«The Picture of Dorian Gray» - Infographic & Plot Summary

The Picture of Dorian Gray is set in 19th-century England and focuses on the title character as he passes from innocence and beauty to immorality and death.

When the novel opens Lord Henry Wotton is visiting his friend Basil Hallward. Basil is painting Dorian Gray's portrait. Henry admires the painting, but Basil worries he let too much of his feelings for Dorian seep into the image. They go into the studio, where Henry chats with Dorian as the young man poses for his portrait. Henry praises Dorian's beauty. When Dorian sees the finished portrait, he realizes that as he ages his portrait will remain young and beautiful. He wishes he could stay young and that the portrait would grow older in his place. The next day Henry visits his uncle and learns Dorian's family background: his mother was beautiful, but she ran away with a poor lover. Thus Dorian will inherit a lot of money.

A month passes. Attending performances at a theater in a poor section of London, Dorian falls in love with an actress he sees there—a young woman named Sibyl Vane. The two barely know each other. Sibyl doesn't even know Dorian's real name, calling him only "Prince Charming." Nevertheless, Dorian tells his friends they will marry. Sibyl is very happy. Her brother James is suspicious: he doesn't like the large class difference between the pair. James also worries about Sibyl because he's about to leave the country to seek his fortune.

Henry and Basil go with Dorian to watch Sibyl act, but her performance is terrible. Sibyl tells Dorian she used to act to escape life, but now that her life is wonderful she no longer can act as she formerly did. Unfortunately, much of what Dorian loved about her was her acting, so he breaks off their engagement. When he gets home he finds a new line in Basil's portrait: cruelty is now visible in the painted face.

After he leaves, Sibyl commits suicide. Dorian is horrified when he learns about her death the next day. However, Henry talks him into seeing it as something in the past, a learning experience.

Because of the change in the painting, Dorian locks it away where no one will see it. After he has the painting moved, Dorian reads a note from Henry. It includes results of the inquest into Sibyl's death, along with a French novel. Dorian reads this book all day, and he becomes highly influenced by it.

Dorian enters into an extended period of self-indulgence as years pass, and people tell stories about his activities. Some of these are simply sensual, like spending time and money on gems and music. Others are scandalous, immoral, and illegal. However, few people really believe these stories because Dorian appears to retain his youthful innocence and beauty.

On the evening before his 38th birthday, Dorian runs into Basil. Basil warns Dorian about the scandalous stories circulating about him. Basil says he wishes he could be sure the stories were untrue, but that to do that he would have to see Dorian's soul. He laments that "only God can do that." Dorian says he keeps a diary of his soul, and he leads his bewildered friend to see the portrait. Basil is horrified at the sight. Dorian reminds Basil how he wished the painting would age instead of him. They talk about what happened and what it means. Basil concludes Dorian's sins must be terrible indeed for the painting to look like that. Suddenly overcome by anger and loathing, Dorian stabs Basil to death then contacts Alan Campbell, a scientist, with whom he used to be very close. Dorian blackmails Campbell into getting rid of Basil's body.

Late that night Dorian goes to an opium den. While he's there, a woman recognizes him and calls him "Prince Charming." A sailor who overhears this address follows Dorian out onto the street. It is James Vane, who wants to kill Dorian for causing his sister's death so many years before. However, when Dorian shows the man his supernaturally youthful face, James concludes it couldn't be Dorian, apologizes, and lets him go. Once he's gone the woman from the opium den tells James it really is the same man.

A week later Dorian faints when he sees James Vane looking in the window during a party. Terrified, Dorian stays home for three days before joining a group of hunters to shoot game. As he walks with a friend, the man shoots at a hare. He kills it—also fatally wounding a man hiding in the bushes. Later the gamekeeper tells Dorian that the dead man wasn't one of his beaters. A beater is an individual who beats at shrubbery—thus startling wild game into leaving their cover and giving hunters a clear shot at their prey. Curious, Dorian inspects the body and finds it is James Vane.

Dorian decides to change his life. However, Henry declares that Dorian should remain as he is, saying he is perfect. Dorian walks home. Once there he thinks about all the lives he has ruined. He resolves again to change. Since he recently chose not to seduce a young woman, he thinks to check his portrait to see if it reflects that decision. He finds the old sins are still visible, along with a new one: hypocrisy. Dorian decides to destroy the painting.

Dorian stabs his portrait, cries out, and falls to the floor. Although his servants hear the shout, they have no key to the locked room. Finally, they enter through a window and find Basil's portrait of Dorian, once again showing Dorian's face as young and beautiful. A withered body lies near the painting. No one can tell who it is. Finally checking the rings on the corpse's hands, they identify the dead man as Dorian Gray.

