89 pages • 2 hours read
Mark TwainThe Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1893A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary: "The Nymph Revealed"
Tom wrestles with the truth of his identity as Valet de Chambre. Now that he knows he was born enslaved, he laments the division of races, asking why “is this awful difference made between white and black?" (65) However, Tom quickly reverts back to his dishonest, snobbish ways. Roxy and Tom meet each month so that Tom can pay Roxy and gossip with her about the townspeople, and Tom quickly incurs a new gambling debt.
The story picks up where Chapter 7 left off. When Luigi and Angelo Cappello arrive at Aunt Patsy's home, Tom, whom everyone believes to be in St. Louis, has been in hiding for two days. That same morning, he'd gone to the Judge's house and put on girl's clothing. He became aware that Wilson saw him through the window.
Roxy tells Tom of the twins' arrival, as well as the fact that the townspeople have gathered to meet them at Aunt Patsy's. Being the opportunist that he is, and despite the fact that he knows that Wilson saw him in disguise, Tom once again puts on girl's clothing and goes out to rob the townspeople, even stopping at Aunt Patsy's to steal from her house while everyone is distracted by the twins playing the piano.
Chapter 11 Summary: "Pudd'nhead's Startling Discovery"
Prompted by Tom, Wilson takes the fingerprints of the three men, an act that will prove critical to solving the coming murder mystery. Wilson also offers to read Luigi's palm, and Tom, again attempting to embarrass Wilson, tells Luigi to write down something that a past palm reader predicted that came true, to see whether Wilson can find the same information in Luigi's palm. Wilson sees the event and writes a brief description of it on a piece of paper. Both pieces of paper report the same event: Luigi killed someone.
Angelo recounts the story of the killing, a story that will be pivotal in solving the murder mystery. Angelo says that an Indian prince gave Luigi an engraved dagger with a jeweled sheaf. That night, a servant came to steal the dagger, and Luigi killed him to protect Angelo. Hearing all of this, Tom is pleased, because unbeknownst to the twins, Tom has stolen the dagger, and plans to pawn it.
A local politician arrives at Wilson's home and invites the twins to a party. At the party, Tom has several drinks, and refers to the twins as a "human philopena," a nut with two kernels. (81) Luigi is irate and kicks Tom, who is sent flying into the crowd of party-goers. Chaos ensues, torches are knocked over, and the party ends when a fire breaks out and the fire crew drowns the meeting house in a deluge of water.
Chapter 12 Summary: "The Shame of Judge Driscoll"
Pembroke Howard and Judge Driscoll are both from the First Families of Virginia (FFV), "...a nobility" with "unwritten laws." Twain writes: "The F.F.V. was born a gentleman; his highest duty in life was to watch over that great inheritance and keep it unsmirched." (85) When the man tells the Judge and Howard that one of the Italian twins beat Tom and Tom took the twin to court that morning on a charge of assault and battery, Judge Driscoll is so horrified that he faints. In the Judge's gentlemanly code of conduct, taking someone to court for assault is simply not done. The appropriate way to settle the matter is to challenge the offender to a duel.
In court, Wilson defends Luigi, but loses. Luigi has to pay Tom five dollars. Judge Driscoll tells his nephew that he should have challenged Luigi to a duel like a man. Tom says he is afraid of Luigi. The Judge tears up his will and sends Tom away, and Tom leaves, vowing to straighten out his life and get reinstated in the Judge's will.
Chapters 10-12 Analysis
The stage is being set in these chapters for the coming murder mystery, and it will be no surprise to the reader when Tom's lack of morals leads him to murder. One recurring aspect of Tom's character is his desire to embarrass others, and Pudd'nhead Wilson is a frequent target of Tom's ridicule. Yet Tom's attempts to shame Wilson backfire with dire consequences when Tom and the twins visit Wilson's home.
Knowing that he was born a slave yet had lived a life of privilege because of Roxy’s actions might have made Tom grateful to her and to Judge Driscoll who raised him after Percy Driscoll died. Yet, Tom is not capable of gratitude for more than a few hours. He is a manipulative liar, twisting situations and people to his advantage, and as often as the Judge gives Tom another chance, reinstating him in his will and believing that Tom is sincere in wanting to reform, Tom fails to live up to his end of the bargain. Tom lacks the will to change his character and redeem his life, because his habits are too far ingrained, and changing his behavior would force him to face his own failings. Luigi and Roxy are the only people in town willing to confront Tom's bullying behavior head-on, and they will prove key to Tom ultimately getting what he deserves.
The Judge, too, is unwilling to change his ways, much less admit that Tom does not hold the same values as the Judge. When the Judge is told that Tom has taken Luigi to court, he pleads with Pembroke Howard to convince him it is not true. Pembroke responds, "You know it's a lie as well as I do, old friend. He is of the best blood of the Old Dominion." (87). The two men conspire to remain willfully ignorant of Tom's true character, just as slave owners conspired to remain willfully ignorant of the injustice they were inflicting on Black Americans. This unknowing allows the Judge to believe that Tom is morally upright, the same way it allows slave owners to believe that owning Black people was a means of taking care of helpless, hapless, inferior human beings.
The conflict between the Judge's "Old World" manner of handling things and Tom's "New World" way underscores the conflict between the two men, their respective generations, and their codes of conduct. Twain uses the Judge and Tom to represent the growing pains of America in the 19th century, as the nation expanded westward and moves further and further away from the habits and culture of Europe and the original colonies on the East Coast. Tom represents the Western frontier, where gambling and drinking were common and social structures were cast off as men forged their own paths and established new rules of conduct. The Judge, and the slavery he participates in, represent a dying era, where white elites sat at the top of the social hierarchy, secure in their God-given right to make the rules.
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