The Prince and the Pauper

Plot[edit]

Tom Canty, the youngest son of a very poor family living in Offal Court located in London, England, has been abused by his father and grandmother but is encouraged by the local priest, who taught him to read and write. Loitering around the Palace of Westminster gates one day, Tom sees Edward Tudor, the Prince of Wales. Coming too close in his intense excitement, he is caught and nearly beaten by the royal guards. However, Edward stops them and invites Tom into his palace chamber. There, the two boys get to know one another and are fascinated by each other's lives. They have an uncanny resemblance to each other and learn they were even born on the same day, so they decide to swap clothes "temporarily." Edward hides an item, which the reader later learns is the Great Seal of England, then goes outside to confront the guards who abused Tom; however, dressed as Tom, he is not recognized by the guards, who drive him from the palace.


Tom, dressed as Edward, tries to cope with court customs and manners after being mistaken for the prince. Edward’s father, King Henry VIII, his fellow nobles, and the palace staff think the prince has an illness that has caused memory loss and fear he will go mad. After King Henry dies, Tom is repeatedly asked about the missing Great Seal of England, but he knows nothing about it. However, when Tom is asked to sit in on judgments, his common-sense observations reassure them that his mind is sound.


Edward eventually finds his way through the streets to the Canty home, where the Canty family believes him to be Tom. There, he is subjected to the brutality of Tom's alcoholic father, from whom he manages to escape, and meets Miles Hendon, a soldier and nobleman returning from war. Although Miles does not believe Edward's claims to royalty, he humors him and becomes his protector. Meanwhile, news reaches them that King Henry has died and Edward has become king.


As Edward experiences the brutal life of a London pauper firsthand, he becomes aware of the stark class inequality in England. In particular, he sees the harsh, punitive nature of the English judicial system, under which people are burned at the stake, pilloried, and flogged. He realizes that the accused are convicted on flimsy evidence and branded or hanged for petty offences, and he vows to reign with mercy when he regains his rightful place. When Edward declares to a gang of thieves that he is the king and will put an end to unjust laws, they assume he is insane and hold a mock coronation.


After a series of adventures, including a stint in prison, Edward interrupts the coronation as Tom is about to be crowned king. The nobles are shocked at their resemblance but refuse to believe that Edward is the rightful king wearing Tom's clothes until he produces the Great Seal of England that he hid before leaving the palace. Edward and Tom switch back to their original places, and Edward is crowned King Edward VI of England. Miles is rewarded with the rank of Earl and the family right to sit in the king's presence. In gratitude for supporting the new king's claim to the throne, Edward names Tom the "King's Ward," a privileged position that he holds for the rest of his life.

Themes[edit]

The introductory quote—"The quality of mercy is . . . twice blest; / It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: / 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes / The throned monarch better than his crown"—is part of "The quality of mercy" speech from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.


While written for children, The Prince and the Pauper is both a critique of social inequality and criticism of judging others by their appearance. Twain wrote of the book, "My idea is to afford a realizing sense of the exceeding severity of the laws of that day by inflicting some of their penalties upon the King himself and allowing him a chance to see the rest of them applied to others..."^[2]

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