Kidnapped

Kidnapped
Robert Louis
Stevenson
Kidnapped SuperSummary 1
Table of Contents
S UM M A RY 3
B A C KG RO UN D 6
Authorial Context: Robert Louis Stevenson 6

Historical Context: The Jacobite Rebellion and the Appin Murder 7
C H A P TER S UM M A RIES & A N A LYS ES 9
Chapters 1-6 9
Chapters 7-13 13
Chapters 14-17 17
Chapters 18-25 20
Chapters 26-30 25
C H A RA C TER A N A LYS IS 28
David Balfour 28
Alan Breck Stewart 28
Ebenezer Balfour 29
Captain Hoseason 30
The Covenant Crew 30
The Highlanders 31
Mr. Rankeillor 31
TH EM ES 32
The Validity of Diverse Ethical Positions 32

Authority, Treachery, and Justice 33
The Duality of Human Nature 34
S YM B O LS & M O TIFS 35
The Silver Button 35

Secrets 35
Banned Clothing 35
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IM P O RTA N T Q UO TES 37
ES S A Y TO P IC S 45

Summary
Kidnapped is a historical romance novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson published
in 1886. Stevenson was well known for both his travel writing and his adventure stories.
Kidnapped was his third novel, a coming-of-age story that follows the adventures of a young
heir-apparent after he is abducted and shipwrecked in Scotland. Famous for incorporating
real-life events and people into its plot, Kidnapped explores themes of Authority, Treachery,
and Justice and The Duality of Human Nature as its protagonist treks across the wilderness
after being falsely accused as an accomplice in the infamous Appin murder.
This study guide refers to the 2017 Digireads.com edition.
Plot Summary
The novel opens in Scotland in 1751. David Balfour is a 17-year-old with limited prospects.
After his father dies, David learns that he has an uncle, Ebenezer Balfour, who owns Shaws, an
estate near Edinburgh. He sets off with a letter of introduction, but when he arrives at Shaws,
he finds it a near ruin and his uncle a miser living alone. David hears from the locals that his
father was the elder brother and should have inherited the estate. Before he can act on this
information, his uncle has him kidnapped and bound for slavery in America.
The ship taking David to America makes its way around the northern coast of Scotland under
rough weather. On a foggy night, it runs down a small boat, killing all hands on board save
one. That man is Alan Breck Stewart, a Jacobite agent on a mission to France. (The Jacobites
were the supporters of King James and his descendants after he was deposed in 1689.) The
sailors plan to rob Alan, but David warns him and joins him in a fight against the crew. In
thanks for his help, Alan pledges his friendship to David and gives the young man a button
from his coat. Alan tells David that the Campbell clan is evicting people from his clan, the
Stewarts, out of their homes. The effort is being led by the crown’s agent in the region of Colin
Campbell, known as the Red Fox. Soon, the ship runs aground near the rocky coast of the
Highlands, and David is washed overboard and marooned on a small island.
After surviving alone for four days, David escapes with the help of local fishermen. He learns
that Alan also survived the wreck and left word for David to follow him. David travels across
the Highlands, using Alan’s button to prove his friendship. Eventually, David comes to Appin,

where he witnesses the murder of the Red Fox. Mistaken for an accomplice, David flees and,
by luck, runs into Alan, who quickly takes David into hiding. The two go to Alan’s foster father,
James Stewart, who tells them they will have to flee south since they will both be blamed for
the killing. James supplies them with weapons and money and sends them on their way.
Alan leads David across the Highlands, narrowly avoiding British redcoats sent to find the
fugitives. They come to a cave where they hide while they gather information from Alan’s
friends and contacts about the ongoing search. When they read the bill describing them,
David realizes the description of him is so vague that he would never be identified if he left
Alan. He cannot bring himself to do that, however, as the two have become close friends.
They continue their flight, and David grows weary under the strain of constant travel. When
they come to the hideout of a Jacobite named Cluny, David collapses into an exhausted fever
and sleeps for two days. While he recovers, Alan plays cards with Cluny and loses all their
money. Cluny returns it willingly, but the episode leaves David resentful of Alan and ashamed
of having to beg for the money to be returned.
The two walk on in silence for several days while David’s health and mood continue to
deteriorate. At first, Alan is ashamed of himself for losing their money, but after David refuses
to let it go, Alan’s shame gives way to annoyance, and he begins taunting David. The young
man eventually snaps and insults Alan’s honor, challenging him to a duel. Alan draws but
then can’t bring himself to fight. David, realizing his childish outburst has lost him a friend,
collapses and blames his outburst on exhaustion. Alan grieves at the thought of David dying
and forgives all, carrying the young man to the nearby village of Balquhidder.
The two spend a month in Balquhidder. David recuperates in a cottage while Alan hides in the
hills. Once David recovers, the friends continue south at a more relaxed pace since the search
lightened while David was recovering. They come to the River Forth. When they find the
bridges guarded, Alan has David pretend to be a disinherited young lord on the run from the
law to attract the pity and assistance of a young barmaid. With her help, they are ferried to
safety across the river.
Now in southern Scotland, Alan hides in the hills while David searches for his father’s lawyer,
Mr. Rankeillor. After David proves his identity and shares the story of his travels, Rankeillor
agrees to help him secure his birthright. The two recruit Alan to pretend he is holding David

hostage to get David’s uncle Ebenezer to admit he wants David out of the picture. Ebenezer
falls for the ruse and offers to pay Alan to keep David prisoner. Rankeillor uses the incident to
get Ebenezer to turn over Shaws’s revenue to David without a lawsuit.
With his future and title secure, David makes plans to smuggle Alan to France. He also learns
of the execution of James Stewart and resolves, at great personal risk, to give testimony to
clear Stewart’s name. David and Alan walk together one last time. They stand in silence on
top of a hill, knowing they will likely never see each other again, and then they part ways with
a handshake.

Background
Authorial Context: Robert Louis Stevenson
Known for his adventure stories and as one of the fathers of classic horror, Robert Louis
Stevenson was a late-Victorian author and one of the most well-known writers of popular
fiction of his time. Born in 1850 in Edinburgh to a lighthouse engineer and the daughter of a
member of the local gentry, Stevenson had a spotty education due to poor health. He was a
late reader but an avid storyteller from an early age and took to writing young. Despite
wanting his son to join the family business, Stevenson’s father supported the budding
author’s work by funding the publication of his writing at the age of 16.
Stevenson’s studies at university further cemented the young writer’s resolve to pursue a
career in the arts. On holidays, his father took him throughout Scotland to inspect
lighthouses. These trips inspired a love of travel, and travel became an early theme in his
work. The health issues that plagued Stevenson as a child followed him throughout his life,
leading to many long periods where he would be bedridden. Throughout his twenties, he
traveled to France and across Europe for his health. He published his first travel book, An
Inland Voyage, in 1878. Much of his early career was dedicated to travel writing covering
journeys throughout Europe and to the United States.
In 1881, Stevenson began publishing Treasure Island as a serialized novel. The story would
go on to be a massive success, launching the young writer’s career to an international
audience. This was followed by The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which did very
well. Kidnapped was Stevenson’s fourth novel and, like Treasure Island, was originally
published as a serial but was quickly printed as a book. Stevenson wrote prolifically until his
death at the age of 44 from a stroke.
As a celebrity writer primarily known for his adventure tales, Stevenson’s reputation waxed
throughout the 20th century during the heyday of Modernism and Postmodernism. During his
lifetime, however, he was well regarded by some of the greatest writers of the day. The late
20th century saw a revival of interest in his work both in popular and academic circles that
continues to this day, and as of 2018, he ranked as the 26th most translated author in the
world, just behind Charles Dickens.

Historical Context: The Jacobite Rebellion and the Appin Murder
Kidnapped incorporates a number of historical people, events, and conflicts into its setting
that would have been familiar to its target audience. Much of its plot centers on the political
tension between Whigs and Jacobites, and the murder of Colin Campbell at the novel’s
midpoint is based on a real-life event that flowed from the larger political conflicts of the day.
In 1751, Great Britain was still dealing with the fallout of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, in
which the Catholic King James II was deposed by his daughter Mary and her Protestant
husband, William of Orange. The revolution caused a rift between Protestants who supported
Parliament’s right to determine the line of succession and Catholics who supported James’s
hereditary claim to the throne (calling themselves Jacobites after the Latin version of his
name). There were several attempts by James and his descendants to retake the throne, but
most relevant to the novel is the Jacobite Rising of 1745. James’s grandson, Charles Edward
Stuart (known popularly as Bonnie Prince Charlie), rallied several Scottish clans to launch a
rebellion from the Highlands.
After a brief, disorganized invasion of England, Charles’s forces were beaten at the Battle of
Culloden, and he returned to exile in France. The 1745 rising marked the last major attempt by
the Stuarts to reclaim the throne. Not only had Charles proved incapable of rallying support in
England, but Parliament and King George also came down hard on the Scottish clans that
participated in the rebellion, enacting bans on weapons and ceremonial clothing, as
highlighted in Kidnapped. The Campbells and aligned clans who supported the crown were
elevated in the region.
Alan Breck Stewart, the novel’s principal secondary character, was a historical figure tied to
the Jacobite Rising. Foster son to James Stewart, who briefly appears in the novel, Alan was
a British soldier who deserted in support of his clan during the 1745 uprising. In 1752, he was
accused of assassinating Colin Campbell at Appin in western Scotland. Campbell (called the
Red Fox in the novel) was the real-life agent of the crown overseeing the collection of rents
and eviction of Stewarts from their properties in an episode known as the Highland
Clearances. Though never apprehended, Alan was convicted of the murder in absentia and
sentenced to hang if caught. Despite having an alibi, James Stewart was found guilty of
aiding and abetting Alan and was executed, protesting his innocence to the end. His remains
were left on public display for months.

