Barnaby Rudge · Chapter
Chapter 44 explained
After the mob disperses, Gashford, nursing his bruises and wounded pride, follows two men to a squalid area known as the Green Lanes.
What happens
After the mob disperses, Gashford, nursing his bruises and wounded pride, follows two men to a squalid area known as the Green Lanes. He enters a mean hovel where Hugh and Dennis are drinking and smoking. Gashford reveals that he knows Hugh threw the stone that knocked him down, and he commends Hugh's spirit while cautioning patience. He then delivers a secret commission from Lord George Gordon: if violence becomes necessary, Hugh and Dennis are to punish Mr. Haredale without mercy, razing his house to the ground. The two men eagerly accept the mission, and Gashford departs, leaving them to drink his health.
Themes in this chapter
Manipulation and Exploitation
Gashford manipulates Hugh and Dennis, using their violent tendencies for his own vengeful purposes, while maintaining a facade of pastoral concern.
Mob Violence and Chaos
The chapter sets the stage for further mob violence, with Gashford commissioning the destruction of Haredale's property and the potential for murder.
Characters to notice
- Gashford
Bruised and humiliated by the day's events, Gashford follows Hugh and Dennis to their hideout, where he reveals his cunning and malevolent nature by commissioning them to destroy Haredale.
- Hugh
Revealed as the man who threw the stone at Gashford, Hugh is eager for violent action and readily accepts the task of punishing Haredale.
- Mr. Dennis
The hangman, cautious and experienced, advises patience and restraint, but is equally enthusiastic about the prospect of violence against Haredale.
Key passages
“It was not the secretary’s nature to waste his wrath in words. While he vented the froth of his malevolence in those effusions, he kept a steady eye on two men...”
Gashford, though outwardly cursing, was actually watching Hugh and Dennis, planning his next move.
Shows Gashford's calculating nature.
“We have broken the ice, though. We had a little spurt today—eh, Dennis?”
Gashford acknowledges the day's disturbance as a preliminary step.
Indicates the beginning of the riots.
“You may do as you please with him, or his, provided that you show no mercy, and no quarter, and leave no two beams of his house standing where the builder placed them.”
Gashford gives Hugh and Dennis full license to destroy Haredale and his property without restraint.
Illustrates the extreme violence being planned.