History Literature / LornaDoone

* GildedCage: Lorna is treated as the clan's princess, but for all her status it is clear that she is all but a prisoner. [[spoiler: And it gets worse when Carver increasingly realises that she has no desire or intention of marrying him, at which point the gild starts getting rubbed off the cage very quickly.]]

It tells the tale of John Ridd, a freeholder in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry in the dying days of the reign of Charles II, and his struggles in love and violence. His father is murdered by the Doones, a clan of disgraced aristocrats turned bandits who rampage across Exmoor, terrorising who they may. For numerous reasons (including the complicated religious politics between the King and the aristocracy at the time) the authorities are either unwilling or unable to intervene, and incensed by the injustice Ridd naturally swears vengeance. But his life is complicated when he falls in LoveAtFirstSight with Lorna Doone, the beautiful and kind-hearted "princess" of the clan, who lives as a sheltered prisoner. The two begin a secret romance -- but Lorna is the key to the future fortunes of her family, and their love quickly becomes complicated by her mysterious past, the bitter history between the two families, the political intrigues and upheavals of the time, and most especially by Carver Doone, the violent and uncontrollable heir of the Doones, who considers Lorna betrothed to him [[EntitledToHaveYou whether she wants to be or not]]...

It tells the tale of John Ridd, a freeholder in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry in the dying days of the reign of Charles II. His father is murdered by the Doones, a clan of disgraced aristocrats turned bandits, and for numerous reasons (including the complicated religious politics between the King and the aristocracy at the time) the authorities are either unwilling or unable to intervene to prevent the Doones from rampaging across Exmoor and terrorising who they may. Incensed by the injustice Ridd naturally swears vengeance, but his desires are complicated when he falls in LoveAtFirstSight with Lorna Doone, the beautiful and kind-hearted "princess" of the clan, who lives as a sheltered prisoner. The two begin a secret romance -- but Lorna is the key to the future fortunes of her family, and their love quickly becomes complicated by her mysterious past, the bitter history between the two families, the political intrigues and upheavals of the time, and most especially by Carver Doone, the violent and uncontrollable heir of the Doones, who considers Lorna betrothed to him [[EntitledToHaveYou whether she wants to be or not]]...

It tells the tale of John Ridd, a freeholder in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry in the dying days of the reign of Charles II. His father is murdered by the Doones, a clan of disgraced aristocrats turned bandits, and for numerous reasons (including the complicated religious politics between the King and the aristocracy at the time) the authorities are either unwilling or unable to intervene to prevent the Doones from rampaging across Exmoor and terrorising who they may. Incensed by the injustice Ridd naturally swears vengeance, but his desires are complicated when he falls in LoveAtFirstSight with Lorna Doone, the beautiful and kind-hearted "princess" of the clan, who lives as a sheltered prisoner. The two begin a secret romance -- but Lorna is the key to the future fortunes of her family, and their love quickly becomes complicated by her mysterious past, the bitter history between the two families, the political intrigues and upheavals of the time, and most especially by Carver Doone, the violent and uncontrollable heir to the clan, who considers Lorna betrothed to him [[EntitledToHaveYou whether she wants to be or not]]...

It tells the tale of John Ridd, a freeholder in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry in the dying days of the reign of Charles II. His father is murdered by the Doones, a clan of disgraced aristocrats turned bandits, and for numerous reasons (including the complicated religious politics between the King and the aristocracy at the time) the authorities are either unwilling or unable to intervene to prevent the Doones from rampaging across Exmoor and terrorising who they may. Incensed by the injustice Ridd naturally swears vengeance, but his desires are complicated when he falls in LoveAtFirstSight with Lorna Doone, the beautiful and kind-hearted "princess" of the clan. The two begin a secret romance -- but Lorna is the key to the future fortunes of her family, and their love quickly becomes complicated by her mysterious past, the bitter history between the two families, the political intrigues and upheavals of the time, and most especially by Carver Doone, the violent and uncontrollable heir to the clan, who considers Lorna betrothed to him [[EntitledToHaveYou whether she wants to be or not]]...

* EarnYourHappyEnding
* FirstGirlWins

* SecondaryCharacterTitle

* WeddingSmashers: John and Lorna's wedding is interrupted by Carver Doone [[spoiler: shooting Lorna]].
* [[spoiler: WidowedAtTheWedding: Averted!]]

