in TroUope grew out of a sixth-form study of Barchester Towers for 'A' level. This
interest was developed during the time I was at Durham and after graduating I ...
Durham E-Theses
Trollope in perspective Hamilton, N. D.
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Trollope in perspective, Durham theses, Durham University.
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T R O L L O P E I N PERSPECTIVE
N.D.
The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged.
Hamilton
TroUope i n Perspective
N , D , Hamilton
ABSTRACT
The Thesis opens w i t h a b r i e f s u m m a r y of the ups and downs of TroUope's l i t e r a r y reputation.
I n the f i r s t chapter the extent of
his range and his a b i l i t y to create characters
convincingly are examined.
This is pursued f u r t h e r i n Chapter Two w i t h an analysis of some of the characters
as m o r a l beings and some c o n s i d e r a t i o n of the w r i t e r ' s
c l a i m to i n t i m a c y w i t h his r e a d e r s . In Chapters representative
T h r e e , F o u r and F i v e , I have looked at a
selection of the novels i n c h r o n o l o g i c a l sequence i n
o r d e r to show the development of his a r t and his ideas together w i t h a steady g r o w t h towards i r o n i c detachment. individual characters
The r e l a t i o n s h i p of
to some of the m a i n institutions of V i c t o r i a n
England is investigated i n Chapter Six, while the w i d e r background of the nineteenth c e n t u r y and the ways i n w h i c h we view i t today are the subject of Chapter Seven, perceptive view of m a n is
I n Chapter E i g h t TroUope's own
discussed.
In the last chapter I have sought to assess TroUope's a r t i s t i c c o n t r i b u t i o n i n the context of a discussion of some c u r r e n t ideas about the value of l i t e r a t u r e .
(i)
Page no.
CONTENTS
Preface
(ii)
Introduction
Viewpoints
1
Chapter One
Naturalism
12
Chapter Two
Character,
Chapter Three
I r e l a n d and B a r set shire
Chapter F o u r
Public and Private L i f e
108
Chapter F i v e
C e r t a i n Assumptions Questioned
136
Chapter Six
Some I n s t i t u t i o n s and Individuals
173
Chapter Seven
Ways of Looking at the Nineteenth Century
198
Chapter E i g h t
The Lessons of Experience
221
Chapter Nine
P e r c e p t i o n and Perspective
236
Bibliography
Author and Reader
46 78
254
(ii) PREFACE No one becomes a T r o l l o p i a n overnight and m y own i n t e r e s t i n TroUope grew out of a s i x t h - f o r m study of B a r c h e s t e r for ' A ' level.
Towers
This i n t e r e s t was developed during the t i m e I was
at D u r h a m and a f t e r graduating I decided to pursue r e s e a r c h as a p a r t - t i m e student.
Although the reading and study has bean
spread
over s e v e r a l y e a r s ,
the i n i t i a l w r i t i n g was compressed into the
sximmer holidays of 19V5 and 1976, since when s e v e r a l new books have appeared,
c o n f i r m i n g the r e v i v a l of academic i n t e r e s t i n TroUope,
I would like to r e c o r d m y thanks to the f o l l o w i n g , without whose help t h i s thesis would not have reached i t s present f o r m : Mr,
B , Stokes,
who helped me to appreciate m u c h of the comic
i r o n y i n the e a r l y w r i t i n g ; begin;
D r , A , M o r r i s o n , who encouraged me to
D r , J . W . B l e n c h , who as m y supervisor has m o n i t o r e d the
progress
of the w r i t i n g and given p a r t i c u l a r help and
i n the l a t e r stages;
M r , N , Lee, f o r help i n obtaining books and
some help w i t h the notes; of the s c r i p t ,
encouragement
M r s , M , Dale f o r her painstaking typing
I would also like to thank relations and f r i e n d s without
whose tolerance and encouragement
p a r t - t i m e study would have been
i m p o s s i b l e : i n p a r t i c u l a r , m y , parents and M r , and M r s , R , B , Smyth. Most of a l l , I want to thank Debbie f o r her unfailing i n t e r e s t and support. The footnotes w i l l be found at the end of each chapter and b i b l i o g r a p h i c a l details of texts and c r i t i c a l works r e f e r r e d to or used i n the thesis are given i n the Bibliography on page .254..
Claverham, 1980
Bristol
Nigel Hamilton
INTRODUCTION
Viewpoints
'It is v e r y h a r d to come at the actual b e l i e f of any man, ' 1 TroUope wrote i n 1866 .
The same caution can u s e f u l l y be exercised
by anyone attempting an a p p r a i s a l of the w o r k of Anthony Trollope h i m s e l f , f o r he has received l i t t l e enough serious consideration i n spite of his enduring p o p u l a r i t y .
There has been a r e v i v a l of
c r i t i c a l i n t e r e s t over the last few y e a r s , but his novels have not commanded the attention and respect that has been accorded to the w o r k s of other great V i c t o r i a n w r i t e r s .
Much existing c r i t i c i s m
has tended to c o n f i r m the view that f o r a l l his popularity Trollope is not to be taken s e r i o u s l y .
The immense quantity of his output
- he w r o t e f o r t y - s e v e n novels as w e l l as a number of other f u l l length books - and the prosaic manner i n which he approached his art
have tended to make people t h i n k that he was incapable of deep
thought or a r t i s t i c c r e a t i v i t y . considering T r o l l o p e ' s w o r k ,
But whatever c r i t e r i a one adopts i n patience and a degree of h u m i l i t y are
essential before one can hope to perceive the f u l l extent of his achievement. I t w i l l be as w e l l to begin by considering some of the reasons f o r the adverse nature of m u c h of the c r i t i c i s m w r i t t e n about T r o l l o p e , One reason seems t o a r i s e f r o m the expectation that a l l r e a l l y i m p o r t a n t novelists of the nineteenth century were v i t a l l y and v i s i b l y concerned w i t h t a c k l i n g the h y p o c r i s i e s and i n p a r t i c u l a r the s o c i a l i n j u s t i c e s of t h e i r age.
Dickens s t i l l occupies a c e n t r a l position
because he shows up i n such a clear light those abuses and ,)''
inequalities w h i c h others subsequently sought to put r i g h t ,
George
E l i o t and Thomas H a r d y have attained c r i t i c a l acceptance because they too challenged the consciences of their r e a d e r s , making them question many of t h e i r basic assumptions about the o r d e r i n g of society.
I t has been generally held that T r o l l o p e had no such
message f o r his f e l l o w - m e n and ever since F r e d e r i c k H a r r i s o n likened his a r t to that of photography^, a recorder
of m i d d l e - c l a s s ,
he has had a reputation as
m i d - V i c t o r i a n society,
capable of
d e s c r i b i n g the o r d i n a r y lives of o r d i n a r y Englishmen and making a readable, i f somewhat v o l u m i n o u s , story out of v e r y l i t t l e i n the way of plot-mate r i a l .
He has generally been considered along w i t h Scott,
D i s r a e l i and Thackeray and his reputation has nnt always f r o m the c o m p a r i s o n .
gained
This general censure of T r o l l o p e as being
out of touch w i t h the m a j o r issues of his age s t i l l has c u r r e n c y today: Raymond Chapman expresses this view of T r o l l o p e ' s s u p e r f i c i a l i t y i n d e s c r i b i n g his w o r k as
'a guide-book to the age'^, and W i l l i a m Myers,
w r i t i n g i n 1971, says that 'the t r e a t m e n t of m a j o r social questions i n T r o l l o p e ' s novels, though impressive at a documentary l e v e l , is f i n a l l y uninteresting The skeletal thinness of his achievem e n t , . , emphasises his f a i l u r e to experience social fact'4. If T r o l l o p e has f a i l e d to a t t r a c t att^ention alongside those novelists who p r i c k e d the consciences of t h e i r readers about the s o c i a l wrongs of the age,
so too has he f a l l e n short of the stature
of another group of n o v e l i s t s ,
centred around Jane Austen and the
BrontS
sisters.
These have been excused the narrowness
of their
backgrounds and the v i r t u a l e x c l u s i o n of the w i d e r s o c i a l problems on the grounds that t h e i r outlooks were r e s t r i c t e d by t h e i r domestic situations.
Yet T r o l l o p e has been adversely c r i t i c i s e d f o r the
l i m i t a t i o n s of his range i n the novels set i n B a r s e t s h i r e ,
Not
even that i m a g i n a r y county is as isolated as H i g h b u r y , f o r example, and although the outside w o r l d of p o l i t i c s , j o u r n a l i s m and r a i l w a y s obtrudes m o r e into the B a r s e t s h i r e or W u t h e r i n g Heights,
f o r example,
scene than i t does into E m m a i t is s t i l l t r u e that i n the e a r l y
part of his w r i t i n g c a r e e r T r o l l o p e f e l t more at home w r i t i n g about a secluded country society than i n p o r t r a y i n g the m u c h m o r e confused existence of m a n i n town society.
I t was a n a t u r a l choice that he
should begin w i t h the s m a l l e r m o r e intimate c i r c l e s of country society and b u i l d steadily towards the more open c o m m u n i t y of m a n k i n d at large as his confidence i n his a r t i s t i c a b i l i t y g r e w . Had he attempted f r o m the beginning to p o r t r a y the heart of changing thought and ideas about society that existed i n London, T r o l l o p e would undoubtedly have been overwhelmed by the mass of humanity and the v a r i e t y of ideas w i t h w h i c h he was c o n f r o n t e d .
It is h a r d l y
s u r p r i s i n g that his f i r s t r e a l l i t e r a r y e f f o r t s came to f r u i t i o n i n the quieter existence that his posting to Ireland brought h i m i n 1841, 5 ' T h i s was the f i r s t good f o r t u n e of m y l i f e , ' he later wrote
and
he based his f i r s t novel on the s m a l l though d i v e r s e society of County L e i t r i m .
Many of his l a t e r novels are set against a
background as r e s t r i c t e d as that of The Macdermots of B a l l y c l o r a n ,
though they do encompass an i n c r e a s i n g l y wide range of ideas and c o n t e m p o r a r y thought i f one considers his entire opus chronologically. Throughout his w r i t i n g c a r e e r , however,
he concerned h i m s e l f
p r i m a r i l y w i t h the way i n d i v i d u a l s think, act,
react and i n t e r a c t ,
and i t is h a r d l y s u r p r i s i n g that f o r some of the t i m e he should choose, like Jane A u s t e n before h i m , a s m a l l piece of i v o r y on w h i c h to carve his i n t r i c a t e studies.
'3 or 4 f a m i l i e s i n a country
v i l l a g e is the v e r y thing to w o r k on'^ m i g h t be quoted i n T r o l l o p e ' s defence w i t h equal j u a t i f i c a t i o n . However m u c h of the c r i t i c i s m of T r o l l o p e has begun by c o m p a r i n g h i m w i t h other nineteenth century n o v e l i s t s ,
a great deal
of his i n d i v i d u a l i t y and an a p p r e c i a t i o n of the scope of his a r t i s t i c achievement have been lost i n the comparison.
But f a r f r o m
his w r i t i n g c a r e e r i n pale i m i t a t i o n of his contemporaries,
spending
he helped
to develop the novel as a m e d i u m of a r t i s t i c expression and the enormously wide r e a d e r s h i p w h i c h he enjoyed d u r i n g his own l i f e t i m e encouraged h i m i n t h i s . novels received,
Many of the c r i t i c a l notices w h i c h his
r e f l e c t this immense
success, although they r a r e l y
achieve the perception into his a r t which our twentieth century 7 detachment should make possible
.
I say 'should make
possible',
because m u c h twentieth century c r i t i c i s m has not shown that detachment.
To some extent this may be due to the large
of personal m e m o r i e s
and reminiscences which were kept alive by
those who had some contact w i t h the novelist h i m s e l f , Sadleir's
number
w o r k is of i m m e a s u r a b l e
Michael
value to any student of T r o l l o p e ,
f o r b i o g r a p h i c a l d e t a i l w h i c h sheds light on the w r i t i n g of the novels, g and f o r the detailed w o r k i n s o r t i n g out T r o l l o p e ' s enormous output , but his c r i t i c a l judgement of T r o l l o p e ' s achievement is seriously i n t e r f e r e d w i t h by his personal m e m o r i e s and assumptions what l i t e r a t u r e ought to be.
about
His service to twentieth century
c r i t i c i s m of T r o l l o p e i s s i m i l a r to that p e r f o r m e d by Robert Bridges when he arranged f o r the publication of the verse of G, M . w i t h an apology that r e a l l y was an apology. this d i f f e r e n c e :
There i s ,
Hopkins
however,
Hopkins's poetry soon came to be seen f o r its true
w o r t h and the i n t r o d u c t i o n was soon f o r g o t t e n , while i n the case of T r o l l o p e , the influence of M i c h a e l Sadlexr has been such that most c r i t i c a l opinion has accepted his somewhat f a i n t praise of T r o l l o p e ' s achievement as a n o v e l i s t . Another i m p o r t a n t and i n f l u e n t i a l twentieth century a p p r a i s a l of T r o l l o p e , w h i l e i t has done m u c h to reawaken i n t e r e s t i n the novels w r i t t e n a f t e r 1867, has l e f t us w i t h the i m p r e s s i o n that the e a r l i e r novels are u n i m p o r t a n t but m o r e seriously has put an i n t e r p r e t a t i o n on the later novels w h i c h is quite at odds w i t h an o v e r a l l view of T r o l l o p e as w r i t e r and m o r a l i s t .
A , O. J , Cockshut's study considered
f o r the f i r s t t i m e many of the themes which span the novels, ' P r o p e r t y and Rank',
'Father and Son',
such as
'Religion and the C l e r g y ' ,
'Death' and ' P o l i t i c s and L o v e ' (to quote some of the
chapter
headings),
progressed
and showed how T r o l l o p e ' s w r i t i n g career
towards p e s s i m i s m a f t e r the i n i t i a l sparkle of the B a r s e t s h i r e was over;
series
'The o r d e r (of the chapters) is c h r o n o l o g i c a l , and each chapter reveals a f u r t h e r stage i n the steepening curve of the author's pessimism Anyone who reads s u f f i c i e n t l y w i d e l y i n T r o l l o p e ' s w o r k , p a r t i c u l a r l y outside the novels themselves,
can become aware of his own i r o n i c
detachment f r o m the w o r k i n g s of the minds of his c h a r a c t e r s
and
the m i s t a k e that has so f r e q u e n t l y been made is the assumption that T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s of t h e i r author.
are unconscious r e f l e c t i o n s of the m i n d
We are only j u s t beginning now to perceive the
extent to w h i c h T r o l l o p e was the detached m a s t e r of a l l his characters.
As I hope to show subsequently T r o l l o p e developed
a detachment and a u n i v e r s a l pity of the proportions we have grown to expect f r o m only the great f i g u r e s of l i t e r a t u r e .
N o r do I think
that the l a t e r novels r e f l e c t a less o p t i m i s t i c outlook as c l e a r l y as Cockshut suggested,
but even so, t h i s defence of the novels w r i t t e n
a f t e r 1867 leaves the i m p r e s s i o n that the e a r l i e r w o r k s were m a i n l y a p r e p a r a t i o n f o r the m o r e i m p o r t a n t w o r k of his l a t e r y e a r s .
If
T r o l l o p e was f i n d i n g his feet as a novelist when he chose to w r i t e about the secluded w o r l d of I r e l a n d and B a r s e t s h i r e ,
he was not
doing so m e r e l y i n p r e p a r a t i o n f o r the novels i n a broader
social
setting, although that is the i m p r e s s i o n w i t h which we are l e f t f r o m reading Cockshut's attempt to r e a d j u s t the balance between the e a r l y and late w o r k . The l a t e r novels are j u s t as selective i n the number of c h a r a c t e r s introduced as were the e a r l y ones.
The
characters
of p o l i t i c a l London, f o r example, are s t r i c t l y l i m i t e d i n number and T r o l l o p e creates the e f f e c t of a broad s o c i a l background by concentrating on the d a y - t o - d a y lives of a few m e n and women, w i t h o u t the necessity of i n t r o d u c i n g an oppressively large number of m i n o r c h a r a c t e r s . of c h a r a c t e r s
We are never overwhelmed by the number
who appear i n the later novels and one of the reasons
f o r this is that they n e a r l y a l l belong to about 'three or f o u r families'.
I n The Way We L i v e Now, there are the C a r b u r y ,
L o n g s t a f f e and M e k n o t t e f a m i l i e s ;
i n addition, there is the ' f a m i l y '
of the Beargarden Club, and the B o a r d of the S. C, P, and M . R a i l w a y Company;
and that, apart f r o m Paul Montague and M r s .
H u r t l e , i s j u s t about the sum t o t a l .
Considering that the novel
f i l l s r a t h e r m o r e than eight hundred pages, the number of characters involved i s quite s m a l l . A p a r t f r o m the c r i t i c a l w o r k s of M i c h a e l Sadleir and A . O . J . Cockshut, t h e r e have been many c r i t i c a l appraisals published. I n the m a i n these f a l l into two groups:
the short c r i t i c a l essay,
based on j u s t one book or a few of the novels together; longer c r i t i c a l assessment.
and the
The f i r s t of these groups s u f f e r s
because the concern w i t h the p a r t i c u l a r book or few books makes i t d i f f i c u l t to achieve the perspective needed f o r an understanding of T r o l l o p e ' s achievement (and i t i s impossible to reconsider a f r e s h the entire output of a m a n as p r o l i f i c as T r o l l o p e i n a short essay). has,
The second group, attempting a longer c r i t i c a l assessment,
u n t i l r e c e n t l y , f o l l o w e d the i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of Sadleir and there
8 i s so m u c h to cover i n b i o g r a p h i c a l i n f o r m a t i o n and i n the c l a s s i f i c a t i o n and b r i e f i n t r o d u c t i o n of the novels (the reader who has only dabbled i n T r o l l o p e needs an extended guided tour of his l i f e and his entire oeuvre i f he is to stand any chance of seeing the wood f o r the t r e e s ) that there i s l i t t l e t i m e or space f o r serious r e f l e c t i o n on the nature of T r o l l o p e ' s achievement. I t would be w r o n g , however, to give the i m p r e s s i o n that the entire range of c r i t i c i s m about T r o l l o p e has been m i s l e a d i n g and u n i n f o r m a t i v e : many aspects of his w o r k have been enriched by perceptive w r i t i n g and T r o l l o p e has received due attention f o r his c h a r a c t e r i s a t i o n and f o r his naturalism. I t is only n o w , though, that we are beginning to question the c r i t e r i a of m e r i t by w h i c h we judge the novel and as a r e s u l t the qualities w h i c h have been obscured f o r the best part of a century are coming into focus at last.
