William Godwin: Caleb Williams

Background 1756 – 1836

son of Dissenting ministers
Historical period Author: relevant
biographical detail 1782
falling out with his congregation at Stowmarket = goes to London to earn his bread as a
man of letters

1793
became one of the most famous men in England = publication of his “Political Justice”

1794
Caleb Williams
his first novel
illustrating in scenes from real life many of the principles enunciated in his political work

Literary work(s) Preface (first May 1794)

= withdrawn in compliance with the alarms of booksellers = there were trials against
Genre, revolutionaries and as the note to the preface in 1795 edition indicates = “Terror was
sources, influences. the order of the day” = and there were fears that even a novelist might be accused of
Relate to prev works, treachery
chronology.
= pronounce the question of the “things as they are” as the most interesting to the
human mind = describing how the two parties struggle = one for social change and
reform, the other fights for the order to stay as it is
= describes his work not as some refined or abstract speculation, but as even the title
of the work indicates = deliniation of things passing in the world
= only lately have been political principles understood = now it is known to the
philosophers how the spirit and the character of the Government reaches to every rank
of society = but there is also need to make the masses of people who are unlikely to
read philosophical tracts aware of the way the Government works
= that is why he wrote this work as a novel = “a general review of the modes of
domestic and unrecorded despotism by which man becomes the destroyer of man”

Preface from 1832

= gives account of invention & mode of writing of C. W. , also some of the sources
“formed a conception of a book of fictitious adventure that should in some way be distinguished by
a very powerful interest. Pursuing this idea, I invented first the third volume of my tale, then the
second, and last of all the first. I bent myself to the conception of a series of adventures of flight
and pursuit; the fugitive in perpetual apprehension of being overwhelmed with the worst
calamities, and the pursuer, by his ingenuity and resources, keeping his victim in a state of the
most fearful alarm. This was the project of my third volume. I was next called upon to conceive a
dramatic and impressive situation adequate to account for the impulse that the pursuer should
feel, incessantly to alarm and harass his victim, with an inextinguishable resolution never to allow
him the least interval of peace and security. This I apprehended could best be effected by a secret
murder, to the investigation of which the innocent victim should be impelled by an unconquerable
spirit of curiosity. The murderer would thus have a sufficient motive to persecute the unhappy
discoverer, that he might deprive him of peace, character, and credit, and have him for ever in his
power. This constituted the outline of my second volume.

The subject of the first volume was still to be invented. To account for the fearful events of the
third, it was necessary that the pursuer should be invested with every advantage of fortune, with a
resolution that nothing could defeat or baffle, and with extraordinary resources of intellect. Nor
could my purpose of giving an overpowering interest to my tale be answered without his appearing
to have been originally endowed with a mighty store of amiable dispositions and virtues, so that
his being driven to the first act of murder should be judged worthy of the deepest regret, and
should be seen in some measure to have arisen out of his virtues themselves. It was necessary to
make him, so to speak, the tenant of an atmosphere of romance, so that every reader should feel
prompted almost to worship him for his high qualities.”

I said to myself a thousand times, "I will write a tale that shall constitute an epoch in the
mind of the reader, that no one, after he has read it, shall ever be exactly the same
man that he was before.”

I began my narrative, as is the more usual way, in the third person. But I speedily became
dissatisfied. I then assumed the first person, making the hero of my tale his own historian;
the most freely was the analysis of the private and internal operations of the mind
 laying bare the involutions of motive, and recording the gradually accumulating impulses which led
the personages I had to describe primarily to adopt the particular way of proceeding in which they
afterwards embarked.

my method to get about me any productions of former authors that seemed to bear on my subject
"The Adventures of Mademoiselle de St. Phale," a French Protestant in the times of the fiercest
persecution of the Huguenots, who fled through France in the utmost terror, in the midst of eternal
alarms and hair-breadth escapes, having her quarters perpetually beaten up, and by scarcely any
chance finding a moment's interval of security. I turned over the pages of a tremendous
compilation, entitled "God's Revenge against Murder," where the beam of the eye of Omniscience
was represented as perpetually pursuing the guilty, and laying open his most hidden retreats to
the light of day. I was extremely conversant with the "Newgate Calendar" and the "Lives of the
Pirates."

I rather amused myself with tracing a certain similitude between the story of Caleb Williams and
the tale of Bluebeard, than derived any hints from that admirable specimen of the terrific. Falkland
was my Bluebeard, who had perpetrated atrocious crimes, which, if discovered, he might expect to
have all the world roused to revenge against him. Caleb Williams was the wife who, in spite of
warning, persisted in his attempts to discover the forbidden secret; and, when he had succeeded,
struggled as fruitlessly to escape the consequences

Setting England, 1790s

a remote county of England
Time/Place writing his narrative = WHERE?

Characters Ferdinando Falkland

a high-spirited & highly cultured gentleman, a coutnry squire in “a remote county of
Eg Polarisations, relationships, England”
development
Power dynamics Description of Falkland by Caleb on their first meeting:
Self awareness small stature, extreme delicacy of form and appearance
kind, attentive and humane manner
eye full of animation
a grave and sad solemnity in his air = Caleb takes it for the instrument of keeping the
distance btw him & his inferiors
his look bespokes inquietness of mind

Described in Chapter I by Caleb:

mode of living = recluse, solitary
no inclinations to scene of mirth or revelry
no friendship; larely smiled; not morose or misanthrop = compassionate & considerate
for others = his appearance & general behaviour might have make people judge him
in his favour = but coldness of his address & impenetrableness of his sentiments,
seemed to forbid those demonstrations of kindness that one

As described by Mr Collins in Chapter I:

gay with dignity = gaiety of hero and a scholar
gaiety chastened by reflection & sensibility = man of good taste and humanity
his youth = unusual promise
now only a ruin of what he was = only his shell was able to survive the wound that his
pride sustained

As described presumably by Collins and narrated by Caleb in Chapter II (Italy):

his person had an air of uncommon dignity = with an expression of frankness,
ingenuity, unreserve, a spirit of the most ardent enthusiasm
Mr. Falkland acquitted himself in the most brilliant manner as a man of gallantry and
virtue
 Caleb Williams
his young secretary, who discoveres Falkland’s secret
the supposed narrator of the consequent events
love of praise (Chapter I = beginning)
curiosity
Mr Collins
Falkland’s steward & Caleb’s friend
Thomas
Falkland’s servant

Mr Forester
Falkland’s brother-in-law

Barnabas Tyrrel
a brutal and tyrranical squire
untamed, though not undiscerning brute
Miss Emily Melville
Tyrrel’s cousin and dependent, whom he cruelly maltreats and does to death

Grimes
a brutal rustic, suborned by Tyrrel to abduct Miss Melville
the diametrical reverse of Mr. Falkland
not precisely a lad of vicious propensities, but in an inconceivable degree boorish and
uncouth
His complexion was scarcely human; his features were coarse, and strangely discordant
and disjointed from each other
His lips were thick, and the tone of his voice broad and unmodulated
His legs were of equal size from one end to the other, and his feet misshapen and
clumsy
He had nothing spiteful or malicious in his disposition, but he was a total stranger to
tenderness
His general manners were noisy and obstreperous; inattentive to others; and obstinate
and unyielding, not from any cruelty and ruggedness of temper, but from an incapacity
to conceive those finer feelings, that make so large a part of the history of persons who
are cast in a gentler mould.
Dr Wilson, Mrs Hammond
friends of Miss Melville

