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THE MASTER of BALLANTRAE by Robert Louis Stevenson

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THE MASTER of BALLANTRAE by Robert Louis Stevenson THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE by Robert Louis Stevenson THE AUTHOR Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to staunch Presbyterian parents who were appalled when he turned to agnosticism in his early twenties. Stevenson suffered from respiratory problems throughout his life. During his childhood illnesses, he spent his time reading and particularly enjoyed the novels of Sir Walter Scott, with which his adventure tales are often compared. He was drawn to writing early in life, but his parents encouraged him to undertake a more profitable profession, so he studied engineering and eventually turned to law, even passing the bar exam. He soon turned to writing, however, beginning with magazine essays and two travelogues describing his trips to the Continent to seek relief for his ailments. In Europe he met Fanny Osbourne, a married American woman who soon divorced her husband to marry Stevenson. They lived for a while in San Francisco, then moved back to Scotland and eventually settled in Samoa, where Stevenson found some relief for his tuberculosis, but died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1894 at the age of 44. Stevenson is best known as a writer of adventure stories. His reputation was established with the publication of Treasure Island in 1883, followed by The Black Arrow (1884), Kidnapped (1886), and The Master of Ballantrae (1889). All but the last were published first as serials in the boys’ magazine Young Folks and had much more in common with the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) than contemporaries of Stevenson like Charles Dickens and George Eliot. The work generally considered to be his masterpiece, however, is a novelette written in a mere three days in 1886 - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Master of Ballantrae is a complex mixture of adventure tale along the lines of Kidnapped and psychological thriller like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Unlike the latter, its contrasting main characters are distinct individuals. They are not, however, unadulterated representations of good and evil. James Durie, the title character, is a ne’er-do-well and manipulative, unlikeable figure through most of the novel, but by the end even gains the grudging respect of the narrator, who clearly favors his brother Henry. Henry, on the other hand, is solid and respectable through most of the book, suffering quietly the torments visited upon him by James, but by the end has lost his wits and is determined to destroy James if he can succeed in finding him. Both brothers, then, are mixtures of good and evil. The plot is somewhat secondary, and serves largely as a vehicle for developing the personalities of the two main characters. 1 PLOT SUMMARY CHAPTER 1 - Summary of Events During the Master’s Wanderings The story, which is narrated by Mackellar, the steward of the Durie estate in Durrisdeer, begins in the year 1745 at the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s rebellion. We meet the Durie clan, headed by the Old Lord, who is decrepit with age, and his sons, James and Henry. James, the Master of Ballantrae, is wild and unpredictable but possessed of extraordinary good luck. The younger son, Henry, Lord Durrisdeer, is quiet, solid, and takes more of an interest than his brother in the management of the family estate. The fourth member of the household is Alison Graeme, a high- spirited orphan left a fortune by her father and who is destined to marry James, the heir of the estate. When the rebellion breaks out, James and Alison favor the cause of the rebels, the former largely seeking to improve his fortunes and pay off his substantial debts while the girl sees the young prince as a romantic hero. The Old Lord and Henry favor a moderate stance. After days of discussion, they decide that one son should support each side in the conflict in the hope that, whoever wins, the family will be able to retain their estate. Henry, as the younger son, believed it was his duty to leave and fight with the rebels, but James could not agree to stay home when he so strongly favored the cause of the Jacobites. Henry argues with his brother, even stating that James should stay at home because he is their father’s favorite, but James will not hear of it. He accuses his brother of jealousy and brings up the story of Jacob and Esau. Finally they decide to settle the matter by the toss of a coin, which results in James going off to fight with the rebels and Henry staying home. James is thrilled with the outcome, but Alison is distraught at the prospect of losing her betrothed. James gathers a dozen men from among the tenants of the estate and goes off in drunken high spirits to join the rebellion. The next day, Henry offers his sword to King George. As long as the rebellion lasts, the two brothers have no communication wit each other, though news filters southward that James has fought bravely and gained a place of favor with the young Prince. Henry remains at home to manage the estate, but soon word comes that James has been killed in the battle of Culloden. Alison is inconsolable and blames Henry for the rift between the brothers. The Old Lord is now determined that Alison and Henry should marry. Such an outcome would have been highly unlikely apart from the malicious gossip spread by Tam Macmorland, one of the tenants who had accompanied James. He accused Henry of treasonously deserting the rebel cause and repeated the accusation often enough that the ignorant came to believe it, so that the tenants honored James as a hero and treated Henry as the worst of villains. This unjust treatment, along with Henry’s silence and refusal to strike back against his calumniators, earns Alison’s respect, and she agrees to marry him. The two are wed in 1748. CHAPTER 2 - Summary of Events (Continued) Six months after the wedding, Mackellar arrives to serve the family, so the narrative at this point is part of his personal experience. In his role as steward, he grows close to Henry; he soon observes that he is unhappy, largely because of his rivalry with his presumably dead brother James, who is favored by his father, his wife, and most of the servants. Only a servant named Macconochie joined the steward in favoring Henry over his brother. One day Henry asks his steward to take some money to a woman in the village named Jessie Broun. She curses him roundly for his trouble, and he later finds out that she had been ill used by James, though she obviously retains a sense of loyalty to him. Alison considers herself a martyr for marrying Henry, and she and the Old Lord often 2 exclude Henry from their nightly conversations. Henry, for his part, loves his wife dearly and cherishes any small act of kindness on her part. In April of 1749 a stranger arrives at Durrisdeer. He introduces himself as Colonel Francis Burke, an Irishman from the company James had joined, and presents three letters to be delivered to each of the family members. He informs them that James is still alive and is living in Paris, at which point Alison almost faints. Eventually she burns her letter unopened. CHAPTER 3 - The Master’s Wanderings: From the Memoirs of the Chevalier de Burke Mackellar derives the following chapter from information supplied by Colonel Burke, a companion of James Durie. The two men met after the failure of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s rebellion while they were fleeing the king’s forces. Burke is surprised to encounter James, who had been rumored to have been killed at the battle of Culloden. The two take an immediate dislike to one another, and after some discussion decide to toss a coin to determine whether they will be friends or enemies. The coin falls for peace between the two, and they soon take ship to escape Scotland and head for Ireland. The incompetent captain sails them into the teeth of a storm so severe that they fear for their lives. Their damaged ship is set upon by pirates led by Captain Teach (not the notorious Blackbeard), and Burke, James, and two others volunteer to join his crew; the rest of the sailors are made to walk the plank. Conditions aboard the pirate ship are chaotic and undisciplined. One day they encounter a ship of the royal navy, at which point Teach hides in his cabin. After this show of cowardice, James takes over the ship and institutes some discipline among the men. He is named quartermaster by the crew, who decide to get rid of Teach. James prevents them from doing so, arguing that the captain still has his uses despite the fact that his power no longer exists. This arrangement continues for the next twelve or fifteen months, during which their acts of piracy are extremely profitable. As they approach port, Ballantrae drugs the members of the crew, ties Teach to the mast, and he and his three companions escape with the most valuable of the booty. A heavy fog hides them from the boats of a naval vessel and they escape to land with their treasure. They find themselves in a treacherous swamp, and only Burke and Ballantrae survive the trek; one of their companions sinks in quicksand with his booty, while another threatens them with a pistol and is killed by Ballantrae. That night they reach the end of the morass. In the morning they quarrel and almost come to blows over the loss of two parts of the treasure.
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