Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty

“Ha ha! Why, how much better to be silly, than as wise as you! You don’t see shadowy people there, like those that live in sleep—not you. Nor eyes in the knotted panes of glass, nor swift ghosts when it blows hard, nor do you hear voices in the air, nor see men stalking in the sky—not you! I lead a merrier life than you, with all your cleverness. You’re the dull men. We’re the bright ones. Ha! ha! I’ll not change with you, clever as you are,—not I!”

Barnaby says this to Chester and Old John when they inform him that the “people” he sees dancing outside are actually clothes drying on a line. This is an example of how Barnaby often sees things in a more complex and meaningful way than others do, which often helps him see the truth in situations when others can’t. Though by making Barnaby and his intellectual disability symbolic Dickens is playing into contemporary stereotypes (See: Background), it is also a significant leap from convention when he has Barnaby suggest his way of living is better than that of the “clever” men around him. The infantilization of Barnaby also speaks to the theme of Childhood Versus Adulthood in the novel.

“I wouldn’t for the world interfere with my son, Haredale, beyond a certain point. The relationship between father and son, you know, is positively quite a holy kind of bond.”

Chester tells this to Haredale when they are plotting the separation of Edward and Emma. Not only is Chester lying when he says this, but this quote also highlights the prevalence of antagonistic relationships between fathers and sons in the novel, reflecting the tensions explored via the theme Childhood Versus Adulthood . Despite what he tells Haredale, everything Chester does to both of his sons interferes with their lives and breaks the “holy bond” he speaks of, showing the villainy of his character.

“There was a sombre aspect even on that part of the mansion which was inhabited and kept in good repair, that struck the beholder with a sense of sadness; of something forlorn and failing, whence cheerfulness was banished […] the very ghost of a house, haunting the old spot in its old outward form, and that was all.”

This description of the Warren is just one example of Dickens’s use of the Gothic throughout Barnaby Rudge. The way he describes this house connects it directly to its inhabitants and beholders, emphasizing the sadness that has occurred within its walls. Its “haunting” and being “the very ghost of a house” also show the connection to the murder of the Warren’s late owner and how it still impacts the people of Chigwell, particularly the Haredales, thus embodying The Inescapability of the Past.

“‘Oh Thou,’ she cried, ‘who hast taught me such deep love for this one remnant of the promise of a happy life, out of whose affliction, even, perhaps the comfort springs that he is ever a relying, loving child to me—never growing old or cold at heart, but needing my care and duty in his manly strength as in his cradle-time—help him, in his darkened walk through this sad world, or he is doomed, and my poor heart is broken!’”

This quote illustrates Mary’s love for her son and how his intellectual disability has affected them. Though her love for Barnaby is clear, this is another instance of the infantilization of Barnaby, as she describes him as “never growing old” and needing her care as much “in his manly strength as in his cradle-time,” thereby raising the issue of Childhood Versus Adulthood. This quote also shows Mary’s piety and devotion, as her apostrophe “Oh Thou” begins what is essentially a prayer.

“If you ever have a husband of your own […] never faint, my darling. More domestic unhappiness has come of easy fainting, Doll, than from all the greater passions put together. Remember that, my dear, if you would be really happy, which you never can be, if your husband isn’t.”

Gabriel tells this to Dolly after one of Martha’s outbursts, itself a stereotype of “shrewish” wives of the time. Here Dolly’s father instructs her how to be placid and repress her emotions when she eventually becomes the legal property of another man under the laws of England. Gabriel’s insistence that a wife can never be happy “if [her] husband isn’t” illustrates the confined role of women during the time in which the novel is set and how a woman’s life was defined by her marital status.

“To make one’s sweetheart miserable is well enough and quite right, but to be made miserable one’s self is a little too much!”

Dolly thinks this as Joe is wounding her pride by telling her he is leaving England, as she assumes he will not fight for their relationship. This quote highlights the emotional maturity Dolly lacks at the beginning of the novel while also showing Dolly’s more selfish side. Dolly’s attitude will gradually change as she undergoes the transition of Childhood Versus Adulthood in her values and conduct.

“What’s so good to me as this? What ever has been? What else has kept away the cold on bitter nights, and driven hunger off in starving times? What else has given me the strength and courage of a man, when men would have left me to die, a puny child? I should never have had a man’s heart but for this. I should have died in a ditch.”

Hugh tells this to Chester, referring to the alcohol he is being offered and reflecting one of the motifs of the novel (See: Symbols & Motifs). The passage not only gives further hints into Hugh’s backstory but also shows how Hugh has tried to combat the sadness of his life. Many of the things alcohol does for Hugh are things a parent would do for their child, which is ironic as Hugh will later learn that Chester is his father who abandoned him.

“It is something to look upon enjoyment, so that it be free and wild and in the face of nature, though it is but the enjoyment of an idiot. It is something to know that Heaven has left the capacity of gladness in such a creature’s breast; it is something to be assured that, however lightly men may crush that faculty in their fellows, the Great Creator of mankind imparts it even to his despised and slighted work. Who would not rather see a poor idiot happy in the sunlight, than a wise man pining in a darkened jail!”

