Prisoner Of Zenda (Novel) Character & Summary

                                   PRISONER OF ZENDA

The King:-

Rudolph V of Ruritania is the king-to-be of the nation of Ruritania. He is awaiting coronation and is engaged to be married, but on the eve of the ceremony to crown him king, he is drugged and kidnapped in an effort to usurp his throne.

Michael:-

A duke and the younger half-brother of the king, Michael is the mastermind behind the plot to overthrow the king. He wants the throne for himself and takes steps to ensure his brother is out of the picture by kidnapping him and locking him away in the distant town of Zenda.

Antoinette de Mauban:-

Antoinette is the duke's mistress. She knows of the plot to overthrow the king but does not wish it to happen; she stirs a plot of her own to prevent Michael from being crowned king.

Count Rupert of Hentzau:-

Rupert is a handsome young count and accomplice in the plot to overthrow the king. He is deceptive and cares for no authority; thus, his motives are suspect throughout the story.

Colonels Spat and Fritz von Tarlenheim:-

The colonels are loyal supporters of the king. When he goes missing, they do everything in their power to ensure he is returned safe and becomes king. They seek to uncover and foil the plot against Rudolph.

Rudolf Rassendyll:-

King Rudolph's cousin from England, Rudolf, comes to visit during the events, and his likeness to his cousin is uncanny. He is used as a copy of his cousin to receive the crown and ensure that the coronation can proceed. He falls in love with the king's fiancée.

Princess Flavia (Queen):-

The king's betrothed, Princess Flavia, falls for Rudolf Rassendyll—but the two have to break their affair when the king returns from imprisonment and assumes his throne.

Characters Discussed:-

(GREAT CHARACTERS IN LITERATURE) 

Character:-

Rudolf Rassendyll:-

Rudolf Rassendyll, a red-bearded young English gentleman of leisure who prides himself on his red hair and large straight nose, which are reminders of an old scandal involving the wife of a Rassendyll ancestor and a visiting Ruritanian prince of the Elphberg family. To save the Ruritanian crown from Black Michael, Rassendyll impersonates Rudolf and is crowned king. He falls in love with Flavia, manages several narrow escapes from Michael and his men, rescues Rudolf, and restores the throne of Ruritania to its rightful king.

Lady Rose Burlesdon:-

Lady Rose Burlesdon, his sister-in-law, a pretty, accomplished, and wealthy woman.

Rudolf:=

Rudolf, king of Ruritania, little known to his subjects because of his frequent and extended absences from his country. He looks like an identical twin of Rassendyll except that he has shaved off his beard, his face is a little fleshier, and his mouth less firm. He is a heavy drinker and is both drunk...

 

Themes:-

The Prisoner of Zenda is a thrilling tale of espionage, action, and rescue set in the fictional country of Ruritania. Hawkins uses a variety of themes to weave a gripping story of deception and power and create a narrative that has become an archetype for the years to come.

Description:-

Characters from every arena and walk of life have to be deceitful at points in the novel, and it is the crux of the plot. Initially, the king's half brother, Michael, deceives his brother into believing his loyalty, but he eventually drugs and kidnaps him. Later, Antoinette and Count Rupert have their own deceptions that throw wrenches in the cogs of the plot. On the other side of the aisle, the faithful characters even engage in deception, as the king's advisers plan a deception to have a cousin take the crown so that he can give it back to the rightful king later, and that cousin then has to be deceitful to the country and the woman he begins falling in love with to ensure that the plot continues.

The Right to Rule:-

Many characters stake claims on the throne throughout the novel, and, honestly, in the convoluted antiquated traditions, they each may have a satisfactory claim on it. We are naturally inclined to believe that Rudolph is the "rightful heir," but there is cause to believe that the others may have their own right and may, in fact, make capable rulers.

Loyalty:-

Different groups of people are set apart by their loyalties—either to the king or to his brother. The nation divides itself by these loyalties, thus creating the lines of conflict in the story.

PRIOSONER OF ZENDA:-

SUMMURY:-

The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope Hawkins is a nineteenth-century action and thriller novel about the abduction of the king-to-be of fictional Ruritania. This novel was the beginning of a long line of similar novels that take place in fictional European worlds, including perhaps the most famous: The Princess Bride.

The novel begins just before the coronation of the king. Without this coronation, he will not legally and truly be king because of the inner workings of the government in Ruritania, so it is stressed that it is completely necessary that the coronation happens successfully. The king, however, is drugged and kidnapped so that he can't attend the ceremony, and he is locked away in the small town of Zenda.