«Paradise Lost» - Infographic & Plot Summary

In the tradition of ancient Greek epics, John Milton begins his poem by calling on the guidance of a heavenly muse to help tell his tale, stating that his goal is to justify the ways of God to man. He begins his story in medias res (in the middle of things). God has cast Satan and his rebel army of fallen angels out of Heaven, and they are floating on a fiery lake in Hell. These angels become devils and form a council to debate how to overthrow God. Through his second-in-command, Satan convinces them that the best target is man, God's newest creation. Satan volunteers to fly to the world full of God's new creatures. His daughter, Sin, and their incestuous son, Death, help him escape from Hell. The personifications of Chaos and Night also help pave the way for Satan to enter the new world, because they have no particular allegiance to God.

God, in his omniscience, already knows that Satan will succeed in tempting and corrupting mankind. He announces that man will be punished for his disobedience, because he created humans to be strong enough to withstand temptation. He claims that his new creations will be punished by death unless someone in Heaven is willing to die on their behalf. Only God's Son volunteers.

Satan lands in the new world and sneaks into the Garden of Eden disguised as a cherub. Once inside the garden, he spies God's new creations, Adam and Eve, and is deeply envious of their innocence and happiness. Though he has a moment of doubt and almost feels love for the humans, he resolves to continue with his plan to corrupt them. It is the only revenge he can get against God. He overhears Adam and Eve discussing how God forbade them from eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and decides that he will trick them into disobeying God by eating the fruit.

Uriel, the angel guarding Paradise, realizes that the cherub is Satan in disguise and sends for the archangel Gabriel to find the intruder. Gabriel confronts him, and Satan reveals himself and prepares for battle. God then sends Satan a warning: a pair of Golden Scales in the sky that demonstrates how pointless it is to fight. Satan flees, recognizing that God does have the ultimate power and advantage.

Satan whispers an upsetting dream about eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge in Eve's ear while she is sleeping. God decides that although he cannot control their actions, he must warn Adam and Eve about Satan. He sends his archangel Raphael to discuss with Adam the idea that they have the free will to make their own choices and to warn them about the temptation they will face and its consequences.

Raphael also tells Adam the story of Satan's rebellion in Heaven—which began when Satan, then a high-ranking angel, became envious of the Son, who would become King of Heaven. Satan then convinced other angels to rebel against God and forms an army. Yet all angels are immortal—while they can be wounded, they can't be killed. The battle that Raphael describes to Adam seems pointless, especially because the all-powerful God can call an end to the war whenever he likes. He does so on the third day, telling his Son to banish the rebel angels to Hell.

After Raphael finishes telling Adam the story, Satan returns to the Garden of Eden, taking on the disguise of a serpent. He finds Eve alone and speaks to her. Eve is curious about how he came to be able to speak, and he tells her that he learned by eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. He tells her that if she eats the fruit she can become a goddess and gain knowledge as well. After hesitating, she eats the fruit and then offers it to Adam. Though he realizes that she has disobeyed God's orders, he eats the fruit so they will share the same fate.

God then sends the Son to the Garden of Eden, where he condemns Eve and all future women to experience pain when they give birth. He also condemns Adam to have to labor to grow his food and tells Eve she must submit to Adam. Satan is gleeful that he has accomplished his plan, and his children, Sin and Death, build a bridge between Hell and Earth. Though Satan arrives triumphantly in Hell, believing he has outsmarted God, God punishes Satan by turning him and the other devils into serpents, doomed to eternally hunger for fruit that turns to ashes when they bite into it.

God next orders angels to make the new world more hostile to mirror Adam and Eve's fall. The angels create storms and turn creatures against each other to create discord and suffering. Adam and Eve begin fighting and blame each other for the punishment they are enduring. Ultimately they decide to repent to God, swearing to be obedient. God agrees to be merciful, allowing them and their offspring into Heaven in the afterlife if they are obedient to him.

God sends the archangel Michael to show Adam what his and Eve's future will look like: their sons will murder each other, tyrants will rule, and biblical floods will wipe out most people. Yet he offers them hope in addition to depicting the suffering that future humans will endure: he shows Adam a rainbow meant to reflect God's mercy and biblical characters such as Noah, Enoch, and Jesus—men who will redeem humanity through their selfless acts. Adam and Eve finally leave Paradise, accepting their fate.

«Medea» - Infographic & Plot Summary

Medea is set in the ancient Greek city-state of Corinth. Jason, the heroic son of King Aeson of Iolcus, has left his wife, Medea, and married the princess of Corinth. As the play begins, the Nurse, Medea's slave, gives a monologue summarizing events that took place before the play began. Jason had been given the task of capturing the Golden Fleece by the king, Pelias, who took the throne of Iolcus away from Jason's father. The Golden Fleece, a ram's gold skin, is defended by a dragon in Colchis, a region on the Black Sea. With a group of men called the Argonauts, Jason sailed to Colchis in the Argo and enlisted the help of Medea, the king's daughter, to carry out the task. Medea, who has magical powers, fell passionately in love with Jason. She not only helped him, betraying her own family, but married him. She then conspired to murder Pelias through trickery, which forced the couple into exile in Corinth. They have two sons, but Jason wants more wealth and so has left Medea for his new bride, the daughter of King Creon of Corinth.

