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| ==Plot summary== | ==Plot summary== | ||
| Easy is the son of foolish parents, who spoiled him. His father, in particular, regards himself as a philosopher, with a firm belief in the "rights of man |
Easy is the son of foolish parents, who spoiled him. His father, in particular, regards himself as a philosopher, with a firm belief in the "rights of man, equality, and all that; how every person was born to inherit his share of the earth, a right at present only admitted to a certain length that is, about six feet, for we all inherit our graves, and are allowed to take possession without dispute. But no one would listen to Mr Easy's philosophy." As he is a rich man, his belief, which the novel presents as very foolish, is never seriously contradicted. | ||
| By the time he is a teenager Easy has adopted his father's point of view, to the point where he no longer believes in private property. |
By the time he is a teenager Easy has adopted his father's point of view, to the point where he no longer believes in private property. | ||
| Easy joins the navy, becomes friendly with a ] ] named Mesty, an escaped ], who had been a ] in ]. Mesty is sympathetic to Easy's philosophizing |
Easy joins the navy, which his fatherbelieves to be the best example of an equal society, and Easy becomes friendly with a ] ] named Mesty (Mephistopheles Faust), an escaped ], who had been a ] in ]. Mesty is sympathetic to Easy's philosophizing, which seems to offer him a way up from his lowly job of "boiling ] for de young | ||
| gentlemen"; but once Mesty is promoted to ship's ] and put in charge of dicipline, he changes his ]: "...now I tink a good deal lately, and by all de power, I tink ] all stuff." | |||
| "All stuff, Mesty, why? you used to think otherwise." | |||
| "Yes, Massa Easy, but den I boil de kettle for all young gentleman. Now dat I ship's corporal and hab ], I tink so no longer." | |||
| In some way Mesty is the real ] of the novel, as he pulls Easy out of several scrapes the impulsive 17-year old gets himself into as he cruises the Mediterranean on several British ships. | |||
| Easy becomes a competent officer, in spite of his notions. By the end of the novel both Easy and Mesty have come to a more conventional view of rights, and private property. | |||
| Easy becomes a competent ], in spite of his notions. Easy's ] dies, and he returns home to find his father is completely mad. Easy senior has developed an apparatus for reducing or enlarging phrenological bumps on the skull, but in an attempt to reduce his own benevolence bump, the machine kills him. Easy throws out the ] servants his ] has employed and puts the estate to rights, demanding backrents from the tenants, and evicting those who won't pay. Using his new-found wealth, he formally quits the navy, rigs out his own privateering vessel, and returns to ] to claim his bride Agnes. As a wealthy gentleman now, no longer a junior midshipman, her family can't refuse him, and he and Agnes live happily ever after. | |||
| ==Adaptation== | ==Adaptation== | ||
Revision as of 04:45, 4 June 2012
Mr. Midshipman Easy is an 1836 novel by Frederick Marryat, a retired Captain in the 19th century Royal Navy. The novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, in which Marryat himself served with distinction.
Plot summary
Easy is the son of foolish parents, who spoiled him. His father, in particular, regards himself as a philosopher, with a firm belief in the "rights of man, equality, and all that; how every person was born to inherit his share of the earth, a right at present only admitted to a certain length that is, about six feet, for we all inherit our graves, and are allowed to take possession without dispute. But no one would listen to Mr Easy's philosophy." As he is a rich man, his belief, which the novel presents as very foolish, is never seriously contradicted.
By the time he is a teenager Easy has adopted his father's point of view, to the point where he no longer believes in private property.
Easy joins the navy, which his fatherbelieves to be the best example of an equal society, and Easy becomes friendly with a lower deck seaman named Mesty (Mephistopheles Faust), an escaped slave, who had been a prince in Africa. Mesty is sympathetic to Easy's philosophizing, which seems to offer him a way up from his lowly job of "boiling kettle for de young gentlemen"; but once Mesty is promoted to ship's corporal and put in charge of dicipline, he changes his mind: "...now I tink a good deal lately, and by all de power, I tink equality all stuff." "All stuff, Mesty, why? you used to think otherwise." "Yes, Massa Easy, but den I boil de kettle for all young gentleman. Now dat I ship's corporal and hab cane, I tink so no longer."
In some way Mesty is the real hero of the novel, as he pulls Easy out of several scrapes the impulsive 17-year old gets himself into as he cruises the Mediterranean on several British ships.
Easy becomes a competent officer, in spite of his notions. Easy's mother dies, and he returns home to find his father is completely mad. Easy senior has developed an apparatus for reducing or enlarging phrenological bumps on the skull, but in an attempt to reduce his own benevolence bump, the machine kills him. Easy throws out the criminal servants his father has employed and puts the estate to rights, demanding backrents from the tenants, and evicting those who won't pay. Using his new-found wealth, he formally quits the navy, rigs out his own privateering vessel, and returns to Sicily to claim his bride Agnes. As a wealthy gentleman now, no longer a junior midshipman, her family can't refuse him, and he and Agnes live happily ever after.
Adaptation
It was adapted twice into films in 1916 and in 1935 as Midshipman Easy, directed by Carol Reed.
External links
- Mr Midshipman Easy at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions color illustrated)
- Mr Midshipman Easy at Project Gutenberg (plain text and HTML)
- Mr Midshipman Easy via LibriVox (audiobooks)
| Novels by Frederick Marryat | |
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