The Night of the Sixth of November explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Isolation and Loneliness

  Eustacia feels isolated and out of place, seeing the heath as uncongenial and the whole world as hostile.

• Fate and Destiny

  Eustacia's flight and Susan's superstitious ritual reflect a struggle against forces beyond control.

• Suffering and Sacrifice

  Eustacia laments her suffering and blames the cruelty of the world; Susan's ritual is an act of perceived sacrifice to protect her child.

Characters to notice

• Eustacia Vye

  Resolved on flight, she signals Wildeve and prepares to leave; departs into the stormy night.

• Captain Vye

  Receives a letter for Eustacia but does not deliver it; later discovers she has left.

• Damon Wildeve

  Responds to Eustacia's signal with a light of his own, as prearranged.

• Susan Nunsuch

  Creates a wax effigy of Eustacia and melts it in a superstitious ritual to counteract her perceived evil influence.

• Timothy Fairway

  Delivers a letter from Clym to Captain Vye's house.

Key passages

• “Having resolved on flight Eustacia at times seemed anxious that something should happen to thwart her own intention.”

  After deciding to run away, Eustacia occasionally hoped that something would stop her.

  Shows her inner conflict about leaving.

• “She was gratified, if gratification were possible to such a mood, by seeing a similar light in the vicinity of Wildeve’s residence a minute or two later.”

  Despite her bleak mood, she felt a small satisfaction when she saw Wildeve's answering signal.

  Highlights her reliance on Wildeve's promise.

• “The gloom of the night was funereal; all nature seemed clothed in crape.”

  The night was dark and mournful, as if nature itself were in mourning.

  Reflects the somber atmosphere as Eustacia leaves.

• “O, the cruelty of putting me into this ill-conceived world! I was capable of much; but I have been injured and blighted and crushed by things beyond my control!”

  Eustacia laments being born into a harsh world, feeling that her potential has been destroyed by forces she cannot influence.

  Expresses her despair and sense of victimhood.

• “To counteract the malign spell which she imagined poor Eustacia to be working, the boy’s mother busied herself with a ghastly invention of superstition...”

  Susan Nunsuch, believing Eustacia was casting an evil spell, engaged in a superstitious ritual to counter it.

  Introduces the folk magic practice of making a wax effigy.