, Tiresias puts forth one last riddle, saying that the murderer of Laius will turn out to be both father and brother to his own children, and the son of his own wife.

After Tiresias leaves, Oedipus threatens Creon with death or exile for conspiring with the prophet. Oedipus’s wife, Jocasta (also the widow of King Laius), enters and asks why the men shout at one another. Oedipus explains to Jocasta that the prophet has charged him with Laius’s murder, and Jocasta replies that all prophecies are false. As proof, she notes that the Delphic oracle once told Laius he would be murdered by his son, when in fact his son was cast out of Thebes as a baby, and Laius was murdered by a band of thieves. Her description of Laius’s murder, however, sounds familiar to Oedipus, and he asks further questions. Jocasta tells him that Laius was killed at a three-way crossroads, just before Oedipus arrived in Thebes. Oedipus, stunned, tells his wife that he may be the one who murdered Laius. He tells Jocasta that, long ago, when he was the prince of Corinth, he overheard someone mention at a banquet that he was not really the son of the king and queen. He therefore traveled to the oracle of Delphi, who did not answer him but did tell him he would murder his father and sleep with his mother. Hearing this, Oedipus fled his home, never to return. It was then, on the journey that would take him to Thebes, that Oedipus was confronted and harassed by a group of travelers, whom he killed in self-defense. This skirmish occurred at the very crossroads where Laius was killed.

Oedipus sends for the man who survived the attack, a shepherd, in the hope that he will not be identified as the murderer. Outside the palace, a messenger approaches Jocasta and tells her that he has come from Corinth to inform Oedipus that his father, Polybus, is dead, and that Corinth has asked Oedipus to come and rule there in his place. Jocasta rejoices, convinced that Polybus’s death from natural causes has disproved the prophecy that Oedipus would murder his father. At Jocasta’s summons, Oedipus comes outside, hears the news, and rejoices with her. He now feels much more inclined to agree with the queen in deeming prophecies worthless and viewing chance as the principle governing the world. But while Oedipus finds great comfort in the fact that one-half of the prophecy has been disproved, he still fears the other half—the half that claimed he would sleep with his mother.

The messenger remarks that Oedipus need not worry, because Polybus and his wife, Merope, are not Oedipus’s biological parents. The messenger, a shepherd by profession, knows firsthand that Oedipus came to Corinth as an orphan. One day long ago, he was tending his sheep when another shepherd approached him carrying a baby, its ankles pinned together. The messenger took the baby to the royal family of Corinth, and they raised him as their own. That baby was Oedipus. Oedipus asks who the other shepherd was, and the messenger answers that he was a servant of Laius.

Oedipus asks that this shepherd be brought forth to testify, but Jocasta, beginning to suspect the truth, begs her husband not to seek more information. She runs back into the palace. The shepherd then enters. Oedipus interrogates him, asking who gave him the baby. The shepherd refuses to disclose anything, and Oedipus threatens him with torture. Finally, he answers that the child came from the house of Laius. Questioned further, he answers that the baby was in fact the child of Laius himself, and that it was Jocasta who gave him the infant, ordering him to kill it, as it had been prophesied that the child would kill his parents. But the shepherd pitied the child, and decided that the prophecy could be avoided just as well if the child were to grow up in a foreign city, far from his true parents. The shepherd therefore passed the boy on to the shepherd in Corinth.

Realizing who he is and who his parents are, Oedipus screams that he sees the truth and flees back into the palace. The shepherd and the messenger slowly exit the stage. A second messenger enters and describes scenes of suffering. Jocasta has hanged herself, and Oedipus, finding her dead, has pulled the pins from her robe and stabbed out his own eyes. Oedipus now emerges from the palace, bleeding and begging to be exiled. He asks Creon to send him away from Thebes and to look after his daughters, Antigone and Ismene. Creon, covetous of royal power, is all too happy to oblige.

Antigone by Sophocles

Characters

• Antigone - protagonist; disobeys Creon to give Polyneices a proper burial because it is what the gods want; hangs herself before Creon can have her executed

• Ismene - Antigone’s sister; cowardly and does not want to disobey Creon; tries to take some blame for burying Polyneice but Antigone will not let her

• Edioces - honored dead brother; fought with Creon

• Polyneices - dishonored dead brother; fought against Creon; was not going to be buried which is against the gods

• Creon - Antigone’s uncle; corrupted from his power; orders Antigone be executed for disobeying him, but realizes too late that it is the wrong choice

• Hayamind - Antigone’s fiance; Creon’s son; falls on his own sword after seeing Antigone is dead

Setting

• Athens - Creon’s kingdom

Themes

• Fate vs Free Will

• Prophecy

• Divine Law vs Human Law

• Consequences of Actions

• Nature of Tragedy

• Corruption of Power

• Loyalty to Family

• Holding onto One’s Values

Summary

Antigone and Ismene, the daughters of Oedipus, discuss the disaster that has just befallen them. Their brothers Polynices and Eteocles have killed one another in a battle for control over Thebes. Creon now rules the city, and he has ordered that Polynices, who brought a foreign army against Thebes, not be allowed proper burial rites. Creon threatens to kill anyone who tries to bury Polynices and stations sentries over his body. Antigone, in spite of Creon’s edict and without the help of her sister Ismene, resolves to give their brother a proper burial. Soon, a nervous sentry arrives at the palace to tell Creon that, while the sentries slept, someone gave Polynices burial rites. Creon says that he thinks some of the dissidents of the city bribed the sentry to perform the rites, and he vows to execute the sentry if no other suspect is found.

The sentry soon exonerates himself by catching Antigone in the act of attempting to rebury her brother, the sentries having disinterred him. Antigone freely confesses her act to Creon and says that he himself defies the will of the gods by refusing Polynices burial. Creon condemns both Antigone and Ismene to death. Haemon, Creon’s son and Antigone’s betrothed, enters the stage. Creon asks him his opinion on the issue. Haemon seems at first to side with his father, but gradually admits his opposition to Creon’s stubbornness and petty vindictiveness. Creon curses him and threatens to slay Antigone before his very eyes. Haemon storms out. Creon decides to pardon Ismene, but vows to kill Antigone by walling her up alive in a tomb.

The blind prophet Tiresias arrives, and Creon promises to take whatever advice he gives. Tiresias advises that Creon allow Polynices to be buried, but Creon refuses. Tiresias predicts that the gods will bring down curses upon the city. The words of Tiresias strike fear into the hearts of Creon and the people of Thebes, and Creon reluctantly goes to free Antigone from the tomb where she has been imprisoned. But his change of heart comes too late. A messenger enters and recounts the tragic events: Creon and his entourage first gave proper burial to Polynices, then heard what sounded like Haemon’s voice wailing from Antigone’s tomb. They went in and saw Antigone hanging from a noose, and Haemon raving. Creon’s son then took a sword and thrust it at his father. Missing, he turned the sword against himself and died embracing Antigone’s body. Creon’s wife, Eurydice, hears this terrible news and rushes away into the palace. Creon enters, carrying Haemon’s body and wailing against his own tyranny, which he knows has caused his son’s death. The messenger tells Creon that he has another reason to grieve: Eurydice has stabbed herself, and, as she died, she called down curses on her husband for the misery his pride had caused. Creon kneels and prays that he, too, might die. His guards lead him back into the palace.

Othello by Shakespeare

Characters

• Othello - protagonist; kills himself after realizing he wrongfully murdered his wife; black man who faces prejudice from Iago

• Desdemona - Othello’s wife; wrongly killed for “cheating;” stays loyal to Othello throughout the play

• Iago - antagonist; manipulates everyone in order to ruin Othello for not giving him a promotion; makes Othello believe Desdemona is cheating on him with his friend Cassio

• Emilia - Iago’s wife; Iago treats her horribly; realizes what he’s done and tells everyone; Iago kills her

• Brabantio - Desdemona’s father; originally disapproves of her and Othello’s marriage

• Cassio - newly appointed officer; took Iago’s promotion; almost killed by Iago

• Bianco - Cassio’s mistress; treated bad by him; loves him but he does not love her (supposedly)

• Roderigo - loves Desdemona; helps Iago in schemes until Iago kills him

• Montano - soldier under Othello; involved in the fight with Cassio

• Grationo - close friend of Othello; also Brabantio’s brother

Setting

• Venice

Themes

• Fate vs Free Will

• Destructive Power of Jealousy and Insecurity

• Dangers of Manipulation

• Fragility of Trust

• Racial Prejudice

• Consequences of Hasty Judgement

Summary

Othello begins on a street in Venice, in the midst of an argument between Roderigo, a rich man, and Iago. Roderigo has been paying Iago to help him win Desdemona's hand in marriage. But Roderigo has just learned that Desdemona has married Othello, a general whom Iago begrudgingly serves as ensign. Iago says he hates Othello, who recently passed him over for the position of lieutenant in favor of the inexperienced soldier Michael Cassio.

Unseen, Iago and Roderigo cry out to Brabantio that his daughter Desdemona has been stolen by and married to Othello, the Moor. Brabanzio finds that his daughter is indeed missing, and he gathers some officers to find Othello. Not wanting his hatred of Othello to be known, Iago leaves Roderigo and hurries back to Othello before Brabanzio sees him. At Othello’s lodgings, Cassio arrives with an urgent message from the duke: Othello’s help is needed in the matter of the imminent Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Not long afterward, Brabanzio arrives with Roderigo and others, and accuses Othello of stealing his daughter by witchcraft. When he finds out that Othello is on his way to speak with the duke, Brabanzio decides to go along and accuse Othello before the assembled senate.

Brabanzio’s plan backfires. The duke and senate are very sympathetic toward Othello. Given a chance to speak for himself, Othello explains that he wooed and won Desdemona not by witchcraft but with the stories of his adventures in travel and war. The duke finds Othello’s explanation convincing, and Desdemona herself enters at this point to defend her choice in marriage and to announce to her father that her allegiance is now to her husband. Brabanzio is frustrated but acquiesces and allows the senate meeting to resume. The duke says that Othello must go to Cyprus to aid in the defense against the Turks, who are headed for the island. Desdemona insists that she accompany her husband on his trip, and preparations are made for them to depart that night.

In Cyprus the following day, two gentlemen stand on the shore with Montano, the governor of Cyprus. A third gentleman arrives and reports that the Turkish fleet has been wrecked in a storm at sea. Cassio, whose ship did not suffer the same fate, arrives soon after, followed by a second ship carrying Iago, Roderigo, Desdemona, and Emilia, Iago’s wife. Once they have landed, Othello’s ship is sighted, and the group goes to the harbor. As they wait for Othello, Cassio greets Desdemona by clasping her hand. Watching them, Iago tells the audience that he will use “as little a web as this” hand-holding to ensnare Cassio (II.i.169).

Othello arrives, greets his wife, and announces that there will be reveling that evening to celebrate Cyprus’s safety from the Turks. Once everyone has left, Roderigo complains to Iago that he has no chance of breaking up Othello’s marriage. Iago assures Roderigo that as soon as Desdemona’s “blood is made dull with the act of sport,” she will lose interest in Othello and seek sexual satisfaction elsewhere (II.i.222). However, Iago warns that “elsewhere” will likely be with Cassio. Iago counsels Roderigo that he should cast Cassio into disgrace by starting a fight with Cassio at the evening’s revels. In a soliloquy, Iago explains to the audience that eliminating Cassio is the first crucial step in his plan to ruin Othello. That night, Iago gets Cassio drunk and then sends Roderigo to start a fight with him. Apparently provoked by Roderigo, Cassio chases Roderigo across the stage. Governor Montano attempts to hold Cassio down, and Cassio stabs him. Iago sends Roderigo to raise alarm in the town.

