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Summary: The Prince and the Pauper
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The Prince and the Pauper was written by Mark Twain in 1882. Although 33 chapters and 209 pages are sandwiched between this book's covers, it is a work that is meant to be chewed slowly, and digested carefully. The Prince and the Pauper is a literary feast, but if you aren't careful, you will get indigestion.
Set in England, during the reign of Henry the Eighth, this tale is enticingly sweet. Twain's story begins in not one place, but in two utterly diverse locations: the king's palace, and the lowly, cramped rooms of Offal Court. In one situation, a lofty lord is born, but in the other, humble Tom Canty arrives to trouble his family with another mouth to feed. The entire nation rejoices with the birth of the prince, but no one heeds the pauper. Later in the story, lovable, loyal characters such as Miles Hendon and princess Elizabeth are brought out of Twain's vast menagerie of actors. The protagoni, the Prince Edward and Tom Canty, act entirely different from one another, but look exactly alike.
Trouble first begins when Tom and Edward playfully switch places, and Tom is left in the palace as the real prince leaves seeking entertainment. When he is harassed, a heroic warrior jumps to the misplaced monarch's defense. Meanwhile, poor Tom Canty of Offal Court is belabored by the wearisome customs of the court. Without warning, the King Henry the Eighth dies, leaving his "son" to the throne. Back in the streets of London, the prince is captured by Tom Canty's father, who takes him for his own son. With Miles Hendon hounding his steps, Canty falls in with a band of vagabonds. Fortunately, the prince escapes, but only to be attacked by a crazed hermit who thinks that he is a
"mere archangel" with a claim to the papacy. Slowly the time passes for poor, nervous Tom Canty, with his coronation drawing closer. After a while, he develops a taste for life at court, and begins to fear the possibility of the real prince's return. Recaptured by John Canty, Edward re-escapes to Miles Hendon, who is on a journey to recover his rightful lands from his treacherous brother, Hugh Hendon. In all of his travels, the prince, (who now considers himself king because of his father's death) realizes how cruel English punishment really is, especially when Miles is put to the pillory, and bears the lashes of the whip. Finally, the day of coronation is at hand, and Tom Canty is actually looking forward to the pomp and glory of the ceremony. Proudly he greets his people, without a thought to his old family, until he spots his mother with the crowd. At Westminster Abbey, he was about to accept his crown, when the actual prince shouted out: "I forbid you to set the crown of England on that forfeited head. I am the king!" In a moment of truth, Tom Canty proves that Edward is really all that he claims to be, explaining their foolish exchange of clothing. The populace is amazed, and Edward inherits the crown of England.
Twain seizes one with a gentle jolt, and seals him into this book, welds the entrance shut behind the reader by simply stating the facts: "In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to a poor family of the name of Canty, who did not want him. On the same day another English child was born to a rich family of the name of Tudor, who did want him. All England wanted him too." This charming way to draw a reader in is a shining merit to the genius of Mark Twain. As the artist builds up to his dizzying climax, he follows each event of his protagoni's lives carefully, building their characters until the reader feels the same joys and pains that they feel. Peacefully the book begins, and serenely it ends. Nothing could possibly improve this classic but greater recognition. You will assuredly return again and again to the Prince and the Pauper, with greater relish each time.
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Summary: The Prince and the Pauper
Review: (...)This book is about two boys who were born on the same year, same day, but are still very different. One was the prince of England, while the other was a peasant. One day, the prince was taking a walk around his castle, when he saw a peasant being kicked around by a gaurd. the prince brought the boy into his castle. Then they noticed how similar they looked, and decided to see how they would look in each other's clothes. Thats how the problem began. The prince mistakenly was kicked out of the castle, and the peasant remained trapped within the castle.(...) The things I liked about this book were when the prince and the pauper were at the ceremony being asked questions, when the pauper changed clothes, and when the royal adviser thought that the prince has gone mad. The events that I didn't like about this book were when Miles Hendon was being tortured, when the prince was forced to steal, and when the prince was about to be killed by the hermit. My favorite part of this book was when prince Edward and the pauper Tom got back together.
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Summary: oustanding wit - captivating till the end
Review: A book that captures your interest from the very start - and keeps you interested till the very end - providing lots of laughs in between.
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Summary: It was good, but not enough........
Review: I enjoyed this book but it really did not make me want for more, a story about a prince and a pauper that change roles by accident, it is interesting to see how each one adapts to a TOTALLY different life, they are both good and kind, Edward the prince finds that life outside the castles is very different, he learns about life and goes trough several adventures that teach him great lessons, on the other hand Tom the pauper, finds himself surrounded by wealth and servants, at first he is timid about it, but after some days he is very comfortable and wants more and more, until the point when he sees his poor beggar mother and when she reaches toward him he rejects her by saying he does not know her.
Expect a Happy fairy tale ending.
Even if this is a book for children it is still very strong in some parts, but it does get the point trough.
I would have liked to know what happend to Tom's mother while he was King, also a little more detail on Edwards father (the king).
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Summary: I enjoyed reading this book
Review: I first started reading this book for class assignment and I chose this book because it seemed easy and had simple words. It also had more than that; it had that thing to pull the reader in
It was very interesting to read about Tom and Edward and to know how each one grownup in environment very different then other and how each one adjust himself in the new place.