Of c r i t i c s who have contributed s i g n i f i c a n t l y to this process of r e t h i n k i n g about T r o l l o p e , one stands out i n p a r t i c u l a r , apRoberts has published a number
Ruth
of essays about and introductions
to T r o l l o p e , but her m a j o r w o r k on Trollope'''^ o f f e r s a new assessment of h i m as a m a n and as a novelist, by b r i n g i n g to light aspects of his i n t e l l e c t u a l i n t e r e s t s and i n p a r t i c u l a r his preference f o r the c a s u i s t r y of C i c e r o over the dogmatism w h i c h was so common i n his own age''''''.
By b r i n g i n g various n o n - f i c t i o n a l w o r k s by
T r o l l o p e to our attention and by questioning the established of c r i t i c i s m ,
modes
Ruth apRoberts has done a great service to the w o r k s
of T r o l l o p e and to m o d e r n c r i t i c i s m of the novel i n general.
There is s t i l l m u c h to be done i n f o r g i n g a new c r i t i c i s m , however, f o r the established patterns by which we have been accustomed to evaluate the novel have deep roots : attention to style,
s y m b o l i s m and technique and the tendency to compare
h i s t o r i c a l l y or even, like E , M .
Forster,
authors
out of the context of the
l i t e r a r y t r a d i t i o n i n which they w e r e w r i t t e n ;
a l l these things have
been p a r t and p a r c e l of a l i t e r a r y education and i t is not always easy to see that these c r i t e r i a m a y be hindering our t r u e judgement of the n o v e l .
C e r t a i n l y many m o d e r n novels do not lend themselves
to t h i s kind of analysis, but i t r e q u i r e s much m o r e detachment to consider the established t r a d i t i o n of the novel a f r e s h .
Yet the
v e r y f a c t that T r o l l o p e ' s p o p u l a r i t y has endured and the unsatisfactory way i n w h i c h he has been c r i t i c a l l y assessed make i t essential that we should constantly question the assumptions w h i c h underlie any f o r m of established c r i t i c i s m . P r e s s i n g as the reasons f o r thinking anew about T r o l l o p e are,
there should be no m i s t a k e about the d i f f i c u l t y of the task.
F o r a s t a r t , there is the magnitude of his output : how many people, realistically,
have the t i m e to read a l l of T r o l l o p e ' s novels and
his other w o r k s as w e l l , not always the case?
even i f they can obtain t h e m , which is Whatever the j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r the length of
his books, no one would c r e d i t h i m w i t h s t r i c t economy i n use of words.
Y e t i f one is to perceive the i r o n i c detachment which is
so f u n d a m e n t a l to understanding T r o l l o p e ' s a r t , one has to read extensively and i n depth, a t i m e - c o n s u m i n g business^
I t is indeed
10
f o r t u n a t e that T r o l l o p e possessed qualities f o r which he has been duly praised over the years : his r e a d a b i l i t y , his s k i l f u l handling of plot and his outstanding c h a r a c t e r i s a t i o n . Without these things the t a s k of reading w i d e l y would be a tedious, u p h i l l one and few indeed would be the number i n t e r e s t e d i n reassessing his detachment or anything else about h i m . Yet the r e a d a b i l i t y is there and a l l the evidence is that T r o l l o p e is as widely read today as ever. N o r i s i t only those who seek to escape f r o m the uncertainties of m o d e r n l i f e to the c l o i s t e r e d s e c u r i t y of B a r s e t s h i r e who read his books. T r o l l o p e is w e l l w o r t h reading, as many people know, and i t i s high t i m e that we looked a f r e s h at the r e m a r k a b l e achievement of t h i s n o t - s o - e m i n e n t V i c t o r i a n ,
11 NOTES - I n t r o d u c t i o n
1
C l e r g y m e n of the C h u r c h of England,
p.
124 (Ch. X ) ,
2
Harrison, Frederick, Victorian Literature,
3
Chapman, Raymond,
4
M y e r s , W i l l i a m , 'George E l i o t : P o l i t i c s and P e r s o n a l i t y ' , L i t e r a t u r e and P o l i t i c s i n the Nineteenth Century, ed. John Lucas, pp, 106-107,
5
A n Autobiography,
6
I n a l e t t e r to Anna Austen, 9th September 1814, Jane Austen's L e t t e r s to her Sister Cassandra and Others, ed, Raymond Chapman, p, 4 0 1 ,
7
Many of these are now accessible i n T r o l l o p e : The C r i t i c a l Heritage, ed, Donald Smalley.
8
The two m o s t i m p o r t a n t books are T r o l l o p e : A Commentary and T r o l l o p e : A B i b l i o g r a p h y . Most c r i t i c s have acknowledged t h e i r debt to the f o r m e r since i t s appearance i n 1927, while the l e t t e r provides a s t a r t i n g point f o r any enquiry about what Trollope wrote,
9
Cockshut,
'Antony T r o l l o p e ' , Studies i n E a r l y p, 212, The V i c t o r i a n Debate, pp.
187-188,
p. 67 (Ch. I l l ) ,
A . O . J , , Anthony Trollope : A C r i t i c a l Study,
10
apRoberts, Ruth,
11
Ibid.,
Ch. I l l ,
T r o l l o p e : A r t i s t and M o r a l i s t ,
p, 11,
12 Chapter One Naturalism A l t h o u g h the s o c i a l range f r o m which T r o l l o p e d r e w many of his c h a r a c t e r s may have been rather r e s t r i c t e d , he has, theless,
never-
succeeded i n p o r t r a y i n g a very large number of i n t e r e s t i n g
individual characters.
They may nearly a l l belong to roughly the
same class i n society, but among them they cover most of the strengths and weaknesses of human nature i n one guise or
another,
T r o l l o p e f r e q u e n t l y c l a i m e d that he lived w i t h the c h a r a c t e r s he w r o t e about,
p a r t i c u l a r l y i n the P a l l i s e r s e r i e s , and knew them
i n t i m a t e l y as f r i e n d s .
They do not strike the reader w i t h a strong
i m p r e s s i o n on f i r s t acquaintance
as do those of Dickens, ( i m m e d i a t e l y
recognisable as p e r s o n i f i c a t i o n s of one t r a i t of human nature or another), but the m o r e we read about them, the m o r e t h e i r natures grow apparent to us.
The c h a r a c t e r s i n Dickens's novels
are
entertaining to meet and make a strong i m p r e s s i o n on us, but f o r the m o s t part they lack the depth of personality which makes T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s so r e a l i s t i c a l l y a l i v e .
In Dickens's w o r l d
and i n the w o r l d of Vanity F a i r the characters are
'flat' in
Forster's
t e r m , though there are the obvious exceptions like Becky
Sharp,
' F l a t ' c h a r a c t e r s are often entertaining, but they r a r e l y
stand up as live human beings : T r o l l o p e succeeds, by d i f f e r e n t means, i n m a k i n g many of his characters stand up and because they are capable of s u r p r i s i n g the reader, many of them are ' r o u n d ' by the same c l a s s i f i c a t i o n .
13 F o r example,
the d e c i s i o n of Plantagenet
P a l l i s e r to
abandon p o l i t i c s at the t i m e least appropriate i n his single-minded c a r e e r and take Lady Glencora on a European tour is a clear example of t h i s s u r p r i s e element i n T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r i s a t i o n , M e l m o t t e ' s suicide, i n The Way We Live Now, like that of F e r d i n a n d Lopez i n The P r i m e M i n i s t e r , succeeds i n s u r p r i s i n g the r e a d e r , but there are an i n f i n i t e number of s m a l l e r instances when a character
does .n.ot p e r f o r m to type : M r s , Proudie, i n the
m i d s t of her i n t r i g u e s over H i r a m ' s Hospital, is genuinely moved by the plight of M r s , Q u i v e r f u l and her f o u r t e e n c h i l d r e n and i n an i n t e r v i e w at the bishop's
palace:
' M r s , Proudie proved herself a w o m a n . , . There was a heart inside that s t i f f - r i b b e d bodice, though not, perhaps, of large dimensions, and c e r t a i n l y not easily accessible! . Thus is she moved to help the Q u i v e r f u l s , not by anger w i t h her husband o r M r , Slope, but by a h e a r t f e l t sympathy f o r t h e i r plight. So T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s have an a b i l i t y to s u r p r i s e us i n a way that those of Dickens lack, but there is another way too i n w h i c h T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s are nearer to being r e a l - l i f e people : they cannot be c l e a r l y labelled as good or e v i l f o r the m o s t p a r t : none of them i s c o m p l e t e l y angel or d e v i l . H a r d i n g , f o r example,
The p o r t r a i t of M r ,
may approach adulation on the part of the
author, but his f a u l t s are t h e r e ,
however v e n i a l they may seem
to us: 'Doubting h i m s e l f was M r , H a r d i n g ' s weakness',2 .
14
and later i n the same book, when he could have found out the f u l l nature of his daughter's
association w i t h M r , Slope, he avoids the
confrontation: ' A h , t h o u weak man: most c h a r i t a b l e , m o s t C h r i s t i a n , but weakest of m e n . M a r y Thorne, i n the next B a r s e t s h i r e n o v e l , may be a l l that is r e q u i r e d of a heroine i n E n g l i s h f i c t i o n ;
she may f i t into a type
as defined by Henry James: 'They are so a f f e c t i o n a t e , , , they have a kind of clinging tenderness, a passive sweetness, w h i c h is quite i n the old English tradition'^; but she is nevertheless the Gresham
v e r y proud, especially i n her dealings w i t h
family.
S i m i l a r l y the e v i l natures of some characters exhibited i n these e a r l y novels do not go unmitigated by good q u a l i t i e s . E v e n M r , Slope i s : 'not i n a l l things a bad man. His m o t i v e s , like those of most m e n , were m i x e d ; and though his conduct was g e n e r a l l y v e r y d i f f e r e n t f r o m that w h i c h one would w i s h to p r a i s e , i t was actuated perhaps as o f t e n as that of the m a j o r i t y of the w o r l d by a desire to do his duty. He believed i n the r e l i g i o n which he taught.,. But M r , Slope had never been an i m m o r a l m a n . Indeed he had resisted temptations to i m m o r a l i t y w i t h a strengt^ of purpose which was creditable to h i m ' . S i m i l a r l y i n D o c t o r Thorne T r o l l o p e was c a r e f u l to c o r r e c t the one-sided p i c t u r e we m a y have of F r a n k Gresham's Lady A r a b e l l a de Courcy:
mother.
15
' B e f o r e we go on, we must say one w o r d f u r t h e r as to Lady A r a b e l l a ' s c h a r a c t e r . It w i l l probably be said that she was a consummate h y p o c r i t e ; but at the present m o m e n t she was not h y p o c r i t i c a l . She d i d love her son; she was anxious - v e r y , v e r y anxious f o r h i m ; was proud of h i m , and almost a d m i r e d the v e r y obstinacy w h i c h so vexed her to her i n n e r m o s t soul ,,, She was as genuinely m o t h e r l y , i n w i s h i n g that he should m a r r y money as another woman m|^ght be i n wishing to see her son a bishop' , I n the novels w r i t t e n a f t e r 1867, the t u r n i n g point a f t e r w h i c h , according to Cockshut, steadily g r o w i n g p e s s i m i s m ,
T r o l l o p e ' s o p t i m i s m turns into a
one f i n d s that good and e v i l are fused
together i n e v e r y human being w i t h greater novels.
s k i l l than i n the e a r l i e r
I n The P r i m e M i n i s t e r , f o r example,
is d e s c r i b e d w i t h redeeming f e a t u r e s ,
Ferdinand Lopez
i n spite of the d i a b o l i c a l
selfishness of e v e r y t h i n g he does: ' F e r d i n a n d Lopez was not an honest or a good m a n . He was a self-seeking i n t r i g u i n g adventurer, who d i d not know honesty f r o m dishonesty when he saw them together. But he had at any rate t h i s good about h i m , that he did love the g i r l whom he was about to m a r r y . He was w i l l i n g to cheat a l l the w o r l d , so that he m i g h t succeed, and make a f o r t u n e , and become a b i g and r i c h man; but he d i d not w i s h to cheat h e r , Lopez's a m b i t i o n to get into P a r l i a m e n t ,
despicable as may be the
means by w h i c h he hopes to do i t , is portrayed as a noble
endeavour,
as i t i s i n a l l T r o l l o p e ' s p o l i t i c a l novels, and the attempt c o n f e r s some esteem upon the candidate,
no matter what his intentions.
The same d e s i r e to succeed i n P a r l i a m e n t and 'obtain u n i v e r s a l
16
credit'
b y l a v i s h e n t e r t a i n i n g makes the reader of The Way We
L i v e Now accept the deviousness of Augustus M e l m o t t e as being at least recognisably human;
and f o r a l l his inhumanity i n the
way he t r e a t s his f a m i l y , one has to admit that m u c h of what he does is m o t i v a t e d by a d e s i r e
to secure his daughter's
happiness,
T r o l l o p e ' s e v i l c h a r a c t e r s do not belong to the genre of Victorian melodrama;
they are not v i l l a i n s i n that sense and we
recognise t h e m as people and not m e r e l y c a r i c a t u r e s vices.
of p a r t i c u l a r
Just as there are no v i l l a i n s , nor are there any saints
i n these novels:
high as may be the ideals which i n s p i r e P a l l i s e r ,
as Duke of O m n i u m , to serve his country as best he can and noble as m a y be his motives i n consenting to be p r i m e m i n i s t e r ,
his
b e l i e f i n the i m p o r t a n c e of his own position of rank is quite inconsistent w i t h his l i b e r a l creed;
and the deeply i n g r a i n e d
snobbishness w h i c h r e s u l t s i n his intolerant attitude towards the matches proposed by his own c h i l d r e n , together w i t h his almost Pauline d o m i n i o n over Glencora, f l a w l e s s hero i n any sense,
are signs that he is not a
Phineas F i n n , another i d e a l i s t ,
not f r e e of human f a i l i n g s e i t h e r ,
is
and he comes to l i f e a l l the
m o r e as a r e s u l t , Trollope's characters, categories
then, do not f i t easily into
of good and e v i l and are not, t h e r e f o r e ,
caricatures,
though we r e m e m b e r many of the less i m p o r t a n t ones only by t h e i r m o s t apparent f e a t u r e s . course,
This is the case i n r e a l l i f e of
since those we see only occasionally are best
remembered
17 by t h e i r m o s t obvious c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , w h i l e those we know better s t r i k e us by t h e i r c o m p l e x i t y and by the f a c t that they are never entirely predictable. M o s t of T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s are neither saints nor v i l l a i n s and are capable of s u r p r i s i n g us without becoming i n c r e d i b l e : i n fact they live and t h i n k and act and speak as do human beings i n r e a l l i f e ^ I n A n Autobiography T r o l l o p e explains how they lived f o r h i m as he w r o t e :
'the n o v e l i s t d e s i r e s to make his readers so i n t i m a t e l y acquainted w i t h his c h a r a c t e r s that the c r e a t u r e s of his b r a i n should be to them speaking, m o v i n g , l i v i n g human creatures. This he can never do unless he knows those f i c t i t i o u s personages h i m s e l f , and he can never know them unless he can l i v e w i t h them i n the f u l l r e a l i t y of established intimacy. They m u s t be w i t h h i m as he lies down to sleep and as he wakes f r o m his dreams. He m u s t l e a r n to hate them and to love t h e m . He m u s t argue w i t h t h e m , q u a r r e l w i t h t h e m , f o r g i v e them and even submit to t h e m . He must know of them whether they be cold-blooded or passionate, whether t r u e or f a l s e , and how f a r t r u e , and how f a r f a l s e . The depth and the breadth, and the n a r r o w n e s s and the shallowness of each should be c l e a r to h i m . , , '^ I f T r o l l o p e ' s own c r i t e r i o n f o r good
characterisation
outlined here is a sound basis f o r judging his own success, he has done what he set out to do a d m i r a b l y : the reader of T r o l l o p e ' s novels finds i t easy to recognise the characters as human beings i n t h e i r own r i g h t . There a r e ,
however,
m o r e objective standards by w h i c h
T r o l l o p e ' s a b i l i t y to create c h a r a c t e r s may be assessed. is one such test:
Here
18 'Roughly, the action of a c h a r a c t e r should be unpredictable before i t has been shown, inevitable when i t has been shown. In the f i r s t h a l f , the u n p r e d i c t a b i l i t y should be the m o r e stri^king; i n the second half, the i n e v i t a b i l i t y , It is perhaps f a i r to say that T r o l l o p e has m a s t e r e d this balance of f o r e s i g h t and hindsight defined by Elizabeth Bowen ;
we are
encouraged to read on j u s t because we cannot predict how the c h a r a c t e r s w i l l r e a c t to a new situation and our enjoyment is r e i n f o r c e d by the s a t i s f a c t i o n of finding that the c h a r a c t e r s always acted i n r a t h e r than out of c h a r a c t e r .
I t is this balance that makes
T r o l l o p e so readable, because i t is n a t u r a l i s t i c : people
are
unpredictable i n r e a l l i f e , yet t h e i r actions seem inevitable afterwards. L o r d D a v i d C e c i l a d m i r e d T r o l l o p e ' s faithfulness to r e a l l i f e i n the c r e a t i o n of c h a r a c t e r s , but his a d m i r a t i o n is only a q u a l i f i e d one: 'a large number of his c h a r a c t e r s , f o r a l l t h e i r t r u t h to f a c t , are not l i v i n g creations i n the f u l l e s t sense, , , (because they are lacking in) t ^ ^ t indefinable spark of individuality' » One example he discusses is S i r Roger Scatcherd i n Doctor
Thorne,
but i t is d i f f i c u l t to see how Sir Roger lacks that 'spark of individuality'.