The alarm is rung, and Othello, who had left earlier with plans to consummate his marriage, soon arrives to still the commotion. When Othello demands to know who began the fight, Iago feigns reluctance to implicate his “friend” Cassio, but he ultimately tells the whole story. Othello then strips Cassio of his rank of lieutenant. Cassio is extremely upset, and he laments to Iago, once everyone else has gone, that his reputation has been ruined forever. Iago assures Cassio that he can get back into Othello’s good graces by using Desdemona as an intermediary. In a soliloquy, Iago tells us that he will frame Cassio and Desdemona as lovers to make Othello jealous.

In an attempt at reconciliation, Cassio sends some musicians to play beneath Othello’s window. Othello, however, sends his clown to tell the musicians to go away. Hoping to arrange a meeting with Desdemona, Cassio asks the clown, a peasant who serves Othello, to send Emilia to him. After the clown departs, Iago passes by and tells Cassio that he will get Othello out of the way so that Cassio can speak privately with Desdemona. Othello, Iago, and a gentleman go to examine some of the town’s fortifications.

Desdemona is quite sympathetic to Cassio’s request and promises that she will do everything she can to make Othello forgive his former lieutenant. As Cassio is about to leave, Othello and Iago return. Feeling uneasy, Cassio leaves without talking to Othello. Othello inquires whether it was Cassio who just parted from his wife, and Iago, beginning to kindle Othello’s fire of jealousy, replies, “No, sure, I cannot think it, / That he would steal away so guilty-like, / Seeing your coming” (III.iii.37–39).

Othello becomes upset and moody, and Iago furthers his goal of removing both Cassio and Othello by suggesting that Cassio and Desdemona are involved in an affair. Desdemona’s entreaties to Othello to reinstate Cassio as lieutenant add to Othello’s almost immediate conviction that his wife is unfaithful. After Othello’s conversation with Iago, Desdemona comes to call Othello to supper and finds him feeling unwell. She offers him her handkerchief to wrap around his head, but he finds it to be “[t]oo little” and lets it drop to the floor (III.iii.291). Desdemona and Othello go to dinner, and Emilia picks up the handkerchief, mentioning to the audience that Iago has always wanted her to steal it for him.

Iago is ecstatic when Emilia gives him the handkerchief, which he plants in Cassio’s room as “evidence” of his affair with Desdemona. When Othello demands “ocular proof” (III.iii.365) that his wife is unfaithful, Iago says that he has seen Cassio “wipe his beard” (III.iii.444) with Desdemona’s handkerchief—the first gift Othello ever gave her. Othello vows to take vengeance on his wife and on Cassio, and Iago vows that he will help him. When Othello sees Desdemona later that evening, he demands the handkerchief of her, but she tells him that she does not have it with her and attempts to change the subject by continuing her suit on Cassio’s behalf. This drives Othello into a further rage, and he storms out. Later, Cassio comes onstage, wondering about the handkerchief he has just found in his chamber. He is greeted by Bianca, a prostitute, whom he asks to take the handkerchief and copy its embroidery for him.

Through Iago’s machinations, Othello becomes so consumed by jealousy that he falls into a trance and has a fit of epilepsy. As he writhes on the ground, Cassio comes by, and Iago tells him to come back in a few minutes to talk. Once Othello recovers, Iago tells him of the meeting he has planned with Cassio. He instructs Othello to hide nearby and watch as Iago extracts from Cassio the story of his affair with Desdemona. While Othello stands out of earshot, Iago pumps Cassio for information about Bianca, causing Cassio to laugh and confirm Othello’s suspicions. Bianca herself then enters with Desdemona’s handkerchief, reprimanding Cassio for making her copy out the embroidery of a love token given to him by another woman. When Desdemona enters with Lodovico and Lodovico subsequently gives Othello a letter from Venice calling him home and instating Cassio as his replacement, Othello goes over the edge, striking Desdemona and then storming out.

That night, Othello accuses Desdemona of being a whore. He ignores her protestations, seconded by Emilia, that she is innocent. Iago assures Desdemona that Othello is simply upset about matters of state. Later that night, however, Othello ominously tells Desdemona to wait for him in bed and to send Emilia away. Meanwhile, Iago assures the still-complaining Roderigo that everything is going as planned: in order to prevent Desdemona and Othello from leaving, Roderigo must kill Cassio. Then he will have a clear avenue to his love.

Iago instructs Roderigo to ambush Cassio, but Roderigo misses his mark and Cassio wounds him instead. Iago wounds Cassio and runs away. When Othello hears Cassio’s cry, he assumes that Iago has killed Cassio as he said he would. Lodovico and Graziano enter to see what the commotion is about. Iago enters shortly thereafter and flies into a pretend rage as he “discovers” Cassio’s assailant Roderigo, whom he murders. Cassio is taken to have his wound dressed.

Meanwhile, Othello stands over his sleeping wife in their bedchamber, preparing to kill her. Desdemona wakes and attempts to plead with Othello. She asserts her innocence, but Othello smothers her. Emilia enters with the news that Roderigo is dead. Othello asks if Cassio is dead too and is mortified when Emilia says he is not. After crying out that she has been murdered, Desdemona changes her story before she dies, claiming that she has committed suicide. Emilia asks Othello what happened, and Othello tells her that he has killed Desdemona for her infidelity, which Iago brought to his attention.

Montano, Graziano, and Iago come into the room. Iago attempts to silence Emilia, who realizes what Iago has done. At first, Othello insists that Iago has told the truth, citing the handkerchief as evidence. Once Emilia tells him how she found the handkerchief and gave it to Iago, Othello is crushed and begins to weep. He tries to kill Iago but is disarmed. Iago kills Emilia and flees, but he is caught by Lodovico and Montano, who return holding Iago captive. They also bring Cassio, who is now in a chair because of his wound. Othello wounds Iago and is disarmed. Lodovico tells Othello that he must come with them back to Venice to be tried. Othello makes a speech about how he would like to be remembered, then kills himself with a sword he had hidden on his person. The play closes with a speech by Lodovico. He gives Othello’s house and goods to Graziano and orders that Iago be executed.

Candide by Voltaire

Characters

• Candide - protagonist; very optimistic in beginning but loses that by the end of the story

• Pangloss - optimistic philosopher; Candide’s teacher; thought to be killed mutliple times but comes back; continues to be optimistic despite the hardships he goes through

• Martin - pessimistic philosopher; stays negative throughout the novel; never happy; argues with Pangloss

• Cunegonde - Candide’s wife; loves her for most of the novel until she becomes ugly, but marries her anyway because he promised he would

• Old Woman - takes care of Cunegonde; used to be a princess before she was sold into bondage

• Baron - Cunegonde’s brother

• Cacambo - Candide’s friend

• Jacques (Antibaptist) - helps Candide and Pangloss in the beginning of the novel; argues with Pangloss about his view on the world; drowns after saving a sailor

Setting

• Westphelia, Germany

• Holland

• Spain

• Argentina

• Paraguay

• Suriname

Themes

• Negative Effects of Blind Optimism

• Coming of Age

• Fate vs Free Will

• Critique of Religion

• Power of Resiliance and Adaptability

Summary

Candide is the illegitimate nephew of a German baron. He grows up in the baron’s castle under the tutelage of the scholar Pangloss, who teaches him that this world is “the best of all possible worlds.” Candide falls in love with the baron’s young daughter, Cunégonde. The baron catches the two kissing and expels Candide from his home. On his own for the first time, Candide is soon conscripted into the army of the Bulgars. He wanders away from camp for a brief walk, and is brutally flogged as a deserter. After witnessing a horrific battle, he manages to escape and travels to Holland.

In Holland, a kindly Anabaptist named Jacques takes Candide in. Candide runs into a deformed beggar and discovers that it is Pangloss. Pangloss explains that he has contracted syphilis and that Cunégonde and her family have all been brutally murdered by the Bulgar army. Nonetheless, he maintains his optimistic outlook. Jacques takes Pangloss in as well. The three travel to Lisbon together, but before they arrive their ship runs into a storm and Jacques is drowned. Candide and Pangloss arrive in Lisbon to find it destroyed by an earthquake and under the control of the Inquisition. Pangloss is soon hanged as a heretic, and Candide is flogged for listening with approval to Pangloss’s philosophy. After his beating, an old woman dresses Candide’s wounds and then, to his astonishment, takes him to Cunégonde. Cunégonde explains that though the Bulgars killed the rest of her family, she was merely raped and then captured by a captain, who sold her to a Jew named Don Isaachar. At present, she is a sex slave jointly owned by Don Isaachar and the Grand Inquisitor of Lisbon. Each of Cunégonde’s two owners arrive in turn as she and Candide are talking, and Candide kills them both. Terrified, Candide, the old woman, and Cunégonde flee and board a ship bound for South America. During their journey, the old woman relates her own story. She was born the Pope’s daughter but has suffered a litany of misfortunes that include rape, enslavement, and cannibalism.

Candide and Cunégonde plan to marry, but as soon as they arrive in Buenos Aires, the governor, Don Fernando, proposes to Cunégonde. Thinking of her own financial welfare, she accepts. Authorities looking for the murderer of the Grand Inquisitor arrive from Portugal in pursuit of Candide. Along with a newly acquired valet named Cacambo, Candide flees to territory controlled by Jesuits who are revolting against the Spanish government. After demanding an audience with a Jesuit commander, Candide discovers that the commander is Cunégonde’s brother, the baron, who also managed to escape from the Bulgars. Candide announces that he plans to marry Cunégonde, but the baron insists that his sister will never marry a commoner. Enraged, Candide runs the baron through with his sword. He and Cacambo escape into the wilderness, where they narrowly avoid being eaten by a native tribe called the Biglugs.

After traveling for days, Candide and Cacambo find themselves in the land of Eldorado, where gold and jewels litter the streets. This utopian country has advanced scientific knowledge, no religious conflict, no court system, and places no value on its plentiful gold and jewels. But Candide longs to return to Cunégonde, and after a month in Eldorado he and Cacambo depart with countless invaluable jewels loaded onto swift pack sheep. When they reach the territory of Surinam, Candide sends Cacambo to Buenos Aires with instructions to use part of the fortune to purchase Cunégonde from Don Fernando and then to meet him in Venice. An unscrupulous merchant named Vanderdendur steals much of Candide’s fortune, dampening his optimism somewhat. Frustrated, Candide sails off to France with a specially chosen companion, an unrepentantly pessimistic scholar named Martin. On the way there, he recovers part of his fortune when a Spanish captain sinks Vanderdendur’s ship. Candide takes this as proof that there is justice in the world, but Martin staunchly disagrees.

In Paris, Candide and Martin mingle with the social elite. Candide’s fortune attracts a number of hangers-on, several of whom succeed in filching jewels from him. Candide and Martin proceed to Venice, where, to Candide’s dismay, Cunégonde and Cacambo are nowhere to be found. However, they do encounter other colorful individuals there, including Paquette, the chambermaid-turned-prostitute who gave Pangloss syphilis, and Count Pococurante, a wealthy Venetian who is hopelessly bored with the cultural treasures that surround him. Eventually, Cacambo, now a slave of a deposed Turkish monarch, surfaces. He explains that Cunégonde is in Constantinople, having herself been enslaved along with the old woman. Martin, Cacambo, and Candide depart for Turkey, where Candide purchases Cacambo’s freedom.

Candide discovers Pangloss and the baron in a Turkish chain gang. Both have actually survived their apparent deaths and, after suffering various misfortunes, arrived in Turkey. Despite everything, Pangloss remains an optimist. An overjoyed Candide purchases their freedom, and he and his growing retinue go on to find Cunégonde and the old woman. Cunégonde has grown ugly since Candide last saw her, but he purchases her freedom anyway. He also buys the old woman’s freedom and purchases a farm outside of Constantinople. He keeps his longstanding promise to marry Cunégonde, but only after being forced to send the baron, who still cannot abide his sister marrying a commoner, back to the chain gang. Candide, Cunégonde, Cacambo, Pangloss, and the old woman settle into a comfortable life on the farm but soon find themselves growing bored and quarrelsome. Finally, Candide encounters a farmer who lives a simple life, works hard, and avoids vice and leisure. Inspired, Candide and his friends take to cultivating a garden in earnest. All their time and energy goes into the work, and none is left over for philosophical speculation. At last everyone is fulfilled and happy.

