# Chapter 70 explained — Barnaby Rudge

> Chapter companion for Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens.

## What happens

Mr. Dennis, having escaped the riots unscathed, visits the house where Dolly, Miss Haredale, and Miss Miggs are confined. He schemes with Miss Miggs to abduct Dolly, planning to have her taken away by a fellow rioter to avoid her testifying against him. Miss Miggs, feigning deafness, agrees to the plan, while Dolly, unaware, tries to comfort her.

## Themes in this chapter

### Manipulation and Exploitation

Dennis manipulates Miss Miggs's jealousy and Dolly's innocence to further his own safety, while Miggs exploits the situation for her own spite.

### The Spectacle of Death

Dennis's delight in the 'harvest' of executions and his professional pride in the gallows highlight the morbid spectacle of death in the era.

## Character check-ins

### Mr. Dennis

The hangman, now in private life, schemes to abduct Dolly to prevent her from testifying against him.

### Dolly Varden

Confined with Miss Haredale, she is the target of Dennis's abduction plot.

### Miss Miggs

Feigning deafness, she conspires with Dennis to remove Dolly, motivated by jealousy and spite.

### Emma Haredale

Also confined, she is to be removed separately the next night, according to information Miggs reveals.

## Key lines

> Mr. Dennis having despatched this piece of business without any personal hurt or inconvenience, and having now retired into the tranquil respectability of private life, resolved to solace himself with half an hour or so of female society.

After completing his task unscathed, Dennis, now back in his normal life, decided to enjoy some female company.

_Dennis's casual attitude after the riots._

> As he walked along the streets with his leather gloves clasped behind him, and his face indicative of cheerful thought and pleasant calculation, Mr. Dennis might have been likened unto a farmer ruminating among his crops, and enjoying by anticipation the bountiful gifts of Providence.

Walking with a satisfied look, Dennis seemed like a farmer surveying his fields, anticipating a rich harvest of executions.

_Dennis's delight in the prospect of many hangings._

> Miss Miggs, who had fallen into a terrible state of grief when the first part of this sentence was spoken, recovered a little at the second, and seemed by the sudden check she put upon her tears, to intimate that possibly this arrangement might meet her views; and that it might, perhaps, remain an open question.

Miggs, upset at first, perked up when she heard that Dolly might be taken away, suggesting she was open to the idea.

_Miggs's manipulative reaction to Dennis's proposal._

## Links

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