The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn · Chapter
Chapter XXV explained
The King and Duke arrive in town pretending to be Harvey and William Wilks, the long-lost brothers of the deceased Peter Wilks.
What happens
The King and Duke arrive in town pretending to be Harvey and William Wilks, the long-lost brothers of the deceased Peter Wilks. They are warmly welcomed by the townspeople and the three Wilks nieces. The King delivers a tearful speech, and they retrieve the hidden gold, counting it to find it short by $415. They make up the deficit from their own pockets to avoid suspicion, then publicly give the entire $6,000 to the girls, winning everyone's admiration. The King repeatedly uses the malapropism 'funeral orgies' instead of 'obsequies,' causing the Duke to correct him with a note.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Identity
The King and Duke successfully impersonate the Wilks brothers, using false identities to gain trust and steal the inheritance.
Hypocrisy of Society
The townspeople and nieces are easily fooled by the frauds' theatrical grief and pious speeches, exposing the superficiality of social conventions.
Characters to notice
- The King
Pretends to be Harvey Wilks, delivers a tearful speech, and orchestrates the scam to win the townspeople's trust.
- The Duke
Pretends to be William Wilks, communicates through gestures and goo-gooing, and suggests making up the cash deficit.
- Mary Jane Wilks
The eldest niece, beautiful and redheaded, who joyfully welcomes the frauds as her uncles.
- Huckleberry Finn
Narrates the events, observing the King and Duke's fraudulent behavior with disgust.
- Dr. Robinson
Mentioned as one of the friends invited to supper, but is out of town.
- Levi Bell
Mentioned as a friend of the family, but is away in Louisville.
Key passages
“It give the dwelling-house and three thousand dollars, gold, to the girls; and it give the tanyard (which was doing a good business), along with some other houses and land (worth about seven thousand), and three thousand dollars in gold to Harvey and William, and told where the six thousand cash was hid down cellar.”
The will left the house and $3,000 in gold to the nieces, and the tanyard, other properties worth about $7,000, and another $3,000 in gold to Harvey and William, with instructions that $6,000 in cash was hidden in the cellar.
The King reads Peter Wilks's will aloud, revealing the inheritance distribution.
“Then the king begins to work his jaw again, and says how him and his nieces would be glad if a few of the main principal friends of the family would take supper here with them this evening, and help set up with the ashes of the diseased.”
The King then announces that he and his nieces would be pleased if some close family friends would join them for supper that evening to keep vigil with the deceased's remains.
The King invites townspeople to a wake, continuing his performance of grief.
“I say orgies, not because it's the common term, because it ain't—obsequies bein' the common term—but because orgies is the right term. Obsequies ain't used in England no more now—it's gone out.”
I use 'orgies' not because it's the usual word—'obsequies' is more common—but because 'orgies' is correct. 'Obsequies' is no longer used in England; it's outdated.
The King stubbornly insists on his malapropism 'funeral orgies,' claiming it is the proper English term.