The Misanthrope by Moliere

Characters

• Alceste - protagonist; judges everyone; prefers honesty over white lies; decides to go live alone away from people at the end of the story

• Philinte - Alceste’s best friend; believes that lying to spare others’ feelings is ok

• Celimene - Alceste’s girlfriend; flirts with everyone; talks about everyone behind their backs; Alceste realizes she’s awful and leaves her

• Oronte - offended by Alceste’s honesty about his poem; makes Alceste’s lawsuit worse by false testimony

• Acaste - wants Celimene for himself; leaves her after finding the letters where she talks about everyone

• Eliante - Celimene’s cousin; avoids gossip; ends up with Philinte; very intelligent and honest

Setting

• Paris, France

Themes

• Love vs Reason

• Honesty vs Hypocrisy

• Social Conformity vs Individual Beliefs

• Dangers of Extremism in Personal Beliefs

Summary

Alceste, a French aristocrat, raves to his friend Philinte about the corruption of French society. Alceste identifies hypocrisy as one of mankind's worst flaws. Despite Philinte's objections, Alceste insists that truth and honesty, no matter how painful, are essential to true integrity. Philinte contends that honesty must be balanced with manners, arguing that flattery might justly take the place of offensiveness. He believes that human nature should be allowed its faults. Over the course of the conversation, we learn that Alceste is presently involved in a lawsuit.

During the conversation between Alceste and Philinte, Oronte, a marquis of the Court enters, proposing that he and Alceste commit to being friends. Alceste makes no such commitment, suggesting that they get to know each other first. Shortly thereafter, Oronte asks Alceste to critique a sonnet he has written. Alceste reluctantly agrees. He despises the poem, and scolds Philinte for flattering Oronte. When Oronte asks Alceste's opinion, Alceste suggests that Oronte give up his aspirations as a poet. Insulted, Oronte leaves.

Alceste confronts his love interest Célimène (whose house is the setting for the play) about her recent behavior, which he considers inappropriate. He criticizes her for entertaining too many suitors; she insists that her flirtation is harmless and that her true affections lie with him. Célimène's manservant, Basque, announces the arrivals of Acaste and Clitandre, two marquises hoping to court Célimène. In protest, Alceste announces that he will leave, but he does not.

All of Célimène's suitors, excluding Alceste, gather with her and her female cousin, Éliante, to hear Célimène's gossip about the people of the Court. Célimène criticizes harshly, and her suitors are highly entertained. Alceste interjects during Célimène's discussions to object to the hypocrisy at hand. Everyone dismisses his comments. Éliante delivers her ideas about men in love, mentioning that Alceste's disposition is abnormal. She contends that smitten men typically compliment those with whom they are in love.

An Officer of the Marshals of France arrives to inform Alceste that a lawsuit has been filed against him by Oronte, who seeks retribution for Alceste's comments about his poem. Alceste leaves to deal with the matter.

Acaste and Clitandre find a moment alone to discuss their affections for Célimène. Acaste strokes his own ego, bragging about his youth, his wealth, and his appeal to women. His cheerfulness dissolves, however, when he admits that Célimène does not care for him. Clitandre and Acaste decide that, should one of them fall out of favor with Célimène for good, he will step aside and support the other's courtship.

Arsinoé, a cantankerous older woman, arrives to tell Célimène that the people of the court have been talking about her "flirtatiousness." Arsinoé claims to have taken Célimène's side in the affair, but she suggests that Célimène change her behavior promptly to avoid further conflict. Célimène comments on Arsinoé's flaws, implying that Arsinoé's pretentiousness is also a topic of conversation. Arsinoé takes offense when Célimène states that the older woman's flaws might just be the result of age.

The dispute ends when Alceste arrives, at which point Célimène leaves. Arsinoé praises Alceste's integrity and offers to use her influence to acquire him a position at Court. He scoffs at her offer. She then tells Alceste that she has a letter proving Célimène's deception of him. Alceste leaves with Arsinoé to see the evidence for himself.

Philinte and Éliante discuss Alceste's extraordinarily foul behavior before the Marshals of France. Philinte can hardly believe Alceste's unwillingness to compromise, while Éliante praises Alceste's commitment to his own value system. When their conversation turns to Alceste's relationship with Célimène, Éliante states that Célimène is confused and does not know whom she loves. Éliante admits that she would accept Alceste's advances if he were to abandon Célimène at any point. Philinte then admits his attraction to Éliante, saying he would be honored to be hers.

As Philinte and Éliante finish their conversation, Alceste enters, infuriated and seeking revenge against Célimène for deceiving him by professing her attraction to another suitor. Alceste proposes that he and Éliante strike up a relationship in order to make Célimène jealous. Éliante cautions Alceste not to be hasty in his judgment.

Philinte and Éliante exit as Célimène enters. Alceste berates Célimène for her infidelity. She reacts calmly, calling him "foolish" and telling him to believe what he wishes about the letter. Desperate, Alceste commands Célimène to tell him that the letter was actually written to a woman. Célimène refuses this request, and Alceste rages about his uncontrollable love for her.

Alceste's servant, Du Bois, enters, telling his master to leave immediately, as he has lost his court battle and now runs the risk of arrest. Alceste leaves to find out more about the situation. He finds Philinte, who counsels him to challenge the verdict issued against him. Alceste refuses, stating that he wants the verdict to stand as an example of human corruption. He announces that he will isolate himself from society forever. Before leaving, he plans to test Célimène's love by asking her to retire with him.

Shortly thereafter, Alceste and Oronte confront Célimène, both demanding that she choose between them. Célimène refuses to do so, stating that she plans to let Éliante make the decision for her. When Éliante enters, she refuses to do Célimène's bidding. Then, Acaste and Clitandre enter with a letter written by Célimène that contains insulting remarks about each of the suitors. Arsinoé and Philinte return. The men read the letter aloud, each of them declaring his wish to end whatever courtship he had with Célimène.

Eventually, Alceste is the only suitor remaining. For once, he is willing to forgive Célimène, but he says she must first agree to live with him in solitude. She is shocked by his proposal, explaining to him that she is too young to make such a drastic decision. She agrees to marry him, but not to leave with him. Furious, Alceste renounces his love for Célimène. She leaves, and Alceste turns to Éliante, telling her that it would be unjust for him to ask for her devotion. Éliante professes agreement, announcing her decision to devote herself to Philinte. Alceste exits, and Philinte and Éliante follow to encourage him to rethink his decision to retire into isolation.

An Enemy of the People by Ibsen

Characters

• Dr. Thomas Stockmann - protagonist; very arrogant; believes that the spas should be redone because of the water; fights town for his beliefs

• Peter Stockmann - mayor of a small town in Norway; Dr Stockmann’s brother; believes that they should open the spa despite the waters; influences newspaper and town to fight against his brother

• Petra - Dr’s daughter; encourages her father to keep fighting

• Mrs. Katherine Stockmann - Dr’s wife; more concerned about her family’s safety than being right; supports her husband despite her worries

• Hovstad - editor of the newspaper

• Aslaken - newspaper’s printer

• Billing - assistant at newspaper; kinda dating Petra

• Morten Kiil - adoptive father of Mrs. Stockmann; will gives a lot of money to her and her children; threatens to take them out of the will if Dr. Stockmann keeps fighting the town

Setting

• Town in Norway

Themes

• Individual vs Society

• Corruption of Power

• Role of the Press and Public Opinion

• Social Responsibility vs Self-Interests

• Arrogance and Pride

Summary

The town in which the play is set has built a huge bathing complex that is crucial to the town's economy. Dr. Stockmann has just discovered that the baths' drainage system is seriously contaminated. He alerts several members of the community, including Hovstad and Aslaksen, and receives generous support and thanks for making his discovery in time to save the town. The next morning, however, his brother, who is also the town's mayor, tells him that he must retract his statements, for the necessary repairs would be too expensive; additionally, the mayor is not convinced by Dr. Stockmann's findings. The brothers have a fierce argument, but Dr. Stockmann hopes that at least Hovstad's newspaper will support him. However, the mayor convinces Hovstad and Aslaksen to oppose Dr. Stockmann.

The doctor holds a town meeting to give a lecture on the baths, but Aslaksen and the mayor try to keep him from speaking. Dr. Stockmann then begins a long tirade in which he condemns the foundations of the town and the tyranny of the majority. The audience finds his speech incredibly offensive, and the next morning the doctor's home is vandalized. He and his daughter are fired. The mayor insinuates that the doctor's actions were merely a scheme to inherit more of Morten Kiil's money, and Kiil himself soon arrives to suggest just such a plan to Dr. Stockmann. However, the doctor refuses all such suggestions and decides to defy authority and remain in town. His family is supportive, and he says that the strongest man is the man who stands alone.

A Doll’s House by Ibsen

Characters

• Nora - protagonist; “doll” in Torvald’s house; becomes independent at the end of the novel; starts off as playful and acts like an innocent child

• Torvald - Nora’s husband; controlling; believes bad from children stems from mother, which affects Nora; overly concerned about his position in society (an example is his anger at Nora for forging his signature on a check TO SAVE HIS LIFE)

• Rank - Torvald’s friend; is severely ill and dies at the end of the novel; in love with Nora

• Christine Lynde - Nora’s friend; pushes Nora tell Torvald the truth about the forged check

• Krugstad - works at the bank with Torvald; blackmails Nora to try and keep his position at the bank

Setting

• Town in Norway

Themes

• Struggle for Individual Identity

• Critque of Traditional Gender Roles

• Complexities of Marriage and Family Dynamics

• Importance of Honesty and Communication in Relationships

Symbols

• Christmas Tree - symbolizes Nora’s life as a plaything who is pleasing to look at and is charming

• Nora’s Torantella Dance - symbolizes how Torvald sees her as a doll by buying her the dress and making her do this specific dance

Summary

A Doll’s House opens on Christmas Eve. Nora Helmer enters her well-furnished living room—the setting of the entire play—carrying several packages. Torvald Helmer, Nora’s husband, comes out of his study when he hears her arrive. He greets her playfully and affectionately, but then chides her for spending so much money on Christmas gifts. Their conversation reveals that the Helmers have had to be careful with money for many years, but that Torvald has recently obtained a new position at the bank where he works that will afford them a more comfortable lifestyle.

Helene, the maid, announces that the Helmers’ dear friend Dr. Rank has come to visit. At the same time, another visitor has arrived, this one unknown. To Nora’s great surprise, Kristine Linde, a former school friend, comes into the room. The two have not seen each other for years, but Nora mentions having read that Mrs. Linde’s husband passed away a few years earlier. Mrs. Linde tells Nora that when her husband died, she was left with no money and no children. Nora tells Mrs. Linde about her first year of marriage to Torvald. She explains that they were very poor and both had to work long hours. Torvald became sick, she adds, and the couple had to travel to Italy so that Torvald could recover.

Nora inquires further about Mrs. Linde’s life, and Mrs. Linde explains that for years she had to care for her sick mother and her two younger brothers. She states that her mother has passed away, though, and that the brothers are too old to need her. Instead of feeling relief, Mrs. Linde says she feels empty because she has no occupation; she hopes that Torvald may be able to help her obtain employment. Nora promises to speak to Torvald and then reveals a great secret to Mrs. Linde—without Torvald’s knowledge, Nora illegally borrowed money for the trip that she and Torvald took to Italy; she told Torvald that the money had come from her father. For years, Nora reveals, she has worked and saved in secret, slowly repaying the debt, and soon it will be fully repaid.