Medea is mad with rage at being dishonored and abandoned. The Nurse hears her crying to the gods from within her house and worries about what Medea will do in her dangerous state of mind. The Chorus—a group of Corinthian women who are Medea's friends and serve as the voice of Greek society in the play—arrives onstage, and the Nurse fetches Medea to speak to the women. Medea, however, will not be consoled. A divorced woman has no respect, she tells them; she has no city, no protection, and no relatives to help her.

King Creon arrives to order Medea and the children into exile, because he fears Medea will harm his daughter, given her experience in "evil ways." After Medea begs to remain for one day, the king grants her wish—foolishly, for Medea begins plotting the murder of his daughter. Jason appears to say that Medea deserves her exile for slandering the royal house. When Medea reminds him of all the crimes she committed to help him and of their children, Jason belittles her help. He claims he did more for her than she for him and says he's marrying the princess to give his children financial security. Medea refuses his offer of help, saying,"Gifts from a worthless man are without value."

When Aegeus, the king of Athens, comes to ask Medea for some advice, Medea asks him to take her in, and he agrees. After he exits Medea reveals to the Chorus her plan to send the children to the princess with a poisoned robe and tiara, then kill the children. She feels she has no other choice with "no father, no home, no refuge." Soon a messenger from Creon's house comes to say the princess and king are both dead; in trying to lift his dead daughter, the king became entangled in the poisoned robe and died. Medea next enters the house to kill the children, and the audience hears their cries for help.

Jason arrives to the news that the boys are dead. As Medea rises above the house in a winged chariot, the bodies of the children inside, she taunts Jason: she has finally moved his heart. She flies off to "Hera's sacred lands/in Acraia" to bury her children and then go to Athens. The Chorus comments, "What we don't expect/some god finds a way/to make it happen."

«The Odyssey» - Infographic & Plot Summary

The Odyssey picks up the story of Odysseus 10 years into his journey home from the Trojan War, which itself had lasted 10 years. The story opens with Odysseus being held captive by the goddess Calypso on a remote island. Back in his home city, Ithaca, his wife, Penelope, is being besieged by suitors, who have moved into her home, taking advantage of the ancient Greek custom of hospitality. Telemachus, son of Odysseus and Penelope, must watch the suitors take over their house, waiting for Penelope to choose a new husband. All—except Penelope—assume Odysseus is dead after his 20-year absence.

Athena, the goddess of war, has been watching over Odysseus since the Trojan War. She feels protective toward him and asks Zeus to help her free Odysseus from Calypso's island. Zeus sends his son Hermes to aid Odysseus in his escape. At the same time, Athena goes to Ithaca to offer help to Penelope and Telemachus. She advises the son to leave Ithaca to find information on the whereabouts of his father. The suitors take note of the newfound courage and authority that Telemachus displays, and they conspire to murder him when he returns to Ithaca. On his visit to King Menelaus on the island of Sparta, Telemachus learns that Odysseus is alive.

Hermes helps free Odysseus, who sails to the land of the Phaeacians. Exhausted, he collapses on the shore, where the princess Nausicaa discovers him. She leads him to the king, Alcinous, and his queen, Arete. There Odysseus tells them the story of his travels thus far. He and his men had run into a number of trials on their way home to Ithaca. They nearly lost themselves and their memories in the land of the Lotus-eaters and then incurred the wrath of Poseidon by blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. Odysseus and his crew were given a pouch full of sailing winds by Aeolus, but curiosity got the best of his men and they accidentally released the winds, which blew them off course and far from home. They encountered cannibals and witches, Odysseus visited the Land of the Dead, they avoided the lure of the deadly songs of the Sirens, and they escaped from numerous monsters. Odysseus lost his men one by one, and the rest were wiped out when they ate the cattle of Helios, which the blind prophet Tiresias had warned Odysseus about. They were punished by a single lightning bolt sent down by Zeus, which destroyed Odysseus's ship. He washed ashore on the island of Ogygia, where Calypso held him captive for seven long years.

Hearing the stories of Odysseus's journey, King Alcinous comes to his aid by providing him with a ship. Athena also helps Odysseus once again, forewarning him of the chaos at home in Ithaca and informing him that the worst is yet to come. She disguises Odysseus as a beggar and tells him to stop in at the farm of his old friend, the swineherd Eumaeus, before he goes to his house. She also orchestrates the reunion between Odysseus and Telemachus, whom she has advised to come home. Telemachus relates to Odysseus the behavior of the suitors, and they plot the mass murder of the suitors to restore honor to their home.