His is the s t o r y of a self-made man who has no
f r i e n d i n the w o r l d , loneliness
save Doctor Thorne h i m s e l f , and i n his
he d r i n k s h i m s e l f to death.
Thorne is r e m a r k a b l e
since D r ,
Thome's
His f r i e n d s h i p w i t h D r , own brother was k i l l e d
19
by Roger Scatcherd at the t i m e of M a r y T h o m e ' s b i r t h . Roger's
success i n business, i n securing part of the
Sir
Gresham
estate and i n getting into P a r l i a m e n t are a l l s a t i s f a c t o r i l y described, but
i t i s his f a l l , his e v i c t i o n f r o m Parliament on account of the
disclosed f r a u d i n his election and his f i n a l illness f o l l o w i n g his excessive
d r i n k i n g bout that give h i m his 'spark of i n d i v i d u a l i t y ' .
The p r o t r a c t e d s u f f e r i n g , the f a c t that he can i n no way r e s i s t the bottle under his p i l l o w , the i n t e r v i e w s w i t h Doctor Thorne, the late change i n his w i l l when he knows who M a r y is and most of a l l his own
confession that d r i n k has been his d o w n f a l l , a l l contribute to
the i m p r e s s i o n we have t h a t he has life and that he is as close any f i c t i o n a l c r e a t i o n can be to a l i v i n g human being.
as
It is,
perhaps, his a b i l i t y to see h i m s e l f f o r what he is that constitutes his 'indefinable s p a r k ' .
Just b e f o r e his death,
speaking to Doctor Thorne about his son,
Scatcherd is
Louis:
' " Y o u ' l l be w i t h h i m as much as possible, w o n ' t y o u ? " again asked the baronet^ a f t e r l y i n g quite silent f o r a quarter of an hour, " W i t h w h o m ? " said the doctor, who was then a l l but asleep, " W i t h m y poor boy; w i t h L o u i s , " " I f he w i l l let m e , I w i l l , " said the doctor. "And, doctor, when you see a glass at his m o u t h , dash i t down; thrust i t down, though you t h r u s t out the teeth w i t h i t . When you see that, Thorne, t e l l him of his father t e l l h i m how his father died like a beast, because he could not keep h i m s e l f f r o m drinkl"^'2.' L o r d David C e c i l compares Sir Roger w i t h a character
i n a histoUy
book and says that T r o l l o p e ' s power of p o r t r a y i n g emotion is
rather
20 weak
13
, but i t is h a r d to agree w i t h this assessment of Sir Roger, T r o l l o p e ' s a b i l i t y to p o r t r a y l i v i n g c h a r a c t e r s grew m o r e
m a t u r e i n the books a f t e r Doctor Thorne. perhaps one of his greatest creations,
Lady Glencora is
especially as the reader
knows her i n t i m a t e l y throughout most of her adult l i f e .
The
struggle w h i c h she has between following the demands of heart and m i n d before her m a r r i a g e to Plantagenet
P a l l i s e r culminating i n
B u r g o F i t z g e r a l d ' s attempt to entice her away at Lady Monk's b a l l gives her a l i f e that i t a l l her own.
Her devoted services
to
P a l l i s e r ' s i n t e r e s t s as Chancellor of the Exchequer and l a t e r as P r i m e M i n i s t e r of the C o a l i t i o n Government is always i n c o n f l i c t w i t h her own h a l f - r e a l i s e d d e s i r e s to act as f i r s t lady i n the realm.
This c o n f l i c t i n her personality, brought to light i n the
v a r i o u s ' i n t e r v i e w s ' she has w i t h her husband at Matching, makes her as r e a l a c r e a t i o n as any one could expect to f i n d i n f i c t i o n . Her astuteness and her g u l l i b i l i t y are nowhere better shown than i n her attempts to secure the f a m i l y P a r l i a m e n t a r y seat of S i l v e r b r i d g e f o r F e r d i n a n d Lopez, a move w h i c h among other things contributes to her husband's f a l l f r o m power.
She i s a woman to be a d m i r e d
and l i k e d , not least f o r her human f a i l i n g s , so that along w i t h her husband we f e e l a r e a l loss at her death.
N o r is i t only the m a i n
c h a r a c t e r s who r e f l e c t T r o l l o p e ' s a b i l i t y to draw and create n a t u r a l i s t i c m e n and women to f i l l the pages of his books. M u c h of T r o U o p i a n c r i t i c i s m w r i t t e n towards the beginning of t h i s century tended to judge c h a r a c t e r i s a t i o n i n t e r m s of the new
21 science of psychology and T r o l l o p e ' s achievement may w e l l have been m a r r e d by the v i e w taken then that his c h a r a c t e r s lacked psychological depth. T r o l l o p e h i m s e l f was not a psychologist : he made no systematic attempt to explain human behaviour; but that does not prevent us f r o m recognising, now that we are thoroughly used to the science of psychology, that T r o l l o p e was unusually observant i n his characterisations and accurate i n his analysis of these c h a r a c t e r s . The fact that they ' r i n g t r u e ' to the m o d e r n r e a d e r is ample proof of t h i s . The character of M r , Scarborough i n M r Scarborough's F a m i l y is a study of a m a n obsessed w i t h p r o p e r t y ; the book is i n many ways f a n t a s t i c a l and i m p r o b a b l e , but the detailed study of M r . Scarborough h i m s e l f explores i n t e r e s t i n g areas of human psychology without m a k i n g us doubt his c r e d i b i l i t y :
' I f y o u can imagine f o r y o u r s e l f a state of things i n w h i c h neither t r u t h nor m o r a l i t y s h a l l be thought essential, then old M r , Scarborough would be your hero'''''^, T r o l l o p e ' s created c h a r a c t e r s are as accurate i n t h e i r
psychology
and deep i n t h e i r analysis as those of Jane Austen, George E l i o t and Henry (James, though they l a c k the j a r g o n of systematic, twentieth c e n t u r y psychological explanation. T r o l l o p e h i m s e l f was w e l l aware that few people would read the entire series of his P a l l i s e r novels i n sequence: 'Who w i l l r e a d Can Y o u F o r g i v e Her?, Phineas F i n n , Phineas Redux and The P r i m e M i n i s t e r consecutively, i n o r d e r
22 that he may understand the c h a r a c t e r s of the Duke of O m n i u m , of Plantagenet P a l l i s e r , and Lady Glencora? Who w i l l even know that they should be so r e a d ? ' 1 5 It is h a r d l y s u r p r i s i n g i f some of the characters who appear t i m e and again i n the f u l l P a l l i s e r s e r i e s sometimes
seem less
i m p r e s s i v e to the reader who, as i t w e r e , m e r e l y dips
into
the w o r l d i n w h i c h they l i v e , m o v e , love, hate and t h i n k by reading the novels i n anything other than s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d sequence. It is no s m a l l t a s k to read a l l s i x books i n o r d e r ,
some 4, 500
pages i n t o t a l , but we can only expect the c h a r a c t e r s to come to l i f e as f u l l y as they d i d f o r t h e i r author i f we do so. The c h a r a c t e r s throughout T r o l l o p e ' s novels are
more
r e a l i s t i c creations than has been recognised u n t i l c o m p a r a t i v e l y r e c e n t l y and there is s t i l l m u c h support f o r L o r d David C e c i l ' s view t h a t although T r o l l o p e was accurate i n r e c o r d i n g the of a c h a r a c t e r , the surface,
surface
his i m a g i n a t i o n was never f i r e d to search beneath
'to discover its guiding p r i n c i p l e ' H e imagined 17
t r u l y , but he i m a g i n e d f a i n t l y , ' Trollope's characterisations.
is s t i l l a w i d e l y held view of I n fact his c h a r a c t e r s are i n the 18
m a i n ' r o u n d ' and 'capable of s u r p r i s i n g i n a convincing w a y ' they are not types, or
'bad' c a t e g o r i e s ,
they cannot be c l a s s i f i e d into e n t i r e l y 'good' they are painted i n shades r a t h e r than i n
b l a c k and white and they have l i f e and v i t a l i t y of t h e i r own. If at f i r s t they do not s t r i k e the reader w i t h t h e i r personal characteristics,
;
i n the way that many of Dickens's
caricatures
23 make an i m m e d i a t e i m p r e s s i o n , subtle,
i t is because they are
more
n a t u r a l i s t i c and t r u e to l i f e : the reader grows to know them
as he grows to know his f e l l o w human-beings
- gradually;
and the
m o r e he learns of t h e m , the m o r e interested he becomes i n getting to know them b e t t e r .
I f the reader were presented w i t h a
c o l l e c t i o n of v i v i d l y d r a w n p e n - p o r t r a i t s on the scale of those i n V a n i t y F a i r or O l i v e r T w i s t
the effect would be e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t
and the f i c t i o n a l stage would be f i l l e d w i t h c a r i c a t u r e s l i v i n g people.
rather than
I t is the way that characters are introduced to
the reader g r a d u a l l y that makes T r o l l o p e such a successful w r i t e r i n his p o r t r a i t s of people.
A s Henry James said when w r i t i n g
of the n o v e l i s t ' s a r t : 'A c h a r a c t e r i s i n t e r e s t i n g as i t comes out, and by the process of duration of that emergence; j u s t as a procession is e f f e c t i v e by the way i n w h i c h i t u n r o l l s , t u r n i n g to a m e r e mob i f i t a l l passes at once''^^ Even L o r d David C e c i l ,
f o r a l l the adverse c r i t i c i s m he
makes of T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r i s a t i o n ,
admits that 'at t h e i r w o r s t ,
20 T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s are
'probable'
, but there i s one other
aspect of his c h a r a c t e r i s a t i o n w h i c h has f o r the m o s t part escaped c r i t i c a l attention,
A great novelist, according to 21
A r n o l d Bennett,
'has a C h r i s t - l i k e ,
a l l - e m b r a c i n g compassion'
It i s a feature of T r o l l o p e , as i t was of Webster and Tolstoy, that he i n s p i r e s a kind o f u n i v e r s a l pity i n the r e a d e r , p a r t i c u l a r l y i n the books of his w r i t i n g m a t u r i t y .
Characters
do not escape
r e p r i m a n d f r o m t h e i r c r e a t o r ( M r , Slope's 'conduct was generally
24 22 v e r y d i f f e r e n t f r o m that w h i c h we would w i s h to p r a i s e ' and to F e r d i n a n d Lopez,
;
'that w h i c h we c a l l cheating was not
23 dishonesty'
) but he invokes our sympathy f o r a l l of t h e m .
That is the reason why there are no v i l l a i n s or saints i n his novels : they a l l have good and bad qualities i n v a r y i n g degrees and we are helped to understand how they came to possess those qualities.
I n this respect
his w r i t i n g c a r e e r .
T r o l l o p e grew i n m a t u r i t y through
There i s no doubt that the
author's
sympathies are not e n t i r e l y engaged f o r M r , Slope any m o r e than they are f o r M r s , Proudie i n Barchester
Towers:
' M r s , Proudie has not been p o r t r a y e d i n these pages as an agreeable or an amiable lady. There has been no intention to i m p r e s s the reader much i n her f a v o u r . It is ordained that a l l novels should have a male and a f em ale angel and a male and female devil. I f i t be considered that t h i s r u l e i s obeyed i n these pages, the l a t t e r character m u s t be supposed to have f a l l e n to the lot of M r s , Proudie, But she was not a l l d e v i l ' ^ ^ , M o r e w i l l be said about the nature of such i n t r u s i o n s by the author l a t e r on.
Ten y e a r s a f t e r Barchester
T o w e r s , when
T r o l l o p e came to w r i t e of her again i n The Last Chronicle of Barset,
he evidently had a great ' p i t y ' f o r her i n spite of her
faults: 'It cannot be said t h a t she was a bad woman, though she had i n her time done an indescribable amount of e v i l . She had endeavoured to do good, f a i l i n g p a r t l y by ignorance and p a r t l y f r o m the e f f e c t s of an u n b r i d l e d , ambitious temper.'^^*
25 What a d i f f e r e n c e there is here : the most hated woman i n B a r s e t s h i r e is defended by her c r e a t o r , not out of any sudden r e a l i s a t i o n of the need to r e d r e s s the balance, but because the author f e e l s some sympathy f o r h e r .
The l a t e r books exhibit a greater u n i v e r s a l p i t y , L i z z i e Eustace i n The Eustace Diamonds, f o r a l l her vanity, h y p o c r i s y and selfishness,
i s p o r t r a y e d i n such a way that the
reader cannot but f e e l some sympathy fo^r her,
p a r t l y because
T r o l l o p e repeatedly emphasises the i s o l a t i o n i n which she l i v e s , even when she has the f r i e n d s h i p of L o r d George C a r r u t h e r s to support h e r .
I n The Way We L i v e Now. T r o l l o p e openly
c r i t i c i s e s society and the changes that have come over i t i n the t h i r d q u a r t e r of the nineteenth century : the old established o r d e r i n g of society based upon honour and i n h e r i t e d t i t l e s ,
has
been r e p l a c e d by a s e l f - s e e k i n g c u t - t h r o a t society i n w h i c h money and influence are the only e f f e c t i v e weapons by which a m a n can survive and p r o s p e r . w h i c h T r o l l o p e deplores,
Yet i n spite of these debased values, the characters
f o r them as human beings,
demand, our sympathy
a l m o s t without exception.
The m e m b e r s
of the B e a r g a r d e n Club, useless parasites upon t h e i r parents and the country as they a r e ,
are a l l por tr ayed as amiable fools f r o m
whom nothing m o r e could be expected,
and are the complete
opposite of T r o l l o p e h i m s e l f , whose P o s t - O f f i c e and w r i t i n g c a r e e r s are as fine an example of i n d u s t r y and devotion to w o r k as any i n d u s t r i a l i s t could hope to f i n d .
Even the Jewish banker,
Mr.
26
B r e g h e r t , wins the r e a d e r ' s sympathy because of his devoted s e r v i c e to Georgiana L o n g e s t a f f e , unsuitable as he i s f o r her hand i n a l l except money. The press, that group which Trollope m i s t r u s t e d f r o m his e a r l y days as a w r i t e r , are sympathetically p o r t r a y e d i n the personages of Messrs^ A l f , Broune and Booker, who feature so f r e q u e n t l y at Lady C a r b u r y ' s somewhat decadent . soirees. I n f a c t , everyone and everything is decadent i n The Way We L i v e Now, but Trollops!s p o r t r a y a l of each i n d i v i d u a l character i s sympathetic,
M e l m o t t e h i m s e l f , monstrous as he i s i n his a e l f i s h greed and i n the deceits he p r a c t i s e s ,
unscrupulous i n his
methods and almost i n h u m a n i n his treatment of w i f e and daughter, emerges nevertheless
i n a sympathetic l i g h t .
He f u l l y deserves
the end that b e f a l l s h i m , yet even he commands a kind of pity f r o m the r e a d e r .
He cannot be dismissed as a v i l l a i n ,
perhaps because he i s too f u l l y human being f o r such c l a s s i f i cation.
He l i v e s f o r the r e a d e r , because we see h i m f r o m
so many angles : we observe h i m not only i n the c h a i r at the meetings of the S, C . P .
& M , Railway B o a r d and entertaining
the E m p e r o r of China i n his own London house, conference w i t h his aide, H e r r C r o l l ,
but also i n
i n the p r i v a c y of his
c i t y o f f i c e s i n A b c h u r c h Lane and most i m p o r t a n t l y i n his own domestic setting, w i t h M r s , Melmotte and w i t h his daughter Marie.
I t is not j u s t because i t is easier to make e v i l m o r e
a t t r a c t i v e than good i n f i c t i o n - as seen most notably i n
27 M i l t o n ' s Paradise L o s t - that makes M e l m o t t e a m a n who f o r a l l his monstrous qualities has to be pitied r a t h e r than despised T r o l l o p e ' s t r e a t m e n t of h i m shows that insight and understanding of hiiman nature w h i c h makes h i m a great n o v e l i s t . I t is this u n i v e r s a l pity which f o r m e d the b a s i s of T r o l l o p e ' s outlook on l i f e and w h i c h lay behind most of his characterisations;
and i t is t h i s same u n i v e r s a l p i t y , coupled
w i t h his a b i l i t y to b r i n g c h a r a c t e r s to l i f e as people, that made T r o l l o p e the c r a f t s m a n and a r t i s t that he was. observed,
As already
one e a r l y c r i t i c of Trollope likened his a r t to that 26
of the photographer
, i m p l y i n g that although Trollope was an
excellent r e c o r d e r of e v e r y t h i n g he saw i n l i f e , he never delved below the surface and consequently his p o r t r a i t s were, sometimes m i s l e a d i n g and l a c k i n g i n i n s i g h t . criticism,
As i f he foresaw this
T r o l l o p e expressed his views on photography and
the a r t of c r e a t i n g c h a r a c t e r i n Barchester
T o w e r s , at the
beginning of the chapter i n w h i c h he introduces M r , A r a b i n : 'The Rev, F r a n c i s A r a b i n , f e l l o w of L a z a r u s , late p r o f e s s o r of p o e t r y at O x f o r d , and present v i c a r of St, E w o l d ' s , i n the diocese of B a r c h e s t e r , m u s t now be introduced p e r s o n a l l y to the reader. He i s w o r t h y of a new v o l u m e , and as he w i l l f i l l a conspicuous place i n the b o o k , i t is d e s i r a b l e that he should be made to stand b e f o r e the r e a d e r ' s eye by the aid of such p o r t r a i t u r e as the author i s able to produce, ' I t is to be r e g r e t t e d that no m e n t a l method of daguerreotype or photography has yet been d i s c o v e r e d by w h i c h the characters of men can be reduced to w r i t i n g and put into
28
g r a m m a t i c a l language with an u n e r r i n g p r e c i s i o n of t r u t h f u l d e s c r i p t i o n . How o f t e n does the n o v e l i s t f e e l , ay, and the h i s t o r i a n also and the biographer, that he has conceived w i t h i n his m i n d and a c c u r a t e l y depicted on the tablet of his b r a i n the f u l l character and personage of a m a n , and that, nevertheless,, when he f l i e s to pen and i n k to perpetrate the p o r t r a i t , his words f o r s a k e , elude, disappoint, and play the deuce w i t h h i m , t i l l at the end of a dozen pages, the m a n d e s c r i b e d has no m o r e resemblance to the m a n conceived than the sign-board at the c o r n e r of the street has to the Duke of Cambridge ? 'And yet such m e c h a n i c a l d e s c r i p t i v e s k i l l would h a r d l y give m o r e satisfaction to the reader than the s k i l l of the photographer does to the anxious mother desirous to possess an absolute duplicate of her beloved c h i l d . The likeness is indeed t r u e ; but i t is a dead, d u l l , unfeeling, inauspicious likeness. The face is indeed t h e r e , and those looking at i t w i l l know at once whose image i t is; but the osmer of the face w i l l not be proud of the resemblance. 'There i s no r o y a l road to learning; no s h o r t cut to the acquirement of any valuable art. L e t photographers and daguerrotypers do what they w i l l , and i m p r o v e as they may w i t h f u r t h e r s k i l l on that w h i c h s k i l l has already done, they w i l l never achieve a p o r t r a i t of the human face divine. Let b i o g r a p h e r s , n o v e l i s t s , and the rest of us groan as we m a y under the burden which we so o f t e n f e e l too heavy f o r our shoulders, we m u s t either bear them up like men, or own ourselves too weak f o r the w o r k we have undertaken. There i s no way of w r i t i n g w e l l and also w r i t i n g easily, ' L a b o r omnia v i n c i t i m p r o b u s ' . Such should be the chosen motto of every labourer, and i t m a y be that labour, i f adequately end u r i n g , m a y s u f f i c e at last to produce even some not untrue resemblance to the Rev, 27 Francis Arabin.' .