The trial and execution of James was considered an infamous miscarriage of justice even
among contemporaries. The jury and judge overseeing his conviction were from the Campbell
clan, which had a historical grudge against the Stewarts. The movement to see James
formally pardoned continues among ancestors of the Stewarts to this day. Even though
Campbell’s murder took place in 1752, Stevenson moves the event forward a year to coincide
with the timeline of his novel.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapters 1-6
Chapter 1 Summary: “I Set Off on My Journey to the House of Shaws”
The story opens in 1751 in the small town of Essendean in the Scottish lowlands. Seventeen-
year-old David Balfour, the novel’s narrator and protagonist, has recently lost his father and is
left without family or prospects. The local minister tells him that his father’s dying wish was
for David to go to an estate called Shaws outside of Edinburgh. He called it “the place [he]
came from” (5), and he left a letter for David to take to the lord there, his uncle Ebenezer
Balfour.
David was unaware his family had any association with the landed gentry of Scotland. The
minister prays for David, embraces him with affection, and gives him some gifts to aid in his
journey. His future suddenly looking brighter, David takes a last look back on Essendean
before setting off.
Chapter 2 Summary: “I Come to My Journey’s End”
After two days of walking, David begins asking about Shaws and is troubled to find people are
surprised when he mentions the name. Inquiring further, he finds that even though Shaws is
well known, Ebenezer has a terrible reputation and is indeed thought of as “nae kind of man at
all” (11). Upset and ashamed that his uncle is so poorly regarded, David almost turns back but
decides to push on until he can judge things for himself.
Coming at last to a hill overlooking the estate, he is met by a woman who at the mention of
Shaws calls down a curse on the house and his uncle Ebenezer. Though the land around the
house is rich and pleasant, the building itself looks like a ruin to David.
The closer he comes, the gloomier the building appears. David’s knocks go unanswered at
first; then, after he begins banging and calling aloud, he is greeted by an old man with a
blunderbuss menacing him from a window. David shows his letter addressed to Ebenezer, but
the old man is uninterested until David shares his name and mentions his father’s death.

Chapter 3 Summary: “I Make an Acquaintance of My Uncle”
The old man invites David into the house and shocks David speechless by revealing he is
none other than Ebenezer Balfour. Ebenezer questions David about the letter and what he
knows of Shaws. David admits that he only just learned of his uncle’s existence and is
unaware of the letter’s contents. He bristles at his uncle’s suggestion that he has come
begging and insists that he can get on fine without his uncle’s help. Ebenezer suddenly
becomes friendly and escorts David to a room to stay the night. The two men make the
journey in darkness, as Ebenezer has a rule against candles and fires in the house.
The next morning, David rises to find his bedroom door locked. Ebenezer lets David out and
offers him some hospitality while inundating his nephew with question after question. David
begins to feel like he’s being treated more like a thief than a houseguest and threatens to
leave. Ebenezer responds by assuring David that they will “agree fine yet” in the end (19).
Chapter 4 Summary: “I Run a Great Danger in the House of Shaws”
David spends the day idling about the house and trying to get his uncle to clarify plans he
might have for helping David. While in the library, David discovers a note in a book that
indicated his father had given the volume to Ebenezer on his fifth birthday. This seems odd to
David since the note was written in a well-lettered hand that suggests the writer could not
have been younger than the recipient.
The note confuses David so much that he asks his uncle if he and his father were twins. The
question sets Ebenezer in a rage. David begins to suspect that his uncle is trying to hide the
fact that David’s father was his elder, which would make David the rightful heir to the estate.
Ebenezer calms some of David’s suspicions by suddenly giving his nephew a great sum of
money, claiming it is a gift he promised David’s father he would give to David. Ebenezer then
requests that David fetch a chest from the tower in the house.
David proceeds carefully up the staircase in pitch dark due to his uncle’s rule about candles.
Near the top, the tower is suddenly illuminated by lightning, and David sees that stairs are
missing ahead. Convinced his uncle meant for him to fall to his death, David confronts
Ebenezer, who collapses in a panic. David administers a dose of heart medicine and then
locks his uncle away for the night.

Chapter 5 Summary: “I Go to the Queen’s Ferry”
The next morning, David lets his uncle out of his bedroom and demands an explanation.
However, a ship’s cabin boy knocks with a letter for Ebenezer. It’s from Captain Hoseason of
the ship Covenant asking for orders before they set sail. David agrees to accompany his uncle
to Queen’s Ferry to meet with Hoseason, assuming he will be safe in the bustle of the port. On
the road, he speaks at length with the cabin boy, Ransome, who brags about the rough and
criminal nature of his life on the Covenant. David pities Ransome, who seems more simple-
minded than wicked. To David, living on the Covenant sounds like hell itself.
Chapter 6 Summary: “What Befell at Queen’s Ferry”
David and Ebenezer meet Captain Hoseason at an inn. David is so taken by the sea and the
port that when his uncle suggests that David go and enjoy himself, he leaves Ebenezer alone
with Captain Hoseason.
David runs into Ransome and buys him an ale. In the bar, David speaks with the owner and
learns that the rumor around town is that Ebenezer killed David’s father for the estate. It is
widely known that his father was the elder Balfour son.
This exchange confirms David’s suspicion, and he is thrilled at his good fortune. He then
meets Captain Hoseason and his uncle. The captain offers David a drink and a tour of the
ship while he and Ebenezer conclude their business. Once they are onboard, however, David
sees his uncle rowing away. It’s only then that David realizes his peril and cries out for help
before blacking out.
Chapters 1-6 Analysis
The first section of the novel offers background for the adventure to follow. While each
chapter has moments of tension that propel the action forward, the main focus is on
introducing the novel’s long-term stakes and the protagonist who will unite its diverse
episodes into a single adventure.
Toward the novel’s end, Stevenson will refer to Homer’s Odyssey, a similarly structured story
in which a mariner braves challenges on his journey home. As in the Odyssey, each challenge
the protagonist encounters has a beginning, middle, and end. They form a cohesive whole
because they are steps in his quest to return home and claim his estate. Here, the author

establishes the home David will be returning to in his description of Shaws: “The country was
pleasant […] the crops, to my eyes, wonderfully good; but the house itself appeared to be a
kind of ruin; no road led up to it” (11). This passage sets up the importance of David’s growth.
Its significance extends beyond mere personal development. He must become an adult
capable of winning Shaws and restoring it to its former glory.
A coming-of-age story told in the first person and past tense, Kidnapped presents David as
both a character living through the events and an adult narrating incidents from his youth.
The adult David foreshadows not only events to come in the narrative but also ways he had
to grow to achieve his objective. The narrator often comments on his past choices and
behavior, sometimes quite critically, calling his younger self a “poor fool” (32, 34) or noting
that he (wrongly) “had a great opinion of [his] shrewdness” (26). Stevenson employs this
tactic often in these early pages, painting the younger David as headstrong, naïve,
overconfident, quick to judge, and ignorant of the dangers and ways of the world.
This section also introduces the closest thing Kidnapped has to an antagonist in the
character of Ebenezer Balfour. Though he plays a small part in the novel outside of these
introductory chapters, Ebenezer looms large over the plot as an inciting factor in its action
and as a dark foil to Alan Breck Stewart. As David’s only remaining family, David might expect
him to offer a helping hand to guide the young man into self-sufficiency and adulthood.
However, not only does he actively work against David, but he also does so in such a
dishonorable and clumsy manner that the young man feels contempt for him. As a potential
mentor and guide, Ebenezer contrasts with Alan, who will step into the role and guide David
literally and metaphorically from adolescence into maturity.
Ebenezer also offers the novel’s first exploration of the relationships between Authority,
Treachery, and Justice. Ebenezer’s authority was ill earned and is maintained through
treachery. The justice David assumes he will attain through the law is turned upside down. He
is deprived not only of his birthright but also of his very freedom. This incident acts as a
microcosm of the relationship between the crown and Highlanders, foreshadowing the
injustices the novel will explore. Like Ebenezer, the authority that the Campbells won through
treachery is used to rob the Stewarts of their birthrights and leads to miscarriages of justice
for the benefit of those in power.

Chapters 7-13
Chapter 7 Summary: “I Go to Sea in the Brig Covenant of Dysart”
David wakes in the dark, restrained and seasick. He reflects on his folly and his uncle’s cruelty
and reels in and out of consciousness for hours before settling into rough sleep.
When David next awakens, it is to the sight of Mr. Riach, second mate of the Covenant. Riach
tends to David’s head wound and offers him food; however, David can’t eat in his current state
and falls back into a fevered dream. Riach returns with Captain Hoseason, and the two men
argue about whether to keep David in the ship’s hold. Only when Riach states that it will be
murder to leave David there does Hoseason relent.
Over the following days, David’s health gradually improves, and he comes to know the
Covenant’s sailors and even to appreciate their rough virtues. They return some of his money
and tell him that his uncle sold him to slavery in the Carolinas. The cabin boy, Ransome, visits
David often, usually with some new bruise or wound from a sailor named Shaun, who gets
violent when drunk. Mr. Riach also spends time with David, and eventually David shares his
story with the mate. Riach swears he will get news of David’s fate to Mr. Rankeillor, a
respected Edinburgh lawyer.
Chapter 8 Summary: “The Round-House”
David and the crew are awakened to the news that Shaun badly beat Ransome. Hoseason
asks David to take up Ransome’s duties in the roundhouse. David goes to his new quarters to
find Shaun drunk and senseless. The captain and Riach return with news of Ransome’s death.
Shaun’s reason for beating the boy was that Ransome brought him a dirty cup.
David takes up Ransome’s duties, serving the crew food and drink. He shares the room with
the senior crew. Shaun mostly ignores David and seems to have lost his wits after the
murder. David buries himself in work to forget his despair.
Chapter 9 Summary: “The Man With the Belt of Gold”
The Covenant sails into a thick fog, where it crashes into and sinks a smaller boat, killing its
passengers save one. The man is brought aboard and meets the captain. He wears a French
soldier’s jacket, two pistols, and a great sword but speaks with a Scottish accent and

