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Prince and the Pauper (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) [NOOK Book]
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When Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper was published in 1881, the Atlanta Constitution sang its praises in no uncertain terms: The book comes upon the reading public in the shape of a revelation.” A timeless tale of switched identities, Twain’s story revolves around the miserably poor Tom Canty of Offal Court,” who is lucky enough to trade his rags for the gilded robes of England’s prince, Edward Tudor. As each boy is mistaken for the other, Tom enters a realm of privilege and pleasure beyond his most delirious dreams, while Edward plunges into a cruel, dangerous world of beggars and thieves, cutthroats and killers. Befriended by the heroic Miles Hendon, Edward struggles to survive on the squalid streets of London, in the process learning about the underside of life in Merry England.”
With its mixing of high adventure, raucous comedy, and scathing social criticism, presented in a hilarious faux-sixteenth-century vernacular that only Mark Twain could fashion, The Prince and the Pauper remains one of this incomparable humorist’s most popular and oft-dramatized tales.
Robert Tine is the author of six novels, including State of Grace and Black Market. He has written for a variety of periodicals and magazines, from the New York Times to Newsweek.
After river shipping was interrupted by the Civil War, Twain headed west with his brother Orion, who had been appointed secretary to the Nevada Territory. Settling in Carson City, he tried his luck at prospecting and wrote humorous pieces for a range of newspapers. Around this time he first began using the pseudonym Mark Twain, derived from a riverboat term. Relocating to San Francisco, he became a regular newspaper correspondent and a contributor to the literary magazine the Golden Era. He made a five-month journey to Hawaii in 1866 and the following year traveled to Europe to report on the first organized tourist cruise. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches (1867) consolidated his growing reputation as humorist and lecturer.
After his marriage to Livy Langdon, Twain settled first in Buffalo, New York, and then for two decades in Hartford, Connecticut. His European sketches were expanded into The Innocents Abroad (1869), followed by Roughing It (1872), an account of his Western adventures; both were enormously successful. Twain's literary triumphs were offset by often ill-advised business dealings (he sank thousands of dollars, for instance, in a failed attempt to develop a new kind of typesetting machine, and thousands more into his own ultimately unsuccessful publishing house) and unrestrained spending that left him in frequent financial difficulty, a pattern that was to persist throughout his life.
Following The Gilded Age (1873), written in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner, Twain began a literary exploration of his childhood memories of the Mississippi, resulting in a trio of masterpieces --The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Life on the Mississippi (1883), and finally The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), on which he had been working for nearly a decade. Another vein, of historical romance, found expression in The Prince and the Pauper (1882), the satirical A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889), and Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896), while he continued to draw on his travel experiences in A Tramp Abroad (1880) and Following the Equator (1897). His close associates in these years included William Dean Howells, Bret Harte, and George Washington Cable, as well as the dying Ulysses S. Grant, whom Twain encouraged to complete his memoirs, published by Twain's publishing company in 1885.
For most of the 1890s Twain lived in Europe, as his life took a darker turn with the death of his daughter Susy in 1896 and the worsening illness of his daughter Jean. The tone of Twain's writing also turned progressively more bitter. The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), a detective story hinging on the consequences of slavery, was followed by powerful anti-imperialist and anticolonial statements such as 'To the Person Sitting in Darkness' (1901), 'The War Prayer' (1905), and 'King Leopold's Soliloquy' (1905), and by the pessimistic sketches collected in the privately published What Is Man? (1906). The unfinished novel The Mysterious Stranger was perhaps the most uncompromisingly dark of all Twain's later works. In his last years, his financial troubles finally resolved, Twain settled near Redding, Connecticut, and died in his mansion, Stormfield, on April 21, 1910.
Author biography courtesy of Random House, Inc.
The story itself—the swapping of identities between Edward Tudor, heir to the throne of England, and one of his lowliest subjects, a certain Tom Canty of Offal Court, London—was a neat conceit and one that no one would have doubted Twain would have immense fun spinning out. However, while there are moments in the book of what the critics called Twain’s burlesque,” this apparently simple story delves deeply into the baseness of the human condition—and examines it closely at both ends of the social spectrum. It is not difficult to imagine wanton cruelty and pain meted out in the slums and low dens of Tudor London. But Twain did not spare the aristocracy; he accused them of cupidity, treachery, and outright violence. Brutality is no less brutal for having been dealt by a finely attired lord of the realm rather than by a drink-soaked mendicant clad in rags, worried that he will not come up with the two pennies required to pay his rent. One has to admit that to Twain’s contemporaries, and to readers today, The Prince and the Pauper is not a funny book.
But it is an exciting one, almost a thriller. Will the deception succeed? Will Tom Canty take the throne? And will Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales (as Twain erroneously styles him), live his life in rags and squalor, raving and raging until his dying day about his own blue blood and the common, ungrateful usurper of the throne? It’s a close thing, and there are times when the reader doubts that Twain will manage to pull off a suitably happy ending.
