'Ormond' Summary

Harry Ormond is a young man with a good heart but an unsettled character. As he comes of age, he is influenced by the books he reads and the people he meets. He spends time with Sir Ulick O'Shane, a man of society who exploits his public trust for private advantage, and Cornelius, a Falstaffian figure who lives an eccentric rural lifestyle. Harry also follows Cornelius's daughter to Paris, where he witnesses the glamorous dissipation of French society before the Revolution. Through these experiences, Harry learns about the challenges of bringing together apparent oppositions, such as reconciling promised loyalty with assertion of self, Anglo-Irish landlords with their Irish tenants, Catholics with Protestants, and the impulsive heart with the rational head.