Caleb Williams

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1794

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Volume 3, Chapters 11-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Volume 3, Chapter 11 Summary

After Gines arrests Caleb, he removes all of his disguise and by the next morning looks like himself again (374). Now knowing for sure who Caleb it, the authorities draft a warrant to send him back to his own town (375). Caleb tries to tell the magistrate about the murder, but the magistrate explains that he cannot do anything unless Caleb was involved himself and that Caleb has no evidence. Furthermore, he says that Caleb looks like a criminal, so he doesn’t want to help him (376).

Out of options, Caleb returns to the prison that he escaped from in Volume 2. Caleb is a changed man: He “no longer [beholds] the world as [his] youthful fancy had once induced [him] to do” and sees every man as an “instrument of the tyrant” (378). However, Caleb slowly “recover[s] [his] spirit of determination” (379). He contemplates breaking out, but since the assizes are approaching, he waits to see if his case is called.

Caleb's name is called, and when he shows up at court he is surprised to learn that Ferdinando never showed up, so the charges have been dropped and Caleb is able to leave (380).

Volume 3, Chapter 12 Summary

Caleb quickly leaves town after the trial (381). That night two men attack him, and he realizes that one of them is Gines. They take Caleb to an inn and say that they will not hurt him, but he must wait so that someone can talk to him. Caleb wants to satisfy his curiosity, so he agrees. Ferdinando eventually comes into the room, and his appearance shocks Caleb: Ferdinando is “haggard, emaciated, and fleshless. His complexion [is] a dun and tarnished red […] his eyes red, quick, wandering […] and his whole figure [is] thin” (382).

Ferdinando asks Caleb whether he thought that Ferdinando would stop pursuing him just because the justice system dropped his case (383). Ferdinando says that he will leave Caleb alone if he signs a confession saying that his murder charge against Ferdinando was false. Caleb asks why he should sign away his own reputation just to save Ferdinando’s and then turns him down. Ferdinando threatens Caleb and leaves angry.

Afterwards, Caleb runs into Thomas, who says that the help he provided Caleb in jail was a weak moment and that he will not help him ever again. Caleb still appears guilty in his eyes.

Volume 3, Chapters 11-12 Analysis

When Caleb is placed in jail, he removes his disguise during the course of the night, so that by morning he looks like his normal self again (375). The transition of his appearance once again takes place under the cover of darkness—unnecessarily, in this case, since Caleb’s identity is already known.

Caleb’s removal of his disguise perhaps relates to his recognition of how he has changed and who he now is. In Chapter 11, Caleb writes that his since “escape from prison, [he] acquired some knowledge of the world; [he] had learned by bitter experience, […] how closely the snares of despotism beset [him]” (378). In this moment, Caleb describes his own fall, reinforcing the running theme of his character fitting the archetype of a tragic hero; Caleb’s curiosity was his downfall, and in this chapter, he has come to realize that. He says that his spirit has been broken by “despotism”—a harsh and highly politicized word that ties into Godwin’s critique of England’s justice system and class hierarchy.

After Caleb is cleared of his charges, the justice system does nothing to address the continued torment Ferdinando promises or to salvage Caleb’s wrecked reputation. Caleb runs into Thomas, and even though Caleb is innocent, the man still wants nothing to do with him. Thomas is an example of how people will treat Caleb now that his reputation has been ruined; with Gines following him, any new start he tries to make will fail.