The Rattrap Class 12 Notes: CBSE 12th English Chapter 4 Flamingo (Prose), Download PDF

The Rattrap Class 12 Notes: This article hands out revision notes for CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo (Prose) Chapter 4, The Rattrap. Also, find attached a PDF download link to save and download the complete and detailed revision notes for future reference. These handwritten notes have been prepared by our subject matter experts in accordance with the updated and revised CBSE Class 12 English Syllabus 2024. Students appearing for upcoming CBSE Board Examinations in 2024 must go through these Revision Notes.

The Rattrap is a simple yet beautiful story of a rattrap seller who transforms from being a thief to a nice person who returns the stolen amount. This change was brought by a lady who changed him through her generous, kind, and humble nature. Students are advised to read the summary presented in the revision notes to clearly understand the chapter. We have also presented a detailed analysis of the characters in the chapter and some important lines. The lines mentioned in the notes are important from the examination’s point of view as well.

Related:

CBSE Class 12 English Syllabus 2023-2024

CBSE Class 12 English Sample Paper 2023-2024

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Flamingo (Prose) All chapters

Revision Notes for CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo (Prose) Chapter 4 The Rattrap are:

About the Author:

Selma Logerlof was a famous Swedish writer whose works have been translated into multiple languages worldwide. Her writings are famous for bringing in the essence of humanness in them and talking about human nature. She believes that humans can be changed through understanding and love.  

 About the Story/ Synopsis of the Story

The story is based on the life of a rattrap seller who used to sell rattraps of materials he collected from begging and petty thievery. One day he went to a cottage alongside the road looking for a place to spend the night. He took thirty kronor from the old man’s house and started looking for a place to hide. Now, how did the rattrap save himself after stealing the money, and what happened next is explained in detail in the summary presented below. The story is based on the interesting fact that the entire world is a rattrap (cage) where baits like cheese and pork(wealth, money) are offered to the rats (humans).

Theme of Deep Water

The story is based on the theme of human behavior. How a human with some evil thoughts can be forced to perform an act that is good in nature, by showering him/her with some love, and affection, and giving him/her some amount of care and warmth. It explores human behavior and differences in the thinking process of humans to an extent that will leave you falling in love with each character. Study the summary below for more clarity, fun, and learning.

Character Sketches:

The Vagabond/Tramp/Rattrap Seller- The peddler was into bad deeds such as petty thievery, but he did that to keep his body and soul together. He understood the functioning of the world and was very practical and clever since he had a theory about his rattrap and the world. Despite his wrongful act of stealing thirty kronor from the old man’s house who gave him food, shelter, and supper, we can say that there was a good and humble person hidden inside him. He did not steal the money at night when he first encountered that the pouch near the window had money in it and at last, he returned the money back. That good person had to be brought back and nurtured with love and care. He was also an honest person since he accepted that he was not an old acquaintance and readily agreed to leave the place.

Mr. Ironmaster- He was a powerful, huge man just like we find people in the army regiment. At first, his character was shown as someone who is good at heart since he thought his old acquaintance should be helped because of his misfortune. But later, when he realized that the peddler was not an acquaintance he groaned in anger and threatened the peddler of calling the police. But he completely ignored the fact that he was the one who forced the peddler to come home and sent his daughter to fetch him.

Edla Willmansson- She is a beautiful lady with lovely thoughts and a very humble nature. Edla literally brought the good side of the peddler out in front of everybody through her humbleness and kindness. She is also a smart person and a good observer since she hints at the condition of the peddler and understands that he is either a thief or someone who has run away from jail. Despite knowing the truth, she fought with her father and made the rattrap seller stay for Christmas, just because she had promised Christmas cheer to the peddler. The story also tries to hint that she must be lonely in her life since she wants someone else to share the Christmas joy badly.