A few characters begin to recognize Odysseus through his disguise—among them his childhood dog Argos and his childhood nurse Eurycleia. However, his wife, Penelope, does not recognize him. When the suitors encounter Odysseus disguised as a beggar, they are cruel to him, taunting him and making him fight another beggar. But Odysseus is able to practice restraint and bide his time until his plan can be enacted. Penelope declares that she will hold a contest to choose her next husband—whoever can master Odysseus's bow to shoot down a row of axes will win. When the contest begins, none of the suitors can so much as string the bow.

The still-disguised Odysseus volunteers to undertake the challenge, to the chagrin of the suitors, but Penelope allows him to try. He strings the bow and shoots through the axes easily. The suitors are shocked, and Odysseus, taking advantage of their confusion, begins to kill them and the serving women who helped them. Athena once again offers aid, and Telemachus and loyal servants join in as well. Finally, Odysseus and Penelope are reunited, but not without a final test on the part of Penelope to ensure Odysseus's identity. However, they cannot live happily ever after just yet—the families of the slain suitors want revenge. The gods finally intervene, with both Athena and Zeus commanding peace. Odysseus's final journey is to see his father and then to offer a sacrifice to Poseidon, so that the god will leave him and his family in peace.

«Walden» - Infographic & Plot Summary

In the spring of 1845, Henry David Thoreau builds himself a small cabin on a plot of land belonging to his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson permits Thoreau to use the property in return for improving the land by building on it and planting crops or trees. Thoreau will live there, next to Walden Pond, for two years, two months, and two days, but the action of the book is condensed into one calendar year.

"I went to the woods," Thoreau explains, "because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach." He views the move as an experiment: he wants to test his theories about how people should live their lives: "It appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other. Yet they honestly think there is no choice left." Thoreau is determined to prove that there is a choice.

If one reads the first chapter ("Economy") as a portrait of Thoreau's self-regard, it's clear that feelings of failure and disappointment underlie his strenuously prescriptive tone. Thoreau doesn't mention that before he moved to Walden Pond—from 1841 through 1844—he'd been living with Ralph Waldo Emerson's family. Although Thoreau did household chores and tutored the children, Emerson and his wife may have made it clear that he'd been a house guest for long enough.

Thoreau may have felt out of place in 1844 when he and a friend accidentally started a forest fire that consumed 300 acres of virgin woodland and almost spread into the town of Concord. He claimed not to be sorry: "I have set fire to the forest, but I have done no wrong therein, and now it is as if the lightning had done it," he says. Knowing how Thoreau loved the woods, though, it's hard to read this as anything but defensive. His townspeople were certainly upset; for years thereafter he was taunted as a "woods burner" in Concord.

As he begins to live at Walden Pond, he decides to reverse the common pattern of working six days a week and resting on the seventh: he will work one day a week and rest for the other six. He resolves to rely on money as little as possible. He will resist the temptation to buy things he doesn't need, including new clothes. He also plants a two-and-a-half acre plot with beans and other vegetables. He keeps careful track of his expenses, hoping to show that he can make a profit despite working only one day out of seven. Thoreau works on the cabin with great energy.

Near-constant solitude gives Thoreau plenty of time to cultivate his mind by reading philosophy, both Eastern and Western, and communing with nature. He firmly believes that life will be improved for anyone who follows his example. For him, a second serious path to learning comes from observing nature. On summer mornings Thoreau sits in his "sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in a reverie, amidst the pines and hickories." The writer extols this time spent as "far better than any work of the hands would have been."

Walden is organized chronologically. The autobiographical narrative opens in early spring as Thoreau starts building the cabin and takes his readers through each season, ending again with spring. Each chapter offers a balance of Thoreau's activities, his observations on nature, and some philosophical classical and contemporary references. Though he regularly visits Concord and hosts visitors himself, he spends the bulk of his time alone. This practice sharpens his perceptions and heightens his senses.

Thoreau considers his trips to Concord as worthy of study as any natural phenomenon. On one such trip he's arrested for nonpayment of his poll tax because he has withheld the payment to protest slavery: "I was seized and put into jail," Thoreau states, "because ... I did not pay a tax to, or recognize the authority of, the State which buys and sells men, women, and children, like cattle." Transcendentalists, with their beliefs in individuality, nonconformity, and divinity in each individual, opposed slavery and what they considered unjust and immoral laws that promoted it. In Thoreau's case, an anonymous friend pays the tax for him; but to Thoreau, the whole experience confirms the intrusiveness of the State.

Walden features meticulous details derived from studying natural phenomena. When Walden Pond freezes, Thoreau thoroughly investigates the structure of pond ice; when he notices a war between two ant species, he brings three of the ants inside to watch the battle more closely. Walden balances the author's keen sympathy with nature with the wish to observe his subjects dispassionately and truthfully. Thoreau never sentimentalizes, but his love of the natural world shines through all his experiments.