Mr Hawkins, Young Hawkins

farmer = father and son = the victims of Tyrrel’s brutality, and wrongly hanged as his
murderers
Gines
a robber and thief-taker, instrument of Falkland’s vengeance upon Caleb

Mr Raymond
an “Arcadian” captain of robbers

Larkins
one of Raymond’s band

an old hag
housekeeper to the robbers

a gaoler

Miss Peggy
a daughter of the gaoler

Mrs Marney
a poor gentlewoman, Caleb’s friend in distress

Mr Spurrel
a friend who informs on Caleb

Mr Clare
a poet who retired in the neighbourhood of Mr Falkland and Mr Tyrrel
a perpetual suavity of manners, a comprehensiveness of mind
highly regarded for his frankness of manners and unreserve
a tranquil and mild enthusiasm
Mrs Denison
a cultivated lady with whom Caleb is for a while on friendly terms

Plot/Story/ the defects of the English social system = evil agencies of the plot
the defects are of utmost importance to the plot = the accused system awards Tyrrel &
Eg Events, time period, chronology, Falkland their immense preponderance in society = enables them to use (abuse) the
action
 power of the law
(Tyrrel does his cousin to death & ruins his tenant, a man of integrity, by means of the
law)
(Falkland’s original crime = but more heinous offence is the abandonment of the
innocent Hawkinses to the gallows is the consequence of what Godwin expressly
denounces = punishment for murder = "I conceived it to be in the highest degree absurd and
iniquitous, to cut off a man qualified for the most essential and extensive utility, merely out of
retrospect to an act which, whatever were its merits, could not be retrieved.")

a new element is imported into the train of causation = Caleb's insatiable curiosity =
the strife begins between these well-matched antagonists = the man of wealth and
station utilizing all the advantages granted him by the state of society to crush his
enemy
Godwin was justified in declaring that his book comprehended "a general view of the
modes of domestic and unrecorded despotism by which man becomes the destroyer of
man."
the words of the original preface = was suppressed for a short time owing to the fears
caused by the trial of Horne Tooke, Thomas Holcroft and other revolutionists, with
whom Godwin was in profound sympathy.

an imaginative version of the "Political Justice," = he would have had to invent a

different plan and different characters
= the arguments of a sociological novel lack cogency unless the characters are fairly
representative of average mankind = Godwin's principal actors are both exceptional =
lofty idealizations of certain virtues and powers of mind
the high and concentrated imagination that created such a being as Falkland, and the
intensity of passion with which Caleb's fatal energy of mind is sustained through that
long, despairing struggle, are of greater artistic value than the mechanical symmetry by
which morals are illustrated. (Ernest A. Baker)

Structure Volume I
Chapter I
Eg Chapters, stasis/crisis/resolution First paragraph:
the first-person narrator starts his story in media-res = making it clear, that the
Introduction/ narrative is written
we are abruptly thrown into the world of calamity = the narrator claims he is a victim
Conclusion tyrrany and great enjustice = alianated from society (‘Every one, as far as my story has
Eg `in media res’, scene setting been known, has refused to assist me in my distress, and has execrated my name.’)
Tying up ends
claiming his own innocence = calling his conscience as a witnesse
atmosphere of despare and no chance of positive solution = writing his memoirs = to
releave his mind, & to inform posterity about the injustice = hoping they will be more
attendant to the consistency of his story & recognize it as the truth

follows his history = traditional = parentage (humble parents) = education (basics =

writing, reading arithmetic = but inquisitive mind)
= his physical appearance = very good in physical sports = excelled = love of praise
mentioned in this context
= meditations = interest in mechanical inventions
= curiosity = the agent of the actions that characterised his life = mechanical
inventions, investigating cause and effect = defining himself as a natural philosopher =
could not rest still until he solved all that there is about the universe (kind of obsession
= there are things which we are not meant to discover)
= love of books = fiction & romance (also quite obsessive = ‘I read, I devoured
compositions of this sort. They took possession of my soul; and the effects they produced were
frequently discernible in my external appearance and my health) = similarly as the troubled mind
& guilt reflected itself on the health & appearance of Falkland
= declares that his curiosity was not ignoble = village scandals had no charms for him
= his imagination must be excited

= starts his story of coming to work for Falkland (the year of misfortune = 18 years old,
father just died, mother died few years earlier) = before Mr Collins – friend of his father,
noticed him for his abilities = gave favourable report to his master about Caleb’s
industry & intellect

describing the first meeting = description of Falkland = Caleb makes himself a keen
observer, alert
the lightness and ‘great expectations’ = while not knowing that the life was soon to
change into misery and alarm

= describing his employment; where he was situated in the house

= and as before his mind was occupied by reading, now in his new residence his
occupation was to study the character of his master = because of his strange habits (‘to
study my master's character; and I found in it an ample field for speculation and conjecture’)
= none of the other domestics as often in contace with the master as Caleb = due to his
function = they knew him by his benevolence of action, the principle of integrity &
regarded him with veneration

= he surprises Mr Falkland in the closet, who reacts with anger and rage = in the
evening he is calmer & gives Caleb some money to indicate that he expects him to be
quiet about the closet scene
= all this occurences make Caleb more curious = by chance they had supper together,
and it was on the enquiries made by Mr Collins that Caleb speaks about what happened
in the closet
= he expresses pity for Falkland and declares that he is not anxious for himself, but feel
sorry that such trials should befell to Falkland

= Mr Collins describes to Caleb the great character of Falkland in the past

= Caleb becomes curious to know more, and Mr Collins agrees to inform him about his
patron’s past
= in the last paragraph he notes how he will drop the narrators of the events that he
was not witness to = and will narrate them for the simplicity in his own person
= the chapter is concluded once again noting the relation of the misery fo Falkland and
how his misery destroyed his (Caleb’s) life

Chapter II
= the account of his youth
= starts with his reading of the Italian heroic poets = thus he learned to love chivalry &
romance = believed that man was made gallant and humane by his adherence to the
sentiments of birth & honour
= his conduct conformed to the model of heroism
= travels = stay in Italy = an example of the affairs of honour involving Lady Lucretia
Pisani & count Malvesi

= the incident between the count Malvesi and Mr Falkland = the count challenged Mr
Falkland, he managed to resolve it peacefully, but already in his speech to count
Malvesi there is hint of his ardent compliance with chivalry and to how far he prices his
honour = ‘the laws of honour are in the utmost degree rigid; and there was reason to fear that,
however anxious I were to be your friend, I might be obliged to be your murderer’ = ‘It was lucky,
however, that in our interview of yesterday you found me alone, and that accident by that means
threw the management of the affair into my disposal’ = ‘But if the challenge had been public, the
proofs I had formerly given of courage would not have excused my present moderation; and,
though desirous to have avoided the combat, it would not have been in my power. Let us hence
each of us learn to avoid haste and indiscretion, the consequences of which may be inexpiable but
with blood’

Chapter III
starts with the foreboding of events that turn the so promising life of Mr Falkland upside
down (similar to Caleb’s turn of promising fortune)
Falkland’s history since his return to England = the uninterrupted persecution of a
malignant destiny = a series of adventures that seemed to take their rise in various
accidents = they overwhelmed Falkland as he was the least qualified to bear them
= unfortunately the consequences of Falkland’s history & destiny had bearing also on
others = becoming its victims = Caleb one of them

= the history of Barnabas Tyrrel = his upbringing

= ‘Mr. Tyrrel might have passed for a true model of the English squire’
= given no proper instruction, even the knowledge of reading & writing quite limited
= on the other hand his physical abilities were excellent = reflected in his stature
= conscious of his physical advantage = arrogant, tyrannical to his inferiors, insolent to
his equals
= his despotism and tyrrany of his neighbours described = endured because of his rank
= the women in prefering him are shown as very limited in differenciating what is
important in one’s spouse
= this limited brute capable of destroying the prospects of a man most eminently
qualified to enjoy & to communicate happiness

= the two squires compared = the advantages of Mr Falkland

= the contempt of Mr Tyrrel expressed to his confidents
= ‘They could not help remarking the contrast between these two leaders in the fields of chivalry,
the one of whom paid no attention to any one's pleasure but his own, while the other seemed all
good-humour and benevolence’
= the assembly misunderstanding btw Falkland and Tyrrel over Miss Hardingham right
to dance

Chapter IV
= occurance of other instances where the pride of Tyrrel was mortified
= while Falkland conducted himself with propriety = his good reputation growing
= presence of Mr Clare (the poet) in the neighbourhood = distinguishes Falkland in his
attention = which Tyrrel takes as an insult
= the poem of Falkland read in one public meeting where Mr Clare and Tyrrel are
present (An Ode to the Genious of Chivalry)

= Mr Falkland pays visit to Mr Tyrrel so they may agree on tolerating each other & thus
avoid future misunderstandings which might overgrow into something more serious
= Tyrrel refuses to comply & takes this visit as another calculated taunt
= he confines his hatred for Falkland to his friend (probably for narrative purpose, so
the narrator has somewhere from learn about this encounter and conversation =
otherwise it would have to be narrated by omniscient narrator = 3rd person)

Chapter V
= infectious distemper is in the neighbourhood & btw its first victims is Mr Clare
= Falkland visits him and stays with him until his death = Clare warns Falkland about
his weakness: ‘You have an impetuosity, and an impatience of imagined dishonour, that, if once
set wrong, may make you as eminently mischievous as you will otherwise be useful. Think
seriously of exterminating this error!’

‘Beware of Mr. Tyrrel. Do not commit the mistake of despising him as an unequal opponent. Petty
causes may produce great mischiefs. Mr. Tyrrel is boisterous, rugged, and unfeeling; and you are
too passionate, too acutely sensible of injury. It would be truly to be lamented, if a man so inferior,
so utterly unworthy to be compared with you, should be capable of changing your whole history
into misery and guilt.’
‘I would have you governed by justice and reason."

= the person who could at least partly to check the excesses of Mr Tyrrel or stop the
feud to get too out of bounds dies
= Falkland is the executor of Mr Clare’s will, which Tyrrel takes as another insult to
himself
= the presentiments of Mr Clare are now by his death going to be realised

= one wonders about the narration = again not the precise source is ever given =
presumably it is by the words of Mr Collins = otherwise it seems like omniscient
narrator = knowing the thoughts of Mr Tyrrel

Chapter VI
= Miss Emily Melville described & the relation she has with the Tyrrel family
= she is saved by Falkland from a fire and becomes still more attached to him
= thus bringing on herself anger of her cousin, who wants to revenge himself on her for
such impunity
= again Tyrrel counsels a friend
= (3rd person narrative = omniscient??)

Chapter VII
= he decides to marry Emily to a yeoman Grimes
= Emily is against it & when meeting Grimes, learns that even he does not look at their
union favourably
= she is horrified by the boorishness of Grimes
= she pleads to Tyrrel not to make her marry Grimes = Tyrrel reveals his reasons = the
resentment towards Falkland & the display of her feelings towards Falkland
= Emily feels optimistic that her cousin changed her mind
= Tyrrel sends Mrs Jakeman = Emily’s “mamma” and protectress away on business

Chapter VIII
= Miss Emily becomes a prisoner
= Tyrrel go and visit her in her chamber and is surprised by her resolution:‘"Ungenerous,
unmerciful man! and so it is enough for you that I have nobody to defend me! But I am not so
helpless as you may imagine. You may imprison my body, but you cannot conquer my mind. Marry
Mr. Grimes! And is this the way to bring me to your purpose? Every hardship I suffer puts still
further distant the end for which I am thus unjustly treated. You are not used to have your will
contradicted! When did I ever contradict it? And, in a concern that is so completely my own,
shall my will go for nothing? Would you lay down this rule for yourself, and suffer no other
creature to take the benefit of it? I want nothing of you: how dare you refuse me the
privilege of a reasonable being, to live unmolested in poverty and innocence? What sort of a
man do you show yourself, you that lay claim to the respect and applause of every one that knows
you?"
= he contrives a plot with Grimes who manage to persuade Emily to be her rescuer
= Emily is unsuspicious, though she feels reluctant to put herself in the mercy of
Grimes
= they manage to “escape” from the house, only to stop in the middle of the forest
where Grimes wants to violate her & thus make her marry him
= she manages to escape & is saved by Mr Falkland who is with his servants looking for
robbers, whom he thinks are other victims of Tyrrel – Hawkinses
= here we have the injustice on the domestic, family level = how family members can
abuse their position towards their relatives, who are in fact equal, but due to their
financial circumstances or bad marrital connections of their parents, then their
orphanage = they are made dependant and often abused and looked down upon even
by people who would be in rank beneath them (the female servant who is charged with
keeping an eye on Emily)
= Emily is alianated = without any help, from anyone (her only close friend Mrs
Jakeman is away)

