Story summary
Streszczenie książki Katarzyna
- 8 min czytania
- 10 parts
- Nagranie wkrótce
At sixteen, Catherine Hall follows a Bavarian count from a Warwickshire inn into cruelty, poverty and renewed ambition.
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Katarzyna — najważniejsze informacje
Streszczenie: 8 min czytania
- Czas czytania
- Około 4 h 25 min3 h 30 min fast, 5 h 15 min slow
- Długość
- Liczba słów: 63 100
- Poziom trudności w bibliotece
- Średni longer sentences, everyday words
- Pierwsze wydanie
- 1839by William Makepeace Thackeray
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Ile czasu zajmuje przeczytanie klasyków · Zaktualizowano
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Katarzyna in short
Catherine follows one young woman from a country inn to a London house of pawned goods, and every choice she makes comes from the same weakness. She is vain, and every man who flatters her finds the lever. The count enjoys her and drops her, a corporal uses her, and a miser marries her.
What Katarzyna is about
Sixteen-year-old Catherine Hall carries pots of ale at the Bugle Inn in Warwickshire in 1705 when two soldiers ride up on black horses. Within a day she is seated behind one of them. Within twenty years she stands at the heart of one of the ugliest crimes in London. How does a vain country girl get there?
Catherine, by William Makepeace Thackeray, appeared in magazine form around 1840. It is built on a true case from the Newgate Calendar. You get a dark, very funny tale of cheats and dreamers, told by a narrator who mocks his own story.
Dla kogo. You will enjoy this if you like savage humour, crooked characters, Georgian London and true crime retold as fiction. It suits readers of Dickens and Fielding.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
The narrator promises a tale of pure rogues
The book opens with a long, teasing survey of history before placing its story around 1705. The narrator then admits his story comes from the Newgate Calendar, a compilation of criminals' lives and deaths. Nothing he says is meant to be taken at face value.
Thackeray pokes fun at the Newgate novels of his day, which had made highwaymen like Jack Sheppard into romantic heroes. The narrator says he will do the opposite.
So the principal rogues are selfish, greedy or cruel, though some minor characters show genuine kindness. The one decent man, a farmhand named Thomas Bullock, is soon pushed to the edge of the story. The narrator describes ugly acts in cheerful language, then scolds you for enjoying them.
Read this book as a joke with a dark edge, told by a narrator who wants you to judge.
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A barmaid and a count meet at the Bugle
On an autumn evening two soldiers sit by the kitchen fire of the Bugle Inn.
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Love turns into cruelty in the count's rooms
Catherine goes to live with the count, and the narrator does not pretend it is a romance.
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Poisoned punch and a stolen chest
Brock tells Catherine that the count means to marry an heiress and leave her without a penny.
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Catherine becomes Mrs Hayes and meets an old friend
Catherine, penniless and sick, climbs into a Liverpool coach.
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Seven years pass and a lost son is found
The narrator skips ahead seven years.
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A London household built on pawned goods
Ten more years pass, and it is 1725 on the Tyburn Road in London.
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The count meets his son and then meets Catherine
The envoy is an exhausted man.
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The household sours and every scheme points one way
Hayes meets his wife at the door that night, drunk thanks to Brock, and a quarrel begins.
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A jokey voice carries a grim story forward
The most striking thing about Catherine is its voice.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Catherine Hall A vain, quick-tempered serving girl from a Warwickshire inn who wants to be a lady and clings to a count who treats her badly.
- Count Gustavus Adolphus Maximilian von Galgenstein A Bavarian captain and later envoy, selfish and empty, who wants pleasure and a rich marriage and will drop anyone who gets in the way.
- Peter Brock A tough old corporal who lies, steals and survives, later posing as Captain Wood and Doctor Wood, and who loves stirring up trouble.
- John Hayes A pale, stingy carpenter who loves Catherine with a greedy passion, marries her, and lives in fear of her and her son.
- Tom Billings Catherine's son by the count, a violent, boastful tailor's apprentice who wants his father's rank and money.
- Ensign Timothy Macshane A tall Irish soldier of fortune, loyal to his Major Brock, who talks of honour while he robs and lies.
- Mrs Score Catherine's mean aunt and the landlady of the Bugle Inn, who respects success and punishes failure.
How it ends (spoiler)
Hayes is encouraged to drink wine until he loses his senses and falls asleep. Catherine, Tom and Wood then kill him and cut off his head, which is thrown into the Thames. It is found, and the count sees it on a post in St. Margaret's churchyard, goes mad and spends years in a cell. Catherine is later burned for the crime, as the old newspaper records.
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Pytania o Katarzyna
What is Catherine by Thackeray about?
It follows Catherine Hall, a vain serving girl who runs off with a Bavarian count, marries a carpenter and ends up in London, drawn into a terrible scheme. It is told by a mocking narrator.
Is Catherine based on a true story?
Yes, in part. Thackeray took the outline from the real case of Catherine Hayes, recorded in the Newgate Calendar. He invented the vivid cast around her, such as Brock and Macshane, and set it all in the early 1700s.
Why did Thackeray write Catherine?
He wrote it as a satire against the Newgate novels of his day, which made thieves and murderers romantic. His narrator vows to show only real scoundrels and refuses to ask the reader for sympathy.
Who is Ikey Solomons in Catherine?
Ikey Solomons is the pen name of the narrator, a comic voice Thackeray invented. He boasts, scolds and interrupts the story, and he keeps pointing to the old crime records as his source.
Is Catherine easy to read?
Its plot moves briskly through short, lively chapters. Chapters full of scenes with soldiers, highwaymen and quarrels carry you along, and the narrator's jokes keep the tone light and clear.
Zacytuj to wydanie
Thackeray, William Makepeace. Catherine. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/catherine.
Thackeray, W. M. (2026). Catherine. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/catherine (Original work published 1839)
Thackeray, William Makepeace. Catherine. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/catherine.
@book{thackeray2026catherine,
author = {Thackeray, William Makepeace},
title = {Catherine},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/catherine},
note = {First published 1839}
}
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