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Little Dorrit explained?

As I noticed I wasn't the only one confused about the ending of Little Dorrit, I thought I would have a look for a clearer explanation than the one the series gave us.

Here is part of the text from the book when Rigaud starts to read the will:

Rigaud snapped his fingers tauntingly in her face. ‘One thousand guineas to the little beauty you slowly hunted to death. One thousand guineas to the youngest daughter her patron might have at fifty, or (if he had none) brother’s youngest daughter, on her coming of age, “as the remembrance his disinterestedness may like best, of his protection of a friendless young orphan girl.” Two thousand guineas. What! You will never come to the money?’

‘That patron,’ she was vehemently proceeding, when he checked her.

‘Names! Call him Mr Frederick Dorrit. No more evasions.’

‘That Frederick Dorrit was the beginning of it all. If he had not been a player of music, and had not kept, in those days of his youth and prosperity, an idle house where singers, and players, and such-like children of Evil turned their backs on the Light and their faces to the Darkness, she might have remained in her lowly station, and might not have been raised out of it to be cast down. But, no. Satan entered into that Frederick Dorrit, and counselled him that he was a man of innocent and laudable tastes who did kind actions, and that here was a poor girl with a voice for singing music with. Then he is to have her taught. Then Arthur’s father, who has all along been secretly pining in the ways of virtuous ruggedness for those accursed snares which are called the Arts, becomes acquainted with her. And so, a graceless orphan, training to be a singing girl, carries it, by that Frederick Dorrit’s agency, against me, and I am humbled and deceived!—Not I, that is to say,’ she added quickly, as colour flushed into her face; ‘a greater than I. What am I?’

Jeremiah Flintwinch, who had been gradually screwing himself towards her, and who was now very near her elbow without her knowing it, made a specially wry face of objection when she said these words, and moreover twitched his gaiters, as if such pretensions were equivalent to little barbs in his legs.

‘Lastly,’ she continued, ‘for I am at the end of these things, and I will say no more of them, and you shall say no more of them, and all that remains will be to determine whether the knowledge of them can be kept among us who are here present; lastly, when I suppressed that paper, with the knowledge of Arthur’s father—’

‘But not with his consent, you know,’ said Mr Flintwinch."

Hope that helps!

Web link: http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/19/39/frameset.html

Update:

Basically Mr Clennam had an affair with a dancer who fell pregnant with Arthur. Mrs Clennam wanting to avoid scandal took baby Arthur away from his mother deciding to raise him as her own. Mr Clennam's father feeling guilty about all this included Arthur's mother's name in his will along with Frederick Dorrit's daughter (if he had one) or his brother's youngest daughter (i.e. Amy). The reason why Frederick Dorrit was included in the will was because he was Arthur's real mother's mentor when she was dancing.

So Mrs Clennam ripped off the Dorrits, especially Amy of some money.

Hope that helps!

5 Answers

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  • .
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    I'm still very confused, but the information and your link was very interesting!

    Thank you!

  • ?
    Lv 4
    5 years ago

    Little Dorrit Plot

  • 4 years ago

    So far as books which may have movies, the catalogs aren't limited to a set timeframe and thus can go into far more depth then a feature size movie could. Movies wrap up very different from the book sometimes

  • Anonymous
    4 years ago

    i rarely watch tv. you just do not get the same quality. i mean, try making walden into a tv show

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    my mum wanted me to watch it but i never understood it, all i thought was that the actress playing amy wasnt that good and she should have ended up with John coz he loved her the most.

    And the actor playing john was really good and i loved him from gavin n stacey!!

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