presents himself with elegant manners that impress both David and Captain Hoseason.
The man reveals himself to be a Jacobite. He supports the restoration of the Stuart line of
Catholic kings who were deposed and exiled to France decades before. He is trying to avoid
British authorities. Though Hoseason is a Protestant, he agrees to transport the man to safety
for a hefty payment.
As the man settles in, David overhears the captain and his crew conspiring to attack him and
steal his money. Furious at their treachery, David warns the man and agrees to fight
alongside him. The man thanks David and introduces himself as Alan Breck Stewart.
Because they are in the roundhouse, they can access the ship’s firearms and food stores.
David and Alan barricade the entries, load their pistols, and strategize. Alan, a seasoned
fighter, sets David to guard the rear entry and skylight with his pistols and plans to stand and
fight at the narrow main entrance with his sword.
Chapter 10 Summary: “The Siege of the Round-House”
The Captain returns to the roundhouse and finds David and Alan ready for a fight. Hoseason
chides David for revealing their treachery to Alan and leaves to fetch his men.
The first bout of fighting erupts suddenly and ends quickly. Alan takes on the men who
charge the front, killing two, including Shaun. David sees several crew approaching the back
door with a battering ram and fires blindly into them, wounding the captain. He fires several
times more as the men retreat and then returns to Alan, who warns him that another bout is
soon to follow.
David is nearly overcome with fear now that the rush of the first fight has passed, but he
remains at his post. When the next charge comes, two sailors crash through the skylight.
David initially hesitates to fire, but then he shoots both when one tries to grab hold of him.
Alan finishes with his men at the front door as the rest flee. Alan, thrilled at their victory, hums
and sings as he drives his sword through the four dying men in the roundhouse. He then
shares a song about the battle that he composed in Gaelic that neglects to mention David.
David, for his part, collapses into sobs when he thinks of the men he killed. Alan assures the
young man that he just needs sleep and agrees to take first watch while they wait for the
crew to come parley.

Chapter 11 Summary: “The Captain Knuckles Under”
David and Alan have a rich breakfast in the roundhouse amidst “a horrid mess of blood” from
the skirmish (57). Alan assures David that the sailors will come soon to negotiate, particularly
since they lack the roundhouse’s liquor. While they wait, Alan cuts a silver button from his
coat and gives it to David as a token of their friendship.
Mr. Riach comes to arrange a negotiation between Alan and the captain, swearing that the
crew has had enough fighting and is done with their treachery. As Alan predicted, the mate
begs David for brandy before leaving. Alan and Hoseason meet, and after some back and
forth, the captain agrees to take Alan to his family’s hereditary lands. The journey will be
perilous since Shaun, the brig’s best seaman, was killed in the melee. As a final matter, the
two sides exchange water for brandy, and David and Alan wash the blood from the
roundhouse.
Chapter 12 Summary: “I Hear of the ‘Red Fox’”
David and Alan pass the time enjoying the captain’s tobacco and sharing stories. Alan talks
about his family history and his brief time in the British Army before he deserted. David
casually mentions his village priest, Mr. Campbell, and Alan bursts out that he hates “all that
are of that name” (61). Alan explains that the Campbells and his clan, the Stewarts, have a
long history of conflict. The Campbells support the British government and have used their
position to take Stewart lands. This effort is currently being led by Colin Campbell, known as
the Red Fox, the king’s agent in Stewart lands.
Because the Stewarts remain loyal to the descendants of James II, they pay taxes (rents) to
the crown and also support Jacobite leaders abroad. The Red Fox seeks to remove Stewarts
from their property, thus cutting off income going to the Jacobite cause. Alan’s open
declaration that he would murder the Red Fox if given the chance shocks David. The two men
seem to have distinct and sometimes opposite ideas of what it means to be honorable or act
morally. However, David continues to value Alan’s friendship despite their political and moral
differences.

Chapter 13 Summary: “The Loss of the Brig”
Hoseason comes to the roundhouse in a panic and tells Alan and David that the ship is in
danger. They follow him on deck to see the Covenant surrounded by reefs. Despite not being
a seaman, Alan knows the area as the Torran Rocks. He is unsure of the way through but
vaguely recalls that the best route runs close to the shore.
Hoseason follows his instructions, and it seems they’ve made it through when the Covenant
suddenly runs onto the rocks. David and the other sailors rush to get a boat into the water so
they can ferry ashore, but a large wave washes over the deck and carries David into the sea.
David struggles, being a poor swimmer, but he paddles ashore, marooned and alone.
Chapter 7-13 Analysis
David’s time aboard the Covenant is his first exposure to the world outside the village where
he was raised and the beginning of his journey into adulthood. Now that the early chapters
have set up the novel’s stakes and kicked off the adventure, this section delves into the rising
action as David’s growth begins in earnest and his biases, intuitions, and assumptions about
the world are tested against experience.
David is a thoughtful and reflective observer. Though the sailors of the Covenant kidnapped
David and stole his money, he is quick to note their redeeming qualities and is “ashamed of
[his] first judgement” when he thought of them as “unclean beasts” (38). These chapters
introduce the novel’s thematic interest in The Duality of Human Nature. In contrast to
Ebenezer Balfour, who is characterized almost entirely as villainous in the novel’s early
chapters, the men of the Covenant have virtues along with their vices. Captain Hoseason is
conniving and treacherous but both “brave in [his] own trade” (68) and “a great church-goer
while on shore” (46). Mr. Shaun kills Ransome over a dirty cup but “would not hurt a fly” when
sober (38). Mr. Riach is “sullen, unkind, and harsh” (38), but he saves David from sickness and
fever and pledges to help the young man. Even Alan is presented as a mix of virtue and vice.
He is heroic, brave, honorable, and devoted to his cause, but he is also vain and prideful and
displays a “childish propensity to take offense and pick quarrels” (66).
Alan’s arrival on the ship is an inciting incident for David’s initiation into adulthood. He
encourages David to take an active role in shaping his life. When Alan is brought on board,
David is in the lowly role of cabin boy and bound to the worse fate of slavery in America. His

lack of autonomy is the result of letting others control his fate. Only when Hoseason attempts
to enlist David in trapping Alan does the young man take a stand against the authorities in his
life. He is put in the crucible of combat and emerges with a mentor who will lead him through
future trials in the Scottish Highlands.
This section also introduces the novel’s thematic interest in exploring The Validity of a
Diverse of Ethical Positions. While David views the men of the Covenant somewhat
sympathetically, he treats their conceptions of right and wrong as malformed due to their
work and station. While they possess baseline goodness, their motivations are either a need
for money or an amoral interest in life at sea. When asked about his life choices, Mr. Riach,
who is medically educated and the son of a lord, simply replies, “I liked fun, that’s all” (40).
Alan, by contrast, is motivated by an ethical framework that defines nearly every aspect of his
character but is alien to David. He is a rebel to the crown, murderous and wrathful toward the
Red Fox, and proud of his status as a deserter from the British Army, whereas David considers
this last action “an unpardonable fault in honor” (62). Despite this, David cleaves to him not
just out of need but respect, foreshadowing the direction their friendship will develop as Alan
and the Highlanders stretch and test David’s childhood moral intuitions.
Chapters 14-17
Chapter 14 Summary: “The Islet”
Over the following days, David lives through what he calls the “most unhappy part of [his]
adventures” (71). He can see no sign of either the ship or lifeboat. He realizes he is trapped on
an islet, cut off from Mull by a deep inlet. Unable to cross, he gives into despair and weeps.
He later finds an abandoned fisherman’s shack and some shellfish. He eats these raw, which
leaves him sick with “giddiness and retching” (73). His illness and solitude are made worse
because from the peak of the islet, he can see the rooftops of the village of Iona.
On his third day alone, he sees a pair of fishermen in a boat. He hails them, but to his horror,
the men shout in Gaelic, laugh at him, and sail on, further crushing his spirit. The following
morning, the fishermen return with a companion who speaks broken English. David can only
make out a few words but realizes that the inlet trapping him shrinks with the receding tide,
something that would have been obvious to anyone raised near the sea. He rushes to find it
little more than a trickle and crosses to Mull.

Chapter 15 Summary: “The Lad With the Silver Button: The Through Isle of Mull”
David makes for Iona and encounters an old man, who invites him to stay the night. The man
recognizes that David must be the “lad with the silver button” (79). He tells David that Alan
survived the wreck and left word for David to follow him to Torosay. The old man refuses
what little money David has to offer and is such a fine host that David begins to rethink what
he’s heard of the “wild highlanders” (79).
On the road to Torosay, David sees the poverty of the Highlanders and meets a wide mix of
people, from beggars and cheats looking to take advantage of him to generous hosts and
well-meaning guides. He gets the better of two characters on the road who menace him with
a knife and pistol in defiance of the laws against Scots owning arms. Despite these
misadventures, David makes it safely to Torosay.
Chapter 16 Summary: “The Lad With the Silver Button: Across Morven”
The ferry from Torosay to the mainland is run by a man named Macrob, whom David
recognizes as one of Alan’s clansmen. When he has a moment alone with the captain, David
offers him money for information on Alan. Macrob rebuffs David for the bribe but opens up
when David presents the silver button. David realizes that even though he is beginning to get
a sense of Highlander ways, he still has a lot to learn. During the ferry ride, they pass a ship
bearing Scottish prisoners being sent to the American colonies by force, a sight that sets
everyone on the boat into a state of mourning.
Once on the mainland, David meets Henderland, a priest who, like David, is from southern
Scotland. The two discuss politics, and Henderland is a moderate, berating Parliament for
coming down too hard on the Highlanders. He particularly takes issue with the abolition of
traditional dress like kilts. When discussing the Red Fox, Henderland confirms that he is
evicting Stewarts from their homes. Henderland, despite being poor, gives David money to
help on his journey.
Chapter 17 Summary: “The Death of the Red Fox”
The next morning, Henderland imposes on one of his parishioners to ferry David across
Linnhe Loch, shortening his journey by a day. He comes ashore in Appin and sits down by the
road to debate whether he should continue following Alan or make his way south.

