IV explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Suffering and Redemption

  The Gadfly's physical and mental suffering is depicted in detail, as he struggles with pain and exhaustion while attempting to escape, reflecting a search for relief or redemption.

• Betrayal and Deception

  The escape plan involves deception through the hidden file in the bread, and the Gadfly's distrust of priestly favours highlights themes of betrayal.

• Identity and Transformation

  The Gadfly's internal conflict and his refusal to accept help from Montanelli underscore his transformed identity as a revolutionary separate from his past as Arthur.

Characters to notice

• The Gadfly

  The Gadfly is in a state of nervous excitement and physical decline, attempting to escape by filing through his cell bars but collapsing from illness.

• Canon Montanelli

  Montanelli intervenes to have the Gadfly's chains removed, and later suffers a nightmare about Arthur before being informed of the failed escape.

• Martini

  Martini is mentioned as part of the escape plan, waiting with a smuggler for the Gadfly.

• Gladys

  Gladys appears in Montanelli's nightmare, associated with a grave and the theme of sacrilege.

• Arthur Burton

  Arthur appears in Montanelli's nightmare, rising from the sea and claiming ownership of it.

Key passages

• “He protested so emphatically against the manner in which the Gadfly had been chained that the unfortunate Governor, who by now was at his wit's end, knocked off all the fetters in the recklessness of despair.”

  Montanelli's strong objections to the Gadfly's chains forced the desperate Governor to remove them all.

  Shows Montanelli's influence and the Governor's frustration.

• “The meeting with Montanelli had strained his endurance almost to breaking-point; and his final brutality about the variety show had been uttered in sheer desperation, merely to cut short an interview which, in another five minutes, would have ended in tears.”

  The encounter with Montanelli pushed the Gadfly to his limit, and his harsh comment about the variety show was a desperate attempt to end the conversation before he broke down.

  Reveals the Gadfly's emotional fragility and his use of cruelty as a defense.

• “He had passed, after the vehement emotion of the morning, into a strange, half-apathetic state, in which his own misery was hardly more to him than a dull and mechanical weight, pressing on some wooden thing that had forgotten to be a soul.”

  After the intense emotions of the morning, he became apathetic, feeling his misery as a dull, mechanical weight on a numb soul.

  Describes the Gadfly's psychological numbness following emotional strain.

• “He looked with disgust at the stale, foul-smelling, half-cold mess, and turned his head away. He was feeling bodily ill as well as depressed; and the sight of the food sickened him.”

  He felt disgusted by the stale, smelly food and turned away, as he was both physically ill and depressed.

  Highlights the Gadfly's physical deterioration and revulsion.

• “All the conspirator awoke in the Gadfly; he had guessed at once that there was something hidden in the bread.”

  The Gadfly's conspiratorial instincts immediately told him that the bread contained something hidden.

  Shows the Gadfly's alertness and experience as a revolutionary.

• “He sat down and began to eat some of the bread. It at least did not disgust him like the rest of the prison food, and he must eat something to keep up his strength.”

  He ate some of the bread because it was less disgusting than the other food and he needed strength.

  Indicates his practical decision to sustain himself for the escape attempt.