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Volume 1, Chapter 10
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Caleb Williams, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Hierarchy, Tyranny, and Oppression
The Legal System
Morality and Corruption
Reason vs. Passion
Truth and Justice
Summary
Analysis
Mrs. Hammond visits Tyrrel to inform him that Emily is dead, and he is responsible for her death. Tyrrel reacts with disbelief, then genuine despair, then blustery anger and defensiveness. He claims he doesn’t care that Emily died. Before she leaves, Mrs. Hammond tells Tyrrel that everyone in the world will hate and curse him. Throughout the next month, Mrs. Hammond’s words seem to come true. Everyone treats Tyrrel with scorn now, although they wouldn’t have dared to show him any disrespect before.
By acting according to passion instead of reason, Tyrrel has hurt himself—he has caused the death of someone he loved. However, instead of reckoning with his guilt, Tyrrel succumbs once more to passionate anger. He rejects responsibility and irrationally justifies his misdeeds. Tyrrel’s ostracization from his community showcases just how terrible other people find his cruel tyranny, though their fear kept them from expressing their resentment earlier.
Active
Themes
Tyrrel can’t tolerate being the target of everyone’s resentment. He goes to the rural assembly even though he’s been banned from it. The gentlemen there try to bar his entrance, but Tyrrel assumes his usual air of authority and forces his way inside. Then he commands each man to either confront him face-to-face or stay out of his private affairs. Intimidated, the members of the assembly remain silent. At this moment, Falkland enters the room. He shames Tyrrel for daring to show his face in public after causing Emily’s death, and he commands Tyrrel to leave his sight forever. Overwhelmed by Falkland’s severe reproaches, Tyrrel leaves obediently.
As a tyrant, Tyrrel is used to being obeyed, respected, and treated as superior to everyone else, so he’s desperate to reclaim the supremacy that he has lost. Because of the power he still holds as a wealthy, landowning aristocrat, he’s almost successful at forcing the gentry to bow to him again. However, his authority is much weaker than Falkland’s, which draws strength from Falkland’s moral virtue and honorability. Tyrrel’s retreat affirms that Falkland is superior and in the right.
Active
Themes
However, Tyrrel returns to the assembly house an hour and a half later, inebriated. He hits Falkland so hard that Falkland falls to the ground. Tyrrel kicks him and bends down to drag Falkland across the floor, but then the other gentlemen force Tyrrel out. For Falkland, the “disgrace” Tyrrel has done him is “worse than death.” Later that evening, Tyrrel’s dead body is discovered in the street outside the assembly house.
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