CLASS: XII

SECTIONS: ALL
SUBJECT: ENGLISH CORE
SESSION: 2025-26

THE RATTRAP
‐Selma Lagerlöf
(Flamingo)
NOTES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Selma Lagerlöf (1858‐1940) was a Swedish writer. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in
Literature, which she was awarded in 1909. In 1914, she was the first woman to be granted a membership
of the Swedish Academy. A universal theme of goodness and humanitarian spirit in people's hearts runs
through her works. The Rattrap, based on a similar theme, is written in the form of a fairy tale.

VOCABULARY LIST

1. unwonted :
2. vagabond :
3. incredulous :
4. staggered :
5. puckered :
6. jagged :
7. foreboding :
8. dissimulate :
9. acquaintance :
10. intercede :

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Comment on the metaphor of the rattrap as expounded by the rattrap seller.

The rattrap seller imagines the rattrap to be a for the world with the riches and

temptations that it offers as baits for the people encircling it. The land, cities and villages offer riches and

joy, shelter and food, heat and clothing, as the rattrap offers cheese and pork to deceive the rat. As soon

as anyone lets themselves be tempted by the materialistic baits offered by the world, they are trapped and

doomed to a no-escape existence forever. The rattrap seller’s perception of the world is essentially

(1) and (2) .

2. Did the peddler respect the confidence reposed in him by the crofter? What light does it throw on the

peddler’s character?
 The peddler did not respect the confidence reposed in him by the crofter as he enjoyed the crofter’s

hospitality, shared his food and secrets but at the opportunity without

any tinge of remorse.

The peddler thus betrayed / appreciated the crofter’s trust, and showed no regard for his hospitable /

hostile and generous treatment. This shows that the peddler led a largely unscrupulous life devoid of

principles. He lived for the moment and believed in satisfying the immediate needs pertaining to his

survival.

3. What did the peddler have to keep to the woods after leaving the cottage? What happened as a result?

After stealing the crofter’s money, the peddler decided to be clueless / cautious / careless and thus, kept

off the highway lest his theft gets detected. He, thus, went into the woods.

After travelling for a few hours, the peddler lost his direction and realised that while he walked in a definite

direction, the paths twisted back and forth resulting in the entrapment/ welcome/ subsumption in the

forest. He finally realised that the forest was like a rattrap which had ensnared / entailed him and from

which there was no escape.

4. Why did the peddler decline the ironmaster’s invitation? What made him accept Edla’s invitation?

The peddler declined the ironmaster’s invitation for the fear of being caught for stealing the old crofter’s

money. Moreover, if he accompanied the ironmaster to his home, the fact that he is not an old regimental

officer, as construed by the ironmaster, would be revealed. The ironmaster appeared to be an influential

man, and the tramp did not, thus, want to throw himself ‘into the .’

However, he accepted Edla’s invitation as her warmth, selfless attitude and compassion instilled a sense of

self confidence in him and introduced him for the first time, to the rare sincerity and selfless devotion which

Edla espoused. She offered that the peddler could leave as freely as he would come in such a

manner and with so much conviction that he could not her invitation.

5. Why did the peddler sign himself as Captain Von Stahle?

The peddler was touched by the kind and selfless treatment given by Edla. She treated him like a real captain
 in spite of his effort to present himself as the ironmaster’s old regimental comrade. Edla’s essential

goodness awakened the active/ dormant goodness of his own heart and he decided to life to the

expectations of this elevated status. He, thus, signed himself as , and

sent across a message and promise to Edla that he would change his ways to rise above the standards of a

caught in a world’s rattrap.

6. How did the peddler spend his Christmas at the Willmansson mansion?

The peddler spent his Christmas at the Willmansson mansion by sleeping for hours. He was interrupted

from his blissful sleep only to let him cherish the various rituals of Christmas. However, after registering his

presence in all the rituals, and thanking the Willmansson family for their generosity, he went to sleep again

and continued to sleeping till the next morning. It seemed as though he slept with a sense of

(1) and (2) for the first time in his life. His long sleep

helped to purge out his old ways and he woke as a reformed and transformed man.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

1. How does the metaphor of the rattrap serve to highlight the human predicament?

The metaphor of the rattrap exposes man’s vulnerability and restlessness in the face of various joys and

pursuits of luxury offered by the world. Looking from the vantage point of an outsider and marginalised

figure, the rattrap seller is able to visualise the rattrap as a microcosm of the world at large with the riches

and luxury functioning as baits to tempt human beings and ensnare them forever.

However, as the story unfolds the author exposes rattrap seller himself as vulnerable to the materialistic

baits offered as lures by society. Just as the bait of cheese and pork tempts and traps a rat, he too yields to

his temptations at the crofter’s cottage and consequently, runs to escape from the rattrap. His helplessness

in the face of a large unfeeling universe (functioning as a rattrap) is highlighted most when he feels himself

ensnared in the middle of a forest unable to find the way out. It is then that he realises that he has allowed

himself to recede deep into the contours of the forest, and there is no escape possible.

The rattrap seller’s philosophical perspective topsy turvied. It is only with Edla’s intervention and the
 essential goodness of her heart that the rattrap seller is able to shun his dishonest ways and elevate his

position as different from that of a rat caught in the world’s rattrap.

2. ‘But for Edla’s intercession, the peddler would never have been able to redeem himself from his

dishonest ways.’ Comment.

In ‘The Rattrap’, Edla functions as a (another word for initiator) in bringing

about the metaphorical / metamorphosis / mutation in the character of the rattrap seller. The rattrap seller

remains unaffected by the crofter’s hospitality. Showing scant regard for his hospitality and generosity, he

steals his money and remains unmindful of the fact that by committing the act, he has allowed himself to

be caught in the world’s rattrap. It is when he had accepted the fact later that he was doomed for life in

the rattrap, the author introduces Edla as the agent of his reformation. The peddler could not refuse her

invitation simply because he got moved by her sincerity and the goodness of her heart at the first instance.

Even when the peddler’s real identity is , Edla chooses to remain hospitable

towards him and wishes to provide him shelter in order to make his Christmas comfortable and memorable.

The peddler expresses his bewilderment as he attempts to come to terms with the rare selfless attitude

possessed by Edla. She offers him her father’s suit as a Christmas present and tells him that he would always

be welcomed at their place.

Edla’s (1) , (2) and (3) brings about a radical

transformation in his heart and the image of the world as a rattrap ready to engulf every human being

starts crumbling. The elevated status to which Edla raised him stirs the latent goodness of his heart and he

is able to redeem himself and turn a new leaf in his life.