Table-Talk · Chapter
On Will-Making explained
Hazlitt explores the psychology and absurdities of will-making, examining how testators use their final dispositions to exert control, indulge caprices, punish slights, and project their egos beyond death.
What happens
Hazlitt explores the psychology and absurdities of will-making, examining how testators use their final dispositions to exert control, indulge caprices, punish slights, and project their egos beyond death. He discusses legacy-hunters, the disinheriting of relations for trivial offenses, posthumous avarice, and the strange case of a habitual liar who bequeathed imaginary wealth. The chapter reflects on how wills often reveal the testator's character—their weaknesses, whims, and prejudices—rather than rational generosity.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This passage marks the dramatic climax because it reveals the central psychological reversal: the lady who sco…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- The Psychology of Habit and Novelty
Hazlitt examines how testators act out of habit, whim, and caprice rather than reason, even in the face of death.
- Fame, Reputation, and Public Opinion
The desire for posthumous fame and control over one's legacy is a central theme, as seen in conditional bequests and name changes.
- Social Class and Pretension
Hazlitt critiques the pretensions of legacy-hunters and the social dynamics of flattery and expectation in inheritance.
Characters to notice
- William Hazlitt
Author and narrator; reflects on the motives and follies behind will-making.
Key passages
“The art of will-making chiefly consists in baffling the importunity of expectation.”
The main skill in writing a will is disappointing those who expect to inherit.
Hazlitt's central thesis on the perverse psychology of testators.
“It is not the errors of others, but our own miscalculations, on which we wreak our lasting vengeance. It is ourselves that we cannot forgive.”
We punish others in our wills not for their faults but for our own mistakes, because we cannot forgive ourselves.
Insight into the self-centered nature of disinheritance.
“We thus make a caprice immortal, a peculiarity proverbial.”
Through wills, we turn a passing whim into something permanent and famous.
Hazlitt's observation on how testators enshrine their eccentricities.
