Short Fiction · Chapter
The Cobweb explained
Young Mrs.
What happens
Young Mrs. Emma Ladbruk, newly mistress of a farm, finds her plans for modernizing the kitchen thwarted by the ancient, unheeding presence of Martha Crale, a ninety-four-year-old servant who has worked there for over seventy years. Emma's resentment grows as Martha's stubborn routines and cluttered window-seat block her cherished reforms. When Martha predicts her own death with superstitious certainty, Emma rushes for help, only to discover Martha alive and feeding poultry. Martha then falsely announces the death of Emma's husband, who has actually been killed in an accident. The farm passes to a cousin, and Emma leaves, her dreams of transformation utterly undone.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Status
Emma's authority as mistress is undermined by Martha's entrenched position; the farm's hierarchy is challenged by the old servant's unyielding presence.
The Futility of Ambition
Emma's plans for kitchen reforms and a cozy window nook are rendered meaningless by Martha's obstinacy and the sudden tragedy that ends her tenure.
Imagination vs. Reality
Martha's superstitious death omens and false prophecy contrast with the real, accidental death of Emma's husband, highlighting the gap between belief and actual events.
Characters to notice
- Emma Ladbruk
Young mistress of the farm, eager to modernize the kitchen but thwarted by old Martha's entrenched presence; she leaves after her husband's sudden death.
- Martha Crale
Ancient servant, nearly 94, who has worked on the farm for over 70 years; she superstitiously predicts death and mistakenly announces the master's demise.
- Jim
Cousin of the Ladbruks, a horse-dealing, rabbit-shooting young man who inherits the farm after the accident.
Key passages
“The one they quarrelled about most was a fine old gentleman with an angry face—she had seen his picture on the walls. She had seen it on the floor too, with a rotten apple squashed over it, for the farm had changed its politics from time to time.”
The most contentious political figure was a stern-looking man whose portrait was sometimes displayed and sometimes defaced, depending on the farm's shifting political loyalties.
Illustrates Martha's detached view of political battles as mere noise, and the farm's pragmatic, fickle allegiance.
“Emma, with the latest science of dead-poultry dressing at her fingertips, sat by, an unheeded watcher, while old Martha trussed the chickens for the market-stall as she had trussed them for nearly fourscore years—all leg and no breast.”
Emma, armed with modern poultry-dressing techniques, could only watch helplessly as Martha prepared chickens in her outdated, inefficient way.
Highlights the generational and practical conflict between Emma's modern knowledge and Martha's traditional methods.
“Into her mind came the thought that for months, perhaps for years, long after she had been utterly forgotten, a white, unheeding face would be seen peering out through those latticed panes, and a weak muttering voice would be heard quavering up and down those flagged passages.”
Emma realized that long after she was gone, Martha's ghostly presence would continue to haunt the farm, indifferent to her departure.
Captures Emma's sense of defeat and the enduring, almost spectral power of Martha over the farm.