29
T r o l l o p e was w e l l aware of the d i f f i c u l t i e s which he as a novelist,
a c r e a t o r of human likeness, faced;
and i t may be
that his v e r b o s i t y has been his greatest bar to c r i t i c a l acceptance. respect:
The last paragraph here betrays h i m i n this
' i t may be that labour, i f adequately enduring,
may s u f f i c e , , , '
Perhaps i n his p o r t r a i t u r e he has
endured
too adequately f o r the taste of some of his r e a d e r s , but that should not deter us f r o m recognising that his c h a r a c t e r s
are
m o r e a l i v e and m o r e f u l l y created human beings than any ' d u l l , dead,
unfeeling, inauspicious, (photographic) l i k e n e s s ' .
His a r t of p o r t r a i t u r e , unwieldy as i t may have been, m a s t e r l y and the c h a r a c t e r s produced bear m o r e
is
likeness
to r e a l human beings than many of the c h a r a c t e r s i n the best of f i c t i o n .
So f a r as the c r e a t i o n of character
the closer the resemblance
to human nature,
is
concerned
the greater
will
be the a r t w h i c h produces i t : 'It is v e r y easy to depict a hero, - a m a n absolutely stainless, p e r f e c t as an A r t h u r , - a m a n honest i n a l l his dealings, equal to a l l t r i a l s , true i n a l l his speech, i n d i f f e r e n t to his own p r o s p e r i t y , struggling f o r the general good, and, above a l l , f a i t h f u l i n love. A t any r a t e , i t is as easy to do that as to t e t l of the man who is one hour good and the next bad, who aspires g r e a t l y , but f a i l s i n p r a c t i c e , who sees the higher, but too o f t e n follows the lower course. There arose at one time a school of a r t , w h i c h delighted to paint the human face as p e r f e c t i n beauty; and f r o m that t i m e to this we were discontented unless every woman is d r a w n f o r us as a Venus, o r , at least, a Madonna, I do not know that we have gained m u c h by t h i s untrue p o r t r a i t u r e , either i n
30 beauty o r i n a r t . There may be made f o r us a p r e t t y thing to look at, no doubt; - but we know that that p r e t t y thing i s not r e a l l y visaged as the m i s t r e s s whom we serve, and who lineaments we d e s i r e to perpetuate on the canvas. The winds of heaven, or the fleshpots of Egypt, or the m i d n i g h t gas, - passions, pains, and, perhaps, rouge and powder, have made her something d i f f e r e n t . But s t i l l there i s the f i r e of her eye, and the eager eloquence of her m o u t h , and something, too, perhaps, l e f t of the departing innocence of youth, w h i c h the painter might give us without the Venus or the Madonna touches. But the painter does not dare to do i t . Indeed, he has painted so long a f t e r the other f a s h i o n that he would hate the canvas before h i m , were he to give way to the r o u g e begotten roughness or to the fleshpots, or even to the w i n d s . And how, m y l o r d , would y o u , who are giving hundreds, m o r e than hundreds, f o r this p o r t r a i t of your dear one, l i k e t o see i t i n p r i n t f r o m the a r t c r i t i c of the day, that she is a b r a z e n faced hoyden who seems to have had a glass of wine too m u c h , or to have been making hay? 'And so also has the reading w o r l d taught i t s e l f to l i k e best the characters of a l l but divine m e n and women. Let the m a n who paints w i t h pen and i n k give the g a s l i g h t , and the f l e s h p o t s , the passions and pains, the p r u r i e n t prudence and the rouge-pots and pounce-boxes of the w o r l d as i t i s , and he w i l l be t o l d that no one can care a straw f o r his c r e a t i o n s . W i t h whom are we to sympathise? says the reader, who not u n n a t u r a l l y imagines that a hero should be heroic. Oh, thou, m y r e a d e r , whose sympathies are i n t r u t h the great and only a i m of m y w o r k , when y o u have called the dearest of y o u r f r i e n d s round you to your hospitable table, how many heroes are there s i t t i n g at the board? Your bosom f r i e n d , even i f he be a knight without f e a r , is he a knight without reproach? The Ivanhoe that you know, d i d he not press Rebecca's hand?
31
Your l o r d Evandale, - d i d he not b r i n g h i s coronet into play when he strove to w i n his E d i t h Bellenden? "Was your T r e s i l i a n s t i l l t r u e and s t i l l f o r b e a r i n g when t r u t h and forbearance could a v a i l h i m nothing? A n d those sweet g i r l s whom you know, do they never doubt between the poor m a n they think they love, and the r i c h man whose riches they know they c o v e t ? , , , , , , 'The persons whom you cannot care f o r i n a novel, because they are so bad, are the v e r y same that you so d e a r l y love i n your l i f e , because they are so good. To make them and ourselves somewhat better, - not by one s p r i n g heavenwards to p e r f e c t i o n , because we cannot so use our legs, - but by slow c l i m b i n g , i s , we may p r e s u m e , the object of a l l teachers, leaders, l e g i s l a t o r s , s p i r i t u a l pastors, and m a s t e r s . He who w r i t e s tales such as t h i s , probably also has, v e r y humbly, some such object distantly before h i m , A picture of surpassing godlike nobleness, - a picture of King A r t h u r among men, may perhaps do m u c h . But such p i c t u r e s cannot do all. When such, a picture is painted, as intending t o show what a m a n should be, i t is t r u e . I f painted to show what m e n a r e , i t is f a l s e . The t r u e picture of l i f e as i t i s , i f i t could be adequately painted, would show m e n what they a r e , and how they m i g h t r i s e , not, indeed, to p e r f e c t i o n , but one step f i r s t , and then another on the ladderl^^.' 'Oh thou, m y r e a d e r , whose sympathies are i n t r u t h the great and only a i m of m y w o r k . , , '
Beneath the m o c k - h e r o i c tone
can be seen the basis of T r o l l o p e ' s u n i v e r s a l pity : 'the author and reader should move along i n f u l l confidence w i t h each 29 other, ' he stated elsewhere
, and his object is to engender
sympathetic understanding f o r a l l his c h a r a c t e r s ,
i n the m i n d
32
of the r e a d e r . I t is i n t e r e s t i n g to note that i n the same paragraph, T r o l l o p e goes on to consider the unheroic acts of 'the h e r o e s ' of Scott's novels, Ivanhoe, Old M o r t a l i t y and Kenilworth : how m u c h m o r e n a t u r a l i s t i c a l l y could T r o l l o p e have p o r t r a y e d the inconsistencies of these characters had he been w i i i t i n g i n Scott's placei
In the passage quoted, his
T r o l l o p e d e l i b e r a t e l y confuses
r e a d e r by constant r e f e r e n c e to the characters
while discussing the characters
of f i c t i o n .
of r e a l l i f e
He does this to
expose the false c r i t e r i a by w h i c h the reading public evaluate the c h a r a c t e r s are, his
of f i c t i o n : i f they resemble m e n as they r e a l l y
the author ' w i l l be told that no one can care a straw f o r creations, '
The r e a d e r , he says, expects to f i n d a hero,
'a m a n absolutely stainless,
p e r f e c t as an A r t h u r , ' i n spite of
the f a c t that such a p o r t r a i t can bear l i t t l e resemblance r e a l human being.
to any
Such personifications of heroic goodness
'may perhaps do m u c h ' to i m p r o v e the reader, but 'such pictures cannot do a l l ' .
I f the n o v e l i s t ' s purpose i s to edify his readers
(which T r o l l o p e hints here that i t is) he w i l l do m u c h better to 'show m e n what they are,
and how they m i g h t r i s e , not,
to p e r f e c t i o n , but one step f i r s t ,
indeed,
and then another on the ladder',
T r o l l o p e has c e r t a i n l y m a s t e r e d the a r t of showing people what they r e a l l y are and quite i r r e s p e c t i v e of any didactic role he m a y assume, the a r t of showing people what is the highest to which the a r t i s t can a s p i r e .
they r e a l l y are
33 It has already been said that T r o l l o p e d e l i b e r a t e l y confuses r e a l and f i c t i t i o u s personages i n this passage.
In
f a c t he goes f u r t h e r than t h i s by equating the bad people i n books w i t h the good people i n r e a l life*
'The persons who you cannot
c a r e f o r i n a n o v e l , because they are so bad,
are the v e r y same
that you so d e a r l y love i n y o u r l i f e , because they are so good. ' B y apparently t u r n i n g the whole m o r a l universe inside out here, T r o l l o p e means to show us that there i s no such thing as a complete hero or absolute v i l l a i n i n r e a l l i f e and so the attempts to p o r t r a y these pure qualities i n f i c t i o n are always misleading: 'We cannot have heroes to dine w i t h us. There are n o n e , , . But neither are our f r i e n d s v i l l a i n s - whose every a s p i r a t i o n is f o r e v i l , and whose every moment i s a struggle f o r some achievement w o r t h y of the d e v i l , ' T r o l l o p e ' s view of hviman nature i s essentially a r e a l i s t i c one; ,3Q • 'Men as I see them are not o f t e n h e r o i c • • Such a n t i - h e r o i s m i s nothing new i n E n g l i s h f i c t i o n : indeed there is almost a t r a d i t i o n of a n t i - h e r o i s m i n the E n g l i s h novel, going back to Henry F i e l d i n g .
But T r o l l o p e portrayed
his characters w i t h that balance of what we label good and bad that makes them as close to r e a l life as one could expect to find in fiction. I t has been c l a i m e d that i n spite of the m u l t i p l i c i t y of c h a r a c t e r s i n T r o l l o p e ' s novels,
his range i s i n general too
n a r r o w and hence his v i s i o n is l i m i t e d .
Compared w i t h Dickens,
34
c e r t a i n l y , the class of society f r o m w h i c h he draws m o s t of his c h a r a c t e r s is v e r y r e s t r i c t e d .
His attempts to p o r t r a y
w o r k i n g - c l a s s m e n and women, c r i m i n a l s and even servants are generally unsuccessful, The Eustace D i a m o n d s .
witness the b u r g l a r s at C a r l i s l e i n The beadsmen of H i r a m ' s H o s p i t a l
i n The Warden have no m o r e l i f e than the lesser m o r t a l s who f i l l up the b a c k c l o t h i n the s o c i a l settings of B a r s e t s h i r e ,
and
the b r i c k l a y e r f r o m Hoggle End i n The L a s t Chronicle does not s t r i k e us as v i t a l l y a l i v e , i n spite of his philosophical t u r n of mind.
The few c h a r a c t e r s f r o m low l i f e who f i n d t h e i r way
into the pages of the P a l l i s e r series s i m i l a r l y make only a momentary impression.
The beggar g i r l who addresses Burgo
F i t z g e r a l d i n O x f o r d Street,
f o r example,
serves to t e l l us
m o r e about B u r g o h i m s e l f and T r o l l o p e ' s only comment, 31 repeated t w i c e ,
'Poor B u r g o i "
shows just how m u c h interest
T r o l l o p e had i n the fate of this pretty, sixteen year old f o r c e d to beg f o r g i n - m o n e y on the streets at m i d n i g h t j
In the same
manner George V a v a s o r ' s unexpected encounter w i t h Jane, sometime m i s t r e s s ,
on the eve of his departure
his
for America,
is of passing i n t e r e s t only, though Trollope describes her 32 appearance at some length and the dialogue i s good
,
T r o l l o p e was not i n t e r e s t e d as a w r i t e r i n the plight of the p o v e r t y - s t r i c k e n masses i n V i c t o r i a n England. does not mean that he had no social conscience,
This
but he did not
show that r e f o r m i n g zeal w h i c h made many of his
contemporaries
35
so r e m a r k a b l e .
The c i r c l e s i n which he h i m s e l f moved and
his n a t u r a l reticence,
coupled w i t h the acute s e n s i t i v i t y to the
o r d i n a r y human i n t e r a c t i o n s w h i c h are so subtly p o r t r a y e d i n his novels,
m a y have made h i m shy away f r o m the f a r greater
s o c i a l i n j u s t i c e s to which he must have been exposed his c a r e e r w i t h the Post O f f i c e ,
throughout
He was not insensitive to
people's needs and the i n j u s t i c e s w i t h w h i c h they had to contend; indeed he may have been r a t h e r too sensitive to be able to w r i t e about them p o w e r f u l l y enough to avoid sentimentality. B u t although T r o l l o p e exhibited l i t t l e or no i n t e r e s t i n w o r k i n g class c h a r a c t e r s ,
his range is nevertheless w i d e .
Throughout the novels there i s a scattering of outsiders who b r i n g to the E n g l i s h s o c i a l scene v a r i e t y and a f r e s h outlook, Signora N e r o n i i n B a r c h e s t e r
Towers is quite d i f f e r e n t f r o m
the other women, b r i n g i n g w i t h her something of the I t a l i a n temperament
f r o m the Stanhope v i l l a at, Lake Como,
Her
open f l i r t a t i o n s w h i c h so upset M r s . Proudie and her t o t a l r e j e c t i o n of the E n g l i s h class system at the Ullathorne Sports Party,
when she outstares la grande dame of the
occasion,
Lady A r a b e l l a de Courcy and then asks M r , Slope 'who on 33 e a r t h is that w o m a n ? ' was,
only to laugh when hearing who i t
b r i n g s a freshness to the society of B a r s e t s h i r e ,
as w e l l
as p r o v i d i n g a y a r d s t i c k by w h i c h its values can be judged. S i m i l a r l y I s a b e l Boncassen and her parents have about them a v e r y d i f f e r e n t set of values and their part i n The Duke's
36 C h i l d r e n helps to i l l u s t r a t e the extent of T r o l l o p e ' s range. Isabel is as d i f f e r e n t f r o m Silverbridge as that other A m e r i c a n heroine,
Isabel A r c h e r , is f r o m L o r d W a r b u r t o n , i n Henry
James's P o r t r a i t of a Lady. lady, M r s , H u r t l e ,
Another T r o l l o p i a n A m e r i c a n
i n The Way We Live Now, contributes to
the v a r i e t y of c h a r a c t e r s ,
and like the other two already
mentioned she helps to i l l u m i n a t e the c e n t r a l characters
by her
v e r y r e j e c t i o n of E n g l i s h v a l u e s . But A m e r i c a n and I t a l i a n women are not the l i m i t of T r o l l o p e ' s range.
His wide t r a v e l and the v a r i e t y of duties
that he undertook while w o r k i n g f o r the Post O f f i c e gave T r o l l o p e ample experience of human l i f e and he used this to the f u l l i n his novels.
His t r a v e l s led h i m to w r i t e
stories
and novels about m o r e than f i f t e e n countries, as v a r i e d as Jamaica,
Costa R i c a and B e l g i u m , and his novels about I r e l a n d
show a r e a l l y sympathetic understanding of the I r i s h
character,
something not shared by a l l his c o n t e m p o r a r i e s . But the novels centred on E n g l i s h l i f e display a wide range of understanding i n the d i v e r s i t y of t h e i r
characters.
I t is t r u e that m u c h of the action in the B a r s e t s h i r e novels takes pjace i n or around a s m a l l cathedral c i t y and the p o l i t i c a l novels centre on the private studies and d r a w i n g - r o o m s of statesmen and the r e s t r i c t e d w o r l d of London clubs. Nevertheless the range of characters
who feature i n these novels
i s exceptionally w i d e , m o r e so i n the later than i n the e a r l i e r
37 novels. Even i n the B a r s e t s h i r e series, however, we have a country doctor ( D r . Thorne), a self-made business-man turned M , P. (Scatcherd), a r i s i n g government o f f i c i a l (Adolphus Grosbie), a humble government c l e r k (Johnny Eames), an unscrupulous land-owner ( M r , Sowerby) and a r e t i r e d m a j o r (Henry G r a n t l y ) , as w e l l as the whole c o l l e c t i o n of scheming grandes dames and a complete c r o s s - s e c t i o n of the c l e r g y i n the Ghurch of England,
I n the p o l i t i c a l novels the range is even w i d e r .
The
cabinet i t s e l f m a y be somewhat l i m i t e d , but i t represents only a s m a l l p o r t i o n of the society of which T r o l l o p e w r i t e s : the hunting scenes, the f o r e i g n t r a v e l , the d r a w i n g - r o o m p o l i t i c s , Mr,
Kennedy i s o l a t e d i n his madness at L o u g h l i n t e r , the
Scottish castle of the Eustace f a m i l y at P o r t r a y w i t h i t s unique keeper Andy Gowran - any attempt to show the d i v e r s i t y of c h a r a c t e r and setting i n the P a l l i s e r novels soon turns into a l i s t so disconnected and v a r i e d that i t becomes as
meaningless
as a tour of England by coach must be f o r many f o r e i g n v i s i t o r s to this country : i m p r e s s i v e , but memorable only f o r the confusion i t creates i n the t r a v e l l e r ' s m i n d ,
Reading T r o l l o p e ' s
novels leaves no such s u p e r f i c i a l i m p r e s s i o n of human existence - i t is only an attempt to s u m m a r i s e the d i v e r s i t y of situation that creates this i m p r e s s i o n , T r o l l o p e ' s range is i n f a c t as wide as his output was immense.