Summary (Important Points)

• There is a man who sells rattrap for his survival. He makes those rattraps on his own by stealing the materials he can manage to collect through petty thievery and begging.
• He had a line of thought about his rattrap and the world, “he was struck by the idea that the whole world about him — the whole world with its lands and seas, its cities and villages — was nothing but a big rattrap. It had never existed for any other purpose than to set baits for people. It offered riches and joys, shelter and food, heat and clothing, exactly as the rattrap offered cheese and pork, and as soon as anyone let himself be tempted to touch the bait, it closed in on him, and then everything came to an end”.
• One day as he walking down the road he came across a little cottage. He knocked on the door and asked for the shelter. An old man opened the door who was alone in the house and happily let the peddler in. He also offered him supper, and tobacco, and played cards with him, after which they went to sleep.
• The old man used to work at Ramjso Ironworks until his retirement, post which his daily bread and butter came from his cow. He said that last week he earned thirty kronor by selling milk and went to the window to fetch a pouch where the money was kept.
• The next day the old man went on to sell the milk and the peddler went on his own way. Later, he came back, smashed a window pane, took the pouch, and stole those thirty kronor.
• Scared of what he did just now, he chose to walk through the woods due to the fear of theft. On entering the woods, he realized that he had been lost and could not find a way to get out of it. Not in more than a second he realized that he had fallen into the trap he used to talk and think about. For those thirty Kronros, he would now be stuck in the forest.
• After leaving all the hopes of getting out of the forests as he was lying on the ground, he heard the sound of thumping. He followed the direction of the sound and came across Ramjso Ironworks. He asked for a place to stay and was offered one by the workers.
• Later, the owner of the Ramjso Ironworks came on a round. On seeing the vagabond lying near the furnace, he confused him with an old acquaintance and asked him to come home. The rattrap seller thought that given the condition he was in, the acquaintance might be given a few kronors, so he acted like the old acquaintance but refused to go home.
• Mr Ironmaster left after the peddler did not agree to go home with him. After half an hour, he heard the voice of a carriage. The ironmaster had sent his daughter to fetch the peddler, thinking that she might be able to persuade him.
• Edla Willmansson, the daughter of the ironmaster was so sweet with her words and gesture that the peddler could not say no to her. Then, all of them went home.
• On reaching home, the vagabond was offered new clothes and asked to freshen up. After getting cleaned up, the ironmaster realized that the rattrap seller was not an old acquaintance and asked him to leave. The peddler agreed and told him about his rattrap theory, to which the ironmaster laughed and threatened to call the police.
• Edla asked the peddler to stay for Christmas since he had been promised so. All of them spent the next two days and Christmas happily. After Christmas, when it was time for the rattrap seller to leave, Edla told him to keep the clothes and consider those as his Christmas present. The peddler was utterly shocked by the kind gestures of the lady.
• The next morning, Ironmaster and his daughter were off to church for their service, while the rattrap seller was still sleeping. While returning from the church, the ironmaster was frightened since he had heard in the church that a rattrap seller had stolen money from an old man’s house who lived down the street.
• As they reach home, the ironmaster asks his servants regarding the rattrap seller, to which they reply that he had gone long before and has left a note for Edla.
• The note that the thirty kronors and a sweet message for the lady. The note reads, “Honoured and noble Miss, “Since you have been so nice to me all day long as if I was a captain, I want to be nice to you, in return, as if I was a real captain — for I do not want you to be embarrassed at this Christmas season by a thief; but you can give back the money to the old man on the roadside, who has the money pouch hanging on the window frame as bait for poor wanderers. “The rattrap is a Christmas present from a rat who would have been caught in this world’s rattrap if he had not been raised to captain because in that way he got the power to clear himself. “Written with friendship and high regard, “Captain von Stahle.”

Important Lines from the Text with their Meanings

1. Keep body and soul together
This phrase refers to the survival of human beings. It means to keep oneself alive.

2. 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.

Answer. It seemed to the peddler that he had been trapped in the rattrap by the bait of thirty kronors. He was pretending to think that the trees in the forests were growing with their trunks and branches to catch hold of him because he stole those thirty kronors. And he understood that it was an end, since his rattrap, the forest, would not let him escape.

3. The tramp manners will fall away from him with the tramp clothes.

 For complete Revision Notes of The Rattrap, click on the link below

This is an important chapter from the examination's point of view as a long-form question can be asked from this lesson. Character sketches and summary of the chapter will assist you in forming well-informed and well-drafted answers in the exam that can get you a complete score.

Also Find:

CBSE Class 12 Syllabus All Subjects 2023-2024

CBSE Class 12 Deleted Syllabus All Subjects 2023-2024

CBSE Class 12 Sample Paper All Subjects 2023-2024

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 All Subjects