89 pages • 2 hours read
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
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Chapter 20-ConclusionChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 20 Summary: "The Murderer Chuckles"
As the trial gets underway, the only person who shows up in the courtroom to support the twins is their landlady, Aunt Patsy; the rest of the townspeople, including Roxy, believe that Luigi killed Judge Driscoll with Angelo's help, and hate the twins for it.
Pembroke Howard, the attorney for the state, argues that Luigi's motive for killing Judge Driscoll was to avoid the second duel. In Luigi's defense, Pudd'nhead Wilson tells the jury that he will provide testimony from the three women who saw a girl fleeing Judge Driscoll's house at the time of the murder.
Tom's hubris, his excessive self-confidence, leads him to visit Wilson, planning to shame him for his inability to find the girl who was seen leaving the Judge's house. At Wilson's house, Tom picks up the slide with Roxy's fingerprints on it, causing a realization to dawn on Wilson. As soon as Tom leaves, Wilson examines the print Tom has just left on the slide, and compares them to the prints he has taken from Tom over the years. To his astonishment, Wilson realizes that the prints taken from the adult Tom do not match the prints taken from Tom as a baby. It is clear to Wilson what must have happened: Thomas à Becket Driscoll and Valet de Chambre were switched.
Chapter 21 Summary: "Doom"
In court, Wilson concedes what the defense has argued, that whoever killed Judge Driscoll left their prints on the dagger's handle. Wilson then explains to the courtroom that fingerprints are unique, and that each human being is born with a unique pattern of swirls and whorls on each finger that does not change over time.
Wilson asks several people in the courtroom, including Luigi and Angelo, to place their fingerprints on the courthouse windows and proceeds to identify many of the prints by sight, including the right and left hand prints belonging to Angelo and Luigi. He then presents the slides of Tom Driscoll and Valet de Chambre's prints, and by showing the progression of these prints over time, proves that the babies' identities were switched when they were about seven months old. Wilson then matches the prints of Valet de Chambre, known to all as Tom Driscoll since he was a baby, to the prints on the dagger, and pronounces Valet de Chambre the murderer. Tom collapses, and Roxy begins to sob and beg for mercy.
Conclusion Summary
Pudd'nhead Wilson is lauded as a hero by the people of Dawson's Landing. Angelo and Luigi Capello return to Italy, and Roxy is left desolate by the discovery of her deception, and her real son's crime.
The real Tom Driscoll, who'd grown up as Valet de Chambre, is now known to be white, but he has grown up enslaved and cannot read or write, and furthermore, has the customs and mannerisms of slaves. Caught between two worlds, the real Tom Driscoll fits into neither Black nor white society.
The real Valet de Chambre is sent to prison for life. However, Percy Driscoll, Valet's orginal owner, died in debt. Creditors looking to recoup the money they were owed by Percy Driscoll argue that Valet, being enslaved, should have been counted as a financial asset in the assessment of the Driscoll's property. The creditors make the case that, had his identity not been switched, they could have sold Valet and used the money from the sale to settle some of Percy Driscoll's debt. Furthermore, they add, has this been done, Judge Driscoll would still be alive.
The townspeople of Dawson's Landing see the logic in this argument. An imprisoned white man is fairly inconsequential, but an imprisoned slave is a financial asset behind bars, and a loss of revenue to the person who owns the slave. The Missouri governor pardons Valet de Chambre, freeing him from prison, and the creditors quickly sell him down the river in order to recoup their money.
Chapter 20-Conclusion Analysis
At long last, the three narrative threads of the novel come together in one event. Pudd'nhead Wilson is shown to be a wise and skilled lawyer, despite his reputation as a fool, and his hobby of fingerprinting is finally put to use. In 1893, when this novel was originally published, the knowledge that every fingerprint is unique to its owner was new and exciting. Mark Twain had a keen interest in science and technology, and Pudd'nhead Wilson's practice of fingerprinting is evident of the author's own enthusiasm for this emerging crime-solving technique.
Tom Driscoll, despite his social standing as the Judge's nephew, is revealed to be a murderer. Roxy's deception is brought to light, and the very thing she sought to protect her son from—being sold down the river—comes to fruition. The Italian twins, once celebrated as exotic and intriguing arrivals in Dawson's Landing, are relieved to simply be allowed to leave Missouri and return to Italy.
Twain has used these narrative threads to provide a commentary on society, on human nature, and on slavery. In doing so, Twain employs sarcasm and hyperbole, hubris, and a great deal of irony to portray the foibles and flaws of the people of Dawson's Landing, the evils of the slavery they uphold, and the friction that existed in 19th century America as the nation underwent expansion, reinvention, and a reevaluation of its standards and morals.
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