Chapter IX
= the first person narrator appears (‘There was a tenant of Mr. Tyrrel, one Hawkins;—I cannot
mention his name without recollecting the painful tragedies that are annexed to it!’)
= this chapter serves to illustrate the injustice on another level = how the squires
(landowners) may use their tenants to fix elections = tenants are expected to give vote
not according to their own choice but according to the preferement of their landlord = if
they do not conform = they would be bullied (Hawkings & Underwood) = it is a common
practice to vote as their landlord please, & it would be considered as a rebellion if they
did not
= futher practices = the people of the rank = no regard for the hardwork of the farmer
(huntsman of squire Marlow) who rode several times over Hawkinse’s field of corn =
when reproaching the huntsman = the squire threatens him to be horsewhipped
= when the squire Underwood turns Hawkins out of the farm, Tyrrel takes him on a
takes care of him well, advance him as a bailif and rent him a farm
= he offers Hawkins to take into service his son, but Hawkins try to avoid this = at first
he thinks that the father is only too fond of his child and let it be, but bcz of his
tyrannical and despotic character which always grant him what he wants, he feels
slighted by Hawkins for not accepting his “generous” offer = he learns that not only his
fond love for the son but also the fact, that he does not want his son to be servant, but
rather a free though poor day-labourer than gentleman’s servant (Hawkinse’s father
was a clergyman = gentleman)
= Tyrrel is offended = and tell Hawkins to leave the farm = but Hawkins refuses
because the law is on his side = he has got lease and can remain in the farm until the
lease expires
= he is dismissed from the position of bailif, and the bullying starts = Hawkins decides
to take the issue further = believing that the law in on his side
"I hope you will think better of it, and see that I have not been to blame. But if you should not,
there is some harm that you can do me, and some harm that you cannot. Though I am a plain,
working man, your honour, do you see? yet I am a man still. No; I have got a lease of my farm, and
I shall not quit it o' thaten. I hope there is some law for poor folk, as well as for rich."
‘Hawkins (to borrow the language of the world) was guilty in this affair of a double imprudence. He
talked to his landlord in a more peremptory manner than the constitution and practices of this
country allow a dependent to assume. But above all, having been thus hurried away by his
resentment, he ought to have foreseen the consequences. It was mere madness in him to
think of contesting with a man of Mr. Tyrrel's eminence and fortune. It was a fawn
contending with a lion. Nothing could have been more easy to predict, than that it was of
no avail for him to have right on his side, when his adversary had influence and wealth,
and therefore could so victoriously justify any extravagancies that he might think proper to
commit. This maxim was completely illustrated in the sequel. Wealth and despotism easily know
how to engage those laws as the coadjutors of their oppression, which were perhaps at first
intended [witless and miserable precaution!] for the safeguards of the poor.’
= the story of Hawkins is foreshadowing the one of Caleb = both of them committed
these two mistakes & both “should have” foreseen the outcome = Caleb fails to learn
lesson from this narrative, if he learned it before he found out Falkland’s secret

= in fact Hawkins is aware that the law is adapted for the system to take advantage of
the poor: ‘Hawkins had hitherto carefully avoided, notwithstanding the injuries he had suffered,
the attempting to right himself by legal process; being of opinion that law was better adapted for a
weapon of tyranny in the hands of the rich, than for a shield to protect the humbler part of the
community against their usurpations. In this last instance however he conceived that the offence
was so atrocious, as to make it impossible that any rank could protect the culprit against the
severity of justice’

= Tyrrel tells his attorney to device subterfuges as to prolong the whole law-suit as long
as possible: ‘It would, as Mr. Tyrrel argued, be the disgrace of a civilized country, if a gentleman,
when insolently attacked in law by the scum of the earth, could not convert the cause into a
question of the longest purse, and stick in the skirts of his adversary till he had reduced him to
beggary.’

= Tyrrel also asks his other tenant, who loves to oblige his master, to enclose a road
leading to the Hawkins’s farm = so that he would have to go around = young Hawkins
one night go & removes the obstructions placed in the way of the old path = the next
day he is taken & carried before a meeting of justices & charged with felony = stays in
jail
= attorney of Tyrrel brings in a clause from Black Act: ‘which declares that "any person,
armed with a sword, or other offensive weapon, and having his face blackened, or being otherwise
disguised, appearing in any warren or place where hares or conies have been or shall be usually
kept, and being thereof duly convicted, shall be adjudged guilty of felony, and shall suffer death,
as in cases of felony, without benefit of clergy."’

= ‘tyranny of wealth’

= again as in case of Emily, the person that might have saved them (Mr Falkland), is
away
= on his return he learns about the Hawkins’s case & on his way to his farm he meets
Tyrrel
= the dialogue that ensues contains some of Godwin’s belief in how the society should
work: ‘…the distresses of a poor tenant of yours, Hawkins. If your steward have proceeded without
your authority, I think it right to inform you what he has done; and, if he have had your authority, I
would gladly persuade you to think better of it."’

‘"Mr. Falkland, it would be quite as well if you would mind your own business, and leave me to
mind mine. I want no monitor, and I will have none."
= Godwin believed that the society should be controlled not by a central system, but on
a much more smaller scale = in parishes, where the people would keep an eye on
anything that went wrong and dealt with it
‘"You mistake, Mr. Tyrrel; I am minding my own business. If I see you fall into a pit, it is my
business to draw you out and save your life. If I see you pursuing a wrong mode of conduct, it is
my business to set you right and save your honour."’

= Falkland’s view of class society (Godwin’s view??) = ‘is a distinction of ranks. I believe
that distinction is a good thing, and necessary to the peace of mankind. But, however necessary it
may be, we must acknowledge that it puts some hardship upon the lower orders of society. It
makes one's heart ache to think, that one man is born to the inheritance of every superfluity, while
the whole share of another, without any demerit of his, is drudgery and starving; and that all this is
indispensable. We that are rich, Mr. Tyrrel, must do every thing in our power to lighten the yoke of
these unfortunate people. We must not use the advantage that accident has given us with an
unmerciful hand. Poor wretches! they are pressed almost beyond bearing as it is; and, if we
unfeelingly give another turn to the machine, they will be crushed into atoms."’
= ironically enough these very words are used by Falkland to threaten Caleb

‘Poor fellow! he has suffered almost all that human nature can endure’ (Falkland about
Hawkins)

‘I took up Hawkins when every body forsook him, and made a man of him; and the ungrateful
rascal has only insulted me for my pains. Curse me, if I ever forgive him! It would be a good jest
indeed, if I were to forgive the insolence of my own creature at the desire of a man like you that
has been my perpetual plague."’

‘"For God's sake, Mr. Tyrrel, have some reason in your resentment! Let us suppose that Hawkins
has behaved unjustifiably, and insulted you: is that an offence that never can be expiated? Must
the father be ruined, and the son hanged, to glut your resentment?"
= again ironically = to preserve his own honour = he himself will let them be both
hanged

‘Mr. Tyrrel, I am ashamed of you! Almighty God! to hear you talk gives one a loathing for the
institutions and regulations of society, and would induce one to fly the very face of man! But, no!
society casts you out; man abominates you. No wealth, no rank, can buy out your stain. You will
live deserted in the midst of your species; you will go into crowded societies, and no one will deign
so much as to salute you. They will fly from your glance as they would from the gaze of a basilisk.
Where do you expect to find the hearts of flint that shall sympathise with yours? You have the
stamp of misery, incessant, undivided, unpitied misery!"
= again ironically commenting on his own future position = while he preserved his
standing by covering up his guilt, his own consience makes him alianated from society,
living lonely friendless life
= further irony is, that while Tyrrel would be cast out because of his tyrannical conduct
= and Falkland is cast out by his own conscience, because he ruined all that he stands
for = Falkland would be the agent by which society casts out Caleb