While he is musing, a group of wealthy travelers approach, led by the Red Fox. Just then, the
king’s agent is shot and fatally wounded. David turns to see a man with a rifle and chases
him, calling for the rest to follow. However, the Red Fox’s traveling companions assume David
is an accomplice fleeing the scene and send soldiers after him. David runs into the woods
and is caught and pulled into a hiding spot by Alan, who had been fishing nearby. Alan leads
David away from the soldiers, standing occasionally to look back and see if they are still
following. After a long, grueling chase, the two men lose their pursuers and collapse in
exhaustion.
Having taken his first steps into adulthood aboard the Covenant, David is now thrust into the
wider world and forced to navigate its complexities, stumbling through the Highland
countryside and customs in pursuit of Alan. He has to rely on his wits and instincts, which are
still plagued by inexperience, but he is able to make his way thanks to the token Alan gave
him. Chapters 15 and 16 contain “The Lad With the Silver Button” in their titles (79, 85),
emphasizing David’s status as an inexperienced young man and foreshadowing Alan’s role as
his button unlocks sources of direction, insight, and guidance.
David’s time on the islet is a microcosm of the challenges he will face. He is far from helpless
and takes steps to survive the wilderness but is hampered by naivete. He scrapes together
food and shelter, figures out where he needs to go next, and assesses the challenges in
getting there. However, as a southerner who has never been to sea and doesn’t understand
the Highlands, he sometimes misses obvious solutions to his problems and survives only
through the kindness of locals, whom he initially considered cruel, backward, and simple.
David emphasizes his folly in these chapters. He tries to bribe a local man for information, not
realizing that he is a noble. He curses the fishermen thinking that they are laughing at him out
of cruelty. He also takes up with a swindler as a traveling companion. David is so blinded by
his assumptions that he fails to recognize each situation until it’s almost too late. Later, he
recontextualizes his experiences through the gentle remonstrations of the locals who help
him on his way.
The Highlanders David encounters deepen the novel’s theme of The Duality of Human Nature,
both adding more examples and broadening its scope. David has brief interactions with a
wide range of characters on the road from Mull to Appin, many of whom challenge his

assumptions. While David never explicitly expresses negative thoughts about the
Highlanders, the language he uses suggests he thinks of them as uncivilized and savage.
After being surprised by the hospitality of an old couple on Mull, however, David reflects, “If
these are the wild highlanders, I could wish my own folk wilder” (79). His time on the road
isn’t universally positive, though. While he encounters many generous and helpful people,
others take advantage of his inexperience to extort what they can, and the section ends with
the assassination of the Red Fox. The Highlanders, like the sailors on the Covenant, are a mix
of virtue and vice.
David also continues to develop his understanding of moral complexity as he increasingly

values the Highlander’s alien (to him) moral code. David sees the poverty and oppression of
the Highlanders, thus developing the novel’s thematic exploration of the relationship between
Authority, Treachery, and Justice. He sees firsthand how they are robbed of their culture,
traditions, leaders, and freedom, and he begins to understand the reasoning of the
Highlanders who oppose the crown. The vessel taking Scottish prisoners to the colonies
reflects David’s disenfranchisement by his uncle, as does the Red Fox’s plan to remove
Stewart tenants from their properties. Henderland, a southerner like David who spent time
among the Highlanders, foreshadows the sympathy David will come to feel for their sense of
honor and loyalty. “There’s something fine about it,” Henderland says of the Highland
morality, “no perhaps Christian, but humanly fine” (88).
Chapters 18-25
Chapter 18 Summary: “I Talk With Alan in the Wood of Lettermore”
David plans to leave Alan, assuming he must have had something to do with the
assassination. Alan denies it vehemently and swears “on the Holy Iron” that he had no part in
it (96), though he admits he intentionally made himself visible to lead the soldiers away from
the shooter. Alan sees this as the right and honorable thing to have done, and though David
can’t agree, he is satisfied that his friend is innocent of murder. David wants to explain his
innocence in court, but Alan convinces him that justice won’t be found in the legal system as
long as the Campbells are in charge. The only option is to make a run for the south.

Chapter 19 Summary: “The House of Fear”
Alan and David skulk through the brush to the house of James Stewart, the man who collects
funds in Appin for the Jacobites’ exiled leader. They find James and his family frantic with
fear and activity. James is sure that blame will fall on him for the Red Fox’s murder. Stewart
clansmen come and go, burning documents and hiding weapons and other contraband.
James offers what support and hospitality he can, giving the two fugitives a change of
clothes, some weapons, and the few coins he can scrape together. He then apologizes but
insists he will have to post warrants for David and Alan. Alan takes this in stride as the natural
course of events, but David balks at being blamed for the Red Fox’s murder, suggesting that
James should post a warrant for the actual murder. The narrator says that James and Alan
“cr[y] out in horror” at the thought, protesting that if they do that, “the lad might be caught”
(104). Reluctantly, David consents to James’s plan to post warrants for them, and they leave.
Chapter 20 Summary: “The Flight in the Heather: The Rocks”
Alan and David make their way through the countryside. They stop only for Alan to give news
of the murder at houses they pass, a duty so important that David muses Alan “must pause to
attend to it even while fleeing for his life” (105).
Suddenly, Alan stops, realizing he led them to an exposed riverbed that is likely to be watched.
They rush and leap rock to rock across the river, and David almost tumbles to his doom over a
waterfall. They quickly scramble into a hiding spot only to see the valley is covered with
redcoats searching for them. Alan apologizes that he led them into such a position. They try
to wait out the soldiers, but the heat of the day eventually drives them out of hiding. By a turn
of luck, they are able to slip away without being spotted.
Chapter 21 Summary: “The Flight in the Heather: The Heugh of Corrynakeigh”
David and Alan come to the Heugh of Corrynakeigh, a cave with a river running through it.
They spend five happy days there, fishing, sparring with their swords, and planning their next
steps. Alan borrows his silver button back from David and uses it to make a signal to summon
a friend, Maccoll, from a nearby village. When Maccoll arrives, Alan sends him back to James
Stewart with a note asking for money. The man returns some days later with dire news from

Stewart’s wife. James has been arrested by the redcoats, though they still blame Alan and
David for the murder. Stewart’s wife sent what little money she had to spare and the wanted
notice describing the two fugitives.
On reading the notice, David realizes the description of him is so vague that he could leave
Alan and walk openly on the road. Alan, for his part, is pleased to have his French coat so well
remembered despite it making him easy to spot. Though Alan’s vanity and pride place them
both at risk, David keeps these thoughts to himself and refuses to leave his friend.
Chapter 22 Summary: “The Flight in the Heather: The Moor”
With fresh news and money, David and Alan continue. They decide that their best course is to
head east even though it’s a more exposed route. David thinks it would be best for the both of
them if he and Alan parted, but he doesn’t suggest it.
The going is hard and slow, with the two crawling more often than walking. When they reach a
spot to rest, David takes watch but is so tired that he falls into a doze. He wakes to see a
party of soldiers coming their way, beating the bushes as they go. He rouses Alan. The two
flee on hands and knees at a desperate pace, and they are able to escape. David begs to
sleep, but Alan insists they press on through the night or risk running into another group of
soldiers. As they begin to clear the moor, they are waylaid by men serving Cluny Macpherson,
a Jacobite chieftain and friend of Alan. The men take Alan and David to Cluny’s hideout. David
is so weak that Cluny’s men carry him there.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Cluny’s Cage”
The two are led to one of Cluny’s many hiding places, a simple hut that is nevertheless
furnished with luxuries. There, they are welcomed by the fugitive chieftain. After a meal
together, Cluny invites the two friends to play a game of cards. David attempts to excuse
himself. He is tired to the point of illness and believes gambling to be sinful and
ungentlemanly. This wounds Cluny’s pride, but he ultimately excuses David, who collapses
into a delirious sleep for nearly two days.
While David is recovering, Alan plays cards with Cluny and loses both his and David’s money.
Cluny is incensed that the two friends think him so inhospitable that he would send them
back out without their money. David is furious with Alan for losing the money and

embarrassed to have to ask Cluny for it back. Cluny gives the money back, and the two men
return to their journey.
Chapter 24 Summary: “The Flight in the Heather: The Quarrel”
David is still ill and angry, and Alan, who is unaccustomed to shame and wounded pride,
receives David’s anger poorly. Alan apologizes and tries to force a reconciliation between the
two, but David continues to nurse his anger. Alan, seeing David struggling against fatigue,
offers to take his pack, but David refuses. After this olive branch is rejected, Alan begins
teasing David. David presses on, sick, exhausted, cold, and miserable, imagining that his best
revenge against Alan would be to fall over and die.
Eventually, David breaks under Alan’s teasing and responds with cruel, personal insults. He
then challenges his friend to a duel. Alan reluctantly draws his sword but then throws it to the
ground, refusing to fight. Knowing no apology can make up for what he did, David puts pride
aside, throws himself to the ground, and tells Alan he’s dying from his sickness and
exhaustion. Alan carries David to a nearby house for care, forgiving the insults.
Chapter 25 Summary: “In Balquhidder”
Alan takes David to the first house they come across, which luckily belongs to a clansman
aligned with the Stewarts. They call for a doctor and look after David for nearly a month while
he recovers. All the while, Alan hides in the countryside, sneaking into town to visit David
when he can. The whole town learns that the two fugitives are housed there, but David is
unconcerned, noting that among Highlanders, a secret like that might be well kept “for a
century” (138).
While recovering, David is visited by Robin Oig, a son of Rob Roy. As Robin is leaving, he runs
into Alan. The two men come from rival clans and are equal in their pride. Before long, it looks
as if they are going to duel. Just then, David’s host, knowing both Alan and Robin are
musicians, suggests that the two men could settle their dispute by bagpipes instead of
swords. They agree, and though things remain tense at first, eventually Robin plays a
traditional song from Alan’s country, and Alan becomes willing to concede that Robin is the
superior piper.

