Caleb Williams: Or Things as They Are

<br />This is an excellent early English novel, and deserves a wider readership. It is at once a detective novel, a suspenseful tale of pursuit and escape, a psychological study of obsession, a political exploration of class, a savage indictment of English law and English prisons, and an inspiring story of tragedy and redemption. Not to mention being a big influence on his daughter's masterpiece, <i>Frankenstein</i>.

This was intense, passionate and completely gripping. The power of the narrative is entirely enthralling. Caleb has a story to tell and he beckons you to heed his words. I’ve heeded them myself three times because this was just that good. This novel is entirely underrated on this website, and drastically overlooked. But most literature of the Romantic era tends to be outside academic studies. Such a shame, this has just as much literary merit as any Victorian novel. I sincerely recommend that you go read it. Here’s how it begins:<br><br><i>My life has for several years been a theatre of calamity. I have been a mark for the vigilance of tyranny, and I could not escape. My fairest prospects have been blasted. My enemy has shown himself inaccessible to entreaties, and untired in persecution. My fame, as well as my happiness, has become his victim. Every one, as far as my story has been known, has refused to assist me in my distress, and has execrated my name. I have not deserved this treatment. My own conscience witnesses in behalf of that innocence, my pretensions to which are regarded in the world as incredible. There is now, however, little hope that I shall escape from the toils that universally beset me. I am incited to the penning of these memoirs only by a desire to divert my mind from the deplorableness of my situation, and a faint idea that posterity may by their means be induced to render me a justice which my contemporaries refuse. My story will, at least, appear to have that consistency which is seldom attendant but upon truth.</i><br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1463923829i/19175379.jpg" width="400" height="250" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Godwin displays a message, an obvious one but the display of tyranny is where the importance of this novel is at. Power resides with the upper-classes of society. This is nothing new. The rich can do what they like to the lower classes. In the early nineteenth century the powerful could exploit the legal system, and get away with their own personal transgressions whilst the working man is sacrificed for someone else’s passion. Nothing could stop them; they had the money and the reputation to control the whole legal system and wield it to their own personal advantage. <br><br>And this is exactly what Mr Falkland does to the young and impressionable Caleb. Mr Falkland is described by the narrator in very idealistic terms; he is considered as a superior being, a man of force, worth and absolute morale dignity. The young Caleb has an undying curiosity to discover what animates this man, and in doing so gain his confidence. There is a sense of hero worship in which Falkland is the object of Caleb’s admiration: “I love you more than I can express. I worship you as a being of a superior nature.” He admires this man profusely, and considers him a being of chivalry that raised him up to a respectable position within his household. He becomes his role-model. So what comes next is a real kick in the teeth. <br><br>Caleb discovers Falkland’s dark secret, his murder of a fellow member of the gentry. Curiosity defeated Caleb’s intellect. Despite warnings he continued to hound Falkland until he gave up his heart’s darkest passion. When Caleb gains the confidence of Falkland the descriptions are passionate and revealing. Caleb has an emotional reaction, one suggestive of joy taken through intimacy; he says “my blood boiled within me. I was conscious to a kind of rapture for which I could not account.” Rather than be revolted by Falkland’s deed, Caleb is pleased that he would share such an intimate thing with him, and realises “it was possible to love a murderer” because Falkland to him is the idealised man. The homoerotic language suggests how the double has become an object of desire.