Hudibras · Chapter
Canto I explained
After defeating Sidrophel, Hudibras resolves to woo the widow, believing his martial exploits will win her heart.
What happens
After defeating Sidrophel, Hudibras resolves to woo the widow, believing his martial exploits will win her heart. He sends Ralpho to fetch constables to arrest the wizard, but the widow confronts Hudibras, revealing she knows of his schemes and the conflicting accounts of his fight with Sidrophel. She challenges him to prove his valor by showing his wounds, leading to a debate on love, marriage, and oaths. The chapter ends with the widow treating them to a masquerade of furies, from which Ralpho secretly conveys the Knight away.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Marriage as Warfare
Hudibras views courtship as a battle, expecting his victory over Sidrophel to win the widow's heart, while the widow debates the impossibility of true love within marriage.
Human Vanity and Self-Deception
Hudibras deludes himself about his heroic deeds and the effectiveness of his wooing, while the widow exposes his self-serving lies.
Satire of Ideology
The Knight's reliance on oaths and religious justifications is mocked, as is the widow's cynical view of love and marriage, satirizing both Puritan and courtly ideals.
Characters to notice
- Hudibras
Resolves to woo the widow after his victory, sends Ralpho for constables, and engages in a debate with the widow about his exploits and their marriage contract.
- Ralpho
Sent by Hudibras to fetch constables; later conveys the Knight away from the masquerade.
- Widow
Confronts Hudibras with knowledge of his actions and Sidrophel's account, challenges his claims, and debates the nature of love and marriage.
- Sidrophel
Mentioned as the wizard Hudibras fought; his version of events is relayed by the widow, accusing Hudibras of assault and theft.
Key passages
“No sooner was the bloody fight, Between the Wizard and the Knight, With all th’ appurtenances, over, But he relaps’d again t’ a lover;”
As soon as the fight with Sidrophel ended, Hudibras immediately turned back to thoughts of love.
Shows Hudibras's pattern of turning to romance after combat.
“Madam, if but one word be true Of all the wizard has told you, Or but one single circumstance In all th’ apocryphal romance, May dreadful earthquakes swallow down This vessel, that is all your own;”
Hudibras swears that if any part of Sidrophel's story is true, he wishes to be swallowed by an earthquake.
Highlights Hudibras's desperate and dishonest oath-making.
“Quoth she, There are no bargains driv’n, Or marriages clapp’d up in heav’n, And that’s the reason, as some guess, There is no heav’n in marriages;”
The widow argues that marriages are not made in heaven, which is why there is no happiness in them.
Reflects the widow's cynical view of marriage and love.