He d i d not choose to w r i t e about those
sections
of nineteenth c e n t u r y England of which i t was fashionable to
38
w r i t e , but he should not be condemned f o r that alone. the B r o n t e s censured f o r not w r i t i n g about London?
Are Is Jane
Austen censured f o r not w r i t i n g about European t r a v e l or the F r e n c h Revolution?
Is Dickens h i m s e l f censured f o r f a i l i n g
to w r i t e about the households of cabinet m i n i s t e r s
where
i m p o r t a n t s o c i a l issues were debated? The E n g l i s h c r i t i c a l bias in the f i r s t half of this century has tended to favour the w r i t e r s of the mid-nineteenth century who d r e w attention d i r e c t l y to the social i n j u s t i c e s of the age and the effects of the I n d u s t r i a l Revolution, Anything outside the scope of this is at t i m e s regarded 'narrow'.
as
Some novelists were w r i t i n g i n a n a r r o w range
i n this sense, as Jane Austen had done a l i t t l e e a r l i e r : f o r example Thackeray and Gosse were perhaps l i m i t e d by t h e i r lack of immediate concern w i t h s o c i a l i n j u s t i c e and w i t h the I n d u s t r i a l Revolution and even Scott, f o r a l l the v a r i e t y of his subject m a t t e r ,
is r e s t r i c t e d by his lack of involvement
i n the s o c i a l problems of his day. not ' n a r r o w ' i n this sense.
T r o l l o p e was c e r t a i n l y
The scope of his w r i t i n g
embraced
most aspects of the l i f e of the middle classes i n London and the country as w e l l as many places abroad.
Had he w r i t t e n
less i t m i g h t be said that even i f his range was wide, his perception m u s t have been shallow. and his c h a r a c t e r i s a t i o n , a n a l y t i c a l and
However, this is not so
as has been shown, was n a t u r a l i s t i c ,
sympathetic.
39 I t has already been said that one of T r o l l o p e ' s m a i n achievements was the c r e a t i o n of characters so n a t u r a l i s t i c that they seem to r e s e m b l e people i n r e a l l i f e as closely as any f i c t i o n a l c h a r a c t e r s can.
Many people who accept this
a b i l i t y to p o r t r a y c h a r a c t e r s w e l l point out f r o m a l i m i t e d knowledge of T r o l l o p e ' s range that a large p r o p o r t i o n of his c h a r a c t e r s i s made up of c l e r g y m e n , politicians.
False as t h i s c l a i m i s , i t a f f o r d s the opportunity
of showing that, likenesses,
or i n the later novels,
f a r f r o m being a reproducer
of photographic
T r o l l o p e was a r e a l student of human nature,
saw beneath the outward appearance and understood nature w i t h some perception. are a l l c l e r i c s , yes, calling requires
who
human
The c l e r g y of B a r s e t s h i r e
and the day-to-day duties which t h e i r
of them are basically s i m i l a r as are
p r o f e s s e d b e l i e f s and t h e i r outer garments.
their
Trollope
concerned
h i m s e l f v e r y l i t t l e w i t h these aspects of his c l e r g y m e n and i t i s only r a r e l y that he gives serious consideration to t h e i r b e l i e f s o r to t h e i r doctrines
: he was not a theologian i n the
t r a d i t i o n a l sense and he was interested f a r m o r e i n how his c l e r g y m e n live and behave towards t h e i r f e l l o w m e n . evident that he d i d not sympathise w i t h the extreme
I t was evangelical
outlook, as is shown i n the p o r t r a i t of c l e r i c s like M r , Slope, but his judgement of the wide v a r i e t y of c h u r c h outlooks presented t h r o u g h the c h a r a c t e r s of his c l e r g y m e n is based upon what they do r a t h e r than what they believe.
Hypocrisy
40
i s the weakness that T r o l l o p e exposes m o s t c l e a r l y , i n c l e r g y m e n as i n other characters,..
C l e r g y m e n of the Ghurch
of England is a s e r i e s of p o r t r a i t s of how c e r t a i n c l e r i c s behave, not of what they believe. of step w i t h his c o n t e m p o r a r i e s
T r o l l o p e was perhaps out
i n that r e l i g i o n was f o r h i m
p r i m a r i l y concerned w i t h how m e n t r e a t one another and less w i t h soul-searching
attempts to achieve personal salvation
t h r o u g h a b s t r a c t systematic
theology,
James K i n c a i d ,
recent study of the novels i s the most comprehensive
whose
so far'^^,
pinpoints T r o l l o p e ' s i n t e r e s t i n c l e r i c s neatly when he says of the B a r s e t s h i r e
novels:
' " C l e r g y m e n are only m e n " runs a dominant m o t i f throughout. But what i s i n the f i r s t novels a c o m f o r t i n g doctrine of u n i f i c a t i o n becomes by the f i n a l novel a f r i g h t e n i n g one, " A l l c l e r g y m e n are m e n " i n B a r c h e s t e r Towers means to the reader " a l l m e n are c l e r g y m e n " , possessing i n t h e i r c o m m o n h u m i l i t y the source of a l l s p i r i t u a l i t y ; i n The Last C h r o n i c l e , " a l l m e n are c l e r g y m e n " seems to translate into " a l l m e n are thieves"!'^^« It has been thought thought that T r o l l o p e regarded s p i r i t u a l aspects of the priesthood as p r i v a t e and
'outside,,,
36 a n o v e l i s t ' s p e r m i s s i b l e scope'
but this view f a i l s to
recognise that f o r T r o l l o p e r e l i g i o n was how people l i v e d 37 r a t h e r than what they believed I t was human nature w h i c h interested T r o l l o p e and his studies of v a r i o u s c l e r i c s show r e m a r k a b l e insight into the d i v e r s i t y of that nature,
M r , Proudie's
the
g r i e f at the
41 death of his awesome w i f e has nothing whatever to do w i t h the fact that he was a bishop; being a curate only makes M r , C r a w l e y ' s m e n t a l t o r t u r e a l l the w o r s e , when he is accused of stealing M r . Soames's £ 2 0 cheque; M r , Quiverful has f o u r t e e n c h i l d r e n and a w i f e to support whether he i s a c l e r g y m a n o r not; M r , Slope was .no doubt as s e l f i s h and ambitious i n the sugar company he went to w o r k f o r when his stay i n the Bishop's palace came to an end; Archdeacon G r a n t l y would have been as q u i c k - t e m p e r e d , as w a r m and as fond of defending his own peace of m i n d against a l l i n t r u d e r s , whether he had been i n holy orders or not. The l i s t could be much f u l l e r , but the f a c t is clear : although many of T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s i n the B a r s e t s h i r e series are c l e r i c s , they are f i r s t and f o r e m o s t human beings.
S i m i l a r l y , many of the c h a r a c t e r s i n the l a t e r novels are p o l i t i c i a n s , but Plantagenet
P a l l i s e r is as d i f f e r e n t f r o m
Sir Orlando Drought as he is f r o m M r , A b e l Wharton, whose steady devotion to the law has taught h i m never to t r u s t p o l i t i c s or would-be p o l i t i c i a n s .
It would be a v e r y shallow
judgement to say that T r o l l o p e ' s novels are f i l l e d w i t h c l e r i c s or p o l i t i c i a n s and t h e r e f o r e his range is n a r r o w .
I t would
be about as m i s l e a d i n g as saying that Checkov's plays are of no i n t e r e s t to us because a l l the characters are
Russian.
T r o l l o p e ' s range of characters i s , then, wide and v a r i e d , and his reproductions of hiiman l i f e , f a r f r o m being
42
m e r e l y photographic, show sympathetic i n s i g h t and clear understanding.
I n this study of his f e l l o w m e n , T r o l l o p e
'is p r i m a r i l y i n t e r e s t e d i n people in t h e i r r e l a t i o n to the ,38 social structure
,
and p a r t of his c l a i m to excellence
springs
f r o m the p o r t r a i t s he gives us of living man i n his s o c i a l relations.
43
NOTES - Chapter One 1
Barchester Towers,
p. 222 (Ch, X X V I I ) .
2
Ibid.,
p. 49 (Ch. V I I ) ,
3
Ibid.,
p, 239 (Gh. X X V I I I ) .
4
James, Henry, p. 130.
5
Barchester Towers,
6
Doctor Thorne,
7
The P r i m e M i n i s t e r , I , p, 227 (Ch,
8
The Way We L i v e Now. I I , p. 326 (Ch,
9
A n Autobiography,
'Anthony T r o l l o p e ' , P a r t i a l
pp.
Portraits,
115-116 (Gh, X V ) .
pp. 502-503 (Ch, X L I V ) , XXIV), LXXXIV),
p, 209 (Ch, X I I ) .
10
Bowen, E l i z a b e t h , 'Notes on W r i t i n g a N o v e l ' , O r i o n I I , quoted i n W a l t e r A l l e n , W r i t e r s on W r i t i n g , p, 180,
11
C e c i l , L o r d D a v i d , E a r l y V i c t o r i a n Novelists : Essays i n Revaluation, p, 257.
12
D o c t o r Thorne.
13
E a r l y Victorian Novelists,
14
M r , Scarborough's F a m i l y , p, 568 (Ch,
15
A n Autobiography,
16
Early Victorian Novelists,
17
Ibid,,
18
F o r s t e r , E , M , , Aspects of the N o v e l , p,
19
James, H e n r y , The Spoils of Poynton. A l l e n , W r i t e r s on W r i t i n g , p, 199.
20
Early Victorian Novelists,
21
Bennett, A r n o l d , J o u r n a l s . (15th October 1896), i n W a l t e r A l l e n , W r i t e r s on W r i t i n g , p, 140,
p,
p. 307 (Ch, X X V ) ,
p,
pp,
257-258, LVIII),
169 (Gh, X ) , p,
260,
255.
p.
85.
quoted i n Walter
253, quoted
44
22
Barchester
23
The P r i m e M i n i s t e r . I , p, 227 (Ch, X X I V ) .
24
Barchester
25
The Last C h r o n i c l e of B a r s e t .
26
H a r r i s o n , F r e d e r i c k , 'Anthony T r o l l o p e ' , Studies i n E a r l y V i c t o r i a n L i t e r a t u r e , p, 212.
27
Barchester
28
The Eustace Diamonds,
29
Barchester
30
The Clave r i n g s , p, 297 (Ch, X X V I I I ) ,
31
You Can F o r g i v e H e r ? ,
p, 329 (Ch. X X I X ) .
32
Ibid.,
LXXI),
33
Barchester
34
pp.
T o w e r s , p,
Towers,
Towers,
Towers,
121 (Ch. X V ) .
p, 222 (Ch, X X V I ) .
pp,
p, 700 (Ch,
LXVI).
156-157 (ch, X X ) . pp, 355-357 (Ch.
XXXV).
p, 122 (Ch. X V ) ,
739-744 (Ch,
T o w e r s , p . 327 (Ch. X X X V I I ) ,
James K i n c a i d has done m u c h , along w i t h Ruth apRoberts, to reawaken academic i n t e r e s t i n T r o l l o p e ' s novels. The appearance of his s c h o l a r l y book, The Novels of Anthony T r o l l o p e , i n 1977, i s an indication of the serious attention now being a f f o r d e d to T r o l l o p e , but i t was preceded by a number of a r t i c l e s w h i c h appeared i n Nineteenth Century F i c t i o n and other Journals over a number of y e a r s . The need to m a i n t a i n a c r i t i c a l awareness of the changing i n t e r e s t i n T r o l l o p e was c l e a r l y expressed i n his a r t i c l e ' B r i n g B a c k The T r o l l o p i a n ' , i n 1976, The T r o l l o p i a n had been started w i t h the r e v i v a l of i n t e r e s t i n the novels d u r i n g the Second W o r l d War (see Gordon Ray's T r o l l o p e . at F u l l Length), and r a n f r o m 1945 to 1949, when i t became Nineteenth Century F i c t i o n .
35
The Novels of Anthony T r o l l o p e , pp,
93-94.
36
Sadleir, M i c h a e l , ' I n t r o d u c t i o n to Barchester 1956, p, x i i ,
37
It is i n t e r e s t i n g to see how c r i t i c a l i n t e r e s t i n T r o l l o p e ' s c l e r g y m e n has changed over the last f o r t y y e a r s . In 1944, R, Edwards w r o t e about T r o l l o p e ' s inaccuracies i n m a t t e r s of e c c l e s i a s t i c a l p r e f e r m e n t and p r a c t i c e , i n ' T r o l l o p e on C h u r c h A f f a i r s ' , Times L i t e r a r y Supplement,
Towers',
45
21st October, and i n 1962 an a r t i c l e by S. Hawkins on ' M r . H a r d i n g ' s C h u r c h M u s i c ' was published i n J o u r n a l of E n g l i s h L i t e r a r y H i s t o r y , x x i x , seeking to establish B i b l i c a l significance i n the fact that there are twelve beadsmen at H i r a m ' s H o s p i t a l . I t was not u n t i l the end of that decade that i n t e r e s t focused on the c l e r g y m e n themselves, w i t h 'TroHope's C l e r i c a l Concerns : The Low C h u r c h C l e r g y m e n ' and 'The P r o f e s s i o n a l C l e r g y m a n i n Some Novels by Anthony T r o U o p e ' , by J , W, Lee and F , F , T i l l s o n r e s p e c t i v e l y , i n H a r t f o r d Studies i n L i t e r a t u r e , i , (1969-70) pp. 198-208 and pp. 185-197,, I n 1973, Helen C o r s ' s study of the 'Paranoid P e r s o n a l i t y ' of M r , Crawley (in v o l . V of the same J o u r n a l ) showed the i n c r e a s i n g i n t e r e s t i n T r o l l o p e ' s c l e r i c s as m e n . Most recently, Peter P a c k e r ' s The P o r t r a y a l of the A n g l i c a n C l e r g y m e n i n some Nineteenth Century F i c t i o n c o n f i r m s m y view that T r o l l o p e ' s concern was w i t h how his c l e r g y m e n l i v e d t h e i r lives r a t h e r than w i t h t h e i r f o r m a l i s e d role i n V i c t o r i a n society. 38
E a r l y V i c t o r i a n N o v e l i s t s , p, 270,
46 Chapter Two Character.
A u t h o r and Reader
' L e t i t be clear f r o m the outset that T r o l l o p e ' s expression of the m i d - V i c t o r i a n s p i r i t has always the l i m i t a t i o n of class and background congenial to his t a s t e . He is the c h r o n i c l e r , the o b s e r v e r and the i n t e r p r e t e r of the w e l l - t o do, c o m f o r t a b l e England of London and the E n g l i s h shires'"''* Sadleir's view lies behind m u c h of the available c r i t i c i s m of T r o l l o p e .
I n p a r t i c u l a r , the n a t u r a l i s m of his
character
p o r t r a y a l has been construed as a f a i l u r e to be aware of the h y p o c r i s y of the m i d - V i c t o r i a n p e r i o d , when d i f f e r e n t scales of public and p r i v a t e m o r a l i t y existed side by side, yet unopposed. The voice of Dickens exposing this hypocrisy stands unchallenged ( w e l l supported by names like B u t l e r , Gissing, Gosse, Hardy and George M o o r e ) i n the v i e w of the twentieth c e n t u r y .
Beside t h e m ,
T r o l l o p e appears to shed no l i g h t on the m o r a l i t y of the age of w h i c h he was the c h r o n i c l e r .
Even A , 0 , J ,
Cockshut said that
T r o l l o p e ' d i d not l i k e to consider things too s e r i o u s l y ' , T r o l l o p e ' s novels have f o r too long been accepted as popular entertainments by a m a n who could invent plausible c h a r a c t e r s and place them i n plausible situations and l i t t l e m o r e . Recent r e s e a r c h has begun to undermine this prevalent attitude,
however.
M o s t notably, i n her study T r o l l o p e : A r t i s t
and M o r a l i s t , Ruth apRoberts Trollope's morality seriously.
has argued the case f o r taking She has helped considerably to
47
place T r o l l o p e i n his proper perspective a m a n of considerable
i n the V i c t o r i a n age,
as
and self-taught learning, a man w i t h ideas
and a philosophy based upon close observation of human
experience,
a m a n w i t h a conscious m o r a l i t y of his own devising and exposition. Ruth apRoberts, by d r a w i n g attention to his l i t t l e noticed L i f e of C i c e r o and by questioning the v a l i d i t y of the usual tools of c r i t i c a l appraisal,
has helped to d i s p e l the older theories
about T r o l l o p e
and has f o r g e d the way f o r some new c r i t i c a l approaches to the novel as a g e n r e . M i s l e a d i n g as m u c h of the c r i t i c i s m been i n the ninety years since his death, blunder has as yet been h a r d l y noticed. b l i n d e d by his eminent r e a d a b i l i t y ; has prevented
about T r o l l o p e has
the most serious c r i t i c a l Perhaps people have been
maybe Sadleir's
Commentary
subsequent c r i t i c s f r o m reappraising his novels.
Whatever the reason, the fundamental i r o n y w i t h w h i c h T r o l l o p e w r o t e and the s k i l l w i t h w h i c h he used i t to achieve his e f f e c t s , has passed v i r t u a l l y unnoticed. It has been shown p r e v i o u s l y that T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s have a l i f e of t h e i r own and are t h e r e f o r e r e a l i s t i c i n a way that has not escaped c r i t i c a l notice;
some c r i t i c s have gone so f a r as
to say that T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s are so alive that once he has c r e a t e d them they take on a l i f e of t h e i r own and govern the d i r e c t i o n and outcome of the plot i n a way quite beyond the control.
novelist's
In A n Autobiography T r o l l o p e stated that he 'never
3 t r o u b l e d ( h i m s e l f ) m u c h about the construction of plot^,
and this
48
could be said to i m p l y that the c h a r a c t e r s are m o r e p o w e r f u l i n giving the plot i t s d i r e c t i o n than the author h i m s e l f . g e n e r a l l y accepted,
however, that T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s
I t is are
n a t u r a l i s t i c and s e v e r a l reasons f o r t h i s have been put f o r w a r d . Another reason may w e l l be that as they are a l l thinking beings, whose actions appear to the reader to be governed not by the dictates of the author or by the influence of other c h a r a c t e r s i n the book, but by t h e i r own guiding m o r a l p r i n c i p l e s : one way i n w h i c h T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s are so endowed w i t h l i f e and r e a l i t y is that they a l l have t h e i r own m o r a l sense, t h e i r own 'philosophy of l i f e ' .