Chapter 18-25 Analysis
With Alan and David reunited after the Red Fox’s assassination, the driving tension of the
novel shifts from surviving the wreck of the Covenant to escaping the Campbell government.
Along with this new threat, the novel questions whether David and Alan will maintain their
growing friendship and stick together despite their myriad differences.
At the start of this section, David wholly relies on Alan and the Highland clansmen who save
his life by curbing his impulse to try to clear his name in the corrupt Campbell courts. As he
and Alan travel together, though, the power dynamic balances and then gradually shifts
David’s way as Alan becomes reliant on David for money.
Alan’s role in this section is to be David’s guide to coming of age, but not, in the traditional
sense, as an example to be emulated. Alan is part of the rocky and dangerous terrain
symbolizing David’s journey from adolescence to maturity. Despite being a friend, he
endangers David with his impulsive pride and refusal to compromise. The next step in David’s
growth is accepting the responsibility and burden of friendship that Alan represents. He has
learned to be responsible for himself and now must accept responsibility for others.
The easy path would be for David to part with Alan. Early in their flight, David thinks, “[I]f you
would take but one point of the compass and let me take any other, it would be the best”
(118). This internal conflict continues well after the two work their way past the British search
parties and comes to a climax when David, driven to rage by exhaustion and frustration,
challenges Alan to a duel. David nearly abandons his friendship. He slowly sees that
friendship requires patience, goodwill, and reciprocity.
Throughout their flight, David gets an insider’s perspective into the Highlanders’ values and
sense of honor, which stretches his moral intuitions further than his previous travels. The
loyalty that Alan, James, and the Stewarts have to clan and family acts as a veil that can hide
a murderer. When Alan refuses to reveal the Red Fox’s killer, David reflects that his friend’s
“morals [are] all tail-first; but he [is] ready to give his life for them” (97). Like Henderland, David
finds something laudable about the Highland code. The secrecy that protects the assassin
also shelters David and Alan when they are in Balquhidder while David recovers. By the final
leg of his journey, David has come to not only value Highland ethics but also rely upon them.
David realizes that the same injustice that was wrought on him by his uncle is being enacted

on a larger scale across the Highlands by both the crown and the Campbells. The Campbells
would use their position to deprive the Stewarts of their birthrights. David’s initial impulse is
to trust the local authorities to be fair-minded and just, but the arrest of James Stewart
proves that the Campbell court is out for blood and power, not for the truth. This section
establishes the danger that treacherous people like the Campbells and Uncle Ebenezer pose
in positions of authority. When the courts are unjust, honorable people become outlaws. Even
so, David hopes to regain his birthright through legal proceedings when he makes his way
south. Not being a Highlander or a Stewart, he can hope for fair treatment from the legal
system.
This section holds out hope for a peaceful resolution to the Campbell-Stewart conflict. Acting
as a brief, comedic denouement to the pair’s flight across the highlands, the bagpipe duel
between Alan and Robin Oig foreshadows a time when clan conflicts can be peacefully
resolved through mutual appreciation of their common Scottish heritage.
Chapters 26-30
Chapter 26 Summary: “End of the Flight: We Pass the Forth”
Once David recovers, he and Alan press on to the last leg of their journey, crossing the Forth
River. They come to the Stirling bridge but find it guarded. They head east to find a boat to
cross the river. When they come to the village of Limekilns, a young barmaid takes a liking to
David. Alan and David tell a half-true story that David is a disinherited gentleman who is
deathly sick from his long trek across the Highlands. The young woman agrees to find
someone who can ferry them across the river that night. Both men are surprised when the
woman herself shows up piloting the boat. She ferries the men across the river to freedom.
Chapter 27 Summary: “I Come to Mr. Rankeillor”
Now in southern Scotland, Alan hides in the hills while David goes into Newhalls to find Mr.
Rankeillor, the lawyer whom he believes can help establish his claim to Shaws. Rankeillor
agrees to listen to the young man’s story. It turns out that Mr. Campbell came searching for
David when the old priest had no word of him. During the interview, David mentions Alan, and
Rankeillor pretends he missed Alan’s name but insists that David call his friend Mr.
Thompson and change all the names of the Highlanders in his tale. Rankeillor agrees to help
David and gives him a place to clean up and change his clothes.

Chapter 28 Summary: “I Go in Quest of My Inheritance”
Rankeillor tells David how his uncle Ebenezer came to own the estate despite David’s father
being older. Both men fell in love with the same woman. The brothers came to an extra-legal
agreement that Ebenezer would get the estate while David’s father “took the lady” (158). The
lady rejected both men, however. Because it was a gentlemen’s agreement between the
brothers, David is, in fact, heir to the estate. Rankeillor advises that the best thing would be to
avoid a complicated lawsuit and leave Ebenezer the house, while David would get the estate’s
income. However, Rankeillor isn’t sure how to prove the kidnapping charge that would likely
settle the matter.
David comes up with a scheme, but it involves Alan. Rankeillor is reluctant but eventually
agrees to participate. After making a fuss about forgetting his glasses and not being able to
see without them (so he can pretend not to recognize Alan), Rankeillor asks David to take him
to meet “Mr. Thompson.” The three then go to Shaws. Alan, playing his part, knocks on the
door while David and Rankeillor hide nearby.
Chapter 29 Summary: “I Come Into My Kingdom”
Following David’s plan, Alan tells Ebenezer that he hails from the Isle of Mull, where his family
found David after the wreck of the Covenant, and they are holding him hostage. Alan gets
Ebenezer to commit to paying the Highlander to have his family keep David hostage. As
wicked as the old man is, he is willing to pay more for David to be held alive than it would cost
to have him killed. During the negotiation, Ebenezer admits he paid to have David kidnapped
and sold into slavery. At that point, David and Mr. Rankeillor reveal themselves. With the
crime confessed, Rankeillor presses their advantage and secures two thirds of the estate’s
income for David.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Good-bye”
Having secured his future, David turns toward securing the futures of those who helped him.
He heard of the hanging of James Stewart and wants to testify to help clear the man’s name.
He is also eager to help Alan secure passage to France. David speaks with Rankeillor about
James; the lawyer is concerned that David will put himself at risk by offering his testimony
but in the end advises David to follow his conscience and do his duty. Rankeillor gives David
two letters, one that will secure David a line of credit and another that will introduce him to an
esteemed lawyer who can help him advocate for James. David and Alan leave the estate and

walk together for the last time along the roads of Scotland. They discuss plans for Alan’s
passage to France and then fall into silence, neither knowing what to say. When they come to
a hill called Rest-And-Be-Thankful, they say terse goodbyes and part, both full of emotion.
This section acts as both a resolution to David’s adventure in the Highlands and a closure to
his coming-of-age narrative where the young man, now grown, can apply the lessons learned
on his journey to resolve the novel’s conflict and reclaim his patrimony. The tension of David
and Alan’s flight dissipates once the two friends resolve to stay together in spite of their
differences and any past wrongs. With that narrative line concluded, the novel offers a brief
comedic episode that foreshadows the resolution of the inciting conflict. When the pair
cannot cross the Forth River by bridge, Alan enlists David in a scheme to acquire a boat
through trickery. This passage establishes a roguish side of Alan that has been largely
unexplored but will come into play in the novel’s conclusion. Like the wily Odysseus, who is
famous for playacting, the two are carried home by boat after telling a young woman the story
of their travels.
The final episode of the novel is David’s homecoming. He takes the lessons he learned about
the righteousness of his position and the world’s moral complexity to first earn back his
birthright and then protect his friend. The section resolves the narrative conflict rather simply
and quickly. Some brief playacting by Alan and the participation of Mr. Rankeillor are all that
is needed to secure David’s birthright. This passage also resolves the thematic tension the
novel explores between Authority, Treachery, and Justice. As rightful heir to Shaws, David’s
path to his birthright is through the legal system he spent the past two months fleeing.
Because Rankeillor is an honorable person who seeks justice rather than power, David is able
to secure his help reclaiming his birthright. By Rankeillor’s reckoning, people of honor in
positions of power lead to justice, and when dishonorable people gain authority, injustice
inevitably follows. The lawyer places equal blame on David’s father and Ebenezer for the state
of Shaws, calling the deal between the two brothers a “piece of Quixotry […] [that] as it was
unjust itself brought forth a monstrous family of injustices” (158). Once he comes into his
birthright, David uses his new authority to enact justice in the small ways he is able. His final
acts demonstrate both his responsibility and his sense of honor as he arranges to smuggle
Alan to France and give testimony to clear James Stewart. The young man has come into his
kingdom.

Character Analysis
David Balfour
David is the point-of-view character and protagonist of Kidnapped who narrates the novel in
the style of a memoir. Raised in the south of Scotland, David starts the novel inexperienced
and ignorant of the politics and history of his country. He serves as a vehicle for young men
who were the primary audience of the novel to insert themselves into the story and learn
about the wider world through David’s eyes.
His story is a coming-of-age tale in which his trials shape him into the sort of person who can
step confidently into his position as Lord of Shaws. David grows from a naïve youth with a
black-and-white view of ethics to an experienced and capable man with a keen understanding
of the world’s moral complexities. He comes to understand that those in authority don’t
always pursue justice and that two people can hold different political and moral convictions
and still both be honorable and good. While his experience doesn’t change the value David
places upon honor, he comes to see that people can be honorable in different ways.
David starts the novel knowing almost nothing about Highland customs, tradition, and values,
but he quickly learns not only to understand but also appreciate their ways, noting, “If these
are the wild Highlanders, I could wish my own folk wilder” (79). He is keen to find the
humanity in the people he encounters, whether they help or hinder him, and he spends time
reflecting on how even rogues, villains, and murderers can be honorable or kind in their own
ways. By the novel’s end, he owes his life, health, and personal growth to many outlaws who
helped him and counts Alan as his truest friend.
Alan Breck Stewart
Alan is the novel’s most important secondary character and serves as a foil, mentor, and
eventual equal to David as the two flee over the Scottish countryside. He is a static character,
changing very little throughout the novel, and as such, he serves as a measure of David’s
evolution. Though not a stock character, Alan has many qualities of the “lovable rogue”
archetype that readers in the novel’s target audience would have recognized. Alan is an
experienced soldier, a Jacobite agent and outlaw, a skilled swordsman, a cunning trickster,
and a worldly traveler. He is loyal to his clan and to those that he comes to value and has
both a high estimation of himself and a strong sense of pride. However, he is also full of

