Story summary
Trama e riassunto di Weir di Hermiston
- 8 min di lettura
- 8 parts
- Audio a breve
A judge who relishes hanging men has a son who cannot forgive him, and a moorland girl waits on a gravestone.
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Weir di Hermiston in breve
Riassunto: 8 min di lettura
- Tempo di lettura
- Circa 3 h 5 min2 h 30 min fast, 3 h 45 min slow
- Durata
- 44.500 parole
- Livello nella biblioteca
- Medio longer sentences, everyday words
- Prima pubblicazione
- 1896by Robert Louis Stevenson
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Quanto tempo ci vuole per leggere i classici · Aggiornato
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Weir di Hermiston in short
Weir of Hermiston follows one young man pulled between his parents. His mother teaches him tenderness. His father, the Hanging Judge, teaches him by example that law is a cold, enjoyable craft.
What Weir di Hermiston is about
Picture a judge who jokes from the bench while a trembling prisoner is sentenced to hang, and a young man in the courtroom who cannot bear what he sees. That scene sits at the center of Weir of Hermiston, the last novel of Robert Louis Stevenson. It is set in Scotland in the early 1800s.
Stevenson died in 1894 with the book unfinished. You get a story of Adam Weir, the Hanging Judge, and his son Archie, a love story, and a close look at what the law does to those who serve it.
A chi è rivolto. You will love this book if you enjoy Scottish settings, stormy fathers and sons, vivid characters, courtroom scenes, and love stories on open moors.
The story in 8 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A harsh judge marries a frightened wife
The story opens with a marriage that seems made to fail. Adam Weir, a rough, powerful lawyer, notices Jean Rutherford and asks who she is and whether she is religious. Is she religious? She is the last of the riding Rutherfords of Hermiston, and she has grown up timid, tearful and devout.
Her land and money come with her, and Weir takes them. He teases her with grim jokes while she can only murmur his name in distress. Once she reaches out to him, and he laughs her off.
At Hermiston, the moorland estate, Jean tells her small son Archie tales of the Covenanters, the persecuted Presbyterians of old Scotland. She teaches him that tenderness is the whole of religion. The boy sees that his father fits every mark of the sinner his mother describes.
At seven, Archie tells her he does not see how a man can judge others for a living. Not long after, Jean dies suddenly, leaving a pair of slippers she has been stitching for her husband. It was a foolish marriage, he says. Then, suddenly, he asks where Archie is.
A marriage of opposites leaves a boy caught between two ways of seeing the world.
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Father and son live as silent strangers
Archie grows up in the George Square house, and he and his father hardly know each other.
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One hanging breaks the peace between them
In 1813, when Archie is nineteen, he wanders into the Justiciary Court.
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A furious father sends his son away
Archie's fear that his father knows is soon met by a surprise.
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Exile on the moors brings Kirstie and her kin
Hermiston lies at the end of a stream valley, in one of the emptiest parishes in Scotland.
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A glance in church sets love in motion
One spring Sunday Archie walks to church through a valley full of primroses, suddenly aware that everything is alive.
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Frank Innes arrives and the secret slips
Two days later, a gig brings Frank Innes to the door.
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What the story means and how it is told
Two ideas run through the book.
Read all 8 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Archie Weir The shy, principled son of the judge, who protests a hanging and is sent to live as a laird on the moors.
- Lord Hermiston Adam Weir, the Lord Justice-Clerk called the Hanging Judge, a brilliant lawyer who prizes duty and shows love to nobody.
- Kirstie Elliott The housekeeper at Hermiston, a handsome, quick-tempered woman who adores Archie and fears for what he may do.
- Christina Elliott Kirstie's young niece, called young Kirstie, a bright, vain, warm-hearted girl from Cauldstaneslap who falls for the laird.
- Frank Innes A charming, careless young advocate in debt, who comes to stay and takes pleasure in prying into Archie's affairs.
- Lord Glenalmond A tall, gentle old judge, and Archie's kindest friend, who counsels patience and respect toward his father.
- Dand Elliott The youngest of the Four Black Brothers, a shepherd and local poet who loves song, whisky and women.
- Jean Rutherford Archie's frail, tender mother, who teaches him piety and a fear of persecutors, and who dies suddenly at Hermiston.
How it ends (spoiler)
The book is unfinished and has no ending. Stevenson died in 1894 while writing it. The text stops in the middle of a scene on the Praying Weaver's stone. Archie has tried to end the secret meetings with Christina out of prudence, she has taken it as rejection, and he holds her sobbing in his arms, bewildered by her grief. What would have followed was never written.
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Domande su Weir di Hermiston
What is Weir of Hermiston about?
It follows Archie Weir, the son of the feared judge Lord Hermiston. After he protests a hanging, he is sent to live on the family estate, where he meets his housekeeper's niece Christina and falls in love.
Is Weir of Hermiston a finished novel?
No. Stevenson died in 1894 while writing it, so the story breaks off in the middle of its ninth chapter. Readers still enjoy it for its richly drawn people and its powerful early scenes.
Who is Lord Hermiston based on?
Lord Hermiston is a fictional judge, though he is often linked to real eighteenth-century Scottish judges. In the book he is Adam Weir, the Lord Justice-Clerk, a skilled lawyer who enjoys sentencing criminals.
Who are the Four Black Brothers?
They are Hob, Gib, Clem and Dand Elliott of Cauldstaneslap, Kirstie's nephews and Christina's brothers. A laird, a weaver and preacher, a Glasgow businessman and a shepherd poet, they are bound by pride in the family.
Is Weir of Hermiston easy to read?
Its story moves through clear scenes with strong characters. The Scots speech comes with context, and the narrator's warm, humorous voice carries the reader through courtrooms, kitchens and open moors.
Cita questa edizione
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Weir of Hermiston. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/weir-of-hermiston.
Stevenson, R. L. (2026). Weir of Hermiston. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/weir-of-hermiston (Original work published 1896)
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Weir of Hermiston. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/weir-of-hermiston.
@book{stevenson2026weir,
author = {Stevenson, Robert Louis},
title = {Weir of Hermiston},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/weir-of-hermiston},
note = {First published 1896}
}
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