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Friday, January 23, 2015

Chapter 25 - Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live

What an amazing chapter! I was absolutely drawn in from the opening scene until the unbelievable ending.

Starting with Geilie and Claire being tossed in the Thieves' hole, I was off-base as to where I thought that whole mob scene was going. I thought for sure that Geilie had just set Claire up, and she was going to get off scot-free (if you'll pardon the pun). Nope, not happenin'. As the girls "share" just because of the close quarters, Geilie ultimately reveals she is pregnant by Dougal.

As it turns out, Arthur Duncan had suspected all along that he was being poisoned by his wife, and the last straw came when he had seen her undressed...and six months pregnant. A whole other side of Geilie is revealed: the scheming power monger who we now find out is a Jacobite raising money for the war effort. It's small wonder she and Dougal hooked up. One of my favorite comments came as Claire offers to summarize Geilie's lack of regret:
“Whatever happens with the examiners, I have no regrets, Claire.”
“I regret only that I have but one life to give for my country?” I asked ironically.
“That’s nicely put,” she said.
“Isn’t it, just?”
And now being accused as a witch seems to be the least of Geilie's problems.

Within a few days, the ecclesiastical examiners arrive in town and set up the formal "hearing" for evidence against the accused witches. I can only imagine how every woman reading this next section cringed at the idea of being in a similar situation, having those same false charges read against themselves with ultimate guilt hanging in the balance. Diana does a great job recreating an historical "witch hunt", complete with mob scene and dramatic "eyewitness" accounts.

One of the scariest things to me was how she conveyed the skewed perception of how the priest relates his encounter with Claire after the dog attack at the castle:
“At noonday on a Tuesday, two weeks past, I met this woman in the gardens of Castle Leoch. Using unnatural powers, she called down a pack of hounds upon me, such that I fell before them, and was in mortal peril. Bein’ wounded grievously in the leg, I made to leave her presence. The woman tried to lure me wi’ her sinfulness, to go awa’ in private with her, and when I resisted her wiles, she cast a curse upon me.”
That, unfortunately, has the ring of historic authenticity. I'm sure many an innocent woman was condemned on twisted testimony such as this. And sadder yet, the eyewitness may well believe the truth of their own biased perspective.

I was happy to see that a least one of Claire's acquaintances was prepared to stand in the gap for her: Ned Gowan. While his true-to-form lawyering was long-winded and drawn out, he succeeded in causing the blood lust of the crowd to die down; a perfect ploy. He also managed to have Claire's case considered separately from Geilies; another win. Although, as it turns out, even a good lawyer can't take the place of a bold and committed husband.
Testing the "innocence" of a woman accused of witchcraft.
From a woodcut of the Hartford, Conn. witch trials of 1647.
As the expected does-a-witch-float scenario begins to play out at that Loch, Claire figures she has little, if anything, to lose. She decides to resist with every last ounce of rebellion in her, which succeeds in getting her nothing more than stripped and flogged. In rushes Jamie to rescue her against the odds and the mob (not the mafia, the frenzied crowd, I mean). Standing fiercely agains the crowd and her accusers, Jamie is given some wonderful lines:
The judge blinked once or twice, as though unable to credit this behavior, then surged to the attack once more.“You have no place in the workings o’ this court, sir! I’ll demand that ye surrender the prisoner at once. Your own behavior will be dealt with presently!”...
“As to that, sir, I swore an oath before the altar of God to protect this woman. And if you’re tellin’ me that ye consider your own authority to be greater than that of the Almighty, then I must inform ye that I’m no of that opinion, myself.”
That is a great quote.

Surprisingly, even Geilie rises to the occasion to create enough of a diversion to allow the couple to get away. At this point in the story, I'm not sure whether to hate her or like her. She's opportunistic, yes, but also demonstrates concern as well. Just like at the Fairy Mountain with the changeling, she was trying to protect Claire from interfering (and it did indeed come back to bite Claire at the sentencing).

Jamie's showmanship culminates with him tossing a rosary made of jet onto Claire's neck, demonstrating that she's not a witch. Nope, no "Exorcist" moments here. Just pure, unadulterated love and guts. What every true marriage should be made of, right? In the diversion created by Geilie, the couple forces their way through the crowd and escapes.

Okay, now this is where this chapter gets unhinged. With Claire in such a fragile state, physically beaten and still in shock, Jamie seeks to protect her, but questions her directly: is she really a witch?

This is where Claire loses it, and spills out all of it: the time travel, the future, everything; I did NOT see this coming. Jamie, while initially frightened (or at least on edge) listens patiently as she raves and gushes and pours out everything about Frank, her past (future?) life, and the stones at Craigh na Dun that made it possible. Then, my favorite lines from the whole chapter:
Do you really believe me, Jamie?”
He sighed, and smiled ruefully down at me.
“Aye, I believe ye, Sassenach. But it would ha’ been a good deal easier if you’d only been a witch.”
To make things more unimaginable, Jamie takes her back to Craigh na Dun! He wants to see first-hand some of the mysterious happenings there. Sure enough, for Claire, the stones still have the ability to take her away (although to who-knows-where) as she partially starts the process, but then Jamie pulls her away at the last second.

Resigned to the reality of it all, Jamie commits to letting her go back. Claire, now with the freedom to do what she has wanted to do all along for the past several months...sits and thinks about it! I thought maybe at this point she would go back to Frank, and then the story would start going between both timelines with Claire in the future and Jamie moving on; or Claire going back and forth between both times. But no, after all of her efforts to go back, she decides to stay.

And then, to top it off, Claire describes how she had seen on Geilie's arm the same scar she has on hers: a smallpox vaccine! She's not the only one! And now Jamie knows Claire's real past! I feel relieved (for her) that now she has a new base from which to operate in this time, and that there are many more things she needs to learn about the process that took her there. And how is Jamie going to process all of this information, now that she has told him about how the Jacobite uprising ends?

2 comments:

  1. Diana's writing, the style, depth and accuracy are quite amazing. No matter how many times I read these books I find something new every time and I'm amazed all over again at her abilities.

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  2. G'day Steve, just found your blog and I'm lovin it. I agree Sherri. I've read the first 3 books twice each just to get my head right round the story. The language is so rich, and the books just flow. I'm completely obsessed. and I love the tv adaptation. I think too many book fans get caught up in "it's not the same as the book" thing. 2 versions of the best story ever? win - win to me.

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