It tells the tale of John Ridd, a freeholder in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry in the dying days of the reign of Charles II. His father is murdered by the Doones, a clan of disgraced aristocrats turned bandits, and for numerous reasons -- including the complicated religious politics between the King and the aristocracy at the time -- the authorities are either unwilling or unable to intervene to prevent the Doones from rampaging across Exmoor and terrorising who they may. Incensed by the injustice Ridd naturally swears vengeance, but his desires are complicated when he falls in LoveAtFirstSight with Lorna Doone, the beautiful and kind-hearted "princess" of the clan. The two begin a secret romance, but Lorna is the key to the future fortunes of her family, and their love quickly becomes complicated by her mysterious past, the bitter history between the two families, the political intrigues and upheavals of the time, and most especially by Carver Doone, the violent and uncontrollable heir to the clan, who considers Lorna betrothed to him [[EntitledToHaveYou whether she wants to be or not]]...

Written by R. D. Blackmore in 1869, ''Lorna Doone'' is the tale of John Ridds, an English freeholder in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry who falls in love with [[TitleDrop Lorna Doone]], a woman from the family who killed his father. John is torn between his love for Lorna and desire for revenge on her family. Regarded as a classic of British Victorian literature, it has been adapted into no less than seven films and television series, the most recent of which was released in 2000 and featured future ''Series/GameOfThrones'' star Creator/AidanGillen, a young Creator/JamesMcAvoy, and an even younger Creator/JesseSpencer.

* AMinorKidroduction: John begins his tale as a boy at school, before he is summoned home due to the murder of his father. His first meeting with Lorna also occurs a couple of years after this when the two are still children. Following this, the novel then skips ahead a few years to when both have reached maturity.

** The Doones in general are contrasted with Tom Faggus. Both are outlaws with a reckless streak and a taste for action, but while the Doones are cruel, unnecessarily and indiscriminately violent and cause the locals to live in fear, Tom is respected and admired by almost all because he acts a Robin Hood figure towards the locals, keeps the violence to a minimum, and only targets those he feels have done something to justify it.

* PragmaticVillainy: The Doones have a certain amount of this, under Sir Ensor's leadership at least. They're wild and inclined to take whatever they want from the locals, but they do realise that there are ''some'' limits to what they can get away with, because ultimately for all their pretensions to their former aristocracy they're essentially just glorified bandits with no real legal standing. If they push things too fair their allies in the local aristocracy and administration will abandon them, the locals -- who outnumber them -- will rise up against them in outrage or summon the King's armies who would pose a real threat to them. Ergo, while they're justly feared by the locals they do try to keep the needless atrocities to a minimum and are willing to offer some recompense, or at least not push things too far. The Counsellor, Carver's father and Ensor's son, in particular tries to present the appearance of being a reasonable and just person. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for them, once Sir Ensor dies the Doone inheritance passes to the more reckless and wild Carver, who gradually escalates matters until a raid on a farm where a toddler is killed needlessly and cruelly causes sufficient outrage among the locals to lead to a raid which destroys the Doone clan almost entirely.]]

Written by R. D. Blackmore in 1869, ''Lorna Doone'' is the tale of John Ridds, an English freeholder in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry who falls in love with [[TitleDrop Lorna Doone]], a woman from the family who killed his father. John is torn between his love for Lorna and desire for revenge on her family. Regarded as a classic of British Victorian literature, it has been adapted into no less than seven films and television series, the most recent of which was released in 2000 and featured future ''Series/GameOfThrones'' star Creator/AidanGillen a young Creator/JamesMcAvoy, and an even younger Creator/JesseSpencer.

Written by R. D. Blackmore in 1869, ''Lorna Doone'' is the tale of John Ridds, an English freeholder in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry who falls in love with [[TitleDrop Lorna Doone]], a woman from the family who killed his father. John is torn between his love for Lorna and desire for revenge on her family. Regarded as a classic of British Victorian literature, it has been adapted into no less than seven films and television series, the most recent of which was released in 2000 and featured future ''Series/GameOfThrones'' star Creator/AidanGillen and a young Creator/JamesMcAvoy.

* FirstGirlWins:

** The Doones are based on a real clan who turned to the outlaw life after a dispute over land saw them exiled by Charles I.

* FirstGirlWins

* AMinorKidroduction

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Not (usually) deliberate on John's part (though sometimes he may protest too much), but many people who interact with him take him to be a very simple and dull fellow, interested only in wrestling and farming.

Written by R. D. Blackmore in 1869, ''Lorna Doone'' is the tale of John Ridds, an English freeholder in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry who falls in love with [[TitleDrop Lorna Doone]], a woman from the family who killed his father. John is torn between his love for Lorna and desire for revenge on her family.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: The Doones. One of the chief reasons they're able to maintain their reign of terror over Exmoor for so long is their connections with (and influence over) the local aristocracy, judiciary and government officials.

