PASSION FOR EXCELLENCE
RAINBOW INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
2025-26
NOTES
SUBJECT: ENGLISH
Class: XII Topic :The Rattrap
THEMES OF THE CHAPTER
1. Kindness, Compassion and Empathy: Edla Willmansson shows kindness to the peddler,
treating him with respect and care. Her compassion leads the peddler to trust her and stay with
her family. Edla empathises with the peddler’s difficult life and treats him with understanding
and care. Her empathy helps him feel valued and respected.
2. Redemption: The peddler, influenced by Edla’s kindness, returns the stolen money and leaves
a note of gratitude. This act shows his desire to correct his wrongdoings.
3. Trust and Betrayal: The crofter trusts the peddler and shows him his money. The peddler
betrays his trust by stealing the money, showing the theme of trust and betrayal.
4. Appearances can be Deceptive: The ironmaster mistakes the peddler for an old friend due to
his appearance. This misunderstanding shows that outward looks can be misleading.
5. Human Loneliness: The crofter lives alone and wholeheartedly welcomes the peddler for
company. His loneliness is evident in his need for someone to talk to.
6. Moral Choices: The peddler faces moral choices when deciding whether to steal the crofter’s
money and later whether to return it. These choices reveal his character development.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
The Peddler: The peddler was a beggar who led a nomadic way of life. He was quite
imaginative. He wore rags, had sunken cheeks, and his eyes gleamed from hunger. He roamed
around the town selling rattraps that he made himself. He often obtained things either through
begging or by stealing. He possessed certain human flaws, such as the need to steal and beg to
meet his basic necessities. He believes that the entire universe resembles a giant rat trap. It
merely exists in order to attract others with bait. He believes that all wealth, happiness, food,
clothing, and shelter are merely traps.
Edla: The ironmaster’s daughter, is characterised as being not at all attractive, but humble and
extremely shy. Even after it is established that the peddler is not Captain von Stahle, she is
incredibly kind, convincing him to come to her house and then persuading her father to let him
stay for Christmas Eve. Edla is more smart and observant than her father, as seen by the fact that
she can identify the peddler’s fear and the likelihood that he has done a crime that he is evading
right away. She is the most admirable character in the story and her kindness and charity bring
about a change in the peddler’s heart.
The Iron Master: The Ironmaster was the owner of Ramsjo Ironworks. He thought the man
selling rattraps was an old friend from the army. He lacked the ability to make accurate
conclusions about others. He was a kind and gentle man. He welcomed the street vendor to his
home to look after him. He gets furious when he realizes that he had mistaken the stranger to be
an old friend. He not only invited the peddler to spend the night at his house, but also provided
him with a dinner of porridge. He was easily persuaded as it was on his daughter’s insistence
that he let the stranger remain at their house for Christmas festivities. He was a loving caring
father who could see things from his daughter’s perspective.
REFERENCE TO CONTEXT
…it was a big and confusing forest which he had gotten into. He tried, to be sure, to walk in a
definite direction, but the paths twisted back and forth so strangely! He walked and walked
without coming to the end of the wood, and finally he realized that he had only been walking
around in the same part of the forest. All at once he recalled his thoughts about the world and
the rattrap. Now his own turn had come. He had let himself be fooled by a bait and had been
caught. The whole forest, with its trunks and branches, its thickets and fallen logs, closed in
upon him like an impenetrable prison from which he could never escape.
1. How would you characterize the mood of the above extract?
A) mysterious, restful
B) ominous, despairing
C) thoughtful, whimsical
D) philosophical, anguished
Ans. B) ominous, despairing
2. By what bait had the peddler been fooled?
Ans. He had stolen money from the trusting crofter.
3. The consequence of ‘his own turn’ having come was that the peddler had________
Ans. got irreversibly lost in the thick, warped forest.
4. Name the author and the chapter
Ans. The chapter is titled as- The Rattrap and the author is Selma Lagerlof
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS (30 - 40 words)
1. Why was Edla happy to see the gift left by the peddler?
Ans. Edla felt very dejected when she came to know about the theft of the crofter’s money by the
peddler, but the gift left behind, which consisted of a small rattrap and three wrinkled ten kronor
notes, restored her faith in him. She felt happy because her trust in him had been justified. Her
kindness had finally changed the peddler and brought out his essential goodness.
2. Why did the stranger not tell the ironmaster that he was not Nils Olof?
Ans: The stranger did not tell the ironmaster that he was not Nils Olof because he thought that if
the gentleman believed that he was an old friend or acquaintance of his, then he might take pity
on him and help him with some money.
LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS (100 - 120 words)
1. How did the peddler feel after robbing the crofter? What course did he adopt and how
did he react to the new situation? What does his reaction reveal?
Ans. he crofter had treated the peddler with hospitality, and had even reposed his trust in the
poor vagabond. Still the peddler robbed him and was quite pleased with his smartness. However,
the fear of getting caught haunted him. So, he avoided the public highway and turned into the
woods. It was a big and confusing forest, and due to the approaching darkness, the peddler lost
his way. He got exhausted moving around the same place, and was filled with despair. He began
to feel that the forest was like a big rattrap and the thirty kronor he had stolen were like a bait set
to tempt him.
His reaction reveals that he was feeling guilty for having stolen the crofter’s money. His , heart
was filled with remorse and self-loathing for his act of weakness. However, his thoughts are
perhaps also a way of justifying his crime.
2. Give examples from the story, “The Rattrap” to show how the iron master is different
from his daughter.
Ans. The character of Edla Willmansson and that of the iron master are in stark contrast to each
other. Despite being young, the daughter displays a better sense of maturity than her father who
acts impulsively and behaves . casually. He jumps to conclusions without thinking. First he
mistakes the peddler to be an old regimental comrade and without confirming his identity he
instantly invites him to the manor house and again on realising his mistake he refers the matter to
the sheriff thoughtlessly. Edla, on the other hand, displays a keen sense of observation. She
rightly judges that her guest is a tramp and has a sympathetic attitude towards him. She
persuades her father to allow the guest to stay, leads him courteously to the dining table and
makes him eat despite her father’s protest. It is because of her compassion and generosity that
the peddler undergoes a change of heart and redeems himself from dishonesty. He leaves behind
thirty kronors to be given back to the old crofter and a Christmas present for Edla.