The Woman in Black: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

It is nine thirty at night on Christmas Eve, and Arthur Kipps and his family have just finished a happy, festive meal at their country home, Monk’s Piece. The rest of the family is gathered around the fire in the drawing room, but, before joining them, Arthur decides to step out for a moment and take in some fresh air. As Arthur takes in the night, he is relieved to find that the chilling rain and fog that have made the house feel gloomy even in the days leading up to Christmas have dissipated—the night is cold and clear. Arthur states that his spirit has been “excessively affected by the ways of the weather” for many years.

Though Monk Piece is only two miles from a good-sized village and seven from a larger market town, there is “an air of remoteness and isolation” to the place. Taking in his beautiful estate, Arthur recalls the first time he ever saw it. One afternoon, many years ago, Arthur was driving through town in a pony trap—a small, two-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage—with his partner at his law firm, Mr. Bentley. Having reached old age, Mr. Bentley lived primarily in the country and came to London for business only once or twice a week, and had suggested that Arthur—then thirty-five and a widower for twelve years, self-admittedly growing old before his time—acquire a country home as well.

While driving along, Arthur spotted Monk’s Piece and was immediately certain that the home would one day be his. He stopped the carriage and spent a moment looking at the handsome stone house, trying to deflect the “extreme emotions” he was feeling at the sight of the place and yet yearning to look at it longer. Arthur settled into the feeling that one day, the property will be his, and felt suddenly lighthearted. Before returning to London, Arthur asked Mr. Bentley to let him know if the house ever went up for sale.

Some years later, the house became available, and Arthur made an offer on it, which was accepted quickly. A couple of weeks later, Arthur brought the woman he was courting, Esmé Ainley, out to see the house, and there proposed to her. Very shortly afterward, Arthur and Esmé moved to Monk’s Piece; on moving day, Arthur felt he had “at last come out from under the long shadow cast by the events of the past.” Arriving in town and greeting his new neighbor, Mr. Bentley, Arthur saw that Bentley, too, seemed to have had a burden lifted from his own shoulders—Bentley, Arthur knew, had always blamed himself for everything that had happened to Arthur up in Crythin Gifford at Eel Marsh House.

None of the darkness in Crythin Gifford, though, is near Arthur’s mind as he takes in the night air now, on the clear, crisp Christmas Eve. For fourteen years, Monk’s Piece has been the “happiest of homes” for Arthur, Esmé, and her four children from her first marriage. Though Arthur used the house only as a weekend home for many years, he retired permanently to the country at the earliest opportunity, and now lives here full-time. Arthur thinks about his family, sitting snug and warm inside the house—Esmé’s oldest daughter Isobel’s three young sons are asleep in the attic, and tomorrow will enjoy a bright and cheerful Christmas Day.

Arthur heads back inside, looking forward to sitting quietly with his family and smoking a pipe. He enters the drawing room, where Esmé is sitting with her four children—Isobel, Oliver, Will, and Edmund—and Isobel’s husband. Isobel is twenty-four, with a matronly air. Oliver is nineteen and Will is eighteen, and both are still slightly childish despite already being off at college. Edmund, the youngest at fifteen, is sullen and reserved, with dark black hair and a private nature. Arthur loves Edmund best of all.

Arthur sits down in his armchair in the cozy drawing room adorned with Christmas decorations, and begins lighting a pipe, but soon realizes that there is a pause in the room, as if he has walked in on the middle of the conversation. When he asks what’s going on, Oliver stands up and begins turning out the lights; he reveals that they are about to start telling ghost stories.

As Oliver, Edmund, and Will compete with one another to tell the “most spine-chilling tale,” they pile on ridiculous details and horror-story clichés, until the stories they are telling become as wild and silly as they are lurid. Arthur is amused, at first, but as the game goes on, he begins feeling anxious and uneasy. He knows it is nothing but a game, and does not want to dampen their fun, but he is having trouble disguising how uncomfortable he is.

Edmund and Esmé urge Arthur to take part in the game, but Arthur refuses. It is all too much for him—none of them have any idea what real horror is. Unable to bear it any longer, Arthur proclaims that he has no story to tell, and leaves the room—and the house—abruptly. After taking a long walk in the orchard and steadying his pulse and breathing, Arthur worries that he has upset his family. He does, in fact, have a story to tell—a horrific true story of haunting, evil, and tragedy, but it is not appropriate for a Christmas Eve fireside game. Arthur has long been unable to shake the memory of his terrible past and is distraught that he cannot be free of it even at Christmastime.

Arthur realizes that he must tell his tale after all—not around the fireside, as a “diversion for idle listeners,” but written down on paper in great detail. Perhaps doing so, he thinks, will exorcise the demons he has been struggling with for many years. Arthur looks up at the moon and the bright stars one last time, and prays for peace of mind and the steadfastness needed to endure the “agonizing” task ahead of him.