Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess

Platt uses the motif of hunting to develop the theme of Interdependence in Medieval Communities by exposing the fundamental injustices of the feudal system. For the aristocracy, the hunt is a highly ritualized and glorious sport, a demonstration of martial prowess and social dominance. The boar hunt is presented as an “exciting and dangerous” spectacle complete with horns, hounds, and a gathering of nobles (25). It is a communal expression of their supposed right to control the land and its resources for leisure. Toby’s desire to participate signifies his aspiration to join this elite world and master its codes of conduct. This form of hunting is a privilege, reinforcing the power structure that underpins the entire community. 

In stark contrast, hunting for the commoner David is a secretive and dangerous act of survival. He is a poacher, and his taking of fish and rabbits from his lord’s land is a felony, a crime punishable by imprisonment or death. When he catches Toby watching him, his desperate command, “Thou hast not seen me, nor the fish!” (70), reveals the high stakes of his actions. For David, hunting is a necessary means of feeding his family, placing him in direct conflict with the lord’s absolute ownership of the manor’s resources. The duality of the hunting motif is central to the theme of Interdependence in Medieval Communities, illustrating how the same act can be either a noble pastime or a desperate crime, depending entirely on one’s position in the social hierarchy.

In Castle Diary, the motif of food and feasting illustrates The Challenges of Medieval Life. The type and quality of food consumed directly corresponds to an individual’s place in the castle’s rigid hierarchy. At the top are the elaborate banquets for nobility, featuring fantastical dishes like the cockatrice and decorative subtleties made of sugar, designed to display the host’s wealth and power. Meanwhile, the castle’s servants live on brown cheat bread and the monotonous, unappetizing salt fish served on Church-mandated fast days. 

Platt’s exploration of the working class’s food insecurity gives the motif crucial development. Soon after his arrival at Strandborough, Toby notes that the Baron’s horses are “less hungry than the people who labour in the fields” (21). In part, the peasants struggle to feed themselves because they must harvest the lord’s crops just as their own fields become ready, a classist form of forced labor compensated with “miser’s pay.” The situation is worsened by England’s poaching laws, which declared that fish and wild game were the nobles’ property: “[A]ll of the fish in the river belong to the castle—not just those in the stewponds fed by the moat’s waters” (72). It’s an open secret that everyone in the village must resort to poaching to survive, an act that carries a death sentence for those convicted. Through the motif of food and feasting, Platt illustrates the daily challenges of medieval life and Toby’s growing awareness of his own privilege.