contradictions. Alan is gentlemanly—taking his name, honor, and duties as David’s guide as a
matter of utmost seriousness—while also being unforgiving, bloodthirsty, bad with money,
and ready to duel at the least insult. Alan typifies the morally complex characters that
Stevenson commonly explored.
Alan guides David, leading the young man through the Scottish countryside and the politics
of the Highland clans. He also helps David navigate his transformation from a nearly helpless
boy into a capable and experienced man. Though Alan and David have different ethical
frameworks, they are united by a similar sense of honor that they come to value in one
another. David notes admiringly, “Alan’s morals were all tail-first; but he was ready to give his
life for them, such as they were” (97).
Ebenezer Balfour
Ebenezer is David’s uncle, Lord of Shaws, and the primary antagonist of Kidnapped. Despite
appearing only briefly at the novel’s start and conclusion, he looms over the plot. He is the
most irredeemable character in the novel. While David often dwells on the positive
characteristics of the people he encounters, Ebenezer gives him little to highlight. The kindest
thing that David says about him is that he is so thoroughly committed to his miserliness that
he “goes near to make the vice respectable” (18).
Ebenezer is painted as physically and morally weak: a selfish, greedy, cowardly, deceptive,
backbiting, and cruel old man with a bad heart. His schemes to get rid of David and steal his
birthright don’t even bear the hallmarks of cleverness or bravery. He hides behind more able
and charismatic men whom he pays to do his dirty work.
The younger brother of David’s father, Ebenezer holds the lordship of Shaws due only to a
thoughtless bargain the two young men made in their youth. Under his care, Shaws has fallen
into ruin, and Ebenezer lives alone in a crumbling estate that could have been thrumming with
servants and family. The closest thing the man seems to have to morality or family loyalty is
revealed at the end when he insists Alan (pretending to be David’s captor) imprison his
nephew rather than kill him. He is willing to sell David into slavery, but murder is a step too
far.

Captain Hoseason
A major character in the second episode of David’s journey, Captain Hoseason is the captain
of the ship Covenant. He is, like many of his crew, a person of contradictions. He is villainous,
self-serving, and treacherous but also cares greatly for those under his charge and is
fastidious about following his own set of morals. Given neither to swearing nor drunkenness,
David describes him as “a great church-goer while on shore” (46), yet he is also the architect
behind David’s abduction.
Unlike the other morally complex people David meets, Hoseason’s main motivation is not a
sense of honor or duty but merely the need for money. Whether it involves well-earned pay or
treachery, his goal is consistently to find the shortest path to the highest payday. Yet David
finds the captain “brave in his own trade” when Covenant navigates the Torran Rocks and
remarks that he “admire[s] [him] all the more because [he finds] Alan very white” with fear
(68). Though duplicitous and mercenary minded, the captain has the virtues of a seaman and
a peculiar sort of morality.
The Covenant Crew
The crew of the brig Covenant is a collection of minor characters that nevertheless have a
major impact on David as he sails with them throughout the second episode of his journey.
The first set of morally complicated people he encounters, they initially appear to him like
“unclean beasts” (38). Ransome, the cabin boy whom David counts as “the least wicked of
that gang” (32), is still characterized as cruel, crude, and dangerous, although more innocent
than the rest due to his age, simplemindedness, and the abuse he’s suffered by his shipmate
Mr. Shaun.
As David spends time with the crew, he recognizes their humanity in the small acts of
kindness they do for one another. Mr. Riach brings David above deck to nurse him to health,
and the crew returns the money they initially stole from him. While recognizing their faults
and the harm they did him, David says, “Rough they were, sure enough; and bad, I suppose;
but they had many virtues” (38).

The Highlanders
In his trek across the Highlands, David learns about the Highlanders from various minor
characters. Though their individual impacts on David are all small, they form the background
of the novel’s action and help David understand and eventually sympathize with the
Highlanders’ plight and resentment of King George’s rule.
Like the crew of the Covenant, these characters are neither purely good nor bad but have both
virtues and faults. Cluny, a Jacobite chieftain, is a rabid gambler and given to irrational anger
bouts of anger, yet he houses David while he recovers from poor health, and when David
departs, Cluny insists he take back the money Alan lost to him at cards. Similarly, the
fishermen who find David after the wreck of the Covenant laugh at him. Still, they return with
a villager who speaks some English to tell him how to get to safety.
Though the Highlanders are poor and there is money on his head, David is unafraid of being
given up to the redcoats: “Other folk keep a secret among two or three near friends, and
somehow it leaks out; but among these clansmen, it is told to a whole countryside, and they
will keep it for a century” (138). Despite being outlaws, rebels, and rough people leading rough
lives, they are fiercely loyal to their own and have a nobility David comes to respect.
Mr. Rankeillor
A minor secondary character, Mr. Rankeillor appears in the final episode of David’s saga,
serving as David’s legal support in reclaiming his estate and proving his name. Throughout
the novel, he is David’s goal and distant hope for justice. Mr. Rankeillor represents the
possibility of legal justice. While much of the novel dwells on the ways people wield legal
power to oppress and disenfranchise others, Mr. Rankeillor is described as honorable,
selfless, and of good reputation. He proves himself to be just that when David reaches him in
the final act.

Themes
The Validity of Diverse Ethical Positions
David’s coming of age is tied to his ethical development. The novel charts his growth from a
youth with a black-and-white view of right and wrong to a capable adult who has had
firsthand experience with moral complexity. At the start of the story, he is a headstrong
country boy, quick to judge and confident in his ethical and political positions, “as good a
Whig” (48), as the village priest was able to make him. However, even in the early episodes of
the novel, he is thoughtful and observant. As David makes his way in the world, he begins to
empathize with and understand the diverse ethical positions of the people he encounters.
During the novel’s second major episode, aboard the Covenant, David comes face to face with
his biases, recognizing that the crew, whom he initially thought of as “unclean beasts” (37),
are men like anyone else, capable in equal parts of kindness and cruelty. As he spends time
with the sailors, he comes to understand that each “class of man […] has its own fault and
virtues” (38).
David’s friendship with Alan further stretches the moral intuitions of his youth. Alan is a
Jacobite and deserter from the English army who carries both labels with pride. He describes
his time among the redcoats, the mere site of whom had caused a swell of pride in the young
David, as “a black spot upon [his] character” (62). As a Jacobite, Alan thinks little of King
George and wishes he had a chance to murder the agent of the crown whose work is harming
his clan. When the king’s agent is assassinated, Alan not only hides the shooter’s identity but
also leads the pursuing soldiers away from the escaping murderer. To David, Alan’s morals
are “tail-first” (97), yet despite disagreeing with Alan, he refers to the man as his friend. For
David, Alan’s ethical system is “not the good Christianity as [he] understand[s] it, but it’s good
enough” (97).
Alan epitomizes Highlander values and sense of honor. Alien as they are to David, he comes
to respect them. At first, he sees nothing but fear in the people of the Highlands, but he
gradually comes to recognize that they possess “self-denial that should put the like of you
and me to shame” (88). David’s time with the Highlanders does not fundamentally change his
moral or political convictions, but he comes to see that people can hold divergent positions

and still be honorable, just, good, and virtuous. In the novel’s final scene, David and Alan, who
by their titles and morals have every reason to disagree with and hate each other, part ways
as dear friends.
Authority, Treachery, and Justice
The relationship between justice and authority is complicated in Kidnapped. David’s journey
into adulthood requires that he shed his naïve assumption that those in authority are just. He
must go on the run from the law despite his innocence. However, his hope for restoration of
his birthright is ultimately achieved through the legal system that he spends most of the
novel fleeing. The difference between these two cases is a question of who has authority:
honorable or treacherous leaders.
David’s trust in authority gets him in trouble in the first place. Hoseason kidnaps him by
pretending to be an honorable sea captain. Despite this lesson, David continues to assume
that systems of authority will bring justice regardless of the men in power. When charged as
an accomplice in the murder of the Red Fox, David tells Alan he’ll go to court and protest his
innocence, saying he has “no fear of the justice of [his] country” (97). Alan tells David that the
Highlands aren’t his country and that the young man knows nothing about the character of
the people upon whom he would rely. He convinces David to make a run for it, a choice that
proves wise as the courts hang James Stewart, an innocent man, for the crime.
In his flight from the authority wielded by the treacherous Campbells, David learns to fear the
redcoats he once loved. However, once back in the south, David has no choice but to trust Mr.
Rankeillor, a lawyer and representative of the authority of the crown, before he can hope to
see justice done in the case of his birthright. Because Rankeillor proves to be an honorable
man, David’s rights are restored.
Once David secures his title and future, he proves willing to wield his authority to see justice
done. His final acts in the book are to smuggle Alan back to France and appeal to the courts
at his peril to clear James Stewart’s name. He takes his place as an honorable person of
authority working for justice.

The Duality of Human Nature
Though an adventure tale for young people, Kidnapped avoids painting its characters as fully
heroic or villainous. Instead, the novel, like most of Stevenson’s work, explores morally
complicated characters that capture the duality of human nature.
Even though they kidnapped David, the crew of the Covenant often treat each other with
kindness and honesty and have a sort of moral intuition that is, David says, “simple even
beyond the simplicity of a country lad like [him]” (38). Of Mr. Shaun, the ship’s pilot who
eventually beats the cabin boy to death, David observes, “he would not hurt a fly except when
he was drinking” (38). Captain Hoseason is both the orchestrator of David’s kidnapping and a
churchgoing family man on shore. He is willing to be treacherous but treats his crew with a
paternal hand, speaking to David with “tones of kindness” on the night of Ransome’s murder
(40).
David encounters further examples of this theme during his adventures in the Highlands. Alan
is noble, loyal, brave, a fine swordsman, and a keen guide to the countryside, but he is also
vain, murderous, and proud to a fault with a “childish propensity to take offence and pick
quarrels” (66). Henderland is a kindly old priest with an addiction to snuff. James Stewart
gives David and Alan the support and resources they need to survive their flight into
countryside, yet he puts out a warrant for their arrest knowing they’re innocent to protect the
guilty party. Cluny, who takes David and Alan in after their trials on the moor, also drinks and
gambles to excess. Even Ebenezer Balfour, who is greedy and villainous, reveals that he has
some sense of family and morality when he offers to pay for his nephew to be kept captive
rather than pinch pennies and have him killed. No one is fully good or bad, noble or ignoble,
but each has their own “faults and virtues” (38).