Krogstad, a low-level employee at the bank where Torvald works, arrives and proceeds into Torvald’s study. Nora reacts uneasily to Krogstad’s presence, and Dr. Rank, coming out of the study, says Krogstad is “morally sick.” Once he has finished meeting with Krogstad, Torvald comes into the living room and says that he can probably hire Mrs. Linde at the bank. Dr. Rank, Torvald, and Mrs. Linde then depart, leaving Nora by herself. Nora’s children return with their nanny, Anne-Marie, and Nora plays with them until she notices Krogstad’s presence in the room. The two converse, and Krogstad is revealed to be the source of Nora’s secret loan.

Krogstad states that Torvald wants to fire him from his position at the bank and alludes to his own poor reputation. He asks Nora to use her influence to ensure that his position remains secure. When she refuses, Krogstad points out that he has in his possession a contract that contains Nora’s forgery of her father’s signature. Krogstad blackmails Nora, threatening to reveal her crime and to bring shame and disgrace on both Nora and her husband if she does not prevent Torvald from firing him. Krogstad leaves, and when Torvald returns, Nora tries to convince him not to fire Krogstad, but Torvald will hear nothing of it. He declares Krogstad an immoral man and states that he feels physically ill in the presence of such people.

Act Two opens on the following day, Christmas. Alone, Nora paces her living room, filled with anxiety. Mrs. Linde arrives and helps sew Nora’s costume for the ball that Nora will be attending at her neighbors’ home the following evening. Nora tells Mrs. Linde that Dr. Rank has a mortal illness that he inherited from his father. Nora’s suspicious behavior leads Mrs. Linde to guess that Dr. Rank is the source of Nora’s loan. Nora denies Mrs. Linde’s charge but refuses to reveal the source of her distress. Torvald arrives, and Nora again begs him to keep Krogstad employed at the bank, but again Torvald refuses. When Nora presses him, he admits that Krogstad’s moral behavior isn’t all that bothers him—he dislikes Krogstad’s overly familiar attitude. Torvald and Nora argue until Torvald sends the maid to deliver Krogstad’s letter of dismissal.

Torvald leaves. Dr. Rank arrives and tells Nora that he knows he is close to death. She attempts to cheer him up and begins to flirt with him. She seems to be preparing to ask him to intervene on her behalf in her struggle with Torvald. Suddenly, Dr. Rank reveals to Nora that he is in love with her. In light of this revelation, Nora refuses to ask Dr. Rank for anything.

Once Dr. Rank leaves, Krogstad arrives and demands an explanation for his dismissal. He wants respectability and has changed the terms of the blackmail: he now insists to Nora not only that he be rehired at the bank but that he be rehired in a higher position. He then puts a letter detailing Nora’s debt and forgery in the Helmers’ letterbox. In a panic, Nora tells Mrs. Linde everything, and Mrs. Linde instructs Nora to delay Torvald from opening the letter as long as possible while she goes to speak with Krogstad. In order to distract Torvald from the letterbox, Nora begins to practice the tarantella she will perform at that evening’s costume party. In her agitated emotional state, she dances wildly and violently, displeasing Torvald. Nora manages to make Torvald promise not to open his mail until after she performs at the party. Mrs. Linde soon returns and says that she has left Krogstad a note but that he will be gone until the following evening.

The next night, as the costume party takes place upstairs, Krogstad meets Mrs. Linde in the Helmers’ living room. Their conversation reveals that the two had once been deeply in love, but Mrs. Linde left Krogstad for a wealthier man who would enable her to support her family. She tells Krogstad that now that she is free of her own familial obligations and wishes to be with Krogstad and care for his children. Krogstad is overjoyed and says he will demand his letter back before Torvald can read it and learn Nora’s secret. Mrs. Linde, however, insists he leave the letter, because she believes both Torvald and Nora will be better off once the truth has been revealed.

Soon after Krogstad’s departure, Nora and Torvald enter, back from the costume ball. After saying goodnight to Mrs. Linde, Torvald tells Nora how desirable she looked as she danced. Dr. Rank, who was also at the party and has come to say goodnight, promptly interrupts Torvald’s advances on Nora. After Dr. Rank leaves, Torvald finds in his letterbox two of Dr. Rank’s visiting cards, each with a black cross above the name. Nora knows Dr. Rank’s cards constitute his announcement that he will soon die, and she informs Torvald of this fact. She then insists that Torvald read Krogstad’s letter.

Torvald reads the letter and is outraged. He calls Nora a hypocrite and a liar and complains that she has ruined his happiness. He declares that she will not be allowed to raise their children. Helene then brings in a letter. Torvald opens it and discovers that Krogstad has returned Nora’s contract (which contains the forged signature). Overjoyed, Torvald attempts to dismiss his past insults, but his harsh words have triggered something in Nora. She declares that despite their eight years of marriage, they do not understand one another. Torvald, Nora asserts, has treated her like a “doll” to be played with and admired. She decides to leave Torvald, declaring that she must “make sense of [her]self and everything around her.” She walks out, slamming the door behind her. 
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin

Characters

• Elizabeth - protagonist; intelligent; marries Mr Darcy at the end of the novel

• Darcy - Elizabeth’s husband; arrogant with a soft spot for family and her

• Jane - Elizabeth’s oldest sister; kind and gentle; marries Mr Bingely at the end of the novel

• Charles Bingley - best friend of Darcy; very wealthy; loves Jane

• Miss Bingley - Mr Bingley’s sister; rude and snobbish; attempts to gain Darcy’s affections but ends up pushing him towards Elizabeth more

• Mr Bennet - Elizabeth’s father; loves his daughter but usually stays out of arguments between them and his wife

• Mrs Bennet - Elizabeth’s mother; only goal in life is to marry off her daughters; crazy behavior usually scares off suitors

• Lydia - youngest sister; immature and rushes into things without much thought; runs off with Wickham

• George Wickham - bad past (took money from Darcy and tried to marry his sister); initially attracted Elizabeth but she realized his true nature after Darcy told her the truth

• Charlotte - Elizabeth’s best friend; views marriage as a way to get a better social status; marries Mr Collins

• Mr Collins - Elizabeth’s cousin; stupid clergyman who brags about himself too much; friends with Lady Catherine de Bourgh

• Lady Catherine de Bourgh - rich and bossy noblewoman; attempts to keep Elizabeth away from Darcy

• Mr and Mrs Gardiner - Mrs Bennet’s brother and his wife; kind and full of common sense; better parents for the Bennet sisters than their parents

• Georginia Darcy - Darcy’s sister; very shy

Setting

• England in the 19th Century

Themes

• Impact of First Impressions and Prejudices on Relationships

• Importance of Overcoming Personal Flaws for Growth and Happiness

• Critique of Marriage as a Improvement in Social Status Only

• Power of Self-Reflection and the Ability to Change

• Value of True Partnership and Mutal Respect in Relationships

Summary

The news that a wealthy young gentleman named Charles Bingley has rented the manor of Netherfield Park causes a great stir in the nearby village of Longbourn, especially in the Bennet household. The Bennets have five unmarried daughters—from oldest to youngest, Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia—and Mrs. Bennet is desperate to see them all married. After Mr. Bennet pays a social visit to Mr. Bingley, the Bennets attend a ball at which Mr. Bingley is present. He is taken with Jane and spends much of the evening dancing with her. His close friend, Mr. Darcy, is less pleased with the evening and haughtily refuses to dance with Elizabeth, which makes everyone view him as arrogant and obnoxious.

At social functions over subsequent weeks, however, Mr. Darcy finds himself increasingly attracted to Elizabeth’s charm and intelligence. Jane’s friendship with Mr. Bingley also continues to burgeon, and Jane pays a visit to the Bingley mansion. On her journey to the house she is caught in a downpour and catches ill, forcing her to stay at Netherfield for several days. In order to tend to Jane, Elizabeth hikes through muddy fields and arrives with a spattered dress, much to the disdain of the snobbish Miss Bingley, Charles Bingley’s sister. Miss Bingley’s spite only increases when she notices that Darcy, whom she is pursuing, pays quite a bit of attention to Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth and Jane return home, they find Mr. Collins visiting their household. Mr. Collins is a young clergyman who stands to inherit Mr. Bennet’s property, which has been “entailed,” meaning that it can only be passed down to male heirs. Mr. Collins is a pompous fool, though he is quite enthralled by the Bennet girls. Shortly after his arrival, he makes a proposal of marriage to Elizabeth. She turns him down, wounding his pride. Meanwhile, the Bennet girls have become friendly with militia officers stationed in a nearby town. Among them is Wickham, a handsome young soldier who is friendly toward Elizabeth and tells her how Darcy cruelly cheated him out of an inheritance.

At the beginning of winter, the Bingleys and Darcy leave Netherfield and return to London, much to Jane’s dismay. A further shock arrives with the news that Mr. Collins has become engaged to Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s best friend and the poor daughter of a local knight. Charlotte explains to Elizabeth that she is getting older and needs the match for financial reasons. Charlotte and Mr. Collins get married and Elizabeth promises to visit them at their new home. As winter progresses, Jane visits the city to see friends (hoping also that she might see Mr. Bingley). However, Miss Bingley visits her and behaves rudely, while Mr. Bingley fails to visit her at all. The marriage prospects for the Bennet girls appear bleak.

That spring, Elizabeth visits Charlotte, who now lives near the home of Mr. Collins’s patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who is also Darcy’s aunt. Darcy calls on Lady Catherine and encounters Elizabeth, whose presence leads him to make a number of visits to the Collins’s home, where she is staying. One day, he makes a shocking proposal of marriage, which Elizabeth quickly refuses. She tells Darcy that she considers him arrogant and unpleasant, then scolds him for steering Bingley away from Jane and disinheriting Wickham. Darcy leaves her but shortly thereafter delivers a letter to her. In this letter, he admits that he urged Bingley to distance himself from Jane, but claims he did so only because he thought their romance was not serious. As for Wickham, he informs Elizabeth that the young officer is a liar and that the real cause of their disagreement was Wickham’s attempt to elope with his young sister, Georgiana Darcy.

This letter causes Elizabeth to reevaluate her feelings about Darcy. She returns home and acts coldly toward Wickham. The militia is leaving town, which makes the younger, rather man-crazy Bennet girls distraught. Lydia manages to obtain permission from her father to spend the summer with an old colonel in Brighton, where Wickham’s regiment will be stationed. With the arrival of June, Elizabeth goes on another journey, this time with the Gardiners, who are relatives of the Bennets. The trip takes her to the North and eventually to the neighborhood of Pemberley, Darcy’s estate. She visits Pemberley, after making sure that Darcy is away, and delights in the building and grounds, while hearing from Darcy’s servants that he is a wonderful, generous master. Suddenly, Darcy arrives and behaves cordially toward her. Making no mention of his proposal, he entertains the Gardiners and invites Elizabeth to meet his sister.

Shortly thereafter, however, a letter arrives from home, telling Elizabeth that Lydia has eloped with Wickham and that the couple is nowhere to be found, which suggests that they may be living together out of wedlock. Fearful of the disgrace such a situation would bring on her entire family, Elizabeth hastens home. Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Bennet go off to search for Lydia, but Mr. Bennet eventually returns home empty-handed. Just when all hope seems lost, a letter comes from Mr. Gardiner saying that the couple has been found and that Wickham has agreed to marry Lydia in exchange for an annual income. The Bennets are convinced that Mr. Gardiner has paid off Wickham, but Elizabeth learns that the source of the money, and of her family’s salvation, was none other than Darcy.

