Genre
Historical Fiction
Setting and Context
1860s Victorian England
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person point of view.
Tone and Mood
The novel's tone is regretful, nostalgic, and assertive. The mood is rebellious and nervous.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Eliza Touchet is the protagonist; discrimination and the poor conditions of the era is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
Eliza and Bogle's struggle to contend with the challenges of their time, as well as the trial, are the main conflicts of the novel.
Climax
When "the Claimant's" case was dismissed he was charged with fraud for perjury.
Foreshadowing
Eliza eventually becoming a successful author is foreshadowed by her conversations with her cousin and Charles Dickens.
Understatement
Ainsworth consistently understated Eliza's value to him and his career.
Allusions
There are allusions in the book to history, literary figures, religion, and mythology.
Imagery
As the trial proceeds and more people are implicated in the conspiracy, violent imagery becomes more common.
Paradox
N/A
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Downing Street is used to refer to the seat of the British government and where the Prime Minister of the U.K. lives.
Personification
The trial itself is personified throughout the novel
