I rated this book 2 stars because I hated every moment of reading it, not because of any deeper literary analysis or an attempt to be fair towards the author. I understand this book was written almost 150 years ago (almost exactly as far in the past as the story is set from when it was written) and that the intended audience was children. To those English majors, I say, "pffffttttt." What little of the language I could understand was so infuriatingly pompous it was just such a turn off. The characters and plot were such caricatures (yes, i know, children's book) it was so annoying.