Now married, Wickham and Lydia return to Longbourn briefly, where Mr. Bennet treats them coldly. They then depart for Wickham’s new assignment in the North of England. Shortly thereafter, Bingley returns to Netherfield and resumes his courtship of Jane. Darcy goes to stay with him and pays visits to the Bennets but makes no mention of his desire to marry Elizabeth. Bingley, on the other hand, presses his suit and proposes to Jane, to the delight of everyone but Bingley’s haughty sister. While the family celebrates, Lady Catherine de Bourgh pays a visit to Longbourn. She corners Elizabeth and says that she has heard that Darcy, her nephew, is planning to marry her. Since she considers a Bennet an unsuitable match for a Darcy, Lady Catherine demands that Elizabeth promise to refuse him. Elizabeth spiritedly refuses, saying she is not engaged to Darcy, but she will not promise anything against her own happiness. A little later, Elizabeth and Darcy go out walking together and he tells her that his feelings have not altered since the spring. She tenderly accepts his proposal, and both Jane and Elizabeth are married.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Characters

• Heathcliff - in love with Catherine; seeks revenge on Hindley, Catherine, and their children; cruel and powerful; owner of Wuthering Heights

• Mr Earnshaw - Catherine and Hindley’s father; adopts Heathcliff who becomes his favorite; gives Hindley the estate after his death

• Hindley - Catherine’s brother; hates Heathcliff; abuses Heathcliff after he inherents the estate after his father’s death and forces him to work in the fields without an education; when his wife dies after giving birth, he becomes a drunk with depression

• Catherine - daughter of Mr Earnshaw; in love with Heathcliff, but marries Edgar Linton for social advancement; she has fits of temper due to being torn between her love and her ambition

• Edgar - Husband of Catherine; tender but cowardly; many virtues but can not stand up against Heathcliff

• Lockwood - narrator of the book; vain and presumptuous

• Ellen (Nelly) Dean - chief narrator of Wuthering Heights; worked there and became close with Hindley and Catherine Earnshaw

• Isabella - Edgar’s sister; marries Heathcliff and immediately regrets; he ruins her life and treats her horribly

• Cathy - daughter of Edgar and the first Catherine; headstrong and sometimes arrogant, yet gentler and more compassionate than her mother; marries Hareton at the end of the novel

• Hareton - Hindley’s son; Heathcliff gains custody of him after Hindley’s death and treats him horribly; raises him as an uneducated field worker; has a good heart but also a quick-temper

• Linton - Isabella and Heathcliff’s son; weak and constantly ill; mother dies and goes to live with his father; is forced to marry Cathy by Heathcliff so he can gain control over Thrushcross Grange after Edgar’s death; Linton dies soon after the marriage

• Joseph - religious and elderly servant at Wuthering Heights; strange, stubborn, and rude

Setting

• Wuthering Heights

• Thrushcross Grange

Themes

• Destructive Nature of Obsessive Love and Revenge

• Exploration of Identity and the Influence of Upbringing

• Power of Dynamics in Relationships and Social Hierarchies

• Conflict between Societal Norms and Passionate Desires

Summary

In the late winter months of 1801, a man named Lockwood rents a manor house called Thrushcross Grange in the isolated moor country of England. Here, he meets his dour landlord, Heathcliff, a wealthy man who lives in the ancient manor of Wuthering Heights, four miles away from the Grange. In this wild, stormy countryside, Lockwood asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to tell him the story of Heathcliff and the strange denizens of Wuthering Heights. Nelly consents, and Lockwood writes down his recollections of her tale in his diary; these written recollections form the main part of Wuthering Heights.

Nelly remembers her childhood. As a young girl, she works as a servant at Wuthering Heights for the owner of the manor, Mr. Earnshaw, and his family. One day, Mr. Earnshaw goes to Liverpool and returns home with an orphan boy whom he will raise with his own children. At first, the Earnshaw children—a boy named Hindley and his younger sister Catherine—detest the dark-skinned Heathcliff. But Catherine quickly comes to love him, and the two soon grow inseparable, spending their days playing on the moors. After his wife’s death, Mr. Earnshaw grows to prefer Heathcliff to his own son, and when Hindley continues his cruelty to Heathcliff, Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college, keeping Heathcliff nearby.

Three years later, Mr. Earnshaw dies, and Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights. He returns with a wife, Frances, and immediately seeks revenge on Heathcliff. Once an orphan, later a pampered and favored son, Heathcliff now finds himself treated as a common laborer, forced to work in the fields. Heathcliff continues his close relationship with Catherine, however. One night they wander to Thrushcross Grange, hoping to tease Edgar and Isabella Linton, the cowardly, snobbish children who live there. Catherine is bitten by a dog and is forced to stay at the Grange to recuperate for five weeks, during which time Mrs. Linton works to make her a proper young lady. By the time Catherine returns, she has become infatuated with Edgar, and her relationship with Heathcliff grows more complicated.

When Frances dies after giving birth to a baby boy named Hareton, Hindley descends into the depths of alcoholism, and behaves even more cruelly and abusively toward Heathcliff. Eventually, Catherine’s desire for social advancement prompts her to become engaged to Edgar Linton, despite her overpowering love for Heathcliff. Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights, staying away for three years, and returning shortly after Catherine and Edgar’s marriage.

When Heathcliff returns, he immediately sets about seeking revenge on all who have wronged him. Having come into a vast and mysterious wealth, he deviously lends money to the drunken Hindley, knowing that Hindley will increase his debts and fall into deeper despondency. When Hindley dies, Heathcliff inherits the manor. He also places himself in line to inherit Thrushcross Grange by marrying Isabella Linton, whom he treats very cruelly. Catherine becomes ill, gives birth to a daughter, and dies. Heathcliff begs her spirit to remain on Earth—she may take whatever form she will, she may haunt him, drive him mad—just as long as she does not leave him alone. Shortly thereafter, Isabella flees to London and gives birth to Heathcliff’s son, named Linton after her family. She keeps the boy with her there.

Thirteen years pass, during which Nelly Dean serves as Catherine’s daughter’s nursemaid at Thrushcross Grange. Young Cathy is beautiful and headstrong like her mother, but her temperament is modified by her father’s gentler influence. Cathy grows up at the Grange with no knowledge of Wuthering Heights; one day, however, wandering through the moors, she discovers the manor, meets Hareton, and plays together with him. Soon afterwards, Isabella dies, and Linton comes to live with Heathcliff. Heathcliff treats his sickly, whining son even more cruelly than he treated the boy’s mother.

Three years later, Cathy meets Heathcliff on the moors, and makes a visit to Wuthering Heights to meet Linton. She and Linton begin a secret romance conducted entirely through letters. When Nelly destroys Cathy's collection of letters, the girl begins sneaking out at night to spend time with her frail young lover, who asks her to come back and nurse him back to health. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Linton is pursuing Cathy only because Heathcliff is forcing him to; Heathcliff hopes that if Cathy marries Linton, his legal claim upon Thrushcross Grange—and his revenge upon Edgar Linton—will be complete.

One day, as Edgar Linton grows ill and nears death, Heathcliff lures Nelly and Cathy back to Wuthering Heights, and holds them prisoner until Cathy marries Linton. Soon after the marriage, Edgar dies, and his death is quickly followed by the death of the sickly Linton. Heathcliff now controls both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He forces Cathy to live at Wuthering Heights and act as a common servant, while he rents Thrushcross Grange to Lockwood.

Nelly’s story ends as she reaches the present. Lockwood, appalled, ends his tenancy at Thrushcross Grange and returns to London. However, six months later, he pays a visit to Nelly, and learns of further developments in the story. Although Cathy originally mocked Hareton’s ignorance and illiteracy (in an act of retribution, Heathcliff ended Hareton’s education after Hindley died), Cathy grows to love Hareton as they live together at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff becomes more and more obsessed with the memory of the elder Catherine, to the extent that he begins speaking to her ghost. Everything he sees reminds him of her. Shortly after a night spent walking on the moors, Heathcliff dies. Hareton and Cathy inherit Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, and they plan to be married on the next New Year’s Day. After hearing the end of the story, Lockwood goes to visit the graves of Catherine and Heathcliff.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Characters

• Pip - protagonist and narrator of the story; in love with Estella most of the book; ashamed of his past until the end of the novel

• Estella - rich but cruel girl that Pip loves; adopted by Ms Havisham; raised to break men’s hearts; marries a cruel man who mistreats her; reunites with Pip at the end of the novel

• Ms Havisham - wealthy old lady who lives in a mansion; creepy because she stays in a room with her old wedding things and all the clocks stopped at the time she was left at the alter; raises Estella to be cruel because of her hatred of men

• Magwitch (The Convict) - criminal that terroized Pip in the beginning of the story; Pip’s kindness causes him to try and become wealthy in order to elevate Pip into a higher class; is the secret benefactor

• Joe Gargery - Pip’s brother-in-law; local blacksmith; stays with Pip’s crazy sister out of love for Pip; uneducated but very kind

• Mr Jaggers - powerful and scary lawyer that Magwitch hired to supervise Pip’s elevation to the upper class; cares for Pip; helped Ms Havisham adopt Estella

• Herbert Pocket - was the young boy that challenged Pip to a fight in the beginning of the story; years later they meet again in London and become best friends; Ms Havisham’s cousin and wants to become a merchant

• Wemmick - strange character; at work he is hard cynical and sarcastic; at home he is happy and tender

• Biddy - simple, kindhearted country girl; Pip befriends her at school; takes care of Mrs Joe after the attack; represents the opposite of Estella: plain, kind, and moral

• Orlick - laborer in Joe’s forge; cruel and hurts people because he enjoys it; is the one that attacked Mrs. Joe; later attempts to murder Pip

• Mrs Joe - Pip’s sister and Joe’s wife; stern and overbearing; beats Joe and Pip with her cane “Tickler;” petty and ambitious; often talks about how she wishes she was more than a blacksmith’s wife

• Uncle Pumblechook - Pip’s arrogant uncle; merchant obsessed with money; responsible for Pip’s first meeting with Ms Havisham; shamelessly takes credit for Pip’s rise in social status even though he has nothing to do with it

• Compeyson - criminal and former partner of Magwitch; man who left Ms Havisham on her wedding day; responsible for Magwitch’s capture at the end of the story

• Bentley Drummle - cruel young man who attends tutoring sessions with Pip; acts cruelly because he feels he is superior to everyone else due to beong a minor member of the nobility; marries Estella and then dies around 11 years later

Setting

• 19th century England; mostly London and the surrounding marshlands where Pip grew up

Themes

• Journey of Self-Discovery and Moral Growth

• Impact of Social Class on Personal Relationships and Opportunities

• Corrupting Influence of Wealth and Ambition

• Power of Forgiveness and Redemption

• Effects of Childhood Experiences on Adult Life

Summary

Pip, a young orphan living with his sister and her husband in the marshes of Kent, sits in a cemetery one evening looking at his parents’ tombstones. Suddenly, an escaped convict springs up from behind a tombstone, grabs Pip, and orders him to bring him food and a file for his leg irons. Pip obeys, but the fearsome convict is soon captured anyway. The convict protects Pip by claiming to have stolen the items himself.

One day Pip is taken by his Uncle Pumblechook to play at Satis House, the home of the wealthy dowager Miss Havisham, who is extremely eccentric: she wears an old wedding dress everywhere she goes and keeps all the clocks in her house stopped at the same time. During his visit, he meets a beautiful young girl named Estella, who treats him coldly and contemptuously. Nevertheless, he falls in love with her and dreams of becoming a wealthy gentleman so that he might be worthy of her. He even hopes that Miss Havisham intends to make him a gentleman and marry him to Estella, but his hopes are dashed when, after months of regular visits to Satis House, Miss Havisham decides to help him become a common laborer in his family’s business.

With Miss Havisham’s guidance, Pip is apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Joe, who is the village blacksmith. Pip works in the forge unhappily, struggling to better his education with the help of the plain, kind Biddy and encountering Joe’s malicious day laborer, Orlick. One night, after an altercation with Orlick, Pip’s sister, known as Mrs. Joe, is viciously attacked and becomes a mute invalid. From her signals, Pip suspects that Orlick was responsible for the attack.