Then there is the problem with the language Twain employs. The book is filled with archaic and, in the mouths of the noble characters, flowery language. The more base characters speak a guttural if elaborate patois: Gone stark mad as any Tom o’ Bedlam! . . . But mad or no mad, I and thy Gammer Canty will soon find where the soft places in thy bones lie, or I’m no true man!’” (p. 24). The aristocrats are no less orotund, even when condemning one of their own to death: Alack, how I have longed for this sweet hour! and lo, too late it commeth, and I am robbed of this so coveted chance. But speed ye, speed ye! let others do this happy office [that is, a beheading] sith ’tis denied to me’” (p. 52). This is not the Mark Twain the reading public was used to—we are a long way from Tom, Huck, and Pudd’nhead. But Twain had always been a meticulous and discerning student of the spoken word, and absent a living example of Tudor speech, he readily admitted reading a great deal of Shakespeare to get the language down for both prince and pauper.
At first, the language seems a trifle daunting, but it quickly becomes easy to read and in the end adds immeasurably to the authenticity of the book. To have had his characters speak in the manner of Victorian Londoners of his age would have undercut the profound sense of time and place Twain manages to convey so well.
Having said how much The Prince and the Pauper is not a typical example of Twain’s work, it is worth taking a look at the factors that make it, in fact, a comfortable fit with the rest of the Twain canon. Like Tom Canty, the pauper of the story, Twain knew well the privations of youthful poverty. His father, John Marshall Clemens
(17981847), was an inept businessman, perennially in debt, sometimes bringing his family to such low financial water as to force the selling of family land, and even the household furniture. At one point in Twain’s youth the family was forced to face the humiliation of having to take in boarders. True, Twain never knew the crushing poverty of the Canty clan, but he grew up knowing the cold sting of want.
Tom Canty’s father is an ogre, a tyrant, a drunkard, and an abuser. Were he alive today his treatment of his family would, more than likely, land him in jail. Twain’s own father, while no monster, was cold, distant, unaffectionate, and, it seems, uninterested in any of his seven children, still less in his wife (Jane Lampton Clemens, 18031890), with whom he lived in a loveless marriage. As Twain admits so candidly in a fragment of an autobiography published in 1907: I had never once seen a member of the Clemens family kiss another one—except once. When my father lay dying in our house in Hannibal he put his arm around my sister’s neck and drew her down and kissed her, saying, Let me die.’” (Paine, A. B. Mark Twain: A Biography, Vol. I, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1912, p. 73.) It is not difficult to imagine that Twain could take his own experiences of poverty and cruelty and amplify them into the truly ghastly conditions of Tom Canty’s early life.
As Twain’s reputation grew he was transformed from lowly newspaper reporter into celebrated author. This celebrity allowed him to hobnob with the Great and Good (including the Russian czar, the German kaiser, and the emperor of Austria-Hungary) and to develop a keen eye for the doings of the upper classes. The courts of the nineteenth century were at least as grand, perhaps even more so, than those of Tudor England. Mark Twain was a proud American and a republican, and he scoffed at the very notion of aristocracy, as well as at a type of American traveler of a certain class who fawned over the titled and highborn. However, he did admit: We are all like—on the inside . . . we dearly like to be noticed by a duke. . . . When a returned American is playing the earls he has met I can look on silent and unexcited and never offer to call his hand, although I have three kings and a pair of emperors up my sleeve.” (Camfield, p.376.) These crowned heads do more than just pump up an awestruck American Grand Tourist: Twain’s travels in the courts, palaces, and lavish country houses of Europe must have provided grist for his mill and found their way into the pages of The Prince and the Pauper.
Anonymous
Posted January 30, 2012
Is it as good as it sounds? What are some other good books please?
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Posted January 18, 2012
I heard this.is a good book, and im supposed to read it for honors english or treasure island. Im thinking of reading treasure island, but if this is a good book, ill read this instead. Help?
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Posted January 16, 2012
I loved it absolutly awesome...but thats to be expected right?
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Posted December 26, 2011
I just found out i' related to Mark Twain¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Posted October 6, 2011
This book was very good. I especially liked the part where the two boys changed places.
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Posted September 4, 2011
I had this book and I had a few hours to kill on a plane ride annd this book was good, only to waste time.
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Posted May 28, 2011
Words are misspelled...... big gaps on pages.......I could not read it....it gave me a pain in my .....? Hraf
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Posted January 7, 2011
My teacher told me to read this book and I loved it! If you like classics you'll love this book. Great read!
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Posted March 14, 2010
What a wonderful book! I recall having to read it in my youth and loving it then as well. Several movies have been made of this material. The plot is ingenious and the settings are great. Also of value is the history you learn from the book and the characters in it, especially "The Prince". I loved the descriptions of the inside of the Prince's apartments in his castle and I loved also the description of the hovels where the poor people dwelt. A lot of new laws were enacted during the true lifetime of this young Prince and it is good to see how they helped the people of England. It is a one-of-a kind American classic that everyone should read and keep on his library as I have.
