The Revolution in Tanner’s Lane · Chapter
End of the Beginning explained
Zachariah learns of Caillaud's conviction and impending execution, travels to Lancaster to see him one last time, and shares a poignant farewell with Caillaud and Pauline.
What happens
Zachariah learns of Caillaud's conviction and impending execution, travels to Lancaster to see him one last time, and shares a poignant farewell with Caillaud and Pauline. After the visit, Zachariah is arrested by Nadin and imprisoned for two years. His wife dies during his imprisonment. The chapter then jumps forward to 1821, showing Zachariah and Pauline living quietly with their child, Marie Pauline Coleman.
Themes in this chapter
Suffering and Resilience
Zachariah endures imprisonment, the death of his wife, and the loss of his friend, yet continues to live and care for his child.
The Futility of Idealism
Caillaud's execution for a cause that will be forgotten highlights the futility of revolutionary idealism.
Love and Marriage
The strained relationship between Zachariah and his wife, and his later life with Pauline, explore the complexities of love and partnership.
Characters to notice
- Zachariah Coleman
Visits Caillaud in prison, is arrested by Nadin, serves two years in prison, loses his wife, and later lives with Pauline and their child.
- Pauline
Present during Caillaud's final visit, speaks of a memory that forgets nothing, later lives with Zachariah and their child.
- Jean Caillaud
Condemned to hang, bids farewell to Zachariah and Pauline, faces death with calm and curiosity.
- Mr. Nadin
Arrests Zachariah after the prison visit.
- Mrs. Zachariah
Dies while Zachariah is in prison; their relationship is strained before his journey to Lancaster.
- Marie Pauline Coleman
Zachariah and Pauline's child, seen in the cradle in 1821.
Key passages
“No! men will not remember, but there is a memory in the world which forgets nothing.”
Pauline asserts that while people may forget, the world itself retains an eternal memory of all events.
Pauline's oratorical response to Caillaud's lament about being forgotten.
“I have always loved adventure, and at times I look forward to death with curiosity and interest, just as if I were going to a foreign country.”
Caillaud expresses a sense of adventurous curiosity about death, comparing it to traveling to an unknown land.
Caillaud's philosophical view on his impending execution.
“He was excusably unjust to his wife—excusably, because he could not help thinking that she was hard, and even cruel. Yet really she was not so, or if she was, she was not necessarily so, for injustice, not only to others, but to ourselves, is always begotten by a false relationship.”
The narrator explains that Zachariah's harsh judgment of his wife stemmed from their incompatible relationship, which brought out the worst in both.
Reflection on the marital discord between Zachariah and his wife.