One day a lawyer named Jaggers appears with strange news: a secret benefactor has given Pip a large fortune, and Pip must come to London immediately to begin his education as a gentleman. Pip happily assumes that his previous hopes have come true—that Miss Havisham is his secret benefactor and that the old woman intends for him to marry Estella.

In London, Pip befriends a young gentleman named Herbert Pocket and Jaggers’s law clerk, Wemmick. He expresses disdain for his former friends and loved ones, especially Joe, but he continues to pine after Estella. He furthers his education by studying with the tutor Matthew Pocket, Herbert’s father. Herbert himself helps Pip learn how to act like a gentleman. When Pip turns twenty-one and begins to receive an income from his fortune, he will secretly help Herbert buy his way into the business he has chosen for himself. But for now, Herbert and Pip lead a fairly undisciplined life in London, enjoying themselves and running up debts. Orlick reappears in Pip’s life, employed as Miss Havisham’s porter, but is promptly fired by Jaggers after Pip reveals Orlick’s unsavory past. Mrs. Joe dies, and Pip goes home for the funeral, feeling tremendous grief and remorse. Several years go by, until one night a familiar figure barges into Pip’s room—the convict, Magwitch, who stuns Pip by announcing that he, not Miss Havisham, is the source of Pip’s fortune. He tells Pip that he was so moved by Pip’s boyhood kindness that he dedicated his life to making Pip a gentleman, and he made a fortune in Australia for that very purpose.

Pip is appalled, but he feels morally bound to help Magwitch escape London, as the convict is pursued both by the police and by Compeyson, his former partner in crime. A complicated mystery begins to fall into place when Pip discovers that Compeyson was the man who abandoned Miss Havisham at the altar and that Estella is Magwitch’s daughter. Miss Havisham has raised her to break men’s hearts, as revenge for the pain her own broken heart caused her. Pip was merely a boy for the young Estella to practice on; Miss Havisham delighted in Estella’s ability to toy with his affections.

As the weeks pass, Pip sees the good in Magwitch and begins to care for him deeply. Before Magwitch’s escape attempt, Estella marries an upper-class lout named Bentley Drummle. Pip makes a visit to Satis House, where Miss Havisham begs his forgiveness for the way she has treated him in the past, and he forgives her. Later that day, when she bends over the fireplace, her clothing catches fire and she goes up in flames. She survives but becomes an invalid. In her final days, she will continue to repent for her misdeeds and to plead for Pip’s forgiveness.

The time comes for Pip and his friends to spirit Magwitch away from London. Just before the escape attempt, Pip is called to a shadowy meeting in the marshes, where he encounters the vengeful, evil Orlick. Orlick is on the verge of killing Pip when Herbert arrives with a group of friends and saves Pip’s life. Pip and Herbert hurry back to effect Magwitch’s escape. They try to sneak Magwitch down the river on a rowboat, but they are discovered by the police, who Compeyson tipped off. Magwitch and Compeyson fight in the river, and Compeyson is drowned. Magwitch is sentenced to death, and Pip loses his fortune. Magwitch feels that his sentence is God’s forgiveness and dies at peace. Pip falls ill; Joe comes to London to care for him, and they are reconciled. Joe gives him the news from home: Orlick, after robbing Pumblechook, is now in jail; Miss Havisham has died and left most of her fortune to the Pockets; Biddy has taught Joe how to read and write. After Joe leaves, Pip decides to rush home after him and marry Biddy, but when he arrives there he discovers that she and Joe have already married.

Pip decides to go abroad with Herbert to work in the mercantile trade. Returning many years later, he encounters Estella in the ruined garden at Satis House. Drummle, her husband, treated her badly, but he is now dead. Pip finds that Estella’s coldness and cruelty have been replaced by a sad kindness, and the two leave the garden hand in hand, Pip believing that they will never part again.

Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Hardy

Characters

• Tess - protagonist; raped at the beginning of novel and has a baby who dies soon after birth; marries Angel; murders Alec and is executed for it at the end of the story

• Angel - clergyman’s son; Tess’s husband; helps Tess evade police for a while after she murders Alec; leaves Tess for a long time after discovering her past with Alec

• Alec - wealthy man; manipulative and obsessed with Tess; becomes a preacher but quickly abandons it after seeing Tess again

• Izzy - dairymaid at Talbothay; Tess’s friend; in love with Angel; almost goes to Brazil with him but can’t because “no one can love him more than Tess”

• Joan - Tess’s mother; simpleminded; had high hopes in Tess but is disappointed in how her life turned out

• Sir John - Tess’s father; always drunk; is quick to try and use his “noble” heritage to gain wealth

• Marian and Retty - also dairymaids at Talbothay; also in love with Angel; Marian starts drinking and Retty attempts suicide after Angel chooses Tess

• Reverend Clare - Angel’s father; clergyman; is the one that converted Alec

• Mrs Clare - Angel’s mother; loving but snobbish woman who places a great deal on social class; wants Angel to marry a girl with a good financial and religious background; intially looks down on Tess because of her poverity

• Liza-Lu - Tess’s younger sister; Tess believes that she has all of her good qualities without the bad Tess has required from the trauma she has experienced; encourages Angel to look after and marry her after Tess’s death

• Sorrow - Tess’s baby; dies soon after birth; Tess christens him and burys him herself

Setting

• Marlott - village where Tess lives in the beginning of the novel

• Tantridge - English village where Alec and his mother live

• Talbothays Dairy - farm where Tess works after her baby dies; where she meets Angel

• Flintcomb-Ash - farm where Tess works after Angel leaves; harsh boss and difficult work

Themes

• Critique of Double Social Standards Regarding Gender

• Conflict between Fate vs Free Will

• Impact of Class Division on Individual Lives

• Consequences of Secrets and Deception

• Critique of the Superficially of Religion

Summary

The poor peddler John Durbeyfield is stunned to learn that he is the descendent of an ancient noble family, the d’Urbervilles. Meanwhile, Tess, his eldest daughter, joins the other village girls in the May Day dance, where Tess briefly exchanges glances with a young man. Mr. Durbeyfield and his wife decide to send Tess to the d’Urberville mansion, where they hope Mrs. d’Urberville will make Tess’s fortune. In reality, Mrs. d’Urberville is no relation to Tess at all: her husband, the merchant Simon Stokes, simply changed his name to d’Urberville after he retired. But Tess does not know this fact, and when the lascivious Alec d’Urberville, Mrs. d’Urberville’s son, procures Tess a job tending fowls on the d’Urberville estate, Tess has no choice but to accept, since she blames herself for an accident involving the family’s horse, its only means of income.

Tess spends several months at this job, resisting Alec’s attempts to seduce her. Finally, Alec takes advantage of her in the woods one night after a fair. Tess knows she does not love Alec. She returns home to her family to give birth to Alec’s child, whom she christens Sorrow. Sorrow dies soon after he is born, and Tess spends a miserable year at home before deciding to seek work elsewhere. She finally accepts a job as a milkmaid at the Talbothays Dairy.

At Talbothays, Tess enjoys a period of contentment and happiness. She befriends three of her fellow milkmaids—Izz, Retty, and Marian—and meets a man named Angel Clare, who turns out to be the man from the May Day dance at the beginning of the novel. Tess and Angel slowly fall in love. They grow closer throughout Tess’s time at Talbothays, and she eventually accepts his proposal of marriage. Still, she is troubled by pangs of conscience and feels she should tell Angel about her past. She writes him a confessional note and slips it under his door, but it slides under the carpet and Angel never sees it.

After their wedding, Angel and Tess both confess indiscretions: Angel tells Tess about an affair he had with an older woman in London, and Tess tells Angel about her history with Alec. Tess forgives Angel, but Angel cannot forgive Tess. He gives her some money and boards a ship bound for Brazil, where he thinks he might establish a farm. He tells Tess he will try to accept her past but warns her not to try to join him until he comes for her.

Tess struggles. She has a difficult time finding work and is forced to take a job at an unpleasant and unprosperous farm. She tries to visit Angel’s family but overhears his brothers discussing Angel’s poor marriage, so she leaves. She hears a wandering preacher speak and is stunned to discover that he is Alec d’Urberville, who has been converted to Christianity by Angel’s father, the Reverend Clare. Alec and Tess are each shaken by their encounter, and Alec appallingly begs Tess never to tempt him again. Soon after, however, he again begs Tess to marry him, having turned his back on his -religious ways.

Tess learns from her sister Liza-Lu that her mother is near death, and Tess is forced to return home to take care of her. Her mother recovers, but her father unexpectedly dies soon after. When the family is evicted from their home, Alec offers help. But Tess refuses to accept, knowing he only wants to obligate her to him again.

At last, Angel decides to forgive his wife. He leaves Brazil, desperate to find her. Instead, he finds her mother, who tells him Tess has gone to a village called Sandbourne. There, he finds Tess in an expensive boardinghouse called The Herons, where he tells her he has forgiven her and begs her to take him back. Tess tells him he has come too late. She was unable to resist and went back to Alec d’Urberville. Angel leaves in a daze, and, heartbroken to the point of madness, Tess goes upstairs and stabs her lover to death. When the landlady finds Alec’s body, she raises an alarm, but Tess has already fled to find Angel.

Angel agrees to help Tess, though he cannot quite believe that she has actually murdered Alec. They hide out in an empty mansion for a few days, then travel farther. When they come to Stonehenge, Tess goes to sleep, but when morning breaks shortly thereafter, a search party discovers them. Tess is arrested and sent to jail. Angel and Liza-Lu watch as a black flag is raised over the prison, signaling Tess’s execution.

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

Characters

• John Grady Cole - 16-year-old boy; protagonist; loves the cowboy life and horses; suffers greatly in Mexico and returns to the US at the end of the novel

• Lacey Rawlins - John Grady’s best friend; goes to Mexico with John Grady; 17-years-old; returns to Texas after being let go of the Mexican jail

• Jimmy Blevins - 13-yaer-old runaway who follows John Grady and Rawlins; his real name is never revealed; stole a horse and gun; lost these two things and when he tries to reclaim them he is arrested; executed by the captain

• Alejandra - Don Hector’s daughter; beautiful; in love with John Grady and have an affair; spends one more night with John Grady after he gets out of jail but can not leave her family to go to America with him; manipulated by her great-aunt Alfonsa

• Don Hector - owner of the ranch that John Grady and Rawlins work at in Mexico; initially impressed with John Grady’s skill with horses; turns the Americans over to the Mexican police after discovering the affair with his daughter

• Alfonsa - Alejandra’s great-aunt; lives at the ranch of her nephew Don Hector; her sorrows from her past (not being able to marry the man she loves because of her family) led to her becoming cynical and manipulative; she pays to get John Grady and Rawlins out of jail after she makes Alejandra swear to never see John Grady again

• The Captain - name is Raul; corrupt lawman in the town Encantada; accuses John Grady and Rawlins of being outlaws; tortures Rawlins to confess to crimes he did not commit; accepts bribe of a relative of the man Blevins killed and murders Blevins

• John Grady’s father - dying from a disease (possibly lung cancer), lonely and silent man; after the war he never reunited with his wife

• John Grady’s mother - divorced her husband; wants to start a new life away from the ranch; left John Grady to be raised by Louisa when he was a baby; her and her son are basically strangers

• Louisa - cook at the Grady ranch; raised John Grady when his mother ran away to California

• Perez - wealthy prisoner who tries to force John Grady and Rawlins to ally themselves with him or pay him bribes for their freedom; when they refuse, he has Rawlins stabbed and pays an assasin to try and kill John Grady (never confirmed but safe assumption)

Setting

• Grady Ranch in Texas

• Mexico

  • Don Hector’s Ranch

  • Mexican Jail

Themes

• Loss of Innocence and the Transition from Youth to Adulthood

• Clash between Romantic Ideals and Harsh Reality

• Exploration of Cultural Identity and Displacement

• Impact of Modernization on Traditional Ways of Life

• Role of Fate and Free Will in Shaping One’s Destiny

• Tension between Individual Desires and Societal Expectations

Summary

All the Pretty Horses begins with the 1949 funeral of John Grady Cole's grandfather. With his death, John Grady's mother will sell their Texas ranch and move away. There is nothing left in Texas for John Grady, who loves the ranch and idealizes the cowboy's way of life. Only sixteen years old, John Grady runs away from home with his friend Rawlins. On horseback, they head toward the Mexican border, leading the idyllic, storybook life of migrant cowboys. They are joined by a younger boy, the sensitive and stubborn Jimmy Blevins. Together, the three cross over the Rio Grande into Mexico.