It is not completely clear why Thoreau leaves Walden Pond when he does. Thoreau doesn't bring up the topic until he's drenched his readers in a hefty dose of philosophy: "Perhaps," he says, "it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one." He adds that he has at least learned that by advancing confidently toward one's dreams one will meet with unexpected success and "pass an invisible boundary."

The book ends with two famous and beautifully optimistic sentences: "There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star."

«The Grapes of Wrath» - Infographic & Plot Summary

The Grapes of Wrath takes place during the late 1930s and follows the journey of the Joad family as they travel from Oklahoma through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to California. The novel opens in Oklahoma, where farmers like the Joad family are facing severe conditions. The land is gradually eroding, leading to fierce dust storms. Tom Joad, the novel's protagonist, has just been released from prison. As he walks toward his house, he meets a former preacher named Jim Casy. Casy likes to talk about ideas, which amuses and annoys Tom.

Tom and Casy reach Tom's home only to find it abandoned. Tom learns that while he was away in prison, big landowners began driving tenant farmers from their land because of disappointing crop yields. Muley Graves, an old neighbor, tells Tom that the other members of the Joad family were pushed off their land and are now staying at Uncle John's place. Tom and Casy arrive at Uncle John's farm and greet the core members of the Joad family: Ma and Pa, Tom's parents; Noah and Al, Tom's brothers; and Grampa and Granma, Tom's grandparents.

Tom learns that many tenant farmers in Oklahoma are selling their belongings and traveling west to California, where there is rumored to be plenty of work. His family tells him that they are preparing to join this migration. Soon, several more family members arrive to greet Tom: Uncle John; Tom's younger sister, Ruthie; his younger brother, Winfield; his older sister, Rose of Sharon; and her husband, Connie. Rose of Sharon is pregnant. Casy asks if he can come with the Joads to California. The Joads welcome him, and they all load the truck. The Joads find it difficult to leave but feel that they must.

The Joads join numerous other migrants who are traveling down Highway 66 to California. At one point, the Joads stop their truck and meet a couple named Ivy and Sairy Wilson, who are repairing a car. Grampa is very sick and soon dies. The Wilsons help to bury him. The Joads and Wilsons decide to travel together to California. At an eatery on Highway 66, a waitress and cook show empathy for a migrant family, selling them food for a low price.

The Wilsons' car breaks down. Tom suggests a plan to fix the car, but it requires that the Joad family separate. Ma forcefully resists this plan, thereby taking a leadership role in the family. Tom implements a different plan to fix the car that keeps the family together.

The Joads and Wilsons arrive in California and are met with hostility from a policeman. Noah decides to stay by a river, leaving the family no choice but to go on without him. Sairy Wilson gets sick, causing the Wilsons to also stay behind. Ma worries about the family breaking up. Tom takes charge of the preparations for the trip across the desert. As the Joads cross the desert, Granma dies.

The Joads bury Granma. At this point, they realize they are among thousands of migrants flocking to California in search of work and housing, only to find that both are scarce. They soon arrive at a "Hooverville," a makeshift migrant camp, and are stunned by the squalor there. Not expecting such hardships, Connie abandons the Joad family, including his wife. It is now clear to the family that the number of migrant workers in California far exceeds the number of available jobs. Tom also realizes that the local landowners are glad for this, as it allows them to keep wages low and prices high. A contractor tries to hire workers from the camp without stating the pay. Angry about this, the workers, including Tom and Casey, attack the contractor. Casy takes the rap. Tom leaves the Hooverville with his family. As they depart, they see a mob raid the camp.

The Joads arrive at a government camp, where the migrants are allowed to govern themselves. Police are not allowed in the camp without a warrant. The Joads find the camp is well maintained. At a dance, however, men hired by the police start a fight with the migrants so that the police will have a reason to raid the camp. Tom and other migrant workers use nonviolent means keep the peace.

To keep prices high, the big landowners destroy some of their crops instead of letting hungry migrants eat them. This waste and cruelty causes a "crop" to develop in the souls of the migrants—the grapes of wrath. Ma tells the Joad men they have to leave the government camp to find work.

The Joads get work picking peaches at a ranch. A day's wage is barely enough to buy dinner. Tom sneaks out of the ranch and meets with people who are picketing the ranch. He finds that Casy is leading them. Casy tells Tom about the importance of all people working together to fight oppression. The police raid the protesters' camp, and Casy is killed. Tom kills the policeman who killed Casy and is injured himself. He sneaks back into the Joads' shack in the ranch. A posse starts to search for Tom. Ma decides that the family has to leave the ranch, hiding Tom in the back of the truck.

