Plot Summary
Chapter XXVII finds Edward (the true king) and Miles Hendon chained in a crowded prison room alongside some twenty other prisoners of both sexes. Hendon is bewildered and dejected after being rejected by his own household and thrown in jail, while Edward chafes at the indignity done to his royalty. The prison is chaotic: drunken brawling, ribald singing, and violence fill the nights after a jailer sells liquor to inmates. During the following week, townspeople come to gaze at Hendon the "impostor" and heap insults upon him.
A turning point arrives when Blake Andrews, a loyal old servant of the Hendon family, is brought in to identify the supposed impostor. Andrews publicly denies knowing Hendon but secretly kneels before him, confirming he recognized his master instantly. Andrews becomes an invaluable covert ally, smuggling in food and news under the pretense of coming to abuse the prisoner. Through Andrews, Hendon learns the full truth: his brother Arthur is dead, his father Sir Richard died shortly after forcing Edith to marry Hugh, and Hugh forged the letter that reported Miles dead. Hugh has since become a cruel and pitiless master over the Hendon estates.
Andrews also relays political news: the late king is to be buried at Windsor, and the coronation of "King Edward the Sixth" is set for the 20th. Edward is stunned to learn that someone is ruling in his name and that the Duke of Somerset has been made Lord Protector. Meanwhile, two Baptist women chained near Edward comfort him with gentle kindness, earning his deep gratitude. When Edward learns they face punishment, he is horrified. The next morning the prisoners are led into the jail yard, where Edward witnesses the two women burned at the stake while their young daughters scream and fight to reach them. Edward turns away, declaring the sight will haunt him until he dies. The chapter closes with Edward hearing the cases of other prisoners condemned to death for trivial offenses -- stealing cloth, finding a lost hawk -- and vowing to reform England's brutal laws.
Character Development
Edward undergoes the most significant transformation in this chapter. His experiences in prison strip away any remaining naivety about the justice system he nominally rules. The burning of the Baptist women marks a pivotal moment: rather than raging about his royal identity as he once would have, Edward turns inward, expressing grief and resolve. Hendon notices this shift, interpreting Edward's growing gentleness as a sign his "delusion" is fading, when in reality the boy is maturing into a more compassionate ruler. Miles Hendon, meanwhile, grapples with Edith's apparent betrayal, ultimately concluding that she recognized him but denied him for self-interested reasons -- though he cannot bring himself to curse her name.
Themes and Motifs
The chapter is the thematic climax of the novel's critique of unjust laws and cruel punishment. Twain uses Edward's imprisonment to argue that if laws are too harsh for a king to endure, they are too harsh for any subject. The motif of loyalty versus self-preservation runs throughout: Blake Andrews risks everything to secretly acknowledge his true master, while others deny Hendon to protect themselves. The burning at the stake of the Baptist women embodies the novel's indictment of religious persecution and disproportionate punishment. Edward's declaration that "kings should go to school to their own laws" encapsulates Twain's central thesis about empathy born from experience.
Literary Devices
Twain employs dramatic irony extensively: the reader knows Edward is the true king, making every indignity he suffers resonate with deeper meaning. Hendon's belief that Edward's growing gentleness signals recovering sanity is itself deeply ironic, since Edward is in fact becoming a wiser sovereign. Juxtaposition structures the chapter -- the loyalty of Andrews against the denial of others, the tenderness of the Baptist women against the brutality of their execution, the "little urchin" on the throne enacting merciful reforms while the real king witnesses cruelty firsthand. Twain also uses vivid sensory imagery in the burning scene, with yellow flames, blue smoke, and piercing screams, forcing the reader to share Edward's traumatic witness. The chapter's final image of the old lawyer displaying his mutilated ear stubs as "honourable scars" functions as a powerful symbol of unjust authority.