Soon after they enter Mexico, the companions ride into a lightning storm. Blevins, who is terrified of lightening, strips off his clothes, abandons his horse, and hides in a ditch. The next day finds him nearly naked, his horse and gun stolen. In the village of Encantada, the companions see Blevins' lost horse, but it has been claimed by someone else. In the aftermath of their attempt to steal the horse back, Rawlins and Cole become separated from Blevins. They escape from the posse pursuing them, however, and continue to travel south, where they find work as cowboys on the vast ranch owned by Don Hector.

John Grady quickly proves himself a remarkable cowboy with an intuitive understanding of horses. Don Hector, impressed, puts him in charge of breeding the ranch's horses. But John Grady's good fortune is imperiled by his infatuation with Don Hector's beautiful daughter, Alejandra. Although John Grady is warned off by Alfonsa, Alejandra's cynical and manipulative great-aunt, he nevertheless falls in love with the girl, and they begin an illicit affair. When Don Hector finds out about it, he turns John Grady and Rawlins over to the thuggish, corrupt police captain of Encantada. Blevins, it seems, returned to Encantada to reclaim his gun and killed at least one of the townspeople. Now he is being held in jail, and John Grady and Rawlins are accused of being his co- conspirators. Rawlins is tortured until he gives a false confession.

Blevins is executed, but John Grady and Rawlins are merely imprisoned in the town of Saltillo. In the prison the Americans are marked as victims, and forced to fight constantly to survive. When they refuse to ally themselves with the wealthy, influential prisoner Perez, he sends assassins after them both. Both men survive the attacks--with John Grady killing his assailant--but they are badly wounded, and end up in the hospital's infirmary. Only partially recovered, they are suddenly released by the prison commander, who has been bribed by Alfonsa at Alejandra's request.

Although Rawlins returns to Texas, John Grady is intent on reuniting with Alejandra. He goes back to the ranch, where Alfonsa meets with him, delivering a long discourse about human powerlessness and about the foolishness of romantic dreams. Nevertheless, he meets with Alejandra and they spend a short day together, but in the end she decides that she cannot abandon her family for him.

John Grady, shattered, refuses to leave Mexico without his horses. He goes back to Encantada and, taking the captain as a hostage, reclaims the American horses. He is pursued on the way back and wounded severely, but manages to evade the pursuit and cross back into Texas. He finds that he no longer has a home: his father is dead, the ranch sold, and his friend Rawlins seems like a stranger. The novel ends with John Grady riding west, into the setting sun.

Invisible Man by Ellison

Characters

• Namless Narrator - protagonist left unnamed; black man who considers himself invisible because people never see his true identity through the racial roles and steorotypes he is forced in; initially is naive but the many traumatic events he undergoes cause him to face the harsh reality

• Brother Jack - white and blindly loyal leader of the Brotherhood; unable to see people as anything other than tools; initially seems compassionate and kind but has racist viewpoints

• Tod Clifton - black member of the Brotherhood and a resident of Harlem; placed too much faith in the Brotherhood; leaves the group and loses his mind; starts selling racist Sambo dolls on the street; is shot and killed after running from the police

• Ras - crazy, angry man; wants to violently overthrow white supremacy; frequently opposes the Brotherhood and the narrator; incites violent riots in Harlem

• Sybil - white women whom the narrator attempts to use to find out information about the Brotherhood

• Rinehart - never appears in the book except by reputation; possess infinite number of identities; narrator is mistaken for Rinehart when he wears dark glasses in Harlem

• Dr Bledsoe - president of the narrator’s college; selfish and ambitious; black man who sucks up to the white community

• Mr Norton - wealthy white trustee at the narrator’s college; taken to a poor black town by the narrator where he meets Jim Trueblood and is fascinated by his story

• Jim Trueblood - uneducated black man who impregnated his own daughter; lives on the outskirts of the narrator’s college campus; whites show a great interest in him and his story; students and faculty at the college view him as a disgrace to the Black community

• Emerson - son of one of the wealthy white trustees; is the one that reveals that the narrator’s “recommendation letters” are actually letters telling people to not hire him; helps narrator get a job at the factory

• Mary Rambo - motherly black woman with whom the narrator stays; she treats him kidnly and lets him stay for free

Setting

• Black College Narrator attends

• Harlem, New York

  • Brotherhood

  • Liberty Paints Factor

Themes

• Search for Identity and Self-Discovery in a Racist Society

• Critique of Various Ideologies and their Impact on Individuals

• Power Dynamics between Races and within Racial Groups

• Effects of Invisibility on the Human Psyche

• Role of History and Cultural Heritage in Shaping Identity

Summary

The narrator begins telling his story with the claim that he is an “invisible man.” His invisibility, he says, is not a physical condition—he is not literally invisible—but is rather the result of the refusal of others to see him. He says that because of his invisibility, he has been hiding from the world, living underground and stealing electricity from the Monopolated Light & Power Company. He burns 1,369 light bulbs simultaneously and listens to Louis Armstrong’s “(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue” on a phonograph. He says that he has gone underground in order to write the story of his life and invisibility.

As a young man, in the late 1920s or early 1930s, the narrator lived in the South. Because he is a gifted public speaker, he is invited to give a speech to a group of important white men in his town. The men reward him with a briefcase containing a scholarship to a prestigious Black college, but only after humiliating him by forcing him to fight in a “battle royal” in which he is pitted against other young Black men, all blindfolded, in a boxing ring. After the battle royal, the white men force the youths to scramble over an electrified rug in order to snatch at fake gold coins. The narrator has a dream that night in which he imagines that his scholarship is actually a piece of paper with a crude command to keep him running.

Three years later, the narrator is a student at the college. He is asked to drive a wealthy white trustee of the college, Mr. Norton, around the campus. Norton talks incessantly about his daughter, then shows an undue interest in the narrative of Jim Trueblood, a poor, uneducated Black man who impregnated his own daughter. After hearing this story, Norton needs a drink, and the narrator takes him to the Golden Day, a saloon and brothel that normally serves Black men. A fight breaks out among a group of Black veterans at the bar, and Norton passes out during the chaos. He is tended by one of the veterans, who claims to be a doctor and who taunts both Norton and the narrator for their blindness regarding race relation.

Back at the college, the narrator listens to a long, impassioned sermon by the Reverend Homer A. Barbee on the subject of the college’s Founder, whom the blind Barbee glorifies with poetic language. After the sermon, the narrator is chastised by the college president, Dr. Bledsoe, who has learned of the narrator’s misadventures with Norton at the old slave quarters and the Golden Day. Bledsoe rebukes the narrator, saying that he should have shown the white man an idealized version of Black life. He expels the narrator, giving him seven letters of recommendation addressed to the college’s white trustees in New York City, and sends him there in search of a job.

The narrator travels to the bright lights and bustle of 1930s Harlem, where he looks unsuccessfully for work. The letters of recommendation are of no help. At last, the narrator goes to the office of one of his letters’ addressees, a trustee named Mr. Emerson. There he meets Emerson’s son, who opens the letter and tells the narrator that he has been betrayed: the letters from Bledsoe actually portray the narrator as dishonorable and unreliable. The young Emerson helps the narrator to get a low-paying job at the Liberty Paints plant, whose trademark color is “Optic White.” The narrator briefly serves as an assistant to Lucius Brockway, the Black man who makes this white paint, but Brockway suspects him of joining in union activities and turns on him. The two men fight, neglecting the paint-making; consequently, one of the unattended tanks explodes, and the narrator is knocked unconscious.

The narrator wakes in the paint factory’s hospital, having temporarily lost his memory and ability to speak. The white doctors seize the arrival of their unidentified black patient as an opportunity to conduct electric shock experiments. After the narrator recovers his memory and leaves the hospital, he collapses on the street. Some black community members take him to the home of Mary, a kind woman who lets him live with her for free in Harlem and nurtures his sense of Black heritage. One day, the narrator witnesses the eviction of an elderly Black couple from their Harlem apartment. Standing before the crowd of people gathered before the apartment, he gives an impassioned speech against the eviction. Brother Jack overhears his speech and offers him a position as a spokesman for the Brotherhood, a political organization that allegedly works to help the socially oppressed. After initially rejecting the offer, the narrator takes the job in order to pay Mary back for her hospitality. But the Brotherhood demands that the narrator take a new name, break with his past, and move to a new apartment. The narrator is inducted into the Brotherhood at a party at the Chthonian Hotel and is placed in charge of advancing the group’s goals in Harlem.

After being trained in rhetoric by a white member of the group named Brother Hambro, the narrator goes to his assigned branch in Harlem, where he meets the handsome, intelligent black youth leader Tod Clifton. He also becomes familiar with the Black nationalist leader Ras the Exhorter, who opposes the interracial Brotherhood and believes that Black Americans should fight for their rights over and against all whites. The narrator delivers speeches and becomes a high-profile figure in the Brotherhood, and he enjoys his work. One day, however, he receives an anonymous note warning him to remember his place as a Black man in the Brotherhood. Not long after, the Black Brotherhood member Brother Wrestrum accuses the narrator of trying to use the Brotherhood to advance a selfish desire for personal distinction. While a committee of the Brotherhood investigates the charges, the organization moves the narrator to another post, as an advocate of women’s rights. After giving a speech one evening, he is seduced by one of the white women at the gathering, who attempts to use him to play out her sexual fantasies about Black men.

After a short time, the Brotherhood sends the narrator back to Harlem, where he discovers that Clifton has disappeared. Many other Black members have left the group, as much of the Harlem community feels that the Brotherhood has betrayed their interests. The narrator finds Clifton on the street selling dancing “Sambo” dolls—dolls that invoke the stereotype of the lazy and obsequious slave. Clifton apparently does not have a permit to sell his wares on the street. White policemen accost him and, after a scuffle, shoot him dead as the narrator and others look on. On his own initiative, the narrator holds a funeral for Clifton and gives a speech in which he portrays his dead friend as a hero, galvanizing public sentiment in Clifton’s favor. The Brotherhood is furious with him for staging the funeral without permission, and Jack harshly castigates him. As Jack rants about the Brotherhood’s ideological stance, a glass eye falls from one of his eye sockets. The Brotherhood sends the narrator back to Brother Hambro to learn about the organization’s new strategies in Harlem.

The narrator leaves feeling furious and anxious to gain revenge on Jack and the Brotherhood. He arrives in Harlem to find the neighborhood in ever-increased agitation over race relations. Ras confronts him, deploring the Brotherhood’s failure to draw on the momentum generated by Clifton’s funeral. Ras sends his men to beat up the narrator, and the narrator is forced to disguise himself in dark glasses and a hat. In his dark glasses, many people on the streets mistake him for someone named Rinehart, who seems to be a pimp, bookie, lover, and reverend all at once. At last, the narrator goes to Brother Hambro’s apartment, where Hambro tells him that the Brotherhood has chosen not to emphasize Harlem and the Black movement. He cynically declares that people are merely tools and that the larger interests of the Brotherhood are more important than any individual. Recalling advice given to him by his grandfather, the narrator determines to undermine the Brotherhood by seeming to go along with them completely. He decides to flatter and seduce a woman close to one of the party leaders in order to obtain secret information about the group.