The reader i s aware not only of how the character
thinks
and behaves, but also of why he thinks and behaves i n this way. Many authors have managed to convey understanding of one or m o r e of t h e i r c h a r a c t e r s ' characters),
rationale (these are by and large the ' r o u n d '
but f e w , i f any,
with this quality.
endow the m a j o r i t y of t h e i r c h a r a c t e r s
The c h a r a c t e r s do not appear f o r what they show
us about the c e n t r a l f i g u r e s , as m o s t characters do i n King Lear or D o c t o r Faustus f o r example;
they have,
each and every one,
their
own philosophy, t h e i r own m o r a l i t y - the p r i n c i p l e s on which they base t h e i r s e v e r a l l i v e s . w i l l illustrate this,
B r i e f consideration of any of the novels
M r , Sextus Parker i n The P r i m e M i n i s t e r is
not t h e r e m e r e l y to draw out one side of Lopez's character;
he
has a d e f i n i t e p h y s i c a l appearance and a w i f e and f a m i l y to keep as M r . A b e l Wharton finds out. of c i r c u m s t a n c e s
Although such clear d e s c r i p t i o n
and appearances m i g h t be found i n many nineteenth
49
c e n t u r y novels,
nevertheless Sextus Parker has his own philosophy
too : pliable and c o r r u p t i b l e he m a y be, but he believes that f r o m conscientious
w o r k and a degree of r i s k - t a k i n g he i s entitled to
d r a w his l e g i t i m a t e share of the proceeds - enough to s a t i s f y the needs of the f a m i l y .
I t is p r e c i s e l y because he has t h i s m o r a l i t y
of his own, so c l e a r l y d i f f e r e n t f r o m that of Lopez, that t h e i r i n t e r v i e w s i n Sextus P a r k e r ' s o f f i c e s i n L i t t l e Tankard Y a r d i n the c i t y have such i n t e r e s t and entertainment
value.
This possession of an independent philosophy or m o r a l scheme of values c h a r a c t e r i s e s m o s t of T r o l l o p e ' s people and gives t h e m something of t h e i r i n d i v i d u a l i t y , making them almost of t h e i r author.
independent
Even those c h a r a c t e r s f r o m low l i f e who feature
so r a r e l y i n the novels have t h e i r own philosophy of l i f e , own ' r a i s o n d ' e t r e ' .
The b r i c k l a y e r f r o m Hoggle E n d ,
their mentioned
i n the last chapter, expresses an idea that is c l e a r l y the governing f o r c e of his own c h a r a c t e r and l i f e when he says,
' I t ' s dogged
as
4 does i t ' «
His advice i s u s e f u l and i m p o r t a n t to the Rev,
Josiah
C r a w l e y , but he is m o r e than j u s t one aspect of another man's c h a r a c t e r : he exists because he has his own ethical code,
just 5
as the Rev, J o s i a h C r a w l e y l i v e s i n a w o r l d of his own making . When George Vavasor r e c e i v e s a v i s i t f r o m Jane at the end of Can Y o u F o r g i v e H e r ? we are aware f i r s t of her poverty : ' I have come here because I am s t a r v i n g ' ;
but then, when George threatens
to blow his brains out, we are aware that her philosophy, unlike G e o r g e ' s , is G o d - f e a r i n g at root and hence the dialogue at t h e i r
50
m e e t i n g has some l i f e of i t s own. l e f t this encounter,
and numerous
A n author could easily have others besides, as a way of
expressing George's selfishness and near-madness at the f i n a l r e j e c t i o n he has had f r o m A l i c e : ' " I am s t a r v i n g , the w o r l d , ''
I have not a s h i l l i n g i n
"Perhaps i t may be a c o m f o r t to you i n your troubles to know that I am at any rate, as badly o f f as you a r e ? I won't say that I am s t a r v i n g , because I could get food to eat at t h i s m o m e n t i f I wanted i t ; but I am u t t e r l y ruined. M y p r o p e r t y - what should have been m i n e , - has been left away f r o m m e . I have lost the t r u m p e r y seat i n P a r l i a m e n t f o r w h i c h I have paid so much. A l l my r e l a t i o n s have t u r n e d their backs upon me - " "Are you not going to be m a r r i e d ? ' she said, r i s i n g quickly f r o m her chair and coming close to h i m , 'Marriedj No; - but I am going to blow m y b r a i n s out. Look at that p i s t o l , m y g i r l . Of course you w o n ' t t h i n k that I am i n earnest, - but I a m , " She looked up into his face piteously, "Ohi George," she said, 'you won't do that?" "But I s h a l l do that. There is nothing else l e f t f o r me to do. You talk to me about starving. I t e l l you that I should have no o b j e c t i o n to be starved, and so be put an end to i n that way. I t ' s not so bad as some other ways when i t comes g r a d u a l l y . You and I , Jane, have not played our cards v e r y well. We have staked a l l that we had, and we've been beaten. I t ' s no good w h i m p e r i n g a f t e r what's l o s t , We^d better go somewhere else and begin a new game," *Go where ? '* said
she,
"Ahj - that's j u s t what I can't t e l l y o u , "
51
"George," she said, ' I ' l l go anywhere w i t h you. I f what you say is t r u e , - i f y o u ' r e not going to be m a r r i e d , and w i l l let me come to you, I w i l l w o r k f o r you like a slave, I w i l l indeed, I know I ' m poorly looking now - ' ' "My g i r l , where I ' m going, I s h a l l not want a slave; and as f o r y o u r looks - when you go there too, - t h e y ' l l be of no m a t t e r , as f a r as I am able to judge." •'But George,
where are you going?*'
^'Wherever people do go when t h e i r brains are knocked out of t h e m ; o r , r a t h e r , when they have knocked out t h e i r own b r a i n s , - i f that makes any d i f f e r e n c e , " "George," hold of h i m the moment you f r i g h t e n you w i l l not "But
she came up to h i m now, and took by the f r o n t of his coat, and f o r he allowed her to do so, - "George, me. Do not say that. Say that do that?"
I am j u s t saying that I s h a l l , "
*'Are you not a f r a i d of God's anger? I have been v e r y w i c k e d , "
You and
" I have, m y poor g i r l , I don't know m u c h about your wickedness, I've been like Topsy; - indeed I am a kind of second Topsy m y s e l f . But what's the good of w h i m p e r i n g when i t ' s over ?" "It i s n ' t over; for you,"
i t i s n ' t over,
- at any rate
" I w i s h I knew how I could begin again. But a l l this is nonsense, Jane, and you must go." "You must t e l l me, f i r s t , that you are not going to - k i l l y o u r s e l f , ' ' ' ' I don't suppose that I shall do i t tonight, - or perhaps, not t o m o r r o w . V e r y probably I may allow m y s e l f a week, so that your staying here can do no good, I m e r e l y wanted to make you
52
understand that you are not the only person who has come to g r i e f , " *'And you are not going to be m a r r i e d ? " *'No; I ' m not going to be m a r r i e d , certainly," ""And I m u s t go now?" "Yes; I think y o u ' d better go n o w , ' Then she rose and went, and he let her leave the r o o m without giving her a shilling,'' ^. The whole of the i n t e r v i e w (of w h i c h this is j u s t a part) comes to l i f e because T r o l l o p e shows us not m e r e l y a meeting of two personalities,
but because there is a confrontation between two
f u n d a m e n t a l l y d i f f e r i n g outlooks on l i f e , two d i f f e r e n t m o r a l i t i e s . The f a c t that t h e i r 'philosophies' are d i f f e r e n t receives no comment f r o m T r o l l o p e and the essence of the conflict i s communicated to us t h r o u g h the j u x t a p o s i t i o n of ideas i n the dialogue.
To read
t h i s i n t e r v i e w at surface l e v e l only, without p e r c e i v i n g the i r o n i e s involved:, is as serious an e r r o r of judgement as i t would be to 7 say that Jane Austen's novels are composed
of tea-table chatter ,
Recently, however, there has been a more perceptive awareness of the i m p o r t a n c e of speech patterns and of the changes i n the manner of address caused by s h i f t s i n personal relationships, i n studies of g T r o l l o p e ' s dialogue , But we have strayed a
l i t t l e f r o m the argument,
perhaps
because when two people are brought together i n T r o l l o p e ' s novels, the w r i t i n g i s ao m u c h m o r e perceptive than is generally acknowledged, that one is tempted i n v o l u n t a r i l y to expound the
53
passage,
Trollope's characterisation
in fact i s m a r k e d by an
a b i l i t y to endow each of his c h a r a c t e r s w i t h t h e i r oivn ethical system.
In a l l cases the c h a r a c t e r creates the system and not
the system the c h a r a c t e r ,
f o r T r o l l o p e was no d o c t r i n a i r e w r i t e r
c r e a t i n g c h a r a c t e r s to f i t his d i f f e r e n t philosophical conceptions; he w o r k e d f r o m the c h a r a c t e r outwards, believing i n a pragmatic approach,
using human experience as his s t a r t i n g point i n each
case. A l l T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s (who show r e m a r k a b l e
ingenuity
when one r e m e m b e r s that L o r d D a v i d C e c i l censured T r o l l o p e f o r his ' r e l a t i v e l y low power o f imagination''^) a r e guided by t h e i r own m o r a l sense i n t h e i r actions;
some of t h e i r actions may seem
i m m o r a l or a m o r a l , but to l a b e l them as such without c a r e f u l consideration would be m i s l e a d i n g ;
and since he was
m o s t of a l l w i t h the s o c i a l i n t e r a c t i o n of man,
concerned
T r o l l o p e was
p a r t i c u l a r l y i n t e r e s t e d i n the interactions of these various moralities. So intense was T r o l l o p e ' s fascination w i t h the ideas of each of his c h a r a c t e r s and i n what happened when two c h a r a c t e r s w i t h d i f f e r e n t outlooks c o n f r o n t e d one another, that many of the novels can be described as a Pantheon or arena i n w h i c h the d i v e r s i t y of the m o r a l ideas presented are being debated by the v e r y f a c t that they are
juxtaposed.
There i s c e r t a i n l y strong precedent f o r this—kind- of m o r a l debate being presented i n l i t e r a r y f o r m and i t is s u r p r i s i n g
54
that T r o l l o p e ' s novels have not been considered i n the t r a d i t i o n before.
Chaucer's
P a r l i a m e n t of Fowles and The Nun's
Priest's
Tale are t y p i c a l of the f o r m a l i s e d manner i n which such debates were presented b e f o r e m e d i e v a l audiences'''^. digestible f o r m , however, presented i n Chaucer's
In a m o r e
subjects of t o p i c a l i n t e r e s t were
The F r a n k l i n ' s Tale or the anonymous Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight.
M o s t of Middle E n g l i s h L i t e r a t u r e
was w r i t t e n w i t h the a i m of p r o v i d i n g audiences and readers alike w i t h , m a t e r i a l f o r d i s c u s s i o n or debate about m o r a l issues of one kind or another.
The convention by which both sides of an
argument w e r e f o r m a l l y presented m a y have been eclipsed i n Tudor t i m e s by the d e s i r e to create situations of human d r a m a i n m o r e n a t u r a l i s t i c and digestible t e r m s , but there is s t i l l an i n t e r e s t i n subjects of t o p i c a l and p h i l o s o p h i c a l i m p o r t a n c e . f o r example, nature,
The
Tempest,
exhibits c o n t e m p o r a r y concern ,with ideas of a r t and
j u s t as Measure f o r Measure
explores d i f f e r e n t levels of
morality. The t r a d i t i o n r e f e r r e d to here is only one aspect of the easily recognisable f a c t that a l l l i t e r a t u r e , i f i t is to capture the i n t e r e s t and i m a g i n a t i o n of r e a d e r s , must provoke thought, r e f l e c t i o n and some kind of m e n t a l debate,
A play w h i c h evokes
no active m e n t a l response o r provides no m a t e r i a l f o r discussion w i l l not r u n long, no m a t t e r how b r i l l i a n t the production i n other ways.
S i m i l a r l y a poem m u s t create an e f f e c t w h i c h arouses
responses i f i t i s to be w o r t h h e a r i n g again.
The novel, m o s t of
55
all,
needs t o f o r c e the reader to t h i n k and evaluate i f i t is to be
successful.
M e r e escapism f r o m the r e a l i t y of everyday l i f e ,
without demanding a m e n t a l response, is no 'touchstone' f o r greatness i n l i t e r a t u r e .
The f a c t that T r o l l o p e ' s p o p u l a r i t y has
been accounted f o r by the escapism which i t engenders is yet another sign of the f a i l u r e to appreciate t h i s quality''' T r o l l o p e ' s novels present i n dramatic f o r m debates on n u m e r o u s issues that are u l t i m a t e l y almost a l l m o r a l ones. Influenced by the strong t r a d i t i o n of the E n g l i s h novel'''^, he was aware that a n o v e l i s t ' s p r i m e task was to amuse his readers and since he could only w r i t e i f the public bought his books he could not present the m o r a l issues of w h i c h he was constantly thinking i n any other way than as the situations arose i n his There a r e ,
stories.
i n f a c t , debates of f o r m a l m e d i e v a l
p r o p o r t i o n s i n some of his books,
notably when he is handling p o l i t i c a l
subjects i n the P a l l i s e r
Such a debate can be seen i n
series.
The P r i m e M i n i s t e r and one can see i m m e d i a t e l y that T r o l l o p e is presenting Palliser,
two sides of an i m p o r t a n t t o p i c a l issue.
by this t i m e
Plantagenet
Duke of O m n i u m , is walking w i t h Phineas
F i n n i n the grounds at Matching: '"But we put a l l that aside when we r e a l l y t h i n k , " (continued the Duke) "and can give the Conservative c r e d i t f o r philanthropy and p a t r i o t i s m as r e a d i l y as the L i b e r a l . The Conservative who has had any idea of the meaning of the name which he c a r r i e s , wishes, I suppose, to maintain the d i f f e r e n c e s and the distances w h i c h separate the highly placed f r o m t h e i r lower b r e t h r e n . He thinks that God has d i v i d e d the w o r l d as he finds i t
56
d i v i d e d , and that he m a y best do his duty by m a k i n g the i n f e r i o r man happy and contented i n his p o s i t i o n , teaching h i m that the place w h i c h he holds is his by God's o r d i n a n c e . " "And i t is
so."
" H a r d l y i n the sense that I mean. But that i s the g r e a t Conservative lesson. That lesson seems to me to be h a r d l y compatible w i t h continual improvement i n the c o n d i t i o n of the lower m a n . But w i t h the Conservative, a l l such i m p r o v e m e n t i s to be based on the idea of the maintenance of those distances. I as a Duke am to be kept as f a r apart f r o m the m a n who d r i v e s m y horses as was m y ancestor f r o m the m a n who drove h i s , or who rode a f t e r h i m to the w a r s , - and that i s to go on f o r ever. There is m u c h to be said f o r such a scheme. Let the lords be, a l l of them, m e n w i t h loving h e a r t s , and clear i n t e l l e c t , and noble i n s t i n c t s , and i t is possible that they should use t h e i r powers so b e n e f i c i a l l y as to spread happiness over the e a r t h . I t is one of the m i l l e n n i u m s which the m i n d of m a n can conceive, and seems to be that w h i c h the Conservative m i n d does conceive," "But the other m e n who are not lords don't want that kind of happiness.'' " I f such happiness were attainable i t m i g h t be w e l l to c o n s t r a i n m e n to accept i t . But the l o r d s of this w o r l d are f a l l i b l e men; and though as units they ought to be, and perhaps a r e , better than those who have f e w e r advantages, they are m u c h m o r e l i k e l y as units to go a s t r a y i n opinion than the bodies of m e n whom they would seek to govern. We know that power does c o r r u p t , and that we cannot t r u s t kings to have loving h e a r t s , and c l e a r i n t e l l e c t s and noble instincts. Men as they come to think about i t and to look f o r w a r d , and to look back, w i l l not believe i n such a m i l l e n n i u m as that.''
57
*Do they believe i n any m i l l e n n i u m ? " " I think they do a f t e r a fashion, and I t h i n k that I do m y s e l f . That is m y idea of C o n s e r v a t i s m , The doctrine of L i b e r a l i s m i s , of course, the r e v e r s e . The L i b e r a l , i f he have any f i x e d idea at a l l , m u s t , I think, have conceived the idea of lessening distances, - of b r i n g i n g the coachman and the duke nearer together, - n e a r e r and nearer, t i l l a m i l l e n n i u m s h a l l be reached by "By equality?" asked Phineas, eagerly i n t e r r u p t i n g the P r i m e M i n i s t e r , and showing his dissent by the tone of his voice, " I d i d not use the w o r d , which is open to many o b j e c t i o n s . I n the f i r s t place the m i l l e n n i u m , w h i c h I have perhaps r a s h l y named, is so distant that we need not even t h i n k of i t as possible. Men's i n t e l l e c t s are at present so various that we cannot even r e a l i s e the idea of equality, and here i n England we have been taught to hate the w o r d by the e v i l e f f e c t s of those attempts which have been made elsewhere to p r o c l a i m i t as a f a c t accomplished by the scratch of a pen or by a c h i s e l on a stone. We have been i n j u r e d i n that, because a good w o r d s i g n i f y i n g a grand idea has been d r i v e n out of the vocabulary of good m e n . E q u a l i t y would be a heaven, i f we could attain i t . How can we to whom so m u c h has been given dare to think otherwise ? How can you look at the bowed back and bent legs and abject face of that poor ploughman, who w i n t e r and summer has to drag his rheumatic l i m b s to his w o r k , w h i l e y o u go a-hunting o r s i t i n pride of place among the f o r e m o s t few of your covmtry, and say that i t a l l i s as i t ought to be? Y o u are a L i b e r a l because you know that i t i s not a l l as i t ought to be, and because you would s t i l l m a r c h on to some n e a r e r approach to equality; though
58
the thing i t s e l f is so great, so g l o r i o u s , so godlike, - nay so absolutely divine, that you have been disgusted by the v e r y p r o m i s e of i t , because its p e r f e c t i o n i s unattainable. Men have asserted a m o c k equality t i l l the v e r y idea of equality stinks i n m e n ' s n o s t r i l s , , , , ! hope y o u a i n ' t cold" '•^•^» In t h i s passage i t is c l e a r that T r o l l o p e was presenting ideas f o r his r e a d e r s to t h i n k about and debate i n t h e i r own m i n d s . not o f t e n , however, statement
I t is
that T r o l l o p e presents issues i n as overt a
as this : his g r e a t e r
s k i l l lies i n the passages of
dialogue, where by the use of i r o n y ,
he makes the reader aware of
the broader m o r a l issues involved i n the c o n f r o n t a t i o n of two characters, Xrollope the m o r a l i s t r a r e l y m o r a l i s e s .