The Joads get work picking cotton, and Tom hides out in the willows to allow his injuries to heal. Ruthie tells some kids about Tom killing two men and hiding out. Ma brings food to Tom and tells him he has to leave. While hiding, Tom has realized the meaning of Casy's ideas. He realizes that people working together to fight oppression are stronger. Tom says good-bye to Ma. A rainstorm hits the cotton farm, including the nearby camp where the Joads are living. Rose of Sharon gives birth to a stillborn infant. The camp floods, forcing the Joads to evacuate. They go to a barn for shelter and meet a boy and his starving father. Rose of Sharon breastfeeds the starving man, thereby symbolically forming a community that extends beyond family. By helping each other in dire circumstances, people find a way to survive.

«Oliver Twist» - Infographic & Plot Summary

Oliver Twist begins with the birth of a baby boy in a workhouse in a town some 70 miles outside London in the 1820s. The boy's mother dies, leaving her son to be raised by the parish. Named Oliver Twist by the parish beadle, a minor official who helps oversee the orphanage, the boy grows up ragged and undernourished at a baby farm, a place where a fee is paid for the ongoing care of babies and children. At age nine he returns to the workhouse, where he picks oakum, unraveling strands from old ropes to earn his keep. One day after Oliver dares to ask for more gruel, the astonished workhouse board decides to find him an apprenticeship.

Oliver is apprenticed to the local undertaker, who trains him to be a professional mourner at children's funerals. This promotion earns Oliver the ill will of the undertaker's older apprentice, Noah Claypole. One day Noah picks a fight with Oliver and ends up getting knocked down. Noah tells the workhouse board that Oliver tried to kill him, the serving girl, and the undertaker's wife, and claims Oliver threatened to kill the undertaker. Oliver decides to leave town before he falls back into the board's clutches.

Seven days later Oliver reaches London, where he meets Jack Dawkins. Jack introduces Oliver to Fagin, an old man who provides room and board to boys in return for their work. At first Oliver believes the boys make handkerchiefs and pocketbooks and thinks Fagin must be a very generous man to help them. But two of the boys take Oliver out one day, and he is shocked to see them pick a gentleman's pocket. They run off, leaving Oliver to take the blame.

Oliver goes before a magistrate, but a witness exonerates him. During the trial Oliver passes out from fever. The pickpocketing victim, Mr. Brownlow, takes Oliver home with him, where he notices the boy resembles a portrait of a woman hanging in his house. Oliver is happy and grateful to Mr. Brownlow and his housekeeper, Mrs. Bedwin. Oliver recovers, only to be sent on an errand, recaptured, and returned to Fagin.

Egged on by a mysterious associate named Monks, Fagin concocts a plan to draw Oliver into a life of crime, and his plan seems to be going well. Unbeknownst to Fagin, though, Oliver longs to return to Mr. Brownlow and Mrs. Bedwin. It looks as if his hopes will be dashed when Bill Sikes takes Oliver to help out with a burglary. He needs a very small boy to fit through a tiny window and open the front door. Just after Oliver enters the house, the inhabitants wake up and discover him, and Oliver is shot. Sikes carries him away, but he is forced to leave the boy unconscious in a ditch.

When Oliver comes to, he makes his way to the very house where he was shot. There, Mrs. Maylie—the owner of the house—and her niece, Rose, nurse him back to health with the help of the local doctor, Mr. Losberne. The boy tells them his life's story, and all three dedicate themselves to helping him.

The Maylies take Oliver to live in their country cottage, where he grows strong and healthy. Rose, however, takes ill. Oliver goes to post a letter to Mr. Losberne asking for his help and, while on this errand, bumps into a stranger. Later Oliver sees Fagin and the stranger outside his window.

Monks meets with Mr. Bumble and his wife, who is the workhouse matron. She shows Monks a locket that was stolen from Oliver's mother's corpse. Monks buys the locket and throws it in the river. In the meantime Fagin has acquired a new member for his gang: Noah Claypole. Noah earns his keep by stealing from children and spying for Fagin.

Rose, Mrs. Maylie, Oliver, and Mr. Losberne are in London when Nancy comes to Rose's hotel room and tells her that she overheard Fagin talking with Monks and that Monks called Oliver his brother. Rose takes Oliver to see Mr. Brownlow and tells the old gentleman what she learned from Nancy. Rose and Mr. Brownlow later meet Nancy near London Bridge, where they ask her to turn in Fagin's gang. She refuses. The meeting is overheard by Noah Claypole, who reports back to Fagin.

Fagin tells Bill Sikes that Nancy has ratted out the gang, and Bill goes into a fury and kills her. He then goes on the run, and, in trying to escape from pursuers, falls from a roof with a noose around his neck and hangs himself. Based on evidence from Noah Claypole, Fagin is arrested, tried as an accomplice to murder, and sentenced to hang.