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1463923586i/19175308.jpg" width="400" height="500" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Then here comes the absolutely shattering reversal. This object of desire, this double, becomes a force of domination and persecution. Falkland has an uncanny knack for appearing at the worse times. The motif of surveillance is constantly used as Caleb’s paranoia sets in; he cannot escape. Falkland observes Caleb in the garden in a haunting manner; it has suggestions of the gothic. The idolism turns into a haunting in which Caleb cannot escape from the object of his original desire. Falkland attempts to control his actions in which he remarks “you have sold yourself […] but can never share my affection.” One sided love never ends well, and Caleb becomes the victim to a man who is too afraid to let him out of his sight. <br><br>Thus, the persecution begins. This has elements of a thriller novel. The narrative drive was immense. The writing was superb in this regard. It is full of passion and energy. It is easy to judge Falkland, but his dark deed was that of an anti-hero. He murdered for justice, his wife was killed by the actions of his victim. So his one dark deed shadows over the rest of his life, which is most compelling because previously he had been nothing but a chivalrous hero. He becomes a figure for division: he is both pitiable and hateable. He is a good man corrupted by his limitless power. <br><br>The whole novel is a comment on the absurd nature of society; it is a suggestion that powerless men like Caleb are abused and sacrificed on a regular basis, in doing so the gentry can maintain their dignity and position. Moreover, it is also a suggestion of how corruptible man is. If one such as Falkland can fall, then no one is immune from the flaws of the system. We all have to answer to someone in this life; otherwise, we can do anything. This is a powerful critique of mankind; it is a remarkable novel, one that I couldn’t recommend more highly. <br><br>Postscript- It’s also quite interesting to see the effects of this on Mary Shelley, Godwin’s daughter and author of <i> Frankenstein.</i>

Caleb Williams was from a humble family in rural England (set and written in the 1700's ) , his father a hard working shrewd farmer, with a small piece of land still young Caleb is an intelligent boy and promptly noticed by amiable Mr. Collins, the steward of a squire much loved by the locals, wealthy, respectable Ferdinando Falkland. He receives a good education needed to become Mr. Falkland's secretary, what looked like an excellent unexpected opportunity to advance in life, instead will become a hellish situation soon. The kindly bachelor gentleman treats Mr. Williams like a member of the family, naturally the affection is mutual, Mr.Falkland is like a second father living in an impressive mansion his job not very taxing, what more can be wished for? But there is another squire in the area, Barnabas Tyrrel the former leader of the gentry here, not so nice or virtuous a boisterous man, known to have a bad temper and treating inferiors like dogs, a jealous rival of Mr.Falkland greatly resentful of the new upstart craving to be again at the top of the totem pole. He doesn't have a chance, Falkland has superior manners a better education, speaks eloquently and has the appearance in his small physique, the quality of the perfect generous, genuine gentleman. Things that are sadly lacking in the giant, athletic, self- aggrandizing bully and foul -mouthed Tyrrel, at a squires meeting the intoxicated Barnabas strikes the almost helpless Mr.Falkland, down to the floor and prevented against further humiliation by the other gentry in the audience. Shortly afterwards a murder is discovered everything points to the victim of the vicious attack, harmless Mr.Falkland as the perpetrator, a man who above all else craves his good name. The inquisitive Caleb is suspicious, can the man he places in such high esteem be a vicious killer ? He unwisely starts to investigate asking not prudent questions to his weary master, following him and his biggest transgression, forcibly opening a locked mysterious trunk during a blazing fire in the house.The indiscretion is discovered and before long, the framed secretary is sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. The clever, able, resourceful, tenacious Mr.Williams breaks out and the plot begins in earnest as the fugitive tries to escape from blind justice. Suffering every conceivable terror, frequently sleeping outside with no shelter and living like a hunted animal ... being unlikely rescued by a gang of sharp thieves hidden inside a ruined edifice in a remote place, the leader Captain Raymond saves him from the evil Mr. Gines, who had brutally robbed and wounded him on the road. At the appropriate time Caleb, flees to distant London, the big town will be easy to conceal himself but he is wrong. Mr. Gines hates Williams with a great passion, now is employed by his former master to track and capture him and maybe even hanged, also who would believe his innocence? Not the notorious unfeeling courts. But the too curious Mr.Williams must continue to exist ... yet sometimes he thinks is it worth the trouble. An almost Gothic atmosphere infests the proceedings. An obscure classic still quite readable...