There is plenty
of a u t h o r i a l comment and he o f t e n takes the reader into his confidence about one o r other of his c h a r a c t e r s ,
but concentration
on these passages of comment obscures his a b i l i t y to w r i t e w i t h irony.
C r i t i c s have tended to take a l l such d i r e c t c o m m e n t a r y
at face value and assume that the r e s t of each novel is providing the s t o r y to amuse the reader and endorse the c o m m e n t a r y .
His
own statement that the good n o v e l teaches lessons of v i r t u e and at 14 the same t i m e delights i t s readers
, can be understood to mean
that there are two constituent parts to each of his novels : the e n t e r t a i n m e n t p a r t (the s t o r y , the characters), p a r t (the passages of c o m m e n t ) .
and the didactic
It is because undue importance
has been attached to the passages; of a u t h o r i a l comment that m u c h of the i r o n y of T r o l l o p e ' s w r i t i n g has bean m i s s e d .
59
T r o l l o p e o f t e n w r o t e or spoke i n what we would now c a l l a facetious m a n n e r .
His own account of how, as an author,
he
disposed of M r s , Proudie is m a r k e d by a tone of facetiousness, w h i c h i n a less apparent way characterises
m u c h of his a u t h o r i a l
comment: • " I was s i t t i n g one m o r n i n g at w o r k upon the n o v e l , , . A s I was there, two c l e r g y m e n , each w i t h a magazine i n his hand, seated themselves, one on one side of the f i r e and one on the other, close to me. They soon began to abuse what they w e r e reading, and each was reading some p a r t of some novel of m i n e . The gravamen of t h e i r c o m p l a i n t lay i n the f a c t that I r e i n t r o d u c e d the same characters so o f t e n j ' " H e r e , " said one, "is that archdeacon whom we have had i n every novel he has ever written," "And h e r e , " said the other, "is the old duke whom he has talked about t i l l everybody i s t i r e d of h i m . I f I could not have invented new c h a r a c t e r s , I would not w r i t e novels at a l l . " Then one of them f e l l f o u l of M r s , P r o u d i e , I t was impossible f o r me not to hear t h e i r w o r d s , and almost i m p o s s i b l e to hear them and be quiet, I got up and standing between t h e m , I acknowledged m y s e l f to be the c u l p r i t , "As to M r s , P r o u d i e , " I said, " I w i l l go home and k i l l her before the week i s o v e r , " A n d so I d i d . The two gentlemen were u t t e r l y confeunded, and one of them begged me. to f o r g e t his f r i v o l o u s observations' , In an a r t i c l e on this p a r t i c u l a r incident, 'The Death of M r s , Proudie : F r i v o l o u s Slaughter or Calculated D i s p a t c h ? '
Anthony
A r t h u r has taken some p r e l i m i n a r y steps towards evaluating A n Autobiography m o r e critically.-"'^^o
Nevertheless f o r a long t i m e
T r o l l o p e ' s comments upon his c r a f t , his w o r k i n g methods and the reasons f o r w h i c h he w r o t e have been taken as unquestioned
60
statements. J,W,
Even some m o r e recent c r i t i c i s m , f o r example
C l a r k ' s study of T r o l l o p e ' s preaching about m a r r i a g e ,
p o l i t i c s and s o c i a l d i s t i n c t i o n s r e f e r s
to A n Autobiography w i t h
a l m o s t unquestioning seriousness''''^.
'Only i n the secret auto-
18 biography could he c o n f i d e , , , '
, w r o t e A , O, J , Cockshut and
A n A u t o b i o g r a p h y has often been regarded as the ' c l e f f o r a l l his ' r o m a n s ' ,
the explanation of anything puzzling i n his novels.
This approach has prevented many readers f r o m searching the novels themselves
and many of T r o l l o p e ' s r e a l qualities as an
a r t i s t have escaped notice as a r e s u l t . may have been,
Secret the autobiography
but T r o l l o p e knew f u l l w e l l that i t would be
published a f t e r his death and a w r i t e r as aware of his reading public as T r o l l o p e was would h a r d l y forget them i n w r i t i n g the autobiography of his w r i t i n g c a r e e r .
It i s , t h e r e f o r e , a mistake
to v i e w T r o l l o p e ' s own statements about his a r t as f i n a l c r i t i c a l judgements i n t h e m s e l v e s .
As R o b e r t T r a c y observes i n his
recent book on the l a t e r novels, 19
'But to take T r o l l o p e too much
at h i s own w o r d is unwise'
No man w r i t e s as candidly and
.
s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d l y about his a r t i f he intends i t to be read by those v e r y m e n who condemn or praise his books i n his own l i f e t i m e . Few people read the l e t t e r s of a w r i t e r such as D . H , Lawrence today without bearing i n m i n d that some thoughts of eventual publication m u s t have been passing through the m i n d of t h e i r author at the t i m e of w r i t i n g .
They are too polished and r i c h
61
i n 'purple passages' to r e p r e s e n t a completely spontaneous expression
of the a u t h o r ' s thoughts.
The same is true i n
T r o l l o p e ' s case : he was f a r too intelligent and sensitive a human being to put his r e f l e c t i o n s about his l i f e on paper without some awareness of the e f f e c t they would have on those who eventually read t h e m .
I t is reassuring to f i n d that some m a t e r i a l
published i n the last f o u r y e a r s has begun to show a m o r e objective 20 awareness of T r o l l o p e ' s w r i t i n g s k i l l s The trouble has been that a d m i r e r s
of T r o l l o p e and others
have a j l b w e d t h e i r c r i t i c a l f a c u l t i e s to be blinded by T r o l l o p e ' s own documentation of his a r t and achievement.
This may be
because of the sheer quantity of his w r i t i n g s : i n a s t o r m any p o r t w i l l do f o r shelter and s e c u r i t y , b e w i l d e r i n g l y numerous and lengthy.
and the novels alone are 'He who recounts
these
d e t a i l s has scorned to have a s e c r e t between h i m s e l f and his 21 readers,
T r o l l o p e w r i t e s when t e l l i n g us that L i z z i e Eustace
has the diamonds
safely locked away i n her desk shortly a f t e r the
' r o b b e r y ' at C a r l i s l e ;
and when the mysterious
circumstances
surrounding M r , Bonteen's m u r d e r near B e r k e l e y Square lead to the a r r e s t and prosecution of Phineas Finn, T r o l l o p e is quick to enlighten us as to his innocence: that,
'The reader need h a r d l y be told
as regards this great offence, Phineas F i n n was as white as 22
anow '
•
T r o l l o p e c l a i m s i n both these dramatic episodes that
the reader should be as m u c h i n possession of the facts as the author.
As he said elsewhere,
'The author and the reader should
62
move along i n f u l l confidence w i t h each other', 23 and c r i t i c s have, f o r the most p a r t , taken this as a c a r d i n a l p r i n c i p l e of T r o l l o p e ' s writing.
But can anyone s e r i o u s l y suppose that TroUope moves along ' i n f u l l confidence' w i t h his r e a d e r s ?
F o r a start there would be
no s t o r y and no plot since these depend u l t i m a t e l y on the suspense 24 of 'what happens next'
and as the author cannot but know the
d i r e c t i o n i n w h i c h things w i l l w o r k out, i n outline at least,
he
w i l l have nothing to say i f he i s already ' i n f u l l confidence' w i t h h i s readers,
T r o l l o p e ' s c l a i m to share everything w i t h his readers,
like his c l a i m that he o f t e n started w r i t i n g w i t h no idea of the story 25 i n m i n d , m u s t be treated w i t h m o r e scepticism
.
T r o l l o p e was
f a r too m u c h of an a r t i s t to expound his methods and motives as s i m p l y and e x p l i c i t l y as he appears to do i n his autobiographical statements and i n his a u t h o r i a l i n t r u s i o n s .
Even i n the way i n
w h i c h T r o l l o p e handles his s t o r y m a t e r i a l t h e r e i s a need f o r a m o r e detached approach.
This has also been observed by A n d r e w
W r i g h t who has argued that the nineteenth century n a r r a t i v e method was a conspiracy r e f i n e d out of the eighteenth century open 26 connection between author and reader
.
A n understanding of
this gives the m o d e r n reader an a l t e r e d v i s i o n of T r o l l o p e , As
G e o f f r e y T i l l o t s o n has accurately w r i t t e n of the novels, 27
T r o l l o p e always ' m a s t e r s c o m p l e x i t y '
by the way he presents us
w i t h the most d i f f i c u l t m o r a l problems in such a way that we are h a r d l y aware of the c o m p l e x i t y of the situation that has been put
63
b e f o r e us. But i f T r o l l o p e ' s explanations of his own a r t make i t s i m p l e , those explanations succeed only i n glossing over the r e a l c o m p l e x i t y of his a r t i s t i c t a l e n t s , Ruth apRoberts, w r i t i n g about the B a r s e t s h i r e novels, says that T r o l l o p e 'has found i n B a r s e t s h i r e that single situation w h i c h demonstrates the c o m p l e x i t i e s of m o r a l problems.., T r o l l o p e is everywhere a c o m p l i c a t o r . , , His
28 r e c u r r e n t theme i n the novels is that motives are never s i m p l e ' , When w r i t i n g about his own a r t i s t i c qualities, T r o l l o p e is the reverse : he i s everywhere a s i m p l i f i e r , « ,
His r e c u r r e n t theme is that the
a r t of w r i t i n g is always s i m p l e .
Some recent c r i t i c i s m has shown
m o r e awareness of the c a r e and c o m p l e x i t y w i t h w h i c h T r o l l o p e 29 revealed his c h a r a c t e r s The school of T r o U o p i a n c r i t i c i s m which follows Sadleir has set great store by the author's explique of his own a r t , yet has a l m o s t f a i l e d to see the c o m p l e x i t y of his m o r a l perception. Perhaps t h e r e i s a connection between these two c r i t i c a l judgements : look at the immense output of this m a n and one i n s t i n c t i v e l y looks to his autobiography and to the passages of i n t r u s i o n i n the novels as m i l e s t o n e s , and confusing country;
as signposts i n a large
take away these guides and one is f o r c e d
to look at the countryside i t s e l f , to f i n d one's way. r a t h e r awesome task,
I t is a
but i t is l i k e l y to provide a m o r e
accurate
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of the countryside than unquestioning obedience to the signposts,
w h i c h are m i s l e a d i n g i n t h e i r v e r y s i m p l i c i t y .
64
If one reads the novels themselves m o r e c r i t i c a l l y ,
one
e a s i l y becomes aware of the achievement of T r o l l o p e as an 30 artist
.
But he is a m o r a l i s t too;
not because he m o r a l i s e s ,
but i n the way he shows: "us the nature of the human situation by p o r t r a y i n g m e n not as they ought to be, nor as they appear, but as they a r e .
Few a r t i s t s achieve a degree of perception which
r a i s e s m e n to a m o r e profound understanding of 'la condition h u m a i n e ' , but those who do are m o r a l i s t s i n the sense that they have something to say about m a n as he i s ,
Chaucer
and
Shakespeare are m o r a l i s t s i n this sense f o r they both e n r i c h man's understanding of h i m s e l f , by i n c r e a s i n g his perception. authors,
Other
including T r o l l o p e , achieve this too and T r o l l o p e is
d e f i n i t e l y a m o r a l i s t r a t h e r than an author who m o r a l i s e s . In this semantic analysis of t e r m i n o l o g y can be seen something of the c o m p l e x i t y w h i c h surrounds c r i t i c i s m at the present t i m e .
Our constant questioning of the c r i t e r i a by which
we endeavour to evaluate leads inevitably to the analysis of the w o r d s we use,
w i t h the eventual r e s u l t that our c r i t i c a l
procedures
are a l l u l t i m a t e l y d e t e r m i n e d by the f o r m of the words i n which we express o u r s e l v e s . In the case of T r o l l o p e our d i f f i c u l t i e s are increased by the f a c t that T r o l l o p e does m o r a l i s e ,
s u p e r f i c i a l l y at any rate,
i n c r e a t i n g that a i r of i n t i m a c y between reader and author mentioned above.
These F i e l d i n g - l i k e a u t h o r i a l i n t r u s i o n s , albeit less f o r m a l
65
than those i n T o m Jones, f o r example, have obscured the i r o n y and perception of m o s t of T r o l l o p e ' s w r i t i n g and have blinded many c r i t i c s to the essential m o r a l i s t i n T r o l l o p e ,
Strangely enough,
the v e r y parts of T r o l l o p e ' s output that have attracted attention f r o m c r i t i c s have obscured the r e a l qualities of his w r i t i n g .
If
T r o l l o p e was m e r e l y an author who m o r a l i s e d about what he w r o t e , he would have been unable to express the u n i v e r s a l pity w h i c h is c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of h i m .
A s A , O, J ,
Cockshut has
observed:
'In one respect, T r o l l o p e occupies the place among novelists which Webster holds among d r a m a t i s t s - he has a u n i v e r s a l pity'•^•'•. The i n t e n t i o n of t h i s d i g r e s s i o n has been to show the false i m p r e s s i o n that is created i f T r o l l o p e ' s m o r a l i t y is taken at a dangerously s u p e r f i c i a l l e v e l .
A u t h o r i a l comment and the so-
called i n t i m a c y between T r o l l o p e and his readers has been w e l l documented i n T r o l l o p i a n c r i t i c i s m ; pronouncements
but the acceptance of these
as being au grand serieux has made i t d i f f i c u l t
to appreciate the m u c h m o r e i m p o r t a n t i r o n y through which T r o l l o p e expresses h i m s e l f .
Needless to say the passages where T r o l l o p e
takes his reader by the a r m are not to be ignored any m o r e than A n Autobiography :
they provide valuable insight so long as they
are viewed w i t h caution.
W r i t t e n f o r issue i n p e r i o d i c a l f o r m
as m o s t of the novels w e r e ,
T r o l l o p e was constantly aware of
his reading public an d the need to supply them w i t h what they wanted.
The wide readership w h i c h Trollope commanded expected
66
a chatty atmosphere i n w h i c h the author took his readers into his confidence.
Such i n t i m a c y was as much a convention of m i d -
V i c t o r i a n f i c t i o n as w r i t i n g about speaking b i r d s was i n Chaucer's time.
T r o l l o p e ' s assvimption of i n t i m a c y was conscious and
deliberate,
f o r he was used to w r i t i n g f r o m an assumed position :
f o r example,
i n 1865,
T r o l l o p e published f o r 'The P a l l M a l l
Gazette' an account of an E v a n g e l i c a l 'May m e e t i n g ' held i n Exeter Hall,
and he chose to do this i n the f o r m of an a r t i c l e
submitted 32
by 'A Z u l u i n London', thereby achieving an objective
standpoint
His i n t i m a c y w i t h the reader i n m o s t of his novels is as conscious as t h i s .
He gave his r e a d e r s what they wanted - i t was his
f o r t u n e that he achieved the r i g h t balance between s t o r y , and comment
character
- but the passages of comment were w r i t t e n w i t h the
same e f f o r t to create i l l u s i o n i n the m i n d of the r e a d e r . as conscious a part of his a r t as his use of a m o c k - h e r o i c 33 i n B a r c h e s t e r Towers
I t was style
.
I n recent years there has been a r e v e r s a l of c r i t i c a l opinion on the subject of T r o l l o p e ' s style.
Lord David Cecil 34
expressed the view that T r o l l o p e had no style
, because he does
not use any of the conventional s t y l i s t i c devices like s y m b o l i s m and i m a g e r y ;
m o r e recent c r i t i c a l opinion shows that T r o l l o p e ' s
style has excellence because i t serves as the unobtrusive vehicle f o r the p e r f e c t expression of the author's ideas. his own j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r an unpretentious t r i b u t e to
Thackeray:
T r o l l o p e provided
style at the end of his
67
' I hold that gentleman to be the best dressed whose dress no one observes. I am not sure but that the same may be said of an author's w r i t t e n language,'^^, Whereas
T r o l l o p e ' s style used to be thought of as non-existent and
his w r i t i n g t h e r e f o r e as u n r e m a r k a b l e , i t s plainness and unobtrusiveness have m o r e r e c e n t l y been recognised as a strength r a t h e r than a weakness.
Renewed i n t e r e s t was shown by H , S , 36
D a v i e s , w i t h ' T r o l l o p e and his Style'
, m o r e f u l l y explored by 37 G e o f f r e y T i l l o t s o n i n his essay on ' T r o l l o p e ' s Style' and developed f u l l y by R u t h apRoberts i n an a r t i c l e called 'Anthony 38 T r o l l o p e or the M a n w i t h No Style at A H '
.
