The Evening and the Morning

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-5

Part 1, Chapters 6-10

Part 1, Chapters 11-15

Part 2, Chapters 16-20

Part 2, Chapters 21-24

Part 3, Chapters 25-29

Part 3, Chapters 30-34

Part 3, Chapters 35-37

Part 4, Chapters 38-40

Part 4, Chapters 41 - 43

Character Analysis

Themes

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Important Quotes

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Part 4, Chapters 41 - 43Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 4, Chapter 41 Summary: “September 1006”

Ragna stays busy. She has a new maid named Osgyth and a new guard, Ceolwulf. She stays in Edgar’s old house and replaces Dudda with Eanfrid as headman.

Wigelm arrives with Garulf. He tells her that Ethelred gave him a massive fine for divorcing her without his approval. He did not pay it. She wakes later to see that Osgyth and Ceolwulf are gone. She will fire them. She heard Wigelm outside. He is very drunk. He falls while trying to rape her. He is so disoriented that she is able to kneel on his chest and keep him from moving. He vomits from alcohol and the pressure on his chest; she covers his mouth and nose until he is dead. Ragna puts the body in the canal, makes it home, and tries to sleep. The next morning, she organizes search parties which quickly find the body.

Under questioning, Garulf says Wigelm had left the alehouse to urinate in the canal. However, a man named Bada does not think Wigelm drowned. No water came out of his mouth when they pulled him from the canal. He wants to see Ragna touch the body; there is a superstition that if a killer touches the victim’s body, it bleeds again. When Ragna touches the body, nothing happens.

She goes to Shiring and is nervous about seeing Alain after six months. She sees Den, who wonders who the new ealdorman should be. He thinks he and Ragna should rule together. Alain will inherit everything that belonged to Wilf and Wigelm. Den will be regent until Alain can take over, and Ragna will hold court. They will announce their decision the following day.

Ragna visits Alain, who is with Gytha and Meganthryth. They are in mourning. Gytha apologizes to Ragna for her cruelty and asks Ragna not to cut her off. A crowd arrives and Den says he has an announcement.

Part 4, Chapter 42 Summary: “October 1006”

At Ethelred’s court, the king supports Den’s proposal that he and Ragna share power. Garulf briefly protests.

Ragna needs to speak with Alphage to remove Wynstan from the bishopric. She invites him to observe Wynstan at mass. Wynstan performs the rites without any obvious issues, but then, suddenly and casually, he defecates on the floor. Ragna knows that she will no longer have any problems with him. She rides to King’s Bridge with Alphage, who dismissed Wynstan and then locked him in the lodge at Ragna’s suggestion.Aldred now lives in the former minster. Alphage wants him to replace Wynstan as bishop. He asks to be excused from the appointment since he still has work to do, unless the seat of the diocese could be moved to King’s Bridge. To Aldred’s surprise, Alphage agrees. Aldred says he knows what to do with Wynstan.

Ragna stands on the bridge and watches as Edgar appears on a boat. He sees her, and they kiss. That night, they make love five times. She asks him to marry her, and he wants to do it that day. First, however, they must get Ethelred’s approval. Ragna says she can make Edgar the lord of Lordsborough.

Part 4, Chapter 43 Summary: “January 1007”

As men work on the new cathedral. Ragna says Ethelred approves of their marriage. On Leper Island, Aldred and Agatha watch Wynstan, who is deteriorating quickly; he keeps forgetting why he is there.

Ragna and Edgar get married in a simple ceremony. Ragna realizes that, for the first time in as long as she can remember, she is happy. They now have a shared destiny that no one can interfere with.

Chapters 41-43 Analysis

Ragna finally gets the chance to take revenge on Wigelm. Just as he has often held her down and raped her, she is able to exploit his drunkenness to pin him to the ground and smother him. His reign of terror ends in a wretched way; he is physically overpowered and killed by a woman he constantly raped and mocked for her weakness.

Wynstan lives, but only after he humiliates himself in public while defecating during mass. The loss of his memory is a bittersweet victory for Ragna. His erratic thinking makes him obviously unfit for any position of power, but his memory loss also makes it possible for him to forget what he has done to earn his final spot on Leper Island. He may lose his memories of tormenting Ragna, killing Wilf, and exploiting his peasants.

These three instances of justice come about without King Ethelred’s help. In fact, Ethelred’s brief appearances in Part 4 serve primarily to show that, even as the most powerful man in the country, he is usually unwilling to help those who need him the most. His focus on political expediency and public relations leads Aldred to lament, “I understand that kings avoid conflict whenever they can, but sometimes a king should rule!” (830).

Nevertheless, Ragna regains control of her life. She and Aldred move into a new period of their lives, with greater control and influence over their futures than they ever had. Typical of Ragna, she wastes no time figuring out how to make the best use of her remaining years: “Nothing had gone the way she planned, but she was going to make the best of things. She still had most of her life ahead of her, and she was going to live it to the fullest” (850). She has no immediate plans to find a man, however. Like Blod and Mairead after Dreng’s death, she is simply ready for a time of peacefulness. She realizes that she is feeling something she thought was lost to her: “She was filled with a strange emotion that at first she did not recognize. After a moment she realized that she was happy” (900).

Ragna’s reunion with Edgar is the book’s most joyous moment. With their major behind them, they can marry and pursue their passions together. Edgar and Ragna can help each other rid themselves of their past while building a new legacy together. They are now in a position where the themes of power abuse and the lack of agency will no longer dictate the course of their lives.