William Godwin was a guy who scores a perfect 10 on the the Coolometer - anyone's Coolometer, doesn't matter what model, even ones where the batteries are low, he is going to score a 10. <br><br>Well, he was an anarchist and wrote giant attacks on the political establishment; but also, he married Mary Wollstonecraft who was a great feminist genius and wrote <i>Vindication of the Rights of Women</i>; and between them they had a iddle bitty baby girl who wrote <i>Frankenstein</i> when she was 21 - ha! - and married the famous nutjob Percy Shelley aka The Poet Shelley.<br><br>If that all wasn't enough William wrote this amazing novel <i>Caleb Williams</i> in 1794, so it came just two years before that other very remarkable novel <i>The Monk</i> by Matthew Lewis. What days they were!<br><br>Caleb Williams is a novel of pursuit and vengeance, a rip-roaring tale full of sturm and a fair sprinkling of drang too; after the first rather tiring chunk of exposition we are off and running like a greyhound out of a trap. The whole thing is to demonstrate the dreadful power of the aristocracy over their minions and there's a tang of the tumbril about what Godwin would like to have done to these cruel, unnatural and overweening tyrants. <br><br>As would we all, I trust.<br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380303738i/687870.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy">

This book was interesting. It was about Caleb Williams, a man who was employed as a secretary for Mr Falkland. His employer was very anxious and of an agitated mind. This caused some concern to Caleb, who wanted to understand why. After lots of investigating, he soon was taken into confidence- but too late did he realize how this would affect his life. <br />Mr Falkland, fearing that his secret would be revealed, tried to keep Caleb forever in his service. Mr Williams decided to try to sneak away, but was brought back on charges of theft and imprisoned. After he broke out of jail and endured many different adventures, he was caught. But, Mr Falkland set him free. Only to continue to ruin Caleb's reputation anywhere he tried to establish himself. When he tried to leave the country, he was informed that he would be confined if he tried. <br />It ends with Caleb testifying against Mr Falkland, who by now is dying under the weight of his guilt, and at the same time praising him for his greatness. The sincerity has Mr Falkland declaring truth and righting Caleb's reputation. But, Caleb spends the rest of his life feeling guilty, as Mr Falkland died 3 days later as a result of the stress on his health. <br />I would recommend this book to those who like Classic Gothic Fiction. I enjoyed it.

According to Ian Ousby, author of <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/3700423.Bloodhounds_of_Heaven_The_Detective_in_English_Fiction_from_Godwin_to_Doyle" title="Bloodhounds of Heaven The Detective in English Fiction from Godwin to Doyle by Ian Ousby" rel="noopener">Bloodhounds of Heaven: The Detective in English Fiction from Godwin to Doyle</a>, this book is the first in English fiction to "display a sustained interest in the theme of detection," and that the book's hero, the titular Caleb Williams, is "the first important detective in the English novel." Well-known British writer Julian Symons also noted that this book was important in the history of crime fiction, saying that it is in this novel that "The characteristic note of crime literature is first struck," and that it's "about a murder, its detection, and the unrelenting pursuit by the murderer of the person who has discovered his guilt." <br /><br />Caleb Williams is also the first choice in this year's quest to read early crime fiction through the onset of World War I. It's also quite good, and while it works very well as a commentary on social injustice, class and the abuses of power, it's also a novel that finds a man on the run after uncovering some startling information. <br /><br />The nutshell version is this: young Caleb Williams finds himself working as secretary for a respected local squire, Fernando Falkland. He becomes curious as to what's up with his employer, who has taken on a solitary life with "no inclination to scenes of revelry and mirth," avoiding "the busy haunts of men." After about three months of employment, Williams is accused of spying on his master, which leads him to feel "uncommon dejection and anxiety," so for help he turns to Falkland's steward Collins for answers. What he learns only increases his curiosity, and when Falkland reveals the secret he's been hiding for so long, Williams takes a vow that he will never disclose what he's learned. He also decides that it's time to move on. Unfortunately, due