But the woman he chooses, Sybil, knows nothing about the Brotherhood and attempts to use the narrator to fulfill her fantasy of being raped by a Black man. While still with Sybil in his apartment, the narrator receives a call asking him to come to Harlem quickly. The narrator hears the sound of breaking glass, and the line goes dead. He arrives in Harlem to find the neighborhood in the midst of a full-fledged riot, which he learns was incited by Ras. The narrator becomes involved in setting fire to a tenement building. Running from the scene of the crime, he encounters Ras, dressed as an African chieftain. Ras calls for the narrator to be lynched. The narrator flees, only to encounter two policemen, who suspect that his briefcase contains loot from the riots. In his attempt to evade them, the narrator falls down a manhole. The police mock him and draw the cover over the manhole.

The narrator says that he has stayed underground ever since; the end of his story is also the beginning. He states that he finally has realized that he must honor his individual complexity and remain true to his own identity without sacrificing his responsibility to the community. He says that he finally feels ready to emerge from underground.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Characters

• Nick Carraway - narrator; young man who moves to New York City to learn the bond business; honest, tolerant, and judgemental; friends with Jay Gatsby

• Jay Gatsby - wealthy man living in a mansion in West Egg; born as James Gatz on a farm and worked for a millionaire who made him dedicate his life to gaining wealth; obsessed with Daisy; made his fortune through bootlegging (selling illegal alcohol); murdered by George Wilson because he thought he murdered his wife Myrtle

• Daisy - Nick’s cousin and Tom’s wife; promised to wait for Gatsby but ended up marrying Tom instead because of her need for constant love; behaves superficially to mask her pain at her husband’s constant cheating; leaves with him after Gatsby’s death

• Tom - Daisy’s wealthy husband; arrogant and hypocritical bully; racist and sexist; expects everyone around him to be perfect but does not live up to his own standard; sees no problem with his affairs but becomes angry when he suspects of Daisy and Gatsby’s affair; blames Gatsby for Myrtle’s death and is the reason Gatsby dies

• Jordan - Daisy’s friend; becomes Nick’s girlfriend; competitve golfer; very dishonest, constantly bends the truth and also cheated to win her first golf tournament

• Myrtle - George’s wife and Tom’s lover; desperate to change her situation; Tom treats her as an object of desire

• George - Myrtle’s husband; owner of a run-down auto shop in the valley of ashes; devastated by Myrtle’s affair with Tom; consumed by gried when Myrtle is killed; manipulated by Tom into thinking that Gatsby was the one she had an affair with and the one who killed her; comparable to Gatsby as they are both ruined by their unrequited love for women who love Tom

• Owl Eyes - eccentric drunk whom Nick meets at the first party he attends at Gatsby’s mansion; astonished that Gatsby’s books are real

• Klipspringer - freeloader who seems to live at Gatsby’s, does not come for the funeral; calls Nick about a pair of shoes he left at the mansion

• Meyer Wolfsheim - Gatsby’s friend; helped Gatsby become rich through bootlegging

• Dan Cody -  the rich man that Gatsby worked for when he was younger

• Henry Gatz - Gatsby’s father; proud of his son’s success, not realizing it comes from illegal activity

• Catherine - Myrtle’s sister; keeps Myrtle’s affair a secret even after her death

• Pammy - Daisy and Tom’s daughter; only one appearance in the novel; emotionally neglected by her parents; Daisy hopes she will be a “beatiful fool” so she might live a happy life and remain ignorant to the misereies of the world

Setting

• New York (West and East Egg)

  • Gatsby’s Mansion

  • Tom’s Mansion

  • Nick’s Home

  • Apartment for Myrtle and Tom

  • Valley of Ashes (George’s Auto Shop)

Themes

• American Dream and its Corruption

• Social Class and Wealth Inequality

• Illusion vs Reality

• Critique of the Hollowness of the Upper Class

• Love, Obsession, and Relationships

Summary

Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota, moves to New York in the summer of 1922 to learn about the bond business. He rents a house in the West Egg district of Long Island, a wealthy but unfashionable area populated by the new rich, a group who have made their fortunes too recently to have established social connections and who are prone to garish displays of wealth. Nick’s next-door neighbor in West Egg is a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby, who lives in a gigantic Gothic mansion and throws extravagant parties every Saturday night.

Nick is unlike the other inhabitants of West Egg—he was educated at Yale and has social connections in East Egg, a fashionable area of Long Island home to the established upper class. Nick drives out to East Egg one evening for dinner with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her husband, Tom, an erstwhile classmate of Nick’s at Yale. Daisy and Tom introduce Nick to Jordan Baker, a beautiful, cynical young woman with whom Nick begins a romantic relationship. Nick also learns a bit about Daisy and Tom’s marriage: Jordan tells him that Tom has a lover, Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the valley of ashes, a gray industrial dumping ground between West Egg and New York City. Not long after this revelation, Nick travels to New York City with Tom and Myrtle. At a vulgar, gaudy party in the apartment that Tom keeps for the affair, Myrtle begins to taunt Tom about Daisy, and Tom responds by breaking her nose.

As the summer progresses, Nick eventually garners an invitation to one of Gatsby’s legendary parties. He encounters Jordan Baker at the party, and they meet Gatsby himself, a surprisingly young man who affects an English accent, has a remarkable smile, and calls everyone “old sport.” Gatsby asks to speak to Jordan alone, and, through Jordan, Nick later learns more about his mysterious neighbor. Gatsby tells Jordan that he knew Daisy in Louisville in 1917 and is deeply in love with her. He spends many nights staring at the green light at the end of her dock, across the bay from his mansion. Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle and wild parties are simply an attempt to impress Daisy. Gatsby now wants Nick to arrange a reunion between himself and Daisy, but he is afraid that Daisy will refuse to see him if she knows that he still loves her. Nick invites Daisy to have tea at his house, without telling her that Gatsby will also be there. After an initially awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy reestablish their connection. Their love rekindled, they begin an affair.

After a short time, Tom grows increasingly suspicious of his wife’s relationship with Gatsby. At a luncheon at the Buchanans’ house, Gatsby stares at Daisy with such undisguised passion that Tom realizes Gatsby is in love with her. Though Tom is himself involved in an extramarital affair, he is deeply outraged by the thought that his wife could be unfaithful to him. He forces the group to drive into New York City, where he confronts Gatsby in a suite at the Plaza Hotel. Tom asserts that he and Daisy have a history that Gatsby could never understand, and he announces to his wife that Gatsby is a criminal—his fortune comes from bootlegging alcohol and other illegal activities. Daisy realizes that her allegiance is to Tom, and Tom contemptuously sends her back to East Egg with Gatsby, attempting to prove that Gatsby cannot hurt him.

When Nick, Jordan, and Tom drive through the valley of ashes, however, they discover that Gatsby’s car has struck and killed Myrtle, Tom’s lover. They rush back to Long Island, where Nick learns from Gatsby that Daisy was driving the car when it struck Myrtle, but that Gatsby intends to take the blame. The next day, Tom tells Myrtle’s husband, George, that Gatsby was the driver of the car. George, who has leapt to the conclusion that the driver of the car that killed Myrtle must have been her lover, finds Gatsby in the pool at his mansion and shoots him dead. He then fatally shoots himself.

Nick stages a small funeral for Gatsby, ends his relationship with Jordan, and moves back to the Midwest to escape the disgust he feels for the people surrounding Gatsby’s life and for the emptiness and moral decay of life among the wealthy on the East Coast. Nick reflects that just as Gatsby’s dream of Daisy was corrupted by money and dishonesty, the American dream of happiness and individualism has disintegrated into the mere pursuit of wealth. Though Gatsby’s power to transform his dreams into reality is what makes him “great,” Nick reflects that the era of dreaming—both Gatsby’s dream and the American dream—is over.

The Yellow Wallpaper

Characters

• Narrator (Jane?) - young, upper-middle-class woman; newly married and a mother; undergoing care for postpartum depression; told from her secret diary; slowly goes mad because of her “treatment” (isolation)

• John - narrator’s husband and physician; restricts her behavior as part of her treatment; seems to love his wife but does not understand the negative effects his treatment has on her

• Jennie - John’s sister; acts as a housekeeper for the couple; at times seems to suspect the narrator is more troubled than she shows

• Mary - nurse looking after the narrator’s baby

Setting

• Run-down mansion

  • Estate the couple is staying in for the summer to help treat her

Themes

• Critique of Women’s Treatment During this Time Period

• Gender Roles and Domestic Life

• Outward Appearance vs Inner Life

• Self-Expression, Miscommunication, and Misunderstanding

Summary

“The Yellow Wallpaper” opens with the story’s unnamed narrator, who expresses her thoughts in the form of journal entries, marveling at the grandeur of the house and grounds her husband has taken her to for the summer. She feels, however, that there is “something queer” about the place and explains that her case of “nervous depression” is what prompted their stay there. The narrator complains that her husband John, who is also her doctor, belittles both her illness and, more generally, her perspective. Her treatment, known as the “rest cure,” requires that she refrain from virtually any form of activity, even working and writing. Despite these instructions, she feels that activity, freedom, and interesting work would help her condition and has begun keeping a secret journal in order to “relieve her mind.” The narrator continues her journal entry by describing the house and gardens, both of which are beautiful yet clearly impacted by the estate’s years of emptiness. In the nursery on the top floor, however, she finds the yellow wallpaper, with its strange, formless pattern, to be particularly disturbing

As the first few weeks of the summer pass, the narrator succeeds at hiding her journal, thus keeping her true thoughts from John. While she longs for more stimulating company and complains about John’s patronizing, controlling ways, she takes a new interest in the oddly-menacing wallpaper. John worries about her fixation, and he refuses to repaper the room so as not to give in to her nervousness. The narrator’s imagination, however, has awakened, and she reflects on her history of having an overactive mind. She goes on to describe the bedroom again, which she says must have been a nursery for young children due to the fact that the paper is torn off the wall in spots, there are scratches and gouges in the floor, and the furniture is heavy and fixed in place. Just as she begins to see a strange sub-pattern behind the main design of the wallpaper, John’s sister Jennie, who serves as a housekeeper and nurse for the narrator, interrupts her writing. 

As the Fourth of July passes, the narrator reports that her family has just visited, leaving her more tired than ever. John threatens to send her to Weir Mitchell, the real-life physician under whose care author Charlotte Perkins Gilman suffered. The narrator is alone most of the time and says that she has become almost fond of the wallpaper; studying the pattern has become her primary form of entertainment. As her obsession grows, the sub-pattern of the wallpaper becomes clearer. It begins to resemble a woman “stooping down and creeping” behind the main pattern, which at nighttime looks like the bars of a cage. Soon the wallpaper dominates the narrator’s imagination. Mistaking the narrator’s fixation for tranquility, John thinks she is improving. On the contrary, she sleeps less and less and believes that she can smell the paper all over the house. The sub-pattern now clearly resembles a woman who is trying to escape from behind the main pattern. The narrator sees her shaking the bars at night and creeping around during the day, when the woman is able to leave the wall. 

Suspecting that John and Jennie know of her obsession, she resolves to destroy the paper once and for all, peeling much of it off during the night. While left alone the next day, she goes into something of a frenzy, biting and tearing at the paper in order to free the trapped woman whom she sees struggling from inside the pattern. By the end, the narrator is hopelessly insane, convinced that there are many women creeping around and that she herself has come out of the wallpaper. She creeps endlessly around the room, smudging the wallpaper as she goes. When John breaks into the locked room and sees the full horror of the situation, he faints in the doorway so that the narrator has “to creep over him every time!”