Symbols & Motifs
The Silver Button
Initially a gift of friendship from Alan to David, the silver button plays a part in the novel’s
rising action and comes to symbolize David’s progress into adulthood and the role that Alan
plays in his development. The skirmish in the roundhouse, where David and Alan fight off the
Covenant’s crew, marks David’s first steps from adolescence into adulthood. It is the first
time David openly rebels against his captors, taking up arms alongside Alan. After the melee,
Alan cuts the button from his soldier’s coat (a symbol of Alan’s adulthood) and gives it to
David with the promise that whenever he presents it, Alan’s friends will rally to his aid.
Alan’s promise proves true during David’s trek across the Highlands, as the button opens
doors that even money won’t. At each dead end, David needs only to show the button to learn
where he should go next to find his friend. In those early days when he is venturing alone
across the Highlands, the button becomes part of his identity, with those who recognize it
greeting him as “the lad with the silver button” (79, 86). With the help of the button, David
gradually finds his way to Alan, who continues to guide the young man on his journey into
adulthood.
Secrets
Secrets and secret keeping is an important motif throughout Kidnapped, particularly in

relation to David’s moral development. At the start of the novel, Ebenezer’s secretive nature
mirrors David’s black-and-white view of the world. Ebenezer keeps secrets for malicious
reasons tied to schemes and selfish plots. Much of the Highlanders’ code of honor is also tied
to secrets, a fact David comes to see as virtuous. When Alan and James Stewart recoil in
horror at the idea of revealing the Red Fox’s assassin, David can’t help but admire their code
of secrecy, however backward it may seem. As Alan and David trek across the Highlands, they
rely upon the secrecy of the northern clansmen to protect their identities. At the end of the
novel, David has secrets of his own as he works to arrange Alan’s transport to France.
Banned Clothing
Kidnapped highlights the oppression of the Highlanders by the crown, emphasizing the ban
on traditional Scottish garb. Kilts and tartan plaid aren’t simply clothing related but are
symbols of standing, family, clan, and honor. A man’s clothes reveal his clan loyalties,

standing, and role. The ban on this clothing symbolizes the crown’s oppression of the
Highlanders: how the king seeks to undermine clan loyalties and sense of identity, punishing
adherence to tradition even more harshly than the crime of bearing an illegal weapon. This
oppression is another example of the miscarriage of justice by corrupt leadership.
As David makes his way across the Highlands, he sees the effects of this policy, with many
locals going bare legged rather than wearing English trousers or stitching their kilts into
baggy shorts. Even this, David notes, will bring harsh punishment if discovered. The only men
David encounters who wear kilts are those in open rebellion against the crown or those
working alongside the crown to subjugate rebels.

Important Quotes
1. “I, for my part, was overjoyed to get away out of that quiet country-side, and go to a great,
busy house, among rich and respected gentlefolk of my own name and blood.”
(Chapter 1, Page 9)
Occurring near the start of the novel, this quote reflects David’s starting point on his coming-
of-age journey. He is an optimistic and innocent country boy eager to leave behind his humble
past, expecting nothing but the best from his uncle. His adventure through the Highlands will
temper his easy trust and teach him the value of loyal friends like the village priest he happily
leaves behind.
2. “The pride of life seemed to mount into my brain at the sight of the red coats and the
hearing of that merry music.”
(Chapter 2, Page 10)
David’s swell of patriotism at the sight of British troops and the sound of their marching
music creates an ironic contrast that highlights his transformation. In later chapters, he
comes to dread the sight of redcoats as he flees the British authorities.
3. “I was young and spirited, and like most lads that have been country-bred, I had a great
opinion of my shrewdness.”
Presented as a memoir, Kidnapped embraces many stylistic conventions of that genre
including highly subjective narrative reflection. The first-person narrator, presumably the older
and wiser Lord David Balfour, often frames the events of the novel and the actions of his
youth through a critical lens. Though it is written in the first person, temporal distance gives
room for the novel’s speaker to critique his own actions and attitudes.
4. “No class of man is altogether bad, but each has its own faults and virtues; and these
shipmates of mine were no exception to the rule. Rough they were, sure enough; and bad, I
suppose; but they had many virtues.”

Occurring shortly after David’s kidnapping, this quote acts as a thesis for the novel’s thematic
interest in The Duality of Human Nature. Though the crew of the Covenant just robbed David
of his prospects, money, and freedom, he sees them as morally complex people who were
equally capable of good.
5. “Indeed, I found there was a strange peculiarity about our two mates: that Mr. Riach was
sullen, unkind, and harsh when he was sober, and Mr. Shuan would not hurt a fly except when
he was drinking.”
The quote reflects the novel’s thematic interest in The Duality of Human Nature by
contrasting Riach and Shaun. Shaun, who abhors violence when sober, will go on to beat
Ransome to death when he is drunk. Conversely, Riach, who is kind, thoughtful, and generous
to David when drunk, is miserable and mean when sober. Each man is a different sort of
person when under the influence of alcohol, expressing a contrary side of himself that is
repressed when sober.
6. “He was smallish in stature, but well set and as nimble as a goat; […] his eyes were
unusually light and had a kind of dancing madness in them, that was both engaging and
alarming; and when he took off his great-coat, he laid a pair of fine silver-mounted pistols on
the table, and I saw that he was belted with a great sword. His manners, besides, were
elegant, and he pledged the captain handsomely. Altogether I thought of him, at the first
sight, that here was a man I would rather call my friend than my enemy.”
Coming shortly after Alan’s arrival on the Covenant, this description paints him as an
archetypical hero of the sort that Stevenson’s audience would likely find admirable and
familiar. David is still young and impressionable and has yet to take steps on his journey to
adulthood. As David matures and becomes closer with Alan, he will come to see the man’s
faults and vices. For now, though, Alan seems to be an unambiguous hero.
7. “They stripped him of his powers; they stripped him of his lands; they plucked the weapons
from the hands of his clansmen, that had borne arms for thirty centuries; ay, and the very
clothes off their backs—so that it’s now a sin to wear a tartan plaid, and a man may be cast
into a gaol if he has but a kilt about his legs. One thing they couldnae kill. That was the love
the clansmen bore their chief.”

Alan’s description of the oppression of the Highlanders by the British crown parallels David’s
disinherited state, and as he journeys across Scotland, he will see further similarities between
his situation and that of the Highlanders. Both have been deprived of land, title, and power.
Despite this, the Highlanders remain committed to their people and traditions, and David will
take a lesson from them in tenacity and loyalty that will help him regain his estate.
8. “Charles the Second declared a man could stay outdoors more days in the year in the
climate of England than in any other. This was very like a king, with a palace at his back and
changes of dry clothes.”
The Highland landscape of Kidnapped is harsh and unforgiving, particularly to those

unfamiliar with it. While this quote makes a small jab at those who speak from a place of
comfort about the ease of outdoor living, it also underlines the differences between England
and the Scottish Highlands. David witnesses the political, cultural, and ethical differences
between the two lands.
9. “I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both; and I believe they both get paid in
the end; but the fools first.”
Folly costs David his freedom, his birthright, and nearly his life. This quote comes after he
escapes from being marooned in the cold and rain after the Covenant sinks. David’s coming-
of-age journey carries him through a harsh and politically complicated landscape. He must
outgrow his youthful folly and learn from his mistakes to make his way back home.
10. “Thought I to myself: ‘If these are the wild Highlanders, I could wish my own folk wilder.’”
David’s assumptions about the Highlanders led him to believe that the fishermen who
laughed at him while he was marooned did so out of cruelty rather than simple
misunderstanding. However, he quickly finds the Highlanders to be kind, generous, and
helpful to strangers. This quote reflects his changing opinion about people whom he will
gradually come to respect and admire.

11. “It was not very easy to apologise; for I could scarce tell him (what was the truth) that I
had never dreamed he would set up to be a gentleman until he told me so.”
David has biases about class that make it hard for him to recognize northern gentry. His
ignorance leads him to clumsily insult a Highland gentleman by trying to bribe him for
information as if he were a peasant. A common motif throughout Kidnapped is the general
(though not universal) association of upper-class people with moral integrity. By failing to
recognize the gentleman’s class status, David symbolically fails to recognize his honor and
virtue.
12. “[T]here’s love too, and self-denial that should put the like of you and me to shame.
There’s something fine about it; no perhaps Christian, but humanly fine. […] There’s many a
lying sneck-draw sits close in kirk in our own part of the country, and stands well in the
world’s eye, and maybe is a far worse man, Mr. Balfour, than yon misguided shedder of man’s
blood.”
David has a growing sympathy for the Highlanders. This speech by Henderland articulates
the lesson that David will take with him: the moral difference between Whigs and Jacobites is
not a matter of simple right and wrong. People can hold contrary political and moral positions
and still be honorable, virtuous, and just, illustrating the theme of The Validity of Diverse
Ethical Positions.
13. “‘O!’ says I, willing to give him a little lesson, ‘I have no fear of the justice of my country.’
‘As if this was your country!’ said he.”

David lost his birthright and freedom due to his naïve trust in authority. Now, despite having
fought the sailors of the Covenant, escaped shipwreck, and made his way to Alan, the young
man shows that he has much to learn about justice and power. David retains his childhood
assumption that the legal system is just. His time among the Highlanders will show the limits
of this view.