to the the nature of what Falkland is hiding, the squire decides that Williams must be punished for what he knows, and starts a relentless campaign of revenge and terror. The novel follows Caleb through the persecution hell that Falkland puts him through, leading Caleb to fight for his very survival in the process. <br /><br />It is a wonderful novel, to be sure, and while some people may find the prose a bit slow going, once you pick up the rhythm there's a great story in here. It's most certainly a tension-ratcheting piece of work and quite frankly, I was so tempted to turn to the end to see what happens. I didn't, but the temptation was definitely there. The novel appeals to my sense of reading crime fiction with purpose, which for me is all about human nature and what it says about the factors (social, political, economic) at work that have everything to do with why people do what they do. Godwin makes this exceedinglay clear in Caleb Williams -- making it well worth the time I put into this book. It's another one that I will say is probably not for everyone, but oh my gosh -- what a great novel to kick off my reading project!!<br /><br />Definitely recommended and for me, highly satisfying.<br /><br /><a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://www.crimesegments.com/2017/02/caleb-williams-by-william-godwin.html">http://www.crimesegments.com/2017/02/...</a>

I don’t often read eighteenth-century novels but I generally enjoy them when I do; they’re such curious hybrids, foreshadowing the modern novel in some ways, but with one foot still firmly in earlier narrative traditions, like romance and allegorical fiction. <i>Caleb Williams</i> has sometimes been hailed as a prototype of modern thrillers and mystery novels, and there seems some truth in that claim. It has strong elements of picaresque about it, though (self-referenced at one point, when the protagonist earns his living adapting stories from <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/22883135.Guzman_de_Alfarache" title="Guzman de Alfarache by Mateo Alemán" rel="noopener">Guzman de Alfarache</a>); also a Gothic streak (it was published in 1794, two years before Matthew Lewis’s <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/93157.The_Monk" title="The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis" rel="noopener">The Monk</a>). The strongly archetypal character of the plot, moreover—an innocent pursued by an implacable foe, clearly intended as a political allegory of oppression and abuse of aristocratic privilege—sometimes gives it a more archaic feel, like an Enlightenment <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/29797.The_Pilgrim_s_Progress" title="The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan" rel="noopener">The Pilgrim's Progress</a>.<br /><br />The last eighteenth-century novel I read before <i>Caleb Williams</i> was Samuel Richardson’s <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/417549.Pamela__Or__Virtue_Rewarded" title="Pamela. Or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson" rel="noopener">Pamela. Or, Virtue Rewarded</a>, with which Godwin’s novel shares the basic narrative scenario of a servant cruelly victimized by his or her master. <i>Caleb Williams</i> is less well-written than <i>Pamela</i>—at points, it is positively clunky—but, on the plus side, the morality of the novel is darker and more complex, and the protagonist is less unrelentingly virtuous. Although Caleb Williams is certainly more sinned against than sinning, he brings catastrophe on himself to a certain extent through the fatal curiosity that drives him to inquire into his employer’s business (I was amused to learn after reading it that the name Caleb derives—nomen omen—from a spy in the service of Moses in the Book of Numbers). Caleb’s nemesis, Falkland, is also a light-and-shade character, in a way that complicates the novel’s morality. Neither character is 100% plausible, but that is probably an inevitable consequence of the burden of political allegory both have to bear.