= Falkland does not find Hawkins in the farm = the family run away & his son escaped
from the jail
‘That catastrophe I shall shortly have occasion to relate, and it will be found pregnant with horror,
beyond what the blackest misanthropy could readily have suggested’

= the narrator at the end again refers to himself

Chapter X
‘Grimes was no coward; but he reverenced the inborn divinity that attends upon rank, as Indians
worship the devil.’
= the view of some people from the lower rank of the upper class

= Tyrrel is worried about his reputation = the difference btw him and Falkland lies in
the fact, that while his deeds, however bad, stayed hidden = he would feel justified to
do them, and would have no remorse X Falkland is also worried about his reputation &
honour, and while thanks to his past conduct he is able to refute allegation for his crime
= his consciousness does not allow him to have peace, but more importantly the
knowledge that he betrayed his own beliefs is the real weight dragging him down
= Caleb is very similar in this respect = what keeps him going and giving him strength
is that he does not give up on his principles = and though he is a fugitive and Falkland
his persuer, on another level he is the winner and Falkland the loser – that is his
strength = once he does inform on Falkland and succeeds – he consider himself a true
wretch (the original ending X published ending = wretch thanks to the system &
Falkland X wretch because of his own decision to give up on his principles??)

= Miss Emily becomes ill

= Tyrrel upon discovering that his plan concerning marriage of Grimes & Emily idid not
work asks his steward to go to his lawyer to make a warrant to arrest her because she
owes him money for the board and other necessaries = even so hardened men as
Barnes is not willing to proceed with such a scheme, but when threatened he complies
= Emily is taken to prison & is looked after by Mrs Hammond (sister of Mrs Jakeman)
= Falkland is called upon, he & his doctor comes
= Emily is delirious (she see images of Grimes & Tyrrel with blood, & Falkland’s
deformed with wounds = but in reality it will be exactly the opposite)
= Emily dies

Chapter XI
= Tyrrel is informed about the death of Emily by Mrs Hammond
= he is voted of from assembly, but he does not respect this decision of the public and
goes to an assembly where he knows Mr Falkland won’t be present
= though the folks of the assembly try to refuse him entry and stay = they lack a leader
& when Mr Tyrrel is on the point of gaining some ground Mr Falkland enters and
manage to send Tyrrel away by very strong reproaches
= Tyrrel returns in the course of the evening, drunk & give Mr Falkland beating = the
disgrace is deeply felt by Falkland = his inner thoughts are expressed in here (in words
of Mr Collins?)
= Tyrrel is found murdered that evening = written in 3 sentences: ‘One other event closed
the transactions of this memorable evening. Mr. Falkland was baffled of the vengeance that yet
remained to him. Mr. Tyrrel was found by some of the company dead in the street, having been
murdered at the distance of a few yards from the assembly house.

Chapter XII
= rumours start that Falkland is the murderer
= finally he is called in front of meeting of justices & gives a speech (he meant this
speech to be even printed in the journal, but then changed his mind)
= he is equited of the accusation = later Hawkinses are accused and tried for the
murder (cloths & knife found in the place they inhabitted) = they are hanged
= since the unfortunate assembly evening the behaviour & person of Falkland changed
= though he is still kind and humane = there is stately reserve & coldness in his
behaviour, living in recluse = from time to time displaying marks of a furious insanity

Volume II
Chapter I
Narration Chapter X (Volume I)
= indirect ….
1sr pers, 3 pers
rd
‘He no sooner obtained a moment's pause than he began to recall to his tempestuous mind the
apparent, omniscient various circumstances of the case. His complaints were bitter; and, in a tranquil observer, might
reliable, unreliable have produced the united feeling of pity for his sufferings, and horror at his depravity. He
Speech recollected all the precautions he had used; he could scarcely find a flaw in the process; and he
cursed that blind and malicious power which delighted to cross his most deep-laid schemes. "Of
Direct, indirect, free this malice he was beyond all other human beings the object. He was mocked with the shadow of
Stream of consciousness power; and when he lifted his hand to smite, it was struck with sudden palsy. [In the bitterness of
his anguish, he forgot his recent triumph over Hawkins, or perhaps he regarded it less as a
triumph, than an overthrow, because it had failed of coming up to the extent of his malice.] To
what purpose had Heaven given him a feeling of injury, and an instinct to resent, while he could in
no case make his resentment felt! It was only necessary for him to be the enemy of any person, to
insure that person's being safe against the reach of misfortune. What insults, the most shocking
and repeated, had he received from this paltry girl! And by whom was she now torn from his
indignation? By that devil that haunted him at every moment, that crossed him at every step, that
fixed at pleasure his arrows in his heart, and made mows and mockery at his insufferable tortures."
There was one other reflection that increased his anguish, and made him careless and desperate
as to his future conduct. It was in vain to conceal from himself that his reputation would be cruelly
wounded by this event. He had imagined that, while Emily was forced into this odious marriage,
she would be obliged by decorum, as soon as the event was decided, to draw a veil over the
compulsion she had suffered. But this security was now lost, and Mr. Falkland would take a pride in
publishing his dishonour. Though the provocations he had received from Miss Melville would, in his
own opinion, have justified him in any treatment he should have thought proper to inflict, he was
sensible the world would see the matter in a different light. This reflection augmented the violence
of his resolutions, and determined him to refuse no means by which he could transfer the anguish
that now preyed upon his own mind to that of another.’
Themes attempt to reconcile his vision of justice with highly realistic portraits of political
psychology (Gary Handwerk)
Eg freedom/slavery
Life/death, civilized/primitive the tendency of Caleb Williams runs fundamentally contrary to the explicit political
assumptions & expectations of Political Justice
though he might have started his novel hoping to exemplify his political ideals in
dramatic form, his own narrative & psychological realism transformed the fiction into a
much more sceptical mediation on the possibilities for political amelioration through
reason
his attention to the working of ideology in an individual mind, Caleb’s, led him to
complicate his rationalist model of political justice & political change

the reformulated conclusion = reopening the gulf btw politics & ethics, btw power &
justice, that his political writings sought to bridge = revealing his Political Justice as the
perfect fiction

the novel even as revised fails to carry through Godwin’s project of explicating &
demonstrating the accessibility of political justice

the direct relation of Political Justice to the reworked ending:

the point where he tries hardest to fuse his theoretical & fictional practice
how to interpret Caleb’s status? = Caleb freeing himself from OR still deeply entangled
in the meshes of political ideology

Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness =
already the title suggests that his interest in political matters had a fundamentally
ethical basis
the central claim of Political Justice = politics (questions of power & government, of
ideology & interests, which are rooted in historical circumstances – can be
subordinated to ethical considerations - those questions of justice and fairness that
ought to be determined objectively by abstract reason
argues against the absurdities of social contract theory = Godwin distinguishes politics
from ethics by pointing out that politics inevitably involves the use of force to override
countless reservations of particular individuals about specific communal decisions

