Chapter 2 Prologue Summary and Analysis – Anatomy by Dana Schwartz

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The Prologue opens on a moonless night in Edinburgh, 1817. Two young resurrection men, Davey (lookout) and Munro (gravedigger), are exhuming a fresh grave in Thornhill Kirkyard. Munro uses a quiet wooden spade to avoid the new guard hired to protect the cemetery. They remove the body of a woman, Penelope Harkness, after a spy named Jeanette tipped them off that no mortsafe or wealthy family would interfere. Davey strips her clothes and tosses them back into the coffin to avoid felony theft, then they refill the grave. Both men feel a strange unease in the still, smoky air but dismiss it. As they wheel the body toward the city, three well-dressed men intercept them. Munro flees, but Davey is caught. One of the men cuts Davey's arm and lets a drop of his blood fall into a purple liquid inside a vial. The liquid glows golden, and the three men smile. The next morning, a priest finds the abandoned wheelbarrow with Penelope's body, blaming resurrection men. The chapter ends with an excerpt from Dr. William R. Beecham's Treatise on Anatomy, in which the doctor defends using executed criminals for dissection and condemns the illegal trade in stolen bodies.

Key Events

Davey and Munro dig up Penelope Harkness's grave using a quiet wooden spade to avoid detection.
Munro ties a rope around the corpse’s neck and pulls it from the coffin; Davey removes her clothes to avoid a felony charge.
Jeanette, a young spy, had earlier informed Munro of the burial—no mortsafe and a cheap coffin meant easy profit.
Both men feel an unusual tension in the windless, smoke-choked air.
Three strangers in cloaks and fine leather shoes block their exit from the kirkyard.
Munro runs away, shouting at Davey to follow, but Davey hesitates and is captured.
The tall man in a stovepipe hat cuts Davey's arm and lets blood drip into a purple vial, which turns bright gold.
The next day, the priest finds the wheelbarrow and the body, lamenting the boldness of resurrection men.
A passage from Dr. Beecham’s book explains the medical necessity of dissection and condemns grave robbing, while claiming his own subjects are legally obtained from the gallows.

Character Development

Davey – A timid, superstitious boy who blushes while undressing the corpse and is paralyzed by fear when the strangers appear. His inability to run leads to his capture.
Munro – The more experienced and confident of the pair. He reassures Davey, takes charge of the digging, and instinctively flees when danger arrives, leaving his partner behind.
Jeanette – A pragmatic, rough-edged girl who works for whichever resurrection man pays most. She is characterized only through her dialogue with Munro—brash, toothsome, and businesslike.
The Three Men – mysterious, well-dressed figures who move in unison and laugh together. They carry a rope and a vial, and they deliberately test Davey's blood, suggesting a hidden purpose beyond simple theft or law enforcement.
Dr. Beecham – Introduced only through his treatise, he presents himself as a proponent of ethical anatomy, yet his methods rely on the bodies of the hanged, revealing the period’s moral tensions.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Death as Commodity – The body of Penelope Harkness is treated as merchandise, worth eight guineas. The resurrection men, the spy, and the doctors all view corpses as sources of income or scientific advancement.
Class and Privilege – The three men wear fine leather shoes, contrasting with the impoverished resurrection men. Their ability to intercept the body and experiment on Davey’s blood highlights how wealth grants access to forbidden knowledge.
Light and Darkness – The moonless night, the candle in the rectory that goes out, and the glowing golden vial all create a visual motif of hidden truths emerging in blackness.
Science and Morality – Dr. Beecham’s treatise opposes grave robbing yet depends on executed criminals, raising questions about the ethical boundaries of anatomical study.
Fear of Disease – Davey worries about “Roman fever” (possibly a cholera epidemic), reflecting the era's dread of contagious illness and its link to the dead.

Why This Chapter Matters

The Prologue establishes the gritty, historically grounded world of Edinburgh’s body-snatching trade. It introduces the central tension between legitimate medical progress and the illegal means often used to obtain cadavers. The mysterious blood test performed on Davey suggests a supernatural or secret scientific element that will likely drive the plot forward. By beginning with grave robbing and ending with a medical treatise that condemns the practice, the chapter sets up the novel's core conflict: the pursuit of anatomical knowledge clashes with ethical and legal boundaries, and characters on both sides—resurrection men, doctors, and strangers—will be drawn into that struggle.

Study Questions

1. Why do Munro and Davey remove the dead woman’s clothes before leaving the grave?
To avoid a felony charge. Stealing a body is only a misdemeanor under British law, but taking any property from the grave (such as a shroud or clothing) makes the crime a capital offence.

2. What is the function of the purple vial that the three men use on Davey?
The vial contains a liquid that reacts to Davey's blood by turning bright gold. The men are clearly seeking something in his blood—possibly a marker or test for some hidden quality—and they smile when it glows, indicating the result is what they wanted.

3. How does Dr. Beecham justify his use of cadavers, and what does his treatise reveal about attitudes toward resurrection men?
He claims that executed criminals, by law, should serve society posthumously through dissection, and that his school never uses bodies stolen from graves. His tone condemns resurrection men as “nefarious,” yet his own methods rely on the state's capital punishment, highlighting the era’s double standard.