As in Quote #2, this partially positive outlook on Barnaby’s intellectual disability showcases how Dickens, on occasion, breaks the mold of conventional contemporary beliefs regarding disability (See: Background). However, he also describes Barnaby as God’s “despised and slighted work,” echoing the more conventional Victorian belief that disability is linked to a fault in the person and that something is “wrong” with them. The mention of the “darkened jail” at the end of this excerpt foreshadows Barnaby’s imprisonment but also juxtaposes Barnaby’s fate of being “happy in the sunlight” to the fate of Barnaby Rudge Sr.

“And here is one of the inestimable advantages of having a perfect command over one’s inclinations. I have been tempted in these two short interviews, to draw upon that fellow, fifty times. Five men in six would have yielded to the impulse. By suppressing mine, I wound him deeper and more keenly than if I were the best swordsman in all Europe, and he the worst.”

Chester thinks this to himself after a disagreeable meeting with Haredale. Unlike Haredale, who freely shows his anger, Chester is always sure to keep his cool and maintain his careless and polite image in front of his adversaries. This quote shows how Chester uses this skill as a weapon and believes it to be the most advantageous one he has, foreshadowing the way in which he dies thinking about how he will look.

“[A]nd Protestant above all things. Let us be sincere and Protestant, strictly moral, strictly just (though always with a leaning towards mercy), strictly honest, and strictly true.”

This line comes from the conversation between Chester and Martha, in which he uses her supposed faith to manipulate her. Martha suggests that they be “Protestant above all things,” and Chester’s continuation of this idea enables him to present himself as moral and pious. However, Chester, though supposedly supporting the Gordon Riots for religious reasons, goes against every belief he puts forth here, further showing his deceitful ways.

“‘Is it not enough, my lord,’ Mr Haredale continued, ‘that I, as good a gentleman as you, must hold my property, such as it is, by a trick at which the state connives because of these hard laws; and that we may not teach our youth in schools the common principles of right and wrong; but must we be denounced and ridden by such men as this! Here is a man to head your No-Popery cry! For shame. For shame!’”

Haredale tells this to Lord George when the two of them meet just before the riots. This quote illustrates some of the legal and social injustices Catholics faced in this era, and the hypocrisy of the Protestant Association’s beliefs.

“‘Do you not see,’ she said, ‘how red it is? Nothing bears so many stains of blood, as gold. Avoid it. None have such cause to hate its name as we have. Do not so much as think of it, dear love. It has brought such misery and suffering on your head and mine as few have known, and God grant few may have to undergo. I would rather we were dead and laid down in our graves, than you should ever come to love it.’”

Mary tells this to Barnaby when he begins to express an interest in finding “gold” and securing economic stability for their family. This quote shows just how much the Rudges are haunted by the actions of Barnaby Rudge Sr., who was driven to kill because of money, once more reflecting The Inescapability of the Past. It also shows how Mary believes several of Barnaby’s characteristics—such as his intellectual disability and the red birthmark on his arm—are direct results of her husband’s greed.

“‘I don’t believe it,’ cried the gentleman, ‘not a bit of it. It’s an excuse not to work. There’s nothing like flogging to cure that disorder. I’d make a difference in him in ten minutes, I’ll be bound […] why don’t you shut him up? we pay enough for county institutions, damn ‘em. But thou’d rather drag him about to excite charity—of course.’”

The country justice tells this to Mary when she insists that Barnaby does in fact have an intellectual disability. This illustrates not only the contemporary belief that disability was often faked, but also the idea that people with disabilities were not fit to be members of society (See: Background). His insistence that Mary only uses Barnaby to “excite charity” shows how intellectual disability was viewed less as a medical subject and more as a burden to society.

“‘It is a bad sign of the wickedness of these times,’ said Lord George, evading her touch, and colouring deeply, ‘that those who cling to the truth and support the right cause, are set down as mad. Have you the heart to say this of your own son, unnatural mother!’”

Lord George tells this to Mary when she insists Barnaby has an intellectual disability, making Lord George think that she is just saying so because she does not support his radical beliefs. This quote contrasts the previous quote in that both of them are drastically different responses to Mary stating a plain fact about her son. Rather than validate the existence of someone with an intellectual disability, both the country justice and Lord George ignore this characteristic of Barnaby’s to support their own agendas.

“But recollect from this time that all good things perverted to evil purposes, are worse than those which are naturally bad. A thoroughly wicked woman, is wicked indeed. When religion goes wrong, she is very wrong, for the same reason.”

This line of Gabriel’s is delivered to Martha once the cause she was involved in has turned into the Gordon Riots, exhibiting Gabriel’s firm stance on the events. This quote also summarizes Dickens’s general treatment of the Gordon Riots as something that might have started with what some saw as decent principles, but which quickly devolved into chaos once corrupted. This passage raises the theme of Action Versus Intent.