* AMinorKidtroduction

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: If John had, Carver wouldn't have [[spoiler:shot and very nearly killed Lorna at her wedding to John]].

* UsefulNotes/CharlesII: The book is set during the later years of his reign (1672-1685), and the brief reign of his brother James II (1685-1688); the rebellion of Charles' illegitimate son the Duke of Monmouth against James, in which Tom Faggus gets caught up, is an important plot point, and John is knighted by King James. The legendary bawdiness of the Restoration period is rather subverted in the book (which, being written in the [[QueenVicky Victorian era]], would have soft-pedaled it anyway); the main setting is among the quiet, church-going farmers of the Exmoor area.

* CharlesII: The book is set during the later years of his reign (1672-1685), and the brief reign of his brother James II (1685-1688); the rebellion of Charles' illegitimate son the Duke of Monmouth against James, in which Tom Faggus gets caught up, is an important plot point, and John is knighted by King James. The legendary bawdiness of the Restoration period is rather subverted in the book (which, being written in the [[QueenVicky Victorian era]], would have soft-pedaled it anyway); the main setting is among the quiet, church-going farmers of the Exmoor area.

Written by R. D. Blackmore in 1869, ''Lorna Doone'' is the tale of John Ridds, an English freeholder in TheWestCountry who falls in love with [[TitleDrop Lorna Doone]], a woman from the family who killed his father. John is torn between his love for Lorna and desire for revenge on her family.

* TheWestCountry: Nearly the entire book, except for a segment in London about two-thirds of the way through, takes place in the counties of Somerset and Devon.

Written by R. D. Blackmore in 1869, ''Lorna Doone'' is the tale of John Ridds, an English freeholder in TheWestCountry who falls in love with [[TitleDrop Lorna Doone]], a woman from the family who killed his father. John is torn between his love for Lorna and desire for revenge on his family.

* CharlesII: The book is set during the later years of his reign (1672-1685), and the brief reign of his brother James II (1685-1688); the rebellion of Charles' illegitimate son the Duke of Monmouth against James, in which Tom Faggus gets caught up, is an important plot point, and John is knighted by King James. The legendary bawdiness of the Restoration period is rather subverted in the book (which, being written in the VictorianEra, would have soft-pedaled it anyway); the main setting is among the quiet, church-going farmers of the Exmoor area.

* GentlemanThief - Tom Faggus, a cousin of the Ridds' who [[spoiler: eventually falls in love with and marries John's sister Annie]].
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: numerous jokes are made throughout the book about John's huge size, including several gently teasing remarks by Lorna herself.
* MoralEventHorizon: The Doones go clear over this point when they attack a local farm, kidnapping the farmer's wife and murdering their young son. This finally pushes the local folk over the edge, and with John [[spoiler:who has by then been knighted by King James II]] at their head, they launch an all-out attack on the Doones' stronghold. Previously, the Doones had been held in check - more or less - by the influence of Sir Ensor Doone, the canny head of the clan; however, when he dies, command passes to the brutish Carver, who has no sense of restraint whatever.

* OneTruePairing: John and Lorna.

* OrphansPlotTrinket -- the 'glass' necklace, which [[spoiler:is in fact a very valuable diamond necklace which had originally belonged to Lorna's mother]].

* ShipperOnDeck -- John's mother, regarding him and Sally [[spoiler:until he tells her the truth about his love for Lorna]]. His uncle regarding John and Ruth Huckaback. His sister, regarding John and Lorna.
* SingleTargetSexuality -- both John and Lorna, though John admits that, if he'd never known Lorna, he could have married Ruth Huckaback.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections -- The Doones. One of the chief reasons they're able to maintain their reign of terror over Exmoor for so long is their connections with (and influence over) the local aristocracy, judiciary and government officials.
* StarCrossedLovers -- for at least two thirds of the book.
* TakeThat: the book is absolutely crammed with cracks and slighting references about lawyers and the legal profession. HilariousInHindsight, and also qualifies as SelfDeprecation, because the author, R.D. Blackmore, was himself a lawyer.
* TheHighwayman -- Tom Faggus
* TheWestCountry: nearly the entire book, except for a segment in London about two-thirds of the way through, takes place in the counties of Somerset and Devon.

* YouKilledMyFather: the incident that sets the whole plot of the book in motion. John's father is murdered while resisting a robbery [[spoiler:led by Carver Doone]], and while John is on his way back to the family homestead from public school after learning of the tragedy, he sees Lorna (as a child) for the first time.