Mr. Brownlow captures Monks, gets him to disclose all his machinations against Oliver, and has him sign a confession. It turns out that Oliver's mother was the great love of Monks's father, who was Mr. Brownlow's close friend. Monks's father had hoped to marry Oliver's mother, but he took ill and died before he could do so. He had written a will leaving most of his money to Oliver, but Monks's mother made sure it was never found. Oliver finally receives his inheritance, Mr. Brownlow adopts him, and Oliver and his friends all end up living happily in a country village.

«Waiting for Godot» - Infographic & Plot Summary

Act 1

Two shabby men who seem to be old friends meet on the side of a country road near a leafless tree. The first, Estragon, has been beaten up, and the second, Vladimir, suffers from groin pain and frequent urination. They consider repenting, though they don't know what for, and they discuss the different views in the Bible of the two thieves crucified with Christ. Getting bored, they consider leaving, but Vladimir says they are waiting for Godot. They have asked him for something, though they aren't sure what, and they are waiting for a response. They consider hanging themselves as a diversion to pass the time or to speed up time, but they worry about one of them surviving alone. In the meantime, there is "Nothing to be done."

Vladimir and Estragon hear a "terrible cry" just before two travelers arrive. Pozzo, a wealthy landowner, stops to eat and talk to the two men but mostly takes pleasure in hearing himself talk. He roughly orders around and abuses Lucky, a slave whom he keeps on a rope. Lucky is unresponsive except when following Pozzo's orders, and kicks Estragon when he tries to comfort him. When he is ordered to think, however, Lucky produces a jumbled speech that verges on profound meaning. He becomes increasingly passionate until the others angrily attack him to make him stop. Lucky collapses, and to be revived, he must be reacquainted with the burdens he carries. After the sun sets, he and Pozzo continue on their journey.

Vladimir reveals that he and Estragon have met Pozzo and Lucky before—at least he thinks so. A boy arrives with a message from Godot—he will not come this evening, but "surely tomorrow." It seems the two friends have also heard this message before, although the boy claims not to have come yesterday. Their questions about Godot reveal how little they know about the person they've been waiting for. They ask the boy to tell Godot he has seen them. The moon rises, and they decide to find a place to sleep, but neither moves.

Act 2

When Vladimir and Estragon return, the tree has a few leaves on it, which is astounding for Vladimir and confusing for Estragon. Estragon has been beaten again, and he is angry that Vladimir, who is feeling better, seems happy without him. He suggests they part ways, but Vladimir discourages him. Vladimir reminds Estragon of their encounter with Pozzo and Lucky "yesterday," of which Estragon has only vague recollections. Estragon sees the world as a "muckheap," and their conversations—to pass the time—linger on describing the dead, who "make a noise like feathers." They also debate the value of thought, ultimately deciding it has little worth.

When Vladimir points out the change in the tree, Estragon denies that they were in this place yesterday. Certainly all is not exactly as they left it, including Estragon's boots, which he claims are now a different color and size. Estragon becomes increasingly bored and wants to go, but when he does leave, he returns immediately, fleeing from someone who seems to be coming from all directions. When Vladimir looks, however, he sees no one. After Estragon calms down, they continue their random conversations and activities to pass the time as they wait for Godot.

Lucky and Pozzo arrive again, but they are much different. Pozzo has gone blind, which turns him into a pitiful figure who must rely on Lucky's guidance and support. He falls whenever Lucky does. Indeed, both fall as they arrive and seem unable to get back up. When Vladimir and Estragon try to help them, they also fall and cannot get up, until a passing cloud distracts them. They help Pozzo up and suggest that Lucky might perform for them again. But Lucky has been struck dumb (left unable to speak). Pozzo also has no memory of any previous meetings with Vladimir and Estragon. After letting Estragon avenge himself on Lucky, Pozzo and Lucky continue on, falling down again as they go.

While Estragon naps, a boy arrives with the same message from Godot: he cannot come tonight but will tomorrow "without fail." The boy says he did not come yesterday and doesn't know if his brother, who is sick, did. Vladimir again asks the boy, more desperately this time, to tell Godot that he has seen him, but the boy runs away without confirming that he has seen him. Night falls and Estragon wakes up. He and Vladimir again consider hanging themselves, but once again they have no rope. They resolve to bring some tomorrow when they return to wait for Godot, and agree to go for the night. Neither moves.

«The Iliad» - Infographic & Plot Summary

The Iliad opens with an expression of rage and frustration. The Trojan War has been raging for nine long years, with the Achaeans (Greeks) unable to break through the walls of Troy. King Agamemnon, who leads the Achaeans, has been forced to give up a valued prize, a woman he captured. This is no ordinary woman, but the daughter of a priest of Apollo; refusal to return her to her father brought on the wrath of Apollo in the form of a plague on the Greeks. Arrogant and high-handed, Agamemnon repairs his loss of honor by taking a prize from Achilles, a woman named Briseis whom Achilles values greatly. Achilles (who is at the beginning of the story as arrogant and high-handed as Agamemnon) resents the offense to his honor but is prevented by the goddess Athena from coming to blows with Agamemnon. Instead, he turns away and refuses to fight in the siege of Troy. To show Agamemnon who's more important, he asks the gods to allow the Trojans to defeat his own army—the Achaeans—until he returns to the fight. To bring this about, Achilles's mother, who is a goddess, secures the help of Zeus, the king of the gods.