While he is imprisoned, the plot proceeds forward to have Michael (King Rudolph's half-brother) claim the throne as the next rightful heir to the monarchy. Michael's mistress, Antoinette de Mauban, and Count Rupert of Hentzau, who later becomes a more prominent villain, have their own goals and schemes in mind that complicate matters and make both the original coronation and the ensuing seditious plot all the more difficult to plot successfully.

In order to prevent Michael from succeeding the throne, Rudolph's advisers persuade the king's English cousin, Rudolf Rassendyll, to impersonate him and take the crown in his stead, and then to have them switch it back to the rightful king whenever he is found; if he isn't, Rudolf can be a sort of acting king. Unfortunately, Rudolf falls in love the king's fiancee, Princess Flavia, but he is unable to reveal his true identity to her because it will ruin their plot. Rudolf sets out and succeeds in rescuing the king, who is then able to accept the crown and legally become the king. Unfortunately, Flavia and cousin Rudolf must part ways in spite of their burgeoning romance.

Summary:-

(CRITICAL SURVEY OF LITERATURE FOR STUDENTS)

To his sister-in-law, Lady Rose Burlesdon, Rudolf Rassendyll is a great disappointment. In the first place, he is twenty-nine years old and has no useful occupation. Second, he bears such a striking resemblance to the Elphbergs, the ruling house of Ruritania, that for Rose he is a constant reminder of an old scandal in which her husband’s family was involved. More than one hundred years before, a prince of the country of Ruritania had visited England and had become involved with the wife of one of the Rassendyll men. A child was born who had the red hair and the large, straight nose of the Elphbergs. Since that unfortunate event, five or six descendants of the English lady and the Ruritanian prince have had the characteristic nose and red hair of their royal ancestor. Rose finds Rudolf’s red hair and large nose a disgrace for that reason.

Rassendyll himself, however, has no concern over his resemblance to the Ruritanian royal family. A new king is to be crowned in that country within a few weeks, and Rassendyll decides to travel to Ruritania for the coronation to get a closer view of his unclaimed relatives. Realizing that his brother and sister-in-law will try to prevent him from taking the journey if they know his plans, he tells them that he is going to take a tour of the Tyrol. After he leaves England, his first stop is Paris, where he learns something more about affairs in the country he is to visit. The new king, also called Rudolf, has a half brother, Michael, duke of Strelsau. Michael would have liked to become 111king, and it is hinted that he will try to prevent the coronation of Rudolf. Rassendyll also learns that there is a beautiful lady, Antoinette de Mauban, who loves Michael and has his favor. She, too, is traveling to Ruritania for the coronation.

When he reaches Ruritania and finds the capital city crowded, Rassendyll takes lodging in Zenda, a small town approximately fifty miles from the capital, and prepares to travel to the capital by train for the coronation. Zenda is part of Michael’s domain; his hunting lodge is only a few miles from the inn where Rassendyll is staying. Rassendyll also...

Zenda is first and foremost a piece of light fiction meant to thrill and entertain its readers. As such, it was extremely popular on its publication, has been adapted many times on stage and screen, and has inspired a entire sub genre of stories that involve fictional countries.

Part of its popularity comes from its familiarity. While Ruritania was Hope's invention, his story, and the the romance genre of which it is a part, has deep roots in English literature. The central conceit of the book—that an English gentleman must impersonate the king to preserve the political order—is based on a very old plot device, that of mistaken identity, and the story is very formulaic, which is in keeping with its light tone.

Another aspect of the novel, however, is its view of the English gentleman and natural superiority of the ruling class. Just as there is no question that the rightful heir to the Ruritanian throne must be restored in the end, there is no question that Rudolf, the English cousin who impersonates the king, thereby saving his throne, is—by virtue of his Englishness—morally superior to the king. The book is a celebration of the chivalrous values of honor, truthfulness, courage, modesty, and kindness towards women. Rudolf embodies these values because he is a gentleman, and it is precisely because his counterpart Rupert does not embody these values (and isn't English) that he is not a gentleman. This finds its fullest expression in Rupert's love for Flavia, who is betrothed to the king. Although the two love each other, each realizes that duty requires them to separate, and it is this very denial of their love that raises Rudolf in Flavia's eyes: she finally tells him that he is "as good a gentleman as the king!"

In this way the book is an expression of British elitism. Written at the height of the British Empire, the book can be seen as a kind of fable of British exceptionalism and an argument against self-rule and democracy that was gathering force in many parts of the Empire.