The Prince And The Pauper
The exposition begins by introducing the characters Tom Canty and Prince Edward Tudor. Tom and Prince Edward were born in England on the same day, only Tom was born to a poor family and Prince Edward was born to a royal one. Tom's family didn�t want him, and from childhood he dreamt of a life where he was a prince. On the other hand, Prince Edward was wanted, prayed for, and celebrated by all of England for being a prince. Then, one day they meet and hence the story unfolds.
After Twain establishes who Tom Canty and Edward Tudor are, Tom�s fantasies of being a prince begin to be explored. He yearned so much to become a prince that he actually trained himself to portray the etiquette of a prince. Tom stumbled into the royal house and although all the odds were against him, Edward invited him into the palace. They exchanged stories about their different lives and they were both interested in living the other�s life. Simply for fun, they switched clothing, and were surprised to find that they looked exactly alike. This simple switch of clothing, however, now alters their entire life. Edward Tudor is thrown out of his palace and Tom Canty is taken to be the real prince. They each have to bear the new office and survive in completely opposite conditions. In each of their respective lives, the people they come in contact with write their claims of servanthood and kingship off as lunacy. During this time they both try to return to their respective lives, but obstacles are always blocking them from doing this.
The climax occurs when both the true and false kings are together at the parade. All of the nobles believe that the false king is the real king, but Tom Canty insists that Edward Tudor (although no one knew his true identity at this point) is the real king. Tensions rise when the location of the royal seal is used as a test to prove the real king. After all of the confusion and the recovery of the seal, the real Edward Tudor is placed on the throne.
Twain neatly and quickly wraps up the loose ends from here. After Edward Tudor is back on the throne, he restores order and peace to the British Empire. The people who helped him along on his journey back to the throne were rewarded, and those who hindered it, or were generaly rude, were punished for that too. Tom Canty and Miles Hendon were both rewarded richly as well.
Overall, The Prince and the Pauper was an interesting and well-crafted book. Mark Twain probably had many purposes for writing this, but one that stands clearly out is to contrast the extreme differences in the lives of the small upper and large lower classes that existed in England at the time. The book serves as a commentary of sorts regarding what Twain thinks and believes about the times and economy.