<br /><br />I came to William Godwin, as I suspect most people do now, through an interest in his wife, Mary Wollstonecraft, and their daughter, Mary Shelley. I don’t know Godwin’s political philosophy (his great work, published the year before Caleb Williams, is <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1227184.Enquiry_Concerning_Political_Justice_and_Its_Influence_on_Modern_Morals_and_Happiness" title="Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Modern Morals and Happiness by William Godwin" rel="noopener">Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Modern Morals and Happiness</a>). The political message of <i>Caleb Williams</i> is pretty clear, though, and pretty strong. The novel is a denunciation of the power wielded by the social elite of the day, and in particular of the way in which the justice system colludes in the oppression of the poor by the rich and well-connected. Five years after the French Revolution, as the forces of political reaction were gathering strength in England and radicals were coming under increasing government surveillance, this was a courageous book to write. <br /><br />I guess I wanted to read <i>Caleb Williams</i> mainly for its historical interest, but it won me over as a narrative, as well. As I mentioned above, Godwin isn’t a thrilling prose stylist, and the novel could have done with a sharper edit. It’s also uneven. The opening is rather stodgy and the last quarter of the book meanders. There’s a hard core at the center, though—mainly in Volume II—where the novel becomes a genuine page-turner, and there was sufficient complexity to keep me engaged even in the less successful portions. The twisted, half-mirroring relationship between Falkland and Williams reminded me a little of novels like <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/87580.The_Private_Memoirs_and_Confessions_of_a_Justified_Sinner" title="The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg" rel="noopener">The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner</a> and <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/51496.The_Strange_Case_of_Dr__Jekyll_and_Mr__Hyde" title="The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson" rel="noopener">The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde</a>—a recommendation in my book. <br />

<i>Caleb Williams</i> is part philosophical novel, part thriller and part vocabulary lesson. <br /><br />Usually the book is cited as being anarchic, but it isn't directly so. It doesn't suggest an alternative to the existing government, it's not pro-capitalism or pro-syndicalism but it does hold to the most basic principles of moral anarchy which are non-violence and non-coercion. It is extremely critical of "monopolists and kings." In Godwin's own words: "law [is:] better adapted for a weapon of tyranny in the hands of the rich, than for a shield to protect the humbler part of the community against their usurpations."<br /><br />His case is compelling, especially given the late 18th century England setting. The protagonist is pursued ruthlessly by a man who is able to manipulate the law based on his wealth and reputation. Caleb Williams tries every legal and social recourse to escape, but at each turn is prevailed upon by his more wealthy and influential enemy. At times, this scenario seems pretty unlikely and is possibly a little too pessimistic about the motives of government, but still, it illustrates the harrowing point rather well.<br /><br />Philosophy aside, Caleb Williams is a page-turner. It doesn't move as fast as modern thrillers, William's internal dialog becomes a little tedious, but there is no lack of danger or suspense. He is the archetype of rugged manliness and never subject to moral equivocation. It's plausible that he provided Rand with some inspiration for Howard Roark.<br /><br />At the end of the edition I read, there some great contemporary reviews. Some miss the philosophical point of the book entirely and only praise or criticize it on its literary merits. Most of the rest blast it to perdition for its blasphemous criticism of the English government and its lack of an explicit religious message. Even so, they all praise the writing style (some even compare him to <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/1274408.Mark_DeFoe" title="Mark DeFoe" rel="noopener">DeFoe</a> and <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/2601.Miguel_de_Cervantes_Saavedra" title="Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra" rel="noopener">Cervantes</a>). Only William Hazlitt (tellingly, the only one of the critics whose name hasn't been relegated to obscurity today) is somewhat sympathetic to the ideas of the book. <br /><br />A quotation:<br />"Strange that men, from age to age, should consent to hold their lives at the breath of another, merely that each in his turn may have a power of acting the tyrant according to the law! Oh, God! give me poverty! Shower upon me all the imaginary hardships of human life! I will receive them with all thankfulness. Turn me a prey to the wild beasts of the desert, so I be never again the victim of man, dressed in the gore-dripping robes of authority! Suffer me at least to call life, the pursuits of life, my own! Let me hold it at the mercy of the elements, of the hunger of the beasts, or the revenge of barbarians, but not of the cold-blooded prudence of monopolists and kings!"

