IV explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Social Class and Injustice

  The chapter starkly illustrates how poverty and class oppression shape morality, as seen in Mary Shaw's mother rebuking her for rejecting Godwin's silver, and the narrator's condemnation of a system that leaves the poor with no choice but the workhouse or the grave.

• Obsession and Jealousy

  Robert Godwin's vengeful obsession with Mary Shaw after her rejection drives him to spy on her and plot against her family. His jealousy of Abner Brown is a key motive for his actions.

• Gender and Power

  The chapter exposes the sexual exploitation of poor women like Mary Shaw, who face dishonorable proposals from men like Godwin, and the societal pressure to accept such advances for financial gain. Mary's resistance is portrayed as virtuous but costly.

Characters to notice

• Mary Shaw

  Mary is courted by Abner Brown and secretly meets him at the rickyard. She also accepts bribes from Martial Barnard to reveal Felise's movements, believing she is helping her mistress find a lover. She is a proud, virtuous girl who once rejected Robert Godwin's dishonorable proposal.

• Abner Brown

  Abner is Mary Shaw's lover, meeting her secretly at the mill-pool rickyard. He is described as big, broad-chested, and loyal, and is hated by Robert Godwin for his relationship with Mary.

• Martial Barnard

  Martial bribes Mary Shaw with silver to learn Felise's daily plans so he can study 'the Picture' (Felise). He is free with his money and not shy, but his motives are more aesthetic than romantic.

• Robert Godwin

  Godwin is revealed as a vengeful miser who once made a dishonorable proposal to Mary Shaw and was rejected. He now spies on her and Abner, and schemes to have Mary's parents evicted to ruin her prospects. He is described as having no redeeming traits.

• Miller Bond

  Miller Bond discovers the lovers Mary and Abner in the rickyard while shooting rats. He observes them without malice, chuckling to himself, and also notices a second man (Martial) meeting Mary there.

• Felise Goring

  Felise is unaware of Mary's secret meetings and Martial's scheming. She is described as beautiful, kind, and unaffected, and is the object of Martial's aesthetic interest. She also makes visits to Robert Godwin's home, which puzzle Mary.

Key passages

• “a difficult task to a handsome young gentleman free with his silver—he managed to discover what Felise was likely to do, and where she would probably walk on the following day; information which Mary extracted by sly questions from her unsuspecting mistress.”

  Martial Barnard easily bribed Mary Shaw with silver to learn Felise's daily plans, which Mary then gathered by subtly questioning her unsuspecting mistress.

  This shows Martial's manipulation and Mary's complicity in helping him pursue Felise.

• “These morals are born of generations of cruel poverty, and they are perpetuated by the brutal modern system which leaves for the worn-out labourer or labourer’s wife no refuge but the workhouse or the grave.”

  The desperate morality of the poor, like Mary's mother valuing a sixpence over her daughter's honor, stems from centuries of harsh poverty and a system that offers only the workhouse or death as a future.

  The narrator directly critiques the social system that corrupts moral values among the laboring class.

• “Robert Godwin had no such redeeming trait, and to my idea that was the best thing about him—he was no hypocrite.”

  The narrator argues that Godwin's lack of any redeeming quality is actually his best feature, as it makes him honest in his evil, unlike the hypocritical villains often portrayed in fiction.

  This reflects the author's rejection of the Victorian convention of giving villains a sentimental redeeming trait.