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Posted January 2, 2010
The Prince and the Pauper is a fabulous story. But the conversations are writen in (old English) which I had a little hard time understanding. If you feel up to it, you should read this book becasue it is a great classic and a fun story.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Though some of the language is convoluted, context renders it pretty easy to understand, and some of the darker situations just make the conclusion that much more thrilling to read. I think the descriptions of the pauper boy's life, with regular beatings and hunger, yet devoted friends and time for play, are quite enlightening, as are the descriptions of Westminster and the riot on London Bridge.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.A wonderful and enjoyable tale!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.My 4th grade son was given the reading assignment of choosing a classic book for his report. While I am very supportive of what he reads and always read what he reads, either with him or on my own, I was quite surprised with some of the content in the book.
While some of the situations and lessons are great for kids to learn, it was quite bothersome and hurtful to my son to read about how the main character, Tom Canty, is treated by his father. While I certainly do not want to ruin the story, he is starved and beaten for not begging and stealing enough to his father's satisfaction. In continuing with the story, the Prince witnesses women be burned alive at the stake while their daughters grasp for them and one of them actually has her clothing catch fire.
Some parents may certainly be okay with their child reading content such as this, my son had a hard time accepting that he had to read and then write about this among other incidents that happened throughout the book.
The language is very difficult to understand as well. While the book was rated for his age group, I feel it would be more acceptable for older children who are more emotionally able to understand and accept that treatment such as what was endured throughout the book was tolerated in the time it was portrayed to have "happened".
The footnotes were extremely helpful and made the book a bit more easier to understand and more realistic in some ways.
Hope this review helps other parents in deciding whether or not this might be the best book for their child.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.TheQuillPen
Posted April 1, 2009
I Also Recommend:
"The Prince and the Pauper"'s strengths reside mostly in its author's wonderful writing and its creative and humurous "comedy of errors" style involving wild mix-ups and misunderstandings. Mark Twain is an amazingly skillful author and he presents his topic in a wonderful way. However, the story cannot compare to Twain's other work and is not as memorable or spirited. Some of the plot turns feel slightly unnecessary and the titular pauper is underdeveloped as compared to the prince when he could have had a lot of potential. I think the setting was somewhat stifling as well, seeing as Mark Twain has a definite American flavor to his writing style, and his dialogue shines when filled with 19th-century dialects. Although I would absolutely reccomend "The Prince and the Pauper," it would not be at the top of my list.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I liked the basic storyline, the characters, and the social commentary about the world at that time. The ending is a bit too "Deus Ex Machina" in how everything just turns out for the better, but the overall plot and characters are interesting and it made me feel like I had a bit of a snapshot of what life in the mid 1500s was like in London. Like Dickens, Twain could write interesting stories that take a surprisingly deep look at the world. Both of them have had their stories turned into cheap cartoons that strip out a lot of the meat, but that's why you need to read the original books. So quit reading this and pick up a book already.
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Posted August 1, 2008
This story has much to say about two people who look exactly alike but have very different fortunes. Their paths cross and they change places. As a result both learn a great deal about social injustice.
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Posted June 20, 2008
The absolute worst most idiotic book that I've ever read. Twain compleatly wastes his talents and trades his voice for that of a Dickens imposter. Horrid, Simply horrid.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 5, 2008
Two boys, a prince and a pauper, decide to trade lives since neither is happy with his own. A great and classic book that all children should read.
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Posted December 1, 2007
This review is not just about the book itself, but specifically for the Audio version of the book, read by veteran actor Kenneth Jay who is also the narrator on an audio version of Mark Twain's 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'. I like this reader's style very much. I think Mark Twain really comes to life when read aloud, and The Prince and the Pauper is an excellent example. Most people are familiar with the famous storyline of the two lookalike boys: one the heir to the throne of England, and the other a poor ragamuffin from the dirty streets of London, who meet by chance and decide to change clothes and impersonate one another as a joke for a few hours, but it all goes wrong and both boys get stuck in their assumed roles for much longer than intended. But Twain's dry wit, fascinating descriptions, and observation of life are often lost in the film versions, while this audio book, although abridged, remains true to Mark Twain's exact words and brings them to life in a way that doesn't happen when you read it silently to yourself. This reader is very skilled with voices and accents, so all the characters seem real and different, and the result is very entertaining storytelling from start to finish. Although I personally prefer this reader's audio book version of A Connecticut Yankee, I think the storyline of this book will appeal more to people, particularly younger people
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Posted August 22, 2007
Of all the Mark Twain books, this is one of the two I've reread the most.
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Overview
The Prince and the Pauper, by Mark Twain, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: