Short Fiction · Chapter
The Sexton’s Adventure explained
Bob Martin, the sexton of Chapelizod, is a man of curious mind and fondness for drink, who forms a close friendship with the melancholy publican Philip Slaney.
What happens
Bob Martin, the sexton of Chapelizod, is a man of curious mind and fondness for drink, who forms a close friendship with the melancholy publican Philip Slaney. After Slaney's suicide, Bob reforms his ways but is later tempted by a mysterious stranger who appears to be the spectre of the suicide, leading to a supernatural confrontation that reaffirms his vow of temperance.
Themes in this chapter
Supernatural and the Uncanny
The appearance of the spectre of the suicide, the blasted thorn tree, and the infernal fire from the bottle.
Guilt and Retribution
The suicide of Philip Slaney and the supernatural temptation of Bob Martin as a consequence of his past intemperance.
Folklore and Local Tradition
The tale is presented as a local legend of Chapelizod, with the sexton as a repository of village anecdotes.
Characters to notice
- Bob Martin
The sexton of Chapelizod, known for his love of drink and storytelling; reforms after his friend's suicide but is tempted by a supernatural visitor.
- Mr. Purcell
The narrator who recounts the tale of Bob Martin and the supernatural events in Chapelizod.
Key passages
“Bob Martin was held much in awe by truant boys who sauntered into the churchyard on Sundays, to read the tombstones, or play leap frog over them, or climb the ivy in search of bats or sparrows’ nests, or peep into the mysterious aperture under the eastern window, which opened a dim perspective of descending steps losing themselves among profounder darkness, where lidless coffins gaped horribly among tattered velvet, bones, and dust, which time and mortality had strewn there.”
Bob Martin was feared by boys who played in the churchyard, exploring tombs and the dark crypt where coffins and bones lay scattered.
Establishes Bob Martin's role as sexton and the eerie atmosphere of the churchyard.
“This horrid catastrophe shocked Bob Martin extremely; and partly on this account, and partly because having been, on several late occasions, found at night in a state of abstraction, bordering on insensibility, upon the high road, he had been threatened with dismissal; and, as some said, partly also because of the difficulty of finding anybody to “treat” him as poor Phil Slaney used to do, he for a time forswore alcohol in all its combinations, and became an eminent example of temperance and sobriety.”
Phil Slaney's suicide so shocked Bob that, combined with threats of dismissal for his drunkenness, he swore off alcohol and became a model of sobriety.
Explains Bob's reformation after his friend's death.
“The traveller was acknowledged by all to have been the spectre of the suicide, called up by the Evil One to tempt the convivial sexton into a violation of his promise, sealed, as it was, by an imprecation.”
The mysterious stranger was recognized as the ghost of the suicide, sent by the devil to lure Bob into breaking his oath.
Reveals the supernatural interpretation of the encounter.