Doom of the Griffiths

Doom of the Griffiths

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Doom of the Griffiths by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Published:

1896

Pages:

41

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4,796

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Doom of the Griffiths

By

3.6666666666667
(3 Reviews)

Book Excerpt

rown soil neglected and unnoticed. These trees had a ghastly appearance, with their white trunks, seen by the dim light which struggled through the thick boughs above. Nearer to the sea, the valley assumed a more open, though hardly a more cheerful character; it looked dark and overhung by sea-fog through the greater part of the year, and even a farm- house, which usually imparts something of cheerfulness to a landscape, failed to do so here. This valley formed the greater part of the estate to which Owen Griffiths became entitled by right of his wife. In the higher part of the valley was situated the family mansion, or rather dwelling-house, for "mansion" is too grand a word to apply to the clumsy, but substantially-built Bodowen. It was square and heavy-looking, with just that much pretension to ornament necessary to distinguish it from the mere farm-house.

In this dwelling Mrs. Owen Griffiths bore her husband two sons-- Llewellyn, the future Squire, and Robert, who was early destined for the Church

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A Welsh traitor is condemned to a long life of scorn and cursed that his children will always have bad luck, and in the 10th generation the son will kill the father and the family line will end. This is the story of the 9th and 10th generations, and the slowly evolving resolution of the curse.
Some good descriptions and plotting. I felt it was a short story rather than a historical account, just as Hamlet is a play rather than a historical account.
(1896) Horror (Gothic) / Short Story


R: * * * *


Plot bullets

The Griffith family has a curse on it.
The curse says that in each 9th generation, the son will kill his father.
Owen is a Griffith and a 9th son. His father is domineering and conflicts are likely.
Owen secretly marries and his new step-mother deliberately puts obstacles between Owen and his father.
Will Owen break the curse, or will he be the last to suffer 'The Doom of the Griffiths '

Mrs. Gaskell in a conversational mode, like "Cranford," though gloomier. The tale follows the descendants of Rhys ap Gryfydd, cursed unto the ninth generation by the mighty Welsh hero Owen Glendower. It reads more like the retelling of a legend or fairy tale -- complete with wicked stepmother -- than a short story.