Lord Tony’s Wife · Chapter
II explained
Pierre Adet leads a group of impoverished peasants in a revolt, setting fire to straw ricks and distributing weapons from a barn.
What happens
Pierre Adet leads a group of impoverished peasants in a revolt, setting fire to straw ricks and distributing weapons from a barn. The chapter depicts the peasants' anger and lust for vengeance against the aristocracy, specifically targeting the château de Kernogan and its owner, the duc. Pierre incites the crowd by reminding them of past injustices, taxes, and suffering, culminating in a fiery, chaotic scene of rebellion.
Themes in this chapter
Class Conflict and Revolution
The chapter vividly portrays the peasants' uprising against the aristocracy, driven by years of oppression, poverty, and injustice.
Revenge and Betrayal
Pierre incites the crowd to seek vengeance for past wrongs, emphasizing a collective desire for retribution against the duc and his family.
Suffering and Endurance
The peasants' long-standing suffering from taxes, starvation, and harsh treatment is the catalyst for their violent revolt.
Characters to notice
- Pierre Adet
Leader of the peasant revolt; incites the crowd with fiery speeches and sets fire to straw ricks.
- Jean Adet
Pierre's father, the miller; his farm and barns are the setting for the revolt.
- Louise Adet
Pierre's sister; mentioned as crying over her sweetheart Antoine Melun's condemnation.
- Antoine Melun
Louise's sweetheart; condemned to be hanged for killing two pigeons.
Key passages
“Remember every wrong you have endured, every injustice, every blow! remember your poverty and his wealth, your crusts of dry bread and his succulent meals, your rags and his silks and velvets, remember your starving children and ailing mother, your care-laden wife and toil-worn daughters!”
Recall all the wrongs you have suffered, every unfairness and blow; remember your poverty versus his riches, your dry bread versus his fine meals, your rags versus his silks, and your starving children and sick mother.
Pierre's speech to the peasants, rallying them by contrasting their suffering with the duc's luxury.
“One touch of the torch and the dry straw began to crackle; a gust of wind caught the flame and whipped it into energy; it crept up the side of the little rick like a glowing python that wraps its prey in its embrace.”
As soon as the torch touched the dry straw, it crackled and the wind fanned the flames, which climbed the rick like a fiery snake coiling around its victim.
Description of Pierre setting fire to the straw rick, symbolizing the spread of rebellion.