14. “Mr. Henderland’s words came back to me: that we ourselves might take a lesson by
these wild Highlanders. Well, here I had taken mine. Alan’s morals were all tail-first; but he
was ready to give his life for them, such as they were.”
Despite the political and moral differences between David and Alan, they are bound by a
shared sense of honor. Alan’s commitment to his values is admirable to David; it’s a lesson
that David takes to heart and that comes into play in the novel’s final conflict as David
decides whether to place himself at risk to clear James Stewart’s name.
15. “‘I have often observed,’ says Alan, ‘that you Low-country bodies have no clear idea of
what’s right and wrong.’”
As a first-person narrative, Kidnapped explores the contrast between David and Alan from
David’s perspective. This quote is one of the few moments when Alan expresses his
perspective on their differences. Mirroring David, Alan finds his friend’s ethical impulses
backward and confusing at times. Both, however, develop respect for the other despite their
contradictory senses of right and wrong and highlight The Validity of Diverse Ethical
Positions.
16. “The business was the most wearing I had ever taken part in. A man had need of a
hundred eyes in every part of him, to keep concealed in that uneven country and within cry of
so many and scattered sentries.”
Weariness plays a large part in Kidnapped’s narrative. The rugged landscape is a metaphor
for the struggle to come into adulthood. It is as much a part of the landscape as the rocks and
the heather, and it is one of the greatest threats to Alan and David. Twice, it nearly leads to
their capture (first on the rocks and then on the moors), and it is a cause of the rift that grows
between them.
17. “He gave us the news of the country; that it was alive with red-coats; that arms were being
found, and poor folk brought in trouble daily; and that James and some of his servants were
already clapped in prison at Fort William, under strong suspicion of complicity.”

As James and Alan predicted, the courts are more interested in oppression and vengeance
than justice. James is eventually executed for aiding the assassination of the Red Fox. This
news not only re-establishes the threat that Alan and David fac, but it is also a reminder of the
injustice of the Campbell government.
18. “[T]aking things in their proportion, Alan’s society was not only a peril to my life, but a
burden on my purse. But there was no thought of the sort in the honest head of my
companion. He believed he was serving, helping, and protecting me.”
As David travels with Alan, the dynamic of their relationship gradually shifts from mentor-
student to friends on equal footing. The quote represents the moment David realizes that
Alan is a responsibility and possibly even a burden. The acceptance of the responsibility of
friendship marks David’s transition from adolescence to adulthood.
19. “Alan never referred to my estate without a touch of a sneer, when we were alone; but with
strangers, he rang the words out like a herald.”
The quote captures the dual nature of Alan’s pride, which David finds both admirable and
infuriating. Alan’s pride sometimes tips over the edge into vanity or leads to childish
competition and easy offense. Yet the same sense of pride drives Alan’s more honorable and
virtuous qualities. He is brave and self-sacrificing because of his pride in his clan and name.
His pride is simultaneously a fault and a virtue.
20. “‘Alan,’ cried I, ‘what makes ye so good to me? What makes ye care for such a thankless
fellow?’
‘‘Deed, and I don’t know,’ said Alan. ‘For just precisely what I thought I liked about ye, was that
ye never quarrelled:—and now I like ye better!’”
Coming after Alan and David’s argument, this quote points to the novel’s thematic interest in
the relationship between conflict and friendship. Kidnapped highlights the ethical and
political differences between Alan and David; however, until this moment, the two never

addressed their differences except in passing. Once David airs his grievances, their friendship
grows stronger. Despite their contrary ethical and political ideas, they see the good in the
other and like the other better for it.
21. “Other folk keep a secret among two or three near friends, and somehow it leaks out; but
among these clansmen, it is told to a whole countryside, and they will keep it for a century.”
Secrecy and loyalty go hand-in-hand for the Highlanders. This quote comes as David recovers
in Balquhidder. Though he was horrified by James Stewart and Alan’s willingness to hide the
identity of the Red Fox’s assassin, David relies on the Highlander’s code of honor and secrecy
to protect him. He suggests there is something admirable in their secrecy, harkening back to
the novel’s thematic interest in The Validity of Diverse Ethical Positions.
22. “‘You are not to forget, sir,’ said I, ‘that I have already suffered by my trustfulness; and was
shipped off to be a slave.’”
David presents his story to Rankeillor. After escaping his kidnappers, David sought Rankeillor
as the one person who could help him prove his birthright and claim his inheritance and title.
After his long road to the lawyer’s doorstep, David demonstrates the lessons he learned on
his adventures by testing Rankeillor’s loyalties rather than simply presuming his goodwill. He
is no longer a naïve, easily fooled country lad.
23. “[T]his piece of Quixotry on your father’s part, as it was unjust in itself, has brought forth a
monstrous family of injustices. Your father and mother lived and died poor folk; you were
poorly reared; and in the meanwhile, what a time it has been for the tenants on the estate of
Shaws! And I might add […] what a time for Mr. Ebenezer!”
Rankeillor lays out an argument that the novel has been making symbolically. Justice and
prosperity are only achieved when positions of leadership are filled by honorable people.
When David’s father bargained away Shaws, he subjected himself and his progeny to lives of
unjust trials. Even Ebenezer, the quote suggests, suffered from this bargain by being thrust

into a role that he was unprepared to fulfill. As in the Highlands, where poverty and injustice
abound due to corrupt leaders, the original sin of Shaws led to the delay of David’s birthright
and the withering of the estate.
24. “Go and do your duty; and be hanged, if you must, like a gentleman. There are worse
things in the world than to be hanged.”
David has become the Lord of Shaws, and with that birthright comes responsibility. In this
quote, the novel answers the thematic tension it set up between justice and authority.
Authority is a vehicle for justice when honorable and dutiful people are in positions of power.
Having attained his title, David prepares to right the wrong done to James Stewart’s name.
25. “[W]hen we got near to the place called Rest-and-be-Thankful, and looked down on
Corstorphine bogs and over to the city and the castle on the hill, we both stopped, for we both
knew without a word said that we had come to where our ways parted. […] neither one of us
looked the other in the face, nor so long as he was in my view did I take one back glance at
the friend I was leaving. But as I went on my way to the city, I felt so lost and lonesome, that I
could have found it in my heart to sit down by the dyke, and cry and weep like any baby.”
(Chapter 30, Pages 169 - 170)
The novel concludes with a passage that highlights its setting and themes. The references to
specific landmarks emphasize the role of the Scottish landscape in shaping the novel’s
adventurous plot and wistful mood. David’s response to parting with Alan also deepens the
theme of his coming of age. Although Alan helped him mature from a boy to a man, he could
cry like a baby at their separation.

Essay Topics
1. Pick three characters in Kidnapped and explore how they embody the novel’s interest in
The Duality of Human Nature.
2. Though he only appears in the novel’s early episodes, Ransome makes an impact on David
and appears in the narrator’s reflections later in the novel. Analyze the character of Ransome
and explore the nature of his lasting effect on the protagonist.
3. Kidnapped was initially written as a serial. How might the genre expectations of the
Victorian serial have influenced the structure, pacing, and story of the novel?
4. How does Kidnapped portray the relationship between personal ethics and social class?
Explore these elements in at least one character from each class: working class, middle class,
and gentry.
5. Alan Stewart and David Balfour are sometimes considered modern icons of Scottish unity.
Analyze the cultural and symbolic significance of these characters in light of Scottish history.
6. Before his kidnapping, David is a country boy from the south of Scotland who never left his
village. How does this background influence his initial experience of the Highlands? How
does his perspective evolve through his adventure?
7. Compare and contrast David’s disenfranchisement to the plight of the Highlanders after the
Jacobite rebellion. In what ways are they similar? How are they different?
8. Kidnapped incorporates the real-life events of the Appin murder and James Stewart’s
execution. How does James Stewart’s trial and execution shape the novel’s thematic interest
in Authority, Treachery, and Justice?

9. Alan and David’s relationship is an iconic representation of male friendship. Compare and
contrast it to another literary example of male friendship such as in The Three Musketeers ,
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, or Of Mice and Men .
10. Kidnapped is a story about male coming of age as David grows from a boy into an
established member of the landed gentry. In what ways might the story differ if it were told in
the same genre (historical adventure) but with a female protagonist?


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Authorial Context: Robert Louis Stevenson 6

C H A P TER S UM M A RIES & A N A LYS ES 9

The Validity of Diverse Ethical Positions 32

The Silver Button 35

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This study guide refers to the 2017 Digireads.com edition.

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Authorial Context: Robert Louis Stevenson

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Historical Context: The Jacobite Rebellion and the Appin Murder

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary: “I Set Off on My Journey to the House of Shaws”

Chapter 2 Summary: “I Come to My Journey’s End”

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Chapter 3 Summary: “I Make an Acquaintance of My Uncle”

Chapter 4 Summary: “I Run a Great Danger in the House of Shaws”

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Chapter 5 Summary: “I Go to the Queen’s Ferry”

Chapter 6 Summary: “What Befell at Queen’s Ferry”

Chapters 1-6 Analysis

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Chapter 7 Summary: “I Go to Sea in the Brig Covenant of Dysart”

Chapter 8 Summary: “The Round-House”

Chapter 9 Summary: “The Man With the Belt of Gold”

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Chapter 10 Summary: “The Siege of the Round-House”

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Chapter 11 Summary: “The Captain Knuckles Under”

Chapter 12 Summary: “I Hear of the ‘Red Fox’”

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Chapter 13 Summary: “The Loss of the Brig”

Chapter 7-13 Analysis

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Chapter 14 Summary: “The Islet”

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Chapter 17 Summary: “The Death of the Red Fox”

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Chapters 14-17 Analysis

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David also continues to develop his understanding of moral complexity as he increasingly

Chapter 18 Summary: “I Talk With Alan in the Wood of Lettermore”

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Chapter 19 Summary: “The House of Fear”

Chapter 20 Summary: “The Flight in the Heather: The Rocks”

Chapter 21 Summary: “The Flight in the Heather: The Heugh of Corrynakeigh”

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Chapter 22 Summary: “The Flight in the Heather: The Moor”

Chapter 23 Summary: “Cluny’s Cage”

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Chapter 24 Summary: “The Flight in the Heather: The Quarrel”

Chapter 25 Summary: “In Balquhidder”

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Chapter 18-25 Analysis

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Chapter 26 Summary: “End of the Flight: We Pass the Forth”

Chapter 27 Summary: “I Come to Mr. Rankeillor”

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