Godwin argues that we need to reformulate our perception of justice = how we can best
go about defining it & realizing it = how human reason might be able to circumvent
politics as it has traditionally been understood

although Political Justice shares Englightenment confidence in eternal, immutable law of

reason = sceptical of any invocation of coercive reason in political affairs = its essential
political principle asserts the absolute priority of private judgment as that which
government needs most urgently to foster
why should we assume that rational behaviour will actually lead toward social justice
without governmental efforts to enforce it? = Godwin’s argument: two features intrinsic
to rational human motivation – benevolence & impartiality – will ultimately prove able to
override considerations of power = justice requires both capacities = assuming that
both exist & naturally conform to the laws of reason (may seem utopian)
from Godwin’s perspective = government can never be an appropriate mechanism for
social change - it cannot foster political virtues = it actively works against their
development by constricting the progressive movement of reason within fixed,
traditionally sanctified, institutional ways of determining justice

in his political writings = Godwin insists that the idea of political rights as being distinct
from moral duty is unreasonable
our duty to behave in a benevolent fashion is absolutely overriding, although this
remains a personal & internal compulsion, not one that government ought to enforce =
private judgment remains practically & politically preeminent for Godwin = & it exists
essentially to help us uderstand how we should serve the general good
P.J. argues that our reason is sufficient to determine what will foster the general welfare
= we can attain a position of intellectual impartiality that let us see beyond self-interest
& prejudice = justice rests upon impartiality for Godwin
impartiallity complements benevolence
as Godwin moves into fiction & as he comes to be influenced by discussions with Mary
Wollstonecraft = benevolence becomes more of a distinct problem, though his
commitment to a sentimental rationalism persists programmatically throughout his
works = their aim is to arouse emotional indignation against irrationality of things as
they are & have been in political society

Godwin’s fiction shows him to be a more canny analyst of political psychology =

 showing the awareness of the limits of reason

three distinct alternatives sketched by C.W.:

Mitzi Myers = CW is neither a simple exemplification nor an unaknowledged repudiation
of his philosophical tenets = the moral concerns at the heart of Godwin’s treatise inform
his novel as well, not as a positive program of set doctrines, but as the exploration of a
moral problem = the numerous political reflections & the brilliant psychological
analyses cannot be considered in isolation from the basic moral pattern that forms the
core of the novel

CW’s narrative structure is allegorical = translating the larger concerns terms and
conditions of political justice into the personal relationship of power btw Caleb & his
master & mentor, Falkland
how this allegory works? = how Godwin’s choice to foreground psychology & to put
issues in moral terms affects the political message (if any) of the text?

Original ending:
a conclusion that underscored in a very predictable way the political critique behind the
narrative
Caleb’s ethical integrity proves unable to alter the structure of “things as they are”
although he does get the chance to accuse his former master of having committed a
murder & of having shifted the blame and punishment onto an innocent tenant farmer,
the legal system continues to operate as it has throughout the novel
despite the eloquence of Caleb’s appeal, society refuses to give his case a serious
hearing = Falkland successfully defends himself by pointing out that, in the absence of
real evidence, the judges’ determination who is speaking the truth must rest on their
judgment of the respective characters of himself (a respected local landlord) & Caleb
(an accused thief & escapee from prison) = on the very differences of status that
Caleb has tried to make subordinate to the ethical claims of rational justice
Falkland goes further = having Caleb imprisoned & ultimately poisoned = revealing
himself as absolute villain = consciously using his access to political power for his
private benefit = impervious to any appeal to benevolence or impartiality he exploits
“the power which the institutions of society give to ONE man over others” = Caleb’s
words)
Godwin meant for the reader to condemn a political-social system that enhances the
power of individuals to manipulate the truth for personal advantage = Caleb struggles
as a righteous individual against the system whose representative or agent is Falkland
= but he finds no opportunity for justice within politicized institutions

2 problems that may have led Godwin to rewrite the ending:

1. this conclusion makes it all too easy to take Falkland’s villainy as personal in nature,
a consequence of his character rather than endemic to the political system
2. it puts into question the efficacy of any appeal to benevolence or impartiality in
bringing about the change in a system conditioned by consideration of power
Caleb’s death – though effective & plausible = might lead the reader, like Caleb, to
despair

Revised ending:
startingly reverses the previous momentum of the novel = not once, but twice
1. Caleb’s triumph in court
2. Caleb’s sense of the emptiness of that victory

the conclusion exploits the narrative subtleties of the fictional text in its treatment of
the complicated interaction btw ideological & ethical concerns
Caleb becomes not simply a victim = his own capacity to understand & articulate
political justice becomes a central concern of the text
reading his own past = a model for our own struggles to realise to conditions of
political justice = so it matters a great deal that the very success of Caleb’s appeal to
ethical norms & virtues, his triumphant enactment of the principles of political justice ,
somehow generates a paradoxical & paralyzing sense of culpability about his own
character & behaviour
at the exact moment when Caleb seems to circumvent historically conditioned
differences of status & power, they rewrite themselves within the personalized ethical
narrative that he is constructing = leaving behind as narrative surplus an excessive
feeling of guilt

Symbolism
Colour, light/dark
Nature ‘pathetic fallacy’
Male/female
Language/Style dramatic intensity rather than any sustained technical brilliance
Literary, plain
Descriptive, active/passive, ironic,
Direct/indirect

Interpretations
Psychological, Feminist, Marxist, ideological,
reader response

Significance/ the response of his contemporaries was quite contradictory = while some were
eulogistic others have criticised the book severely
importance
craftsmanship, major work, timeless Hazlitt (“Spirit of the Age”)
topics, inclusion in canon, enduring "A masterpiece, both as to invention and execution. The romantic and chivalrous principle of the
appeal, universal, love of personal fame is embodied in the finest possible manner in the character of Falkland; as in
Caleb Williams (who is not the first, but the second character in the piece), we see the very demon
of curiosity personified. Perhaps the art with which these two characters are contrived to relieve
and set off each other has never been surpassed by any work of fiction, with the exception of the
immortal satire of Cervantes."

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/799232.Caleb_Williams
http://www.scribd.com/doc/40853960/The-Eighteenth-Century-Novel

notes from The Eighteenth Century Novel by Stuart Sim :

 the eighteenth century novel engages with social issues

 explores moral dilemmas
 what are the justifiable limits of state power?

 in general 18th century novel = able to inspire social criticism that has wide
public resonance
 the novel form is an excellent medium for social criticism = able to give an
 extended treatment to issues drawn from the popular culture of its own day
 = it also allows the author considerable freedom to comment on the actions of
his/her characters (use of narrator’s voice) = revealing the complexity of the
socio-political issues that are being addressed

 on of the dominant motifs of eighteenth-century novel writing = a concern with

the individual & his/her relationship to society (‘the egocentric preferences of
the novel’ – John J. Richetti)
 (Caleb Williams, Frankenstein = alienated & hunted protagonists)

 we can identify a conflict btw ‘little’ & ‘grand narratives’ with individuals being
subjected to pressure exerted by the dominant ideology of their day = women
with patriarchy; individuals of both sexes with the class system & its
commitment to hierarchy; the ambitious with social convention; political
radicals with the ancient regime;
 these negotions = complex; can test the individuals to the limit as they struggle
to assert themselves against the prevailing powers in their culture
 Caleb Williams finds himself confronted by the full might of what Louis Althusser
calls the Repressive State Apparatus for daring to pry into its secrets

 important to observe HOW the characters cope with what is often a very
unequal struggle that taxes them to the limit = both physically & morally = the
moral dilemmas – no mere abstractions, but ones that affect individual lives
very directly (both now & then)

 fears about state power

 era when radical thinkers beginning to demand the civil liberties to be
introduced
 C. W. = provides an extended investigation of to the perils of increased state
power as far as the vulnerable individual is concerned

