Barnaby Rudge · Chapter
Chapter 33 explained
On a wild, stormy night in early 1780, the Maypole Inn provides a warm refuge for John Willet, Phil Parkes, Tom Cobb, and Solomon Daisy.
What happens
On a wild, stormy night in early 1780, the Maypole Inn provides a warm refuge for John Willet, Phil Parkes, Tom Cobb, and Solomon Daisy. After hours of silence, Solomon Daisy reveals that he has had a terrifying experience at the church: he forgot to wind the clock on the nineteenth of March, a date he has dreaded for twenty-seven years. As he tells his tale, he claims to have heard a voice among the graves, and the men are deeply unsettled, resolving to keep the matter quiet.
Themes in this chapter
Madness and Perception
Solomon Daisy's obsessive fear of the nineteenth of March and his vivid, possibly hallucinatory experience blur the line between reality and imagination.
The Spectacle of Death
The tale of ghosts and the voice from the graves evokes the macabre fascination with death and the supernatural.
Characters to notice
- John Willet
Sits in his accustomed place, silent and watchful, and later becomes agitated by Solomon Daisy's story.
- Solomon Daisy
The clerk of Chigwell, who recounts a frightening encounter at the church on the nineteenth of March.
- Mr. Parkes
One of the regulars at the Maypole, who listens intently and is visibly nervous during the tale.
- Mr. Cobb
Another regular, who urges Solomon to continue and shares in the general unease.
Key passages
“It was not a time for those who could by any means get light and warmth, to brave the fury of the weather.”
The storm was so severe that anyone who could stay indoors with fire and light would do so.
Sets the scene of the harsh winter night.
“I have never gone alone into the church after dark on this day, for seven-and-twenty years.”
For twenty-seven years, Solomon has avoided entering the church alone after dark on this particular date.
Reveals Solomon's long-standing dread of the nineteenth of March.
“As I took up my lantern again to leave the church, it came upon me all at once that this was the nineteenth of March.”
Just as he was about to leave, Solomon suddenly realized the date, which struck him with a shock.
The moment of realization that triggers his terror.