Caleb Williams

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1794

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Volume 2, Chapters 13-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Volume 2, Chapter 13 Summary

Caleb is first overwhelmed and then enthusiastic in the face of his imprisonment (274). He has been waiting a little more than a month for the assizes, but his case is not called so he again has to wait (275). The keeper of the jail begins to act differently with him and offers him a chamber with his family, explaining that he believes Caleb is a good man. Caleb knows there is something more to the jailer’s actions and refuses to accept any favors that could have strings attached (278). Caleb recalls an imprisoned soldier talking about the jail’s injustices: The soldier died of disease, which had a great impact on Caleb. Caleb begins to think of a way to get out, knowing that he likely won’t survive much longer.

Caleb convinces the keeper that he will build him six chairs if he could have some tools (280). He slowly accumulates more and more tools and is even granted the use of a small candle (281). He is finally able to get an iron crowbar from Miss Peggy, the jailer’s daughter. Once outside, Caleb will use his tools to climb the wall by making a sort of ladder. He escapes from his cell using the crowbar and is able to quiet one of the watchdogs before running out to the wall (282). A man sees him climbing it, and Caleb hurts his ankle as he hurries to jump down, so the authorities are able to catch him (283).

Volume 2, Chapter 14 Summary

By morning, Caleb is chained up to stop him from getting out again. His ankle is so badly injured that he has to beg for a surgeon.

Caleb finds a loose nail in his cell and picks the locks on his chains. He undoes them each night to be more comfortable but always redoes them in the morning (287). One day he oversleeps and wakes up to the sound of the keeper opening the door. He does not have time to redo the cuffs and the keeper sees him unchained (288). The jail workers move Caleb to a stronger room, which is worse than his last; his only water source is a puddle (288-89).

Thomas, Ferdinand’s footman, comes to visit Caleb and is shocked at his appearance. He feels so bad that he gives Caleb “a chisel, a file and a saw” and tells him to escape (290-91). Caleb bides his time and picks a night to get out. When it arrives, he works the stones out one by one, eventually getting out and running down the alley (293-94).

Volume 2, Chapters 13-14 Analysis

Godwin uses Caleb’s imprisonment as an example of the type of unjust treatment that prisoners faced. When Caleb breaks his ankle, he suffers in pain for several days before he has to beg for medical care; the jailers then move him to a cell that even more disease-ridden than the last o. As the chapter notes, the justice system’s definition of basic necessities was so loose that any source of water within reach of the convict qualified; in Caleb’s case, this means that his only drinking water is moldy and would likely just end up making him sick. This is the sort of treatment that Caleb has in mind when he challenges the idea that England has no Bastille.

Caleb himself acknowledges his character growth by saying that his persona goes through two major changes in jail. The darkness motif appears again as the time Caleb chooses to escape; the dark of the night acts as a type of disguise, though it does not always work as planned.