 Falkland’s authority would be severely undermined were his secret ever to

come out, as would by extention the socio-political system of which he is
considered to be such an illustrious representative
 Caleb is falsely accused of crime = in order to silence him when he threatens to
leave Falkland’s employ, forcing him to become a fugitive from justice in order
to survive

 the state machine set in motion by Falkland proceeds to track Caleb down
wherever he goes, refusing to allow him to settle & live normal life = whenever
he attempts to do so, news of his supposed crimes soon follows & few are
willing to believe Caleb’s side of the story when compared to the official version
which has the full weight of state authority behind it

 it becomes a case of Caleb’s word against Falkland’s = the latter’s reputation as

a man of honour inevitably prevails in the public mind = it is inconcievable to
the average citizen that Falkland could be the guilty of duplicity, & so he is
taken as the injured party
 some of the lower orders casts Caleb as a folk-hero for his supposed criminal
activities = with their connotation of rebellion against the authorities
 the contest is ridiculously unequal, & nothwistanding his folk-hero status, Caleb
has no one to turn to for aid in his struggle

 Caleb is clearly a victim of the surveillance society of his time = as a dissident

member he cannot be allowed to escape, his very existence representing a
challenge to the authority of ruling powers

 Caleb is continually hounded, & periodically imprisoned, until a final

confrontation with Falkland unexpectedly, & perhaps not entirely convincingly,
resolves the issue in his favour
 the original author’s ending is far bleaker = the character subsiding into
madness, the state stystem having triumphed over him

 the unfortunate Caleb’s plight is the real state of affairs (according to Godwin)
in terms of relationship obtaining btw the individual & the state in the
eighteenth-century England
 original title = ‘THINGS AS THEY ARE’ = Godwin setting out to present, as the
Preface put it, ‘ a general review of the modes of domestic & unrecorded
despotism, by which man becomes the destroyer of man.’
 Caleb Williams constitutes a plea for a more open form of society, where state
power is massively reduced & the individual need no longer fear the actions of
the ruling class or its agents
 The Context:
 1790s = repressive British government headed by William Pitt the Younger =
cracking down on the spread of revolutionary ideas from France
 a network of government spies is operating throughout the country = many
radicals are being imprisoned as evidence of the government’s resolve to
maintain the status quo
 Godwin’s narrative in an intervention into the most critical political debate of
the day – the old order versus the new
 Gary Kelly: there is ‘a provocative & complex contemporary historical allegory’
being worked out in the text, in which Falkland ‘could be seen to represent
France of the Old Regime’

 the reduction of state power lies at the heart of Godwin’s political philosophy
 in his famous treatise, the Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793) = the case
is put for political anarachism, with Godwin’s main concern being to shift
political power away from the state & onto its citizens
 from this perspective the state as traditionally constructed is an impediment to
all human progress & individual development
 Godwin’s enquiry is set to prove ‘that government is, in all cases, an evil’, &
‘that it ought to be introduced as sparingly as possible
 ‘man is a species of being whose excellence depends upon his individuality; &
who can be neither great nor wise but in proportion as he is independent
 Godwin is a proponent of the minimal state = arguing for no more public
instituions than are necessary to guarantee basic personal security

 Isaac Kramnick has noted = Godwin’s anarchism reduces to three main

principles: political simplicity, public inspection, positive sincerity

 Political simplicity will be achieved by a decentralisation of government into

smaller units, or ‘parishes’, which will be more responsive to local needs =
withing these parishes, the ‘observant eye, of public judgement’ would act as a
check on the actions of all citizens, tempering any anti-social desires that may
emerge = each of us would be expected to become ‘the ingenuous censor’ of
our neighbour, prepared to ‘tell him in person, & publish to the world, his
virtues, his good deeds, his meannesses & follies’, all with perfect ‘sincerity’.

 in C.W. public inspection is put into play as a policy, with Caleb subjecting
Falkland to it with drastic consequences for both of them, culminating in
Falkland’s death
 it is not clear that the public inspection is an attractive prospect at the end of
the novel = Caleb himself expressing remorse at what he has done

 Falkland is presented to us in the first instance as a rather distant figure with a

reserved, melancholic & often gloomy manner
 although he takes Caleb into his household & offers him the chance of self-
advancement as his secretary, he makes no real attempt to befriend the young
man, remaining aloof from any such intimate human contact

 although Caleb is greatful for being raised up the social scale by Falkland, this
does not stop him from wanting to pry into his master’s business
 Caleb’s defence of this side of his character predictably seeks the best possible
interpretation = it is a scientific curiosity representative of all that is most
appealing in Enlightenment thought: a desire both to understand & to improve
the world around us by penetrating nature’s secrets
 but when it is applied to the more mundane activity of discovering his master’s
secrets, the trait loses much of its appeal = being a spy subtly alters Caleb’s
personality = making him more secretive himself & increasing his sense of self-
importance as a leading player in the exciting drama he envisages himself
caught up in
 nevertheless, Caleb’s curiosity succeeds to reveal the huge gulf that separates
the Old Regime from the new revolutionary spirit that is taking hold in
continental Europe
 although Godwin disliked the methods employed in the French Revolution = he
was in favour of ‘a gradual but uninterrupted change’ based on the use of
reason, instead of the ‘Terror’employed there = he is nevertheless in
agreement about the need for radical political change

 at least initially Caleb’s curiosity can seem to be part of this concerted

challenge to tradition & received authority which Godwin so detested, & thus
defensible
 it will probe to be this trait of curiosity that the old order feels compelled to
 suppress at all costs = public inspection of its operations is the last thing it
wishes to happen
 state power must preserve its mystique, otherwise its hold over the populace is
in danger of being seriously weakened
 in the wake of the French Revolution = the former is precisely what Pitt the
Younger’s government is concerned to uphold, the latter to avoid
 Godwin in his Enquiry Concerning Political Justice says that ‘the people of
England have assiuously been excited to declare their loyalty, & to mark every
man as obnoxious who is not ready to sign the Shibboleth of the constitution’
 = that loyalty will be only too apparent in C.W. , rendering the hero obnoxious
to his fellow citizens: an enemy of the state to be silenced for the public good

