The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Chapter 21 Summary

🎭The Duke and King practice their Shakespeare production and perform Hamlet's soliloquy.

🤡The Duke and King put on a hilariously bad rendition of Hamlet, including botched passages from other plays.

🔪Colonel Sherburn kills Boggs after he threatens him, leading the townspeople to want to lynch Sherburn.

🏘️The Arkansas town is impoverished and obsessed with violence, as evidenced by their excitement over the prospect of mob justice.

👁️‍🗨️Huck sees through the Duke and King's scams and realizes the town is a sad place.

What do the Duke and King perform in the town?

—The Duke and King perform a hilariously bad rendition of Hamlet, including botched passages from other plays.

Why do the townspeople want to lynch Colonel Sherburn?

—The townspeople want to lynch Colonel Sherburn after he kills a man named Boggs who threatened him.

What does Huck realize about the town?

—Huck realizes that the town is a sad place obsessed with violence.

What is the overall tone of the chapter?

—The overall tone of the chapter is dark and satirical, highlighting the crude existence and fascination with violence in the town.

What is the significance of Hamlet's soliloquy?

—Hamlet's soliloquy represents the Duke and King's attempt to perform highbrow literature, although they do so poorly and comically.

00:09The Duke and King practice their Shakespeare production.

00:27The Duke and King go ashore in an impoverished Arkansas town.

00:38A drunk man named Boggs threatens Colonel Sherburn.

00:48Colonel Sherburn kills Boggs in front of his own daughter.

00:58The Duke and King perform a hilariously bad rendition of Hamlet.

01:23The townspeople want to lynch Colonel Sherburn.

01:32Huck sees through the Duke and King's scams.

01:36The town is obsessed with violence and mob justice.