The Achaean and Trojan armies march out onto the field to fight. But Paris, the Trojan prince who started the war by stealing the wife of Menelaus (brother of Agamemnon), proposes that it be settled by single combat between him and Menelaus. Menelaus agrees and a duel ensues. Just as Menelaus is about to defeat Paris, the goddess Aphrodite carries him back to Troy, and the battle recommences.

Athena helps the Achaean hero Diomedes in battle, enabling him to wound Aphrodite and Ares (Book 5), two of the gods helping Troy. Hector, a prince of Troy and the greatest Trojan warrior, briefly returns to the city to organize an appeal to the gods and fetch Paris back to the battlefield. The gods end the fighting for the day with a duel between Hector and Great Ajax, the second-strongest Achaean hero after Achilles. Ajax has the advantage but cannot kill Hector.

Both sides take a day off from fighting to bury their dead. The Achaeans take the opportunity to build a wall around their ships. When the fighting resumes the next day, Zeus forbids the other gods to interfere. He will control the war from now on. With Zeus's help, the Trojans push toward the Achaean ships. Agamemnon leads a brief rally for the Achaeans, but Hector pushes them all the way back to their new wall. Alarmed by the Trojan advance, Agamemnon offers Achilles many prizes, including the return of Briseis, to return to the battle. However, he offers no apology, and Achilles is not appeased.

Unable to sleep, the Achaean captains Odysseus and Diomedes make a daring night raid on the Trojan army, killing a number of Trojan allies. In the morning Agamemnon initially pushes the Trojans all the way back to the city. Zeus then turns the tide, causing most of the Achaean captains to be wounded. Many Achaeans fight valiantly, but Zeus empowers the Trojan fighters to break through the wall and threaten the Achaean ships. When Zeus takes his eye off the war for a bit, the sea-god Poseidon inspires the Achaeans to kill and wound many Trojans, holding them off the ships.

Hera devises a plan to distract Zeus. She seduces him after bribing the god Sleep to put him to sleep afterward. With Poseidon's help the Achaeans drive the Trojans back outside their wall. However, Zeus soon awakens and takes control again. He directs his son Apollo to strike fear into the Achaeans with Zeus's terrifying shield. As the Trojans reach the ships, Achilles's closest friend, Patroclus, begs him to return and save the Achaeans. Achilles is still too angry, but he lets Patroclus use his armor and chariot to make the Trojans think he has returned.

In Achilles's armor and chariot, Patroclus turns the tide of the battle, pushing the Trojans all the way back to their own city walls. However, he gets carried away and goes up against Hector, who kills him. Hector strips Achilles's armor from Patroclus but is driven back before he can claim the body. In a fit of pride, Hector fatefully puts on Achilles's armor. Great Ajax, Menelaus, and others hold off Hector and his troops. However, they cannot get Patroclus's body back to their camp until Achilles, having heard of his comrade's death, appears on the Achaean wall. The goddess Athena makes him glorious and terrifying. He frightens the Trojans enough for the Achaeans to retrieve Patroclus's body.

Now Achilles no longer cares about his quarrel with Agamemnon. All of his anger is focused on killing Hector. The next morning, his goddess mother brings him new armor (including the marvelous shield, the description of which is detailed in Book 18) made by the god of fire, and Zeus tells the gods they may intervene in the war. Achilles rages against the Trojans, slaughtering huge numbers. No mortal can stand against him. He sends the entire Trojan army retreating back to the city. Ashamed that he has led the Trojan army to defeat, Hector waits for Achilles outside the gates of Troy.

Despite his previous boasts, Hector loses his nerve and runs as Achilles approaches. After Achilles has chased him around the city three times, Athena tricks Hector into stopping. Achilles's divine armor protects him, but Hector is betrayed by the armor he is wearing, Achilles's old armor. Achilles kills Hector through a weak spot in the armor he knows so well. In his anger Achilles abuses Hector's body and drags it behind his chariot.

Over the next couple of days, Achilles and the Achaeans hold a funeral for Patroclus and compete in games in his honor. But Hector's family and the Trojans have no such comfort. Finally, Zeus decrees that Achilles must give Hector's body back. The god Hermes guides Priam, Hector's father, into the Achaean camp to appeal to Achilles. Achilles is moved by Priam's words and allows the Trojans time to bury Hector.

The Iliad Plot Diagram