“‘Disrespectful, my lord!’ returned the old gentleman. ‘I was respectful five times yesterday. I can’t be respectful for ever. Men can’t stand on being respectful when their houses are going to be burnt over their heads, with them in ‘em. What am I to do, my lord? Am I to have any protection!’”

Langdale, the vintner, tells this to the Lord Mayor when he accuses the vintner of being disrespectful for merely asking for protection. Langdale’s pleas and references to “houses [ . . .] burnt over [the] heads” of Catholics reflect the chaos and injustice of the riots. The Lord Mayor’s demanding of “respectful” behavior at such a moment reflects the arbitrary and cruel treatment being meted out to social minorities and inferiors in the midst of the rioting.

“What a pity it is you’re a Catholic! Why couldn’t you be a Protestant, and then you wouldn’t have got yourself into such a mess? I’m sure I don’t know what’s to be done.—There are great people at the bottom of these riots.”

This quote is the Lord Mayor’s response to the vintner and Haredale asking for protection from the mobs. Dickens’s fictionalization of the victim-blaming and unwillingness to take the riots seriously in this excerpt is representative of the actual mayor Lord North’s actions in the Gordon Riots. The injustice of the Lord Mayor’s support of the destructive rioters reveals how he is far more interested in supporting those who share his beliefs and would keep him in power.

“Times are changed, Mr Haredale, and times have come when we ought to know friends from enemies, and make no confusion of names. Let me tell you that but for this gentleman, you would most likely have been dead by this time, or badly wounded at the best.”

Joe tells this to Haredale when he and Edward are saving him and the vintner from the mob of rioters. Despite the longstanding feud between the Haredales and Chesters, Edward’s actions show how he has disregarded this petty squabble in order to do what is right. Edward’s actions here are in part what eventually convinces Haredale that he was wrong to separate him and Emma, bringing a happy conclusion to the tensions of Childhood Versus Adulthood in the novel.

“When he entered the town […] it seemed peopled by a legion of devils. This flight and pursuit, this cruel burning and destroying, these dreadful cries and stunning noises, were THEY the good lord’s noble cause!”

When Barnaby returns to London at the height of the riots, he is shocked to see what has become of the “noble cause” he was part of. This quote shows how different the riots seem from the outside versus how they appear on the inside, emphasizing how different Barnaby’s intentions are from those of the other rioters and reflecting the theme of Action Versus Intent.

“‘Oh! Don’t be too sure of that,’ cried Barnaby, with a strange pleasure in the belief that she was self-deceived, and in his own sagacity. ‘They have marked me from the first. I heard them say so to each other when they brought me to this place last night; and I believe them. Don’t you cry for me. They said that I was bold, and so I am, and so I will be. You may think that I am silly, but I can die as well as another.’”

Barnaby’s conviction that he is going to die a martyr for a noble cause is expressed in this quote, along with his mother’s fuller understanding of the situation. Not only does this show how thoroughly Barnaby was convinced by Hugh of the goodness of the cause, but also his conviction in the goodness of bravery and courage in general. He believes that the nobility he will show both in life and death should make his mother proud, a belief that, not unlike his sudden interest in wealth, shows how Barnaby is affected and influenced by the beliefs and morals of society at large, even when he and his mother are cut off from much of it.

“Of all his forty thousand men, not one remained to bear him company. Friends, dependents, followers,—none were there. His fawning secretary had played the traitor; and he whose weakness had been goaded and urged on by so many for their own purposes, was desolate and alone.”

This quote describes Lord George’s fate after the riots and highlights how much the principles of his movement had been lost within the rioting of his supporters, echoing the theme of Action Versus Intent. Dickens shows some sympathy to Lord George here, somewhat separating him from being the instigator of the riots and showing how the mob took on a life of its own without his involvement, leaving Lord George behind. Dickens also suggests that Lord George merely succumbed to his “weakness,” which was used against him for others’ purposes.

“When he remembered the great estimation in which his office was held, and the constant demand for his services […] he felt certain that the national gratitude MUST relieve him from the consequences of his late proceedings, and would certainly restore him to his old place in the happy social system.”

Dennis thinks this when he considers whether or not a hangman could actually be hanged. Until the end of his life, Dennis is so convinced of the importance of the role of hangman and its need to uphold society that he doubts he actually will be executed. This is just one way in which Dickens mocks the “happy social system” and those who insist on its inability to be changed.

“These insane creatures make such very odd and embarrassing remarks, that they really ought to be hanged for the comfort of society.”

Sir John’s belief about people with intellectual disabilities like Barnaby not only highlights his villainy but also demonstrates a not-uncommon contemporary belief (See: Background). The popularity of asylums in Dickens’s time and the eugenics movements illustrate the general idea of Sir John’s belief that people with disabilities should be hidden away “for the comfort of society.” This quote also highlights Sir John’s dependence on “comfort,” which is also the reason he needs Edward to marry someone with money.