8.0/10<br /><br />This is an interesting novel that carries with it all the weight of an 18th century crime-and-punishment gothic thriller, a text on social justice, and a fair representation of Roadrunner vs Wile E. Coyote. William Godwin was a visionary of no uncommon merit!<br /><br />There is much here to disentangle, and if I had time and interest enough, this would be a great novel to pull apart with its important view into 18th century social (in)justice and the human malignancy that ran like a cancer through every level of society. <br /><br />Subject to every man's abuse -- from the lord of the manor, to the prisoners who waste away in the dank cells of local prisons where Caleb often finds himself -- he is representative of what happens to human beings when tyranny rules. <br /><br /><i>Your innocence shall be of no service to you,</i> says Squire Falkland. <i>I laugh at so feeble a defence.</i><br /><br />(Can you not picture him twirling his mustachios, melodramatically.) <br /><br />And yet, do we not find it <i>still</i> to be so, in our society? Godwin's novel is a push-back, and a cry, all in one, against the <i>original sin of inequality,</i> of human worship of power, of the inhumanity of slavery, sometimes disguised as merely servitude. When one is in perpetual service, in whatever guise, it is difficult to distinguish tyranny from liberty. <br /><br />Many of these themes are delivered with hammerhead blows, as the narrator often takes you aside and lectures you, while Caleb rests awhile in the <i>dank dirty prison</i>; but there is also subtlety and grace here, when Godwin remembers to let the story pull itself along. In those moments, one recognizes an immensely talented writer and a superb mind.<br /><br />On the down side of it all, Caleb flails and falters just a little too often for my taste that I started to envision a skewed version of Wile E Coyote vs Roadrunner: whereas the roadrunner always gets away, in this instance Caleb always gets caught. I could only suspend my disbelief to a point -- and then I would be seized with momentary urges to slap him silly. Surely, at some point, even a complete innocent from the 18th century would gather a little more sagacity; be endowed with a smidgen more "street smarts" (I'm thinking of Moll Flanders here, for whom I longed with all my heart during some of Caleb's more imbecilic moves.)<br /><br />Nonetheless, warts and all, this was very enjoyable and made a pleasant diversion, and an instructive detour into 19th century Britain; and, if you are of a more serious bent than I, may even require a few hankies to get through it all.

I'd expected a novel by William Godwin to be politically charged; what I didn't expect was that it would be such a gripping and sophisticated narrative.<br /><br />Caleb Williams is a young, naive and bookish man from a humble family. He is hired as a private secretary and librarian by a local country squire, Ferdinando Falkland. Falkland seems to be the best of men - a cultivated, humane, liberal and kindly man. But a shadow hangs over him - years ago, his rival, a neighbouring squire called Tyrell, a vain, cruel and tyrannical man, was found murdered shortly after an altercation with Falkland. Falkland is tried and found innocent; soon afterwards, evidence is found that the murder was done by Hawkins, a former tenant of Tyrell's, and his son. Father and son are hanged. However, reputation being such a great deal for him, Falkland is crushed by the fact that his name has been dragged into a murder investigation, and forever after becomes morose, withdrawn and moody, while retaining his benevolent side. At least, that's what an older servant tells Williams when the latter runs afoul of Falkland's more morose moods.<br /><br />Williams has a severe case of hero-worship when it comes to Falkland; despite which, he has a sneaking suspicion that Falkland murdered Tyrell. What follows is a story that moves from an investigation into slumbering evil to a crazed flight from that evil, now awakened.<br /><br />The rest of the novel is a tale of unrelenting suspense, but also one that is full of damning portraits of society and institutions in Godwin's times. Williams himself, in the final event, is unable to completely shake off the regard which the social structure forces him to hold his persecutor in; despite his own recriminations in the end, we are able to see that he is the victim of both individual and systemic injustices. The attitudes Godwin criticises are so deeply ingrained that Williams is even unjust to himself in the final analysis.<br /><br />Political comment, social critique, an unreliable narrator and a gripping thriller-like story; Godwin accomplished many things with this novel. The only real down sides are that he tends to dilate a lot on every emotion that flits through Williams' head and his style tends towards passive reporting rather than active description. If you re-calibrate your reading sensibilities a bit, these are not major hindrances.