 Falkland’s depressive character & retired way of life stem from some
unfortunate events in his earlier history = in particular from his rivalry with
another local landowner – Barnabas Tyrrel – an uncouth figure who appears to
considerable disadvantage when compared to the sophisticated & worldly
Falkland
 Tyrrel’s brutal treatment of his niece Emily, whom he drives to her death brings
the animosity btw the two men to a head
 after a quarrel at an assembly Tyrrel assaults Falkland, leaving him feeling
publicly shamed
 ‘To Mr. Falkland disgrace was worse than death. The slightest breath of
dishonour would have stung him to the very soul. What must it have been with
this complication of ignomity, base, humiliating and public.’
 soon after leaving the assembly Tyrrel is murdered
 when suspicion falls upon him, he successfully pleads his inocence = two
disgruntled ex-tenants of Tyrrel, the Hawkinses are subsequently charged and
found guilty of the crime
 the culprit is Falkland, but he allows the Hawkinses to go to their deaths to save
his honour
 honour is put above justice
 Falkland spend the rest of his life to hide his secret, until Caleb arrives his
reputation remains untarnished = though, living the lie exacts a heavy toll on
his psychological well-being

 Caleb is unconvinced by the official line on Tyrrel’s murder & decides to test its
truth:’I determined to set myself as a watch upon my patron.’
 Caleb is successful in his surveillance & that Falkland is trapped into a
confession:
 ‘I am the blackest of villains. I am the murderer of Tyrrel. I am the assassin of
the Hawkinses.’
 Caleb is sworn to secrece, which makes him a prisoner of Falkland

 but truth is far more complex than that = it is not simply a personal matter
involving the two men
 Caleb has discovered how unjust the code of personal honour is on which
Falkland has based his life
 he has discovered the corruption that lies at the heart of the old order’s
ideology = it is only interested in power, using the mystique of honour to keep
the population in a state of awe & subjection

 Caleb is accused of theft, pursued by Falkland’s agents & soon imprisoned

without trial
 Falkland is a pillar of virtue whose word is not to be disputed for the authorities,
who treats Caleb with great injustice
 this brings forth the following bitterly ironic sentiments from Caleb about the
political settlement prevailing in eighteenth-century England

 the message is clear: the authorities will be utterly ruthless with all those who
transgress their code or threaten their power base
 in essence, this is the political condition of England in the 1790s

 Caleb eventually escapes , but now finds himself condemnd to life as a fugitive,
required to cover his tracks wherever he goes & to engage in perpetual
deception to stay one step ahead of his pursuers
 reduced to disguise
 but he never really escapes the reach of the surveillance system = as Falklands
informs him when Caleb gets again into his hands = ‘I had my eye upon you in
all your wanderings. You have taken no material step through their whole
course with wich I have not been acquainted.’

 a pamphlet is being sold around London, containing all the details of his case
 described in the most sensational way to the hero’s disadvantage (‘The
Wonderful and Surprising Adventures of Caleb Williams’)
 Caleb is a prisoner wherever he goes, with no real private space he can retreat
to:
 Jacqueline T. Miller – ‘Falkland has been the “author” of Caleb’s life, & Caleb’s
own efforts to be the author of his own history & identity have been impotent’
 = significantly, he writes his own history, and the true events
 it is almost as if the system is toying with Caleb by allowing him to continue to
exist at all, knowing it can move against him at any time, a point repeatedly
made by Falkland: ‘At least I have a power respecting you, and that power I will
exercise; a power that shall grind you into atoms.’

 = episode of Wales
 = forbidden to leave the British Isles

 Caleb’s freedom of action is revealed to be an illusion: surveillance has

achieved its object of keeping the individual under constant control

 Godwin’s original ending is more consistent with the tone of the narrative’s
opening lines, where the hero’s despairing cry is that,
 ‘My life has for several years been a theatre of calamity. I have been a mark for
the vigilance of tyranny, and I could not escape. My fairest prospects have been
blasted. My enemy has shown himself inaccessible to entreaties, and untired in
persecution. My fame, as well as my happiness, has become his victim. Every
one, as far as my story has been known, has refused to assist me in my
distress, and has execrated my name. I have not deserved this treatment’

 Caleb in the first version of the ending is a broken man, rapidly declining into
madness as a consequence of the highly efficient vigilance with which Falkland
& the state have hunted him throughout England
 one commentator has described as the main theme of Godwin’s fiction, ‘the
crushing of the individual by the forces of organised society’

 the Old Regime has defeated him = Caleb’s sad story concludes with the
character in a condition of extreme wretchedness, comparing himself to a
gravestone: ‘an obelisk to tell you, HERE LIES WHAT WAS ONCE A MAN!’
 he has chosen to stand up to the power of the state & its surveillance society, &
has lost
 uncovering the secrets of the authorities, or even attempting to do so, carries
the strong risk of leading to a very bad end for the individual involved

 the narrative’s published ending sees Falkland overcome by the tenacity (&
‘sincerity’ as Caleb sees it) of his opponent
 in a charged courtroom scene Falkland breaks down & publicly admits his guilt
 his death three days later removes any possibility of punishment & he is never
held to account for his crime
 Caleb’s victory has not materially altered the character of the state that has
made his life such a misery & cost the lives of the innocent Hawkinses
 we are to assume, that other Falklands lie in wait for other unsuspecting Calebs
if they allow their curiosity free rein & delve too deeply into their secrets

 the hero himself seems unable to break free from Falkland’s spell, & is
distraught at his master’s public disgrace:
 ‘I thought that, if Falkland were dead, I should return once again to all that
makes life worth possessing. I thought that, if the guilt of Falkland were
established, fortune and the world would smile upon my efforts. Both these
events are accomplished; and it is now only that I am truly miserable.’

 Caleb blames ‘the poison of chivalry’ for distorting Falkland’s character = but
that chivalry is at the core of the political system Falkland unreservedly
supports
 it is not just a personal concern, but the basis of how that system works & how
its rulers exert their control over the populace
 Falkland & his peers are to be looked up to & respected for the family honour
they represent = the code of the honour itself is never to be questioned = to do
so is to invite persecution by the powerful in the manner of Caleb

 Caleb’s own misery at Falkland’s death shows how difficult it can be to

overcome the pull of dominant ideology & just how complicit we can be as
individuals in maintaining its historically sanctioned ‘imposture’
 Caleb is a very lonely voice in the narrative = how willing almost everyone else
is, even those in humble positions socially, to collude with the surveillance
society the authorities have set up to protect their political ideals against any
 sustained challenge
 it is those very authorities who are always given the benefit of the doubt, never
Caleb

 Godwin’s answer to tyranny was to reduce significantly the power of the state,
cutting back drastically on its institutions & opting for a parish-based model of
government instead
 the local being preferred over the central
 trust was to be place in the ability of individuals to police themselves as much
as possible (by means of public inspection & positive sincerity)
 he provides a warning of how easily the state can turn into a repressive
mechanism acting against the best interests of most of its citizens
 the need for public accountability as regards official authority also comes across
very stronly in Godwin’s work
 BUT not all censors are to be so ‘ingenuous’ as Godwin expects them to be
 the more the public realm encroaches into the private, the more the hard-won
gains of the Englightenment on freedom of movement & speech are eroded
 curiosity must have its limits too = ‘obsession & self-love’, as one critic has
pointed out, are traits that Caleb & Falkland share, and neither is really in the
best interests of liberal democracy when pushed to extremes