Chapters 1–3 Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby opens with Nicholas’s grandfather Godfrey Nickleby, who has been driven by poverty almost to the point of suicide, inheriting money from an uncle. He buys a farm and raises two sons, Nicholas and Ralph. Cold and miserly Ralph becomes a rich money-lender, while the kinder Nicholas remains poor, eventually…
Tag: Summary
A Lost Lady: Summary
Chapter One The novel A Lost Lady by Willa Cather opens with a description of how Captain Daniel Forrester became a prominent, rich man by building an extensive railroad network. While constructing his rail lines, he found a spot surrounded by creeks and meadows near the growing town of Sweet Water in Nebraska. There he…
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: Summary
Chapters 1–4 Kidnapped begins in June of 1751, in a region of Scotland known as the Lowlands. David Balfour, an Essendean boy of sixteen, is left homeless when his seemingly poor schoolmaster father dies. With his mother already dead, David believes himself to be without inheritance or living relative until the local minister, Mister Campbell,…
Intruder In The Dust: Summary
Chapters 1–2 This classic novel by William Faulkner opens with the news that Lucas Beauchamp, a black man living in the countryside of Yoknapatawpha County, has been accused of murdering a white man, Vinson Gowrie. The novel is told from the point of view of sixteen year-old Charles ‘‘Chick’’ Mallison, and the news reminds him…
Oedipus at Colonus: Summary & Analysis
DATE: produced posthumously in 401, written in 407/6 COMPETITION: unknown CHARACTERS: Oedipus, Antigone, Stranger, Ismene, Theseus, Kreon, Polyneikes, Messenger CHORUS: men of Colonus SETTING: the grove of the Eumenides at Colonus, a village just outside Athens SUMMARY: After many years of wandering the blind and accursed Oedipus and his daughter Antigone arrive at Colonus, near…
Philoctetes by Sophocles: Summary & Analysis
DATE: 409 COMPETITION: first prize CHARACTERS: Odysseus, Neoptolemos, Philoctetes, Merchant, Herakles CHORUS: sailors from the ship of Neoptolemos SETTING: the deserted island of Lemnos SUMMARY: The Greeks have been besieging Troy for ten years and discover that they cannot take the city without the presence of Philoctetes and the bow of Herakles. They (especially Odysseus…
Electra by Sophocles: Summary & Analysis
DATE: a matter of great uncertainty, but 418–410 seem most likely. COMPETITION: unknown CHARACTERS: Orestes, Paidagogos, Electra, Chrysothemis, Klytaimestra, Aigisthos; Pylades (silent) CHORUS: women of the palace SETTING: the palace of Agamemnon at Mycenae SUMMARY: Orestes returns home to Mycenae with the faithful tutor (paidagogos), to whom his sister Electra entrusted him after their father’s…
Oedipus Tyrannus/ Oedipus Rex/ Oedipus the King: Summary & Analysis
DATE: before 424 – the plague at the start of the play may reflect the plague that struck Athens early in the War (430–425); most scholars argue for 429 or 427–5. COMPETITION: Sophocles’ presentations finished second to Philokles. CHARACTERS: Oedipus, Priest, Kreon, Teiresias, Jokasta, messenger from Corinth, Theban herdsman, Messenger; Antigone, Ismene (silent) CHORUS: elders…
Sophocles’ Trachinian Women (Trachiniai, Women of Trachis): Summary & Analysis
DATE: unknown – placed as early as 450 or as late as 410; probably late 430s COMPETITION: unknown CHARACTERS: Deianeira, Nurse, Hyllos, Messenger, Lichas, Old Man, Herakles; Iole (silent) CHORUS: women of the city of Trachis SETTING: the city of Trachis (in central Greece) SUMMARY: Because of her beauty, Deianeira, the wife of Herakles, had…
Antigone by Sophocles: Summary & Analysis
DATE: probably 443 or 442, although a case can be made for 438 COMPETITION: won first prize CHARACTERS: Antigone, Ismene, Kreon, Guard, Haimon, Teiresias, First Messenger, Eurydike, Second Messenger CHORUS: elders of Thebes SETTING: the palace at Thebes SYNOPSIS: It is the morning after the Argive army has attacked Thebes and been defeated. Oedipus’ two…