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Summary: "The Prince and the Pauper" was a great book!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this great classic. It was very interesting and had me hooked onto it through the whole story. This story is about how the beggar named Tom Candy and Prince Edward meet and discover that they were both completely identical, except for their clothes. They switch their clothes and change places. Then, each of the two boys have to live through a terrible life of each other. The Prince is beaten, called names, starved, and has to live the life of a beggar. Tom or the Pauper has to go through laws, diplomacy, languages, and royalty. Both of them are considered mad as they try to tell the truth to everyone. Suddenly, the little tiny thing of switching places turns out to be a humongous problem as Prince Edward's father, Henry VIII dies. Tom, who is thought as the Prince, is naturally supposed to be the next king. Both boys has to find each other or else the Pauper would become the wrong king of the nation. This book is very interestingly written. I started reading this once, but I had a better book(or I thought it was a better book) to read so I stopped. Then, I decided to just finish reading "The Prince and the Pauper" and thought that it was just a great and interesting book! I think that this is a great book to read because it's quite witty, interesting, great, and very well written.
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Summary: The Prince and the Pauper
Review: In the book "The Prince and the Pauper" I loved how descriptive Twain gets. He has so much detail and it just feels like you are there. It was so interesting how he described he described Tom in Edwards clothing. The only thing I really didn't like is when they talked I couldn't really follow what they were saying, but over all I really liked this book.
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Summary: Adventure about changing two boys' positions
Review: In the Prince and the Pauper, there were two main characters, the Prince Edward and the pauper Tom. These two boys looked very similar and also they were the same age. There was one difference, Edward was born into a Royal family but Tom was born into a poor family. When Tom walked by the palace, the palace guards took him off the palace grounds. At that time, Edward saw the situation and made the guards stop. The Prince, Edward, invited Tom into the palace and gave him some good foods. Edward wanted to change his life style. Tom??s life looked good because he always had stress from his palace people and he could not get freedom. Edward and Tom switched their clothes in the palace after Edward heard about Tom??s life and family. So, Edward became a poor guy and Tom became a prince.
This novel compared two different life styles, which were the life of a prince and the life of a pauper. With changing their positions, the two boys learned how to fit into the two different lives. In the novel, Edward became a poor guy, so he had a really hard life with Tom??s name. When he tried to return to his position as a prince, nobody believed him, so he had to conquer the hard life, but he met good friends during the line trial. Tom also had a hard time becoming a prince. At first, he liked the rich life and was happy. Most of the story was about Edward and Tom??s changing life styles. Mark Twain compared the two lives and told us that nobody could change their own life on purpose because people were given their birthright before they were born. Although there is a lot of old English, this book, the Prince and the Pauper, is fun to read and all ages enjoy it. This is a good book, but it can be difficult for people whose second language is English because there is a lot of old English, so they cannot understand well. I think this novel is valuable to read because we can learn not to be disappointed in our life. We should be satisfied with our own life. I also think that if someone does not life to read books, this book is a good to start reading. Maybe, he or she is going to be interested in books.
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Summary: Every Child's Fantasy
Review: Mark Twain is one of America's best authors. Unlike books like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, which chronicle life in 1800s America, The Prince and the Pauper is set in England in the 1500s. But The Prince and the Pauper is like those two other classics in one way--the story is a true boys' adventure story that captures amazingly accurately how kids would act if the story actually happened.
The Prince and the Pauper tells the story of poor London child Tom Canty who always pretended that he was a prince. One day, he goes to the palace and meets the crown prince Edward Tutor. It turns out that the two look exactly alike. On a whim, the two boys change clothes. Of course, this leads to disaster. Prince Edward is immediately cast out of the palace by a guard, and Tom Canty is mistaken for the prince. Neither knows how to act, both are afraid, and the people around both think they are mad.
As one might expect, Tom Canty gets on better than Edward. He lives every child's fantasy of suddenly becoming rich and adored. Edward has more trouble. He cannot believe that people do not recognize him for the prince. He has to rely on a kind stranger who takes him in despite his apparent madness. However, he learns self-reliance and the meaning of true justice while living among his subjects.
Both the prince and the pauper wind up better for the adventure that they had, and as in a good adventure book, both live happily once their difficulties have been resolved.
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Summary: Another Mark Twain Satire
Review: This is the story of a prince and a pauper who switch places because of their uncanny outer resemblance. They obviously go through many trials and ordeals - the pauper trying to learn the ways of royalty, and the prince having to witness and undergo the results of some of the ridiculous laws and practices of the period. Like many of Mark Twain's books, this is another satire that makes fun of the values that society holds to be important. In this story, Mark Twain points out how people place so much importance on outer appearance. A prince and a pauper, who, despite their outer resemblance are very different people, switch places, without anyone noticing. There is more to a person than their looks, and this is one point stressed throughout the novel. The one complaint I have about this book is that there wasn't enough written about Tom Canty, the pauper who became a prince. I found his situations much more interesting than those of the true prince, but this was only a minor point. I would recommend this book for ages 12 and older. Younger people could read the story, but miss the underlying meanings in certain situations. I wouldn't call this book a "Must Read" but it is a good introduction to classic literature.
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