Ruby a Prisoner explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Deception and Hypocrisy

  Mrs. Pipkin secretly plans to break her oath if needed to keep Ruby at home, while Ruby hides her correspondence with Felix.

• Gender and Power

  Ruby's lack of autonomy as a young woman is starkly shown; she is physically confined by her aunt's authority, while Felix holds the power in their relationship.

• Love vs. Practicality

  Ruby's romantic hopes clash with Mrs. Pipkin's practical concerns about her reputation and future.

Characters to notice

• Ruby Ruggles

  Desperate to meet Sir Felix again, she writes him a letter and prepares to go out, but is locked in by her aunt.

• Mrs. Pipkin

  Determined to keep Ruby from going out at night, she locks the doors and refuses to yield despite Ruby's pleas.

• Mrs. Hurtle

  A lodger at Mrs. Pipkin's, she is asked to counsel Ruby and reflects on her own situation with Paul Montague.

• Sir Felix Carbury

  Ruby's lover, who agrees to meet her at the Music Hall on Tuesday before his planned departure for New York.

• Roger Carbury

  Mentioned as having warned Mrs. Pipkin about Ruby's behavior, influencing her strict actions.

Key passages

• “Ruby had run away from her lover in great dudgeon after the dance at the Music Hall, and had declared that she never wanted to see him again. But when reflection came with the morning her misery was stronger than her wrath.”

  After storming off from Felix following their dance, Ruby initially swore off him, but by morning her unhappiness outweighed her anger.

  Ruby's emotional volatility and dependence on Felix are established.

• “She underscored all her loves to him. She underscored the expression of her regret if she had vexed him. She did not want to hurry a gentleman. But she did want to have another dance at the Music Hall.”

  In her letter, Ruby emphasized her love and apology, avoiding pressure for marriage but clearly hoping for another dance.

  Ruby's naive strategy to win Felix back through submissiveness.

• “It was her purpose to tell her and to swear to her most solemnly—should she find her preparing herself to leave the house after six in the evening—that she should be kept out the whole night, having a purpose equally clear in her own mind that she would break her oath should she be unsuccessful in her effort to keep Ruby at home.”

  Mrs. Pipkin planned to threaten Ruby with being locked out all night, but secretly intended to let her back in if the threat failed.

  Mrs. Pipkin's pragmatic hypocrisy in enforcing discipline.

• “I don't want her to go away from this, out into the street, till she knows where she's to go to, decent. As for going to her young man—that's just walking the streets.”

  Mrs. Pipkin explains to Mrs. Hurtle that she wants Ruby to have a proper destination before leaving, as going to a man is akin to prostitution.

  Victorian moral concern about young women's reputation and the stigma of premarital relationships.