The qualities of
T r o l l o p e ' s w r i t t e n style had been discounted f r o m the t i m e of his death,
perhaps because he had d i s c l a i m e d a r t i s t i c genius i n his
own accounts of his mundane approach to w r i t i n g ,
in An
39 Autobiography
,
and t h i s was something w h i c h the reading public
and the c r i t i c a l w o r l d of the ' f i n de siecle' could not a d m i r e . This d i s c r e d i t stuck a l m o s t unchallenged, although P , E ,
More,
i n a r e m a r k a b l y profound essay w h i c h was almost completely overshadowed by S a d l e i r ' s T r o l l o p e : A Commentary, w h i c h had appeared the year b e f o r e , hinted at the t r u e value of T r o l l o p e ' s style: 'But i n the long r u n , I wonder whether his c l e a r , m a n l y , s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d style is not the m o s t s a t i s f a c t o r y medium a f t e r a l l This same essay contains, i n embryo, a number of our m o r e recent ideas about T r o l l o p e , and about the r e l a t i o n s h i p
68
between a r t and m o r a l i t y w h i c h T r o l l o p e understood so w e l l . It is almost alone i n not f o l l o w i n g the apologetic views about Trollope,
so f u l l y developed by Sadleir;
indeed,
P,E,
More
is almost alone i n c r i t i c i s i n g Sadleir's approach at a l l .
He
hints at an awareness of qualities i n T r o l l o p e ' s w r i t i n g which have r e m a i n e d unrecognised u n t i l recently;
of the novels,
he
says: 'Indeed, I question whether anyone has f u l l y r e l i s h e d t h e i r w i t and i r o n y and t h e i r delicacy of insinuation',^'''. We are s t i l l at the l e v e l of d i s c o v e r y in our reading of T r o l l o p e ' s novels today, though at least they are no longer d i s m i s s e d
as
inartistic. P, E , M o r e ' s essay points towards the r e a l nature of T r o l l o p e ' s achievement,
p a r t i c u l a r l y i n his understanding of the
highly m o r a l approach w h i c h T r o l l o p e had towards w r i t i n g : ' I f any novelist ever wove his plots w i t h a d e f i n i t e idea before him about the meaning of l i f e i n general, i t was this same 'unideaed' T r o l l o p e ; he is as clear i n his conception of hviman destinies as George E l i o t , and i f anything t r u e r to the facts''^^. N o r is his philosophy about 'the meaning of l i f e i n g e n e r a l ' a c y n i c a l l y p e s s i m i s t i c or ' f u t i l i t a r i a n ' one: 'To T r o l l o p e preeminently i i f e presented i t s e l f as a game w o r t h the candles''^"^.
P, E . M o r e ' s a s s e r t i o n that T r o l l o p e had a v e r y definite
69
idea about 'the meaning of l i f e i n general' is a key to understanding him.
F a r f r o m being the p r o f e s s i o n a l l i t e r a r y hack dedicated to
nothing but earning his b r e a d by w r i t i n g f o r p e r i o d i c a l s , was a highly perceptive,
Trollope
sensitive and intelligent observer of
h u m a n i t y , whose r e f l e c t i o n s on the meaning of ' l i f e i n general' led
h i m to some f a r - s i g h t e d conclusions about the nature of man
i n his s o c i a l and u n i v e r s a l setting. There i s no simple d e f i n i t i o n of T r o l l o p e ' s philosophy and even the m o s t assiduous student w i l l find no easy resume i n his writings.
As w i t h many w o r t h w h i l e t r u t h s , i t is not easily come
by and the v e r y e m p i r i c a l nature of T r o l l o p e ' s philosophy makes i t even harder to state i t s u c c i n c t l y .
B r o a d l y .humanitarian,
b r o a d l y C h r i s t i a n , his acceptance of every human viewpoint as f i n a l l y r e c o n c i l a b l e , because we a l l live i n one universe,
teaches
that a l l i n c o n g r u i t i e s merge u l t i m a t e l y intd a harmony at which we can only grasp, through an appreciation of those v e r y i n c o n g r u i t i e s , V i c t o r i a n society i t s e l f was f u l l of incongruities and T r o l l o p e ' s deliberate juxtapositioning of these incongruities is the means by w h i c h he expresses his philosophy.
This outlook on
l i f e would have made near nonsense i f it had been expressed i n b a l d a b s t r a c t t e r m s and this is why Trollope didn't draw p h i l o s o p h i c a l generalisations was evidently m o r a l ,
i n the way that George E l i o t ' s w r i t i n g
T r o l l o p e was an e m p i r i c i s t who never
went beyond the expression of f i r s t hand observation, seldom i t i s ' , he stated i n Thackeray,
'that theories
'How stand the
70
wear and t e a r of p r a c t i c e S t e p h e n
W a l l has
observed:
' T r o l l o p e was, as usual, m u c h m o r e i n t e r e s t e d i n the p a r t i c u l a r case than i n the g e n e r a l p r i n c i p l e ' ' ^ ^ , It would not be t r u e to say that T r o l l o p e never makes generalisations.
He does, but his attention is always focused
on the point i n the s t o r y r a t h e r than on the general conclusion w h i c h can be d r a w n f r o m i t .
The generalisations
he does make,
however, tend towards the same theme : a deliberate placing together of apparently i r r e c o n c i l a b l e opposites. w o r k s he is t e n t a t i v e .
In the e a r l y
A s he puts i t in The Warden:
'the f a c t that i n t h i s w o r l d no good i s unalloyed and that there is but l i t t l e e v i l that does not have some seed i n i t of what is goodly' But his s e l f - a s s u r a n c e was greater when he w r o t e the P a l l i s e r s e r i e s and he could a s s e r t w i t h bluntness: 'the persons whom you cannot care f o r i n a n o v e l , because they are so bad, are the v e r y same that you so d e a r l y love i n your l i f e , because they are so good,"^^, Ruth apRoberts
says of T r o l l o p e ' s m o r a l i t y :
'He takes us to the centre of l i f e , obliging us to recognise i n c o n g r u i t i e s , f o r c i n g on us the a p p r e c i a t i o n of the d i l e m m a '^8^ and elsewhere
she says that both T r o l l o p e and C i c e r o 'knew the
i r o n y of the good w i t h i n the evil'"^*^.
Trollope presents us w i t h
the i n c o n g r u i t i e s but r a r e l y expresses them as such i n so many words.
He consistently r e j e c t s a systematic approach and his
own e m p i r i c a l methods are m u c h closer than is i m m e d i a t e l y
71 obvious to the e x i s t e n t i a l i s t ' s p r i m e concern w i t h immediate events r a t h e r than any theories by w h i c h they may be i n t e r p r e t e d , Mergault,
i n Camus's L ' E t r a n g e r .
records his m o t h e r ' s
death
and the events leading to the beach m u r d e r w i t h almost no e l a b o r a t i o n o r i n t e r p r e t a t i o n : i t i s the b a l d presentation of each f a c t that leads to the cumulative awareness of the absurdity of M e r g a u l t ' s existence,
T r o l l o p e ' s style is quite d i f f e r e n t f r o m
that of A l b e r t Camus and his philosophy cannot be c a l l e d ' e x i s t e n t i a l i s t ' , but his method of r e c o r d i n g and observation achieves i t s e f f e c t i n something of the same way, T r o l l o p e constantly puts before his r e a d e r s , then, situations w h i c h contain i n c o n g r u i t i e s because the c h a r a c t e r s brought together have d i f f e r e n t codes of m o r a l i t y ; c o n f r o n t a t i o n w h i c h ensues,
and i n the
T r o l l o p e shows us the d i l e m m a , by
w h i c h he can lead us to a deeper perception of the u n i v e r s e . T h e r e is no short cut to the philosophical t r u t h that exists i n the p o s s i b i l i t y of entertaining two apparently incongruous notions at the same t i m e .
Indeed, i t is v e r y d i f f i c u l t to persuade people
t o hold two apparently c o n t r a d i c t o r y ideas at the same t i m e . A class I once taught were c o n s i d e r i n g the m o t i o n , 'This house believes i n A d a m and E v e ' , the m o t i o n was,
Unsatisfactory as the w o r d i n g of
i t gave r i s e to some interesting discussion and
m o s t students f a v o u r e d the D a r w i n i a n r e j e c t i o n of any such p r o p o s i t i o n , though a few took the opposite view. person,
Only one
however, could see that i t is possible to hold that m a n
72
descended f r o m the apes and that m a n descended f r o m A d a m and E v e , at the same t i m e .
In the West the belief that a l l t r u t h is
encompassed i n a rationale w h i c h logically excludes the p o s s i b i l i t y of entertaining two opposing views at once seems i n v i o l a b l e ,
A
s i m i l a r experiment conducted w i t h students i n the Indian subcontinent would have g i v e n r i s e t o no d i f f i c u l t y i n entertaining apparently c o n t r a d i c t o r y ideas at the same t i m e . Schumacher
As F r i t z
has expressed i t : ' F o r his d i f f e r e n t purposes m a n needs many d i f f e r e n t s t r u c t u r e s , both s m a l l ones and large ones, some exclusive and some c o m prehensive. Yet people f i n d i t most d i f f i c u l t to hold two seemingly opposite necessities of t r u t h i n their minds as the same t r u t h . They tend to clamour f o r a f i n a l s o l u t i o n , as i f i n actual l i f e there could ever be a f i n a l solution other than death
T r o l l o p e d i d n ' t w r i t e s p e c i f i c a l l y on this t o p i c , though The O r i g i n of Species was published i n 1859 w i t h the ensuing debate dominating the i n t e l l e c t u a l scene f o r some t i m e , and he must have been d r a w n into discussions fundamentalism.
about theories of evolution and B i b l i c a l
I t i s w o r t h noting, however, that the n a t u r a l i s t i c
q u a l i t i e s of his c h a r a c t e r s are to some extent due to the way i n w h i c h he observed and r e c o r d e d human nature and this way of w r i t i n g was not unlike the g r o w i n g s c i e n t i f i c methodology of the 51 mid-nineteenth century f e a t u r e i n the novels,
.
Though D a r w i n and ' e v o l u t i o n ' do not
T r o l l o p e perhaps has m o r e i n common w i t h
them than m i g h t at f i r s t be r e a l i s e d ,
G e o f f r e y T i l l o t s o n has d r a w n
73
another p a r a l l e l between these two, i n w r i t i n g about The Warden: ' T r o l l o p e must have had no d i f f i c u l t y i n accepting D a r w i n ' s conception of the s u r v i v a l of the f i t t e s t , and i t i s part of the c o m e d y , , , that he sees the f i t t e s t as sometimes the people who lack the m o s t obvious sorts of strength'^^.' F r o m his w r i t i n g s T r o l l o p e ' s f a i t h i n the C h r i s t i a n God appears to have provoked no m o r a l d i l e m m a f o r h i m over this debate : perhaps he saw the r e a l i t y i n the apparent i n c o n g r u i t y of these ideas. It is w e l l w o r t h looking at some of these incongruous situations i n the novels i n m o r e depth;
and i n doing so the
development f r o m s i m p l e plot situation to complex awareness that a l l l i f e is composed of such juxtapositioning w i l l become
apparent.
74
NOTES - Chapter Two 1
Sadleir,
Michael,
T r o l l o p e : A Commentary,
p.
15.
2
Cockshut, A . O . J . ,
3
A n Autobiography, p. 209 (Ch, X I I ) , In the same passage, T r o l l o p e explains the i m p o r t a n c e of learning to live w i t h created c h a r a c t e r s ' i n the f u l l r e a l i t y of established i n t i m a c y ' ,
4
The L a s t C h r o n i c l e of B a r s e t ,
5
A f u l l e r study of this p a r t i c u l a r c h a r a c t e r ' s psychology has been made by Helen S, C o r s a , i n "The Cross-grainedness of M e n " : the Rev, Josiah C r a w l e y - T r o l l o p e ' s Study of a Paranoid Personality'^ H a r t f o r d Studies i n L i t e r a t u r e , v (1973) pp. 160-172.
6
Can Y o u F o r g i v e H e r ? ,
7
There is a short examination of speech patterns i n T r o l l o p e ' s novels by N o r m a n Page i n ' T r o l l o p e ' s Conversational M o d e ' , E n g l i s h Studies i n A f r i c a . x v : i ( M a r c h 1972) pp. 33-37.
8
I n his a r t i c l e on ' T r o l l o p e ' s F o r m s of A d d r e s s ' , George Watson shows how T r o l l o p e c h r o n i c l e d the changes i n modes of address i n the m i d - V i c t o r i a n p e r i o d , and indicates how sensitive T r o l l o p e was to the subtleties of i n t e r - p e r s o n a l exchanges. C r i t i c a l Q u a r t e r l y . x v : i i i (Autumn 1973) pp. 219-230.
9
Cecil,
Anthony T r o l l o p e : A C r i t i c a l Study, p, 22,
p, 652 (Ch. L X I ) ,
pp. 743-744 (Ch.
LXXX),
L o r d D a v i d , E a r l y V i c t o r i a n N o v e l i s t s , p. 255,
10
This point i s developed i n a general way i n N e v i l l e C o g h i l l ' s The Poet Chaucer,
11
Gordon Ray makes this point i n accounting f o r his own e a r l y reading of T r o l l o p e ' s novels i n his lecture ' T r o l l o p e at F u l l Length'^ Huntington L i b r a r y Q u a r t e r l y , x x x i (1967-8; no. iv) pp. 313-339.
12
F o r a survey of this t r a d i t i o n and T r o l l o p e ' s place i n i t , see W a l t e r A l l e n ' s The E n g l i s h N o v e l : A Short C r i t i c a l H i s t o r y ,
13
The P r i m e M i n i s t e r , I I , pp. 263-266 (Ch.
14
A n Autobiography, p. 200 (Ch. X I I ) ,
15
Ibid,,
pp, 244-245 (Ch, X I V ) .
LXVIII).
75
16
Nineteenth Century F i c t i o n , x x v i (1971) pp.
17
The Language and Style of Anthony T r o l l o p e , I t is interesting to note that J , W, C l a r k chooses a quotation f r o m A n Autobiography, Chapter V I I I as a basis f o r examining T r o l l o p e ' s 'preaching' on these subjects : ' I have ever thought of m y s e l f as a preacher of sermons and m y pulpit as one which I could make both salutary and agreeable to m y audience'.
18
Anthony T r o l l o p e : A C r i t i c a l Study, p, pointed out i n A n Autobiography (p, 317, not, I t r u s t , be supposed by any reader i n this s o - c a l l e d autobiography to give a life',
19
T r o l l o p e ' s L a t e r N o v e l s , p,
20
F o r example, R , C , T e r r y , Anthony T r o l l o p e : The A r t i s t i n Hiding and A , P o l l a r d , Anthony T r o l l o p e . The F i r s t of these i n p a r t i c u l a r i n c o r p o r a t e d new approaches pioneered by Ruth apRoberts,
21
The Eustace Diamonds,
22
Phineas F i n n . I I , p . 77 (Ch. X L I X ) .
23
Barchester Towers,
24
Forster,
25
M u c h of the advice given to a s p i r i n g novelists i n Chapter X I I of A n Autobiography is at variance w i t h T r o l l o p e ' s own stated p r a c t i c e , and this is a f u r t h e r indication of the need f o r caution i n accepting T r o l l o p e ' s intimate confidences w i t h the reader at surface l e v e l ,
26
'The N o v e l as a C o n s p i r a c y ' i n Essays by D i v e r s Hands, x x x v i i (1972) pp, 122-133.
27
Tillotson,
28
T r o l l o p e : A r t i s t and M o r a l i s t , p, 4 1 ,
29
F o r example, W i l l i a m Overton i n 'Self and Society i n T r o l l o p e ' , J o u r n a l of E n g l i s h L i t e r a r y H i s t o r y , x l i v , pp. 286-302,
30
The j u s t i f i c a t i o n of T r o l l o p e f o r his f o r m a l w r i t i n g a b i l i t i e s r a t h e r than f o r his accurate psychology, p a r t i c u l a r l y i n the l a t e r novels, i s made by Robert T r a c y i n T r o l l o p e ' s L a t e r Novels.
E, M , ,
p.
Aspects
477-484.
25. But as T r o l l o p e Ch, X X ) : ' I t w i l l that I have intended r e c o r d of m y inner
8,
p. 476 (Ch. X L V I I I ) ,
122 (Ch, X V ) . of the Novel, p,
35.
G e o f f r e y and Kathleen, M i d - V i c t o r i a n Studies,
p, 60.
76
31
Anthony T r o l l o p e : A C r i t i c a l Study,
32
P a l l M a l l Gazette. (10th May 1865) pp. 3-4, r e p r i n t e d i n the cited e d i t i o n of T r o l l o p e ' s C l e r g y m e n of the C h u r c h of England, pp. 50-60,
33
F o r example, B a r c h e s t e r T o w e r s , p, 37 (Ch. V ) , (See also W i l l i a m Cadbury's 'Character and M o c k - H e r o i c i n .Barchester Towers'^ Texas Studies i n L i t e r a t u r e and Language, v (1963-4) pp. 509-519).
34
'Now of s t y l e , i n t h i s sense (the w r i t e r ' s power to incarnate his c r e a t i v e conceptions i n a sensible f o r m ) , T r o l l o p e has none at a l l ^ ' E a r l y V i c t o r i a n N o v e l i s t s , p . 262,
35
Thackeray,
36
Review of E n g l i s h L i t e r a t u r e , i , no. 4 (October 1960) pp. 73-85,
37
Tillotson, 56-61.
38
Victorian Newsletter,
39
i n Chapter X I I and elsewhere,
40
M o r e , Paul E . , ' M y Debt to T r o l l o p e ' . The Demon of the Absolute^ V o l u m e One of New Shelburne Essays, p, 9 1 .
41
Ibid.,
p,
89.
42
Ibid,,
p,
117.
43
Ibid,,
p.
119.
44
Thackeray,
45
I n his i n t r o d u c t i o n to Can You F o r g i v e H e r ? ,
46
The Warden,
47
The Eustace Diamonds,
48
T r o l l o p e : A r t i s t and M o r a l i s t , p, 54.
49
Ibid,,
50
S m a l l is B e a u t i f u l , pp.
p.
p.
195.
200.
G e o f f r e y and Kathleen, M i d - V i c t o r i a n Studies,
p.
no, 35 (September 1969) PP.
10-13.
52,
p.
140 (Ch. X L ) . p. 357 (Ch, X X X V ) .
p, 64, 59-60,
pp.
p, 1 1 ,
77
51
This point i s developed to
a l i m i t e d extent i n Chapter Six.
52
' A f t e r w o r d ' i n cited edition o f The Warden,
p.
212.
78
Chapter
Three I r e l a n d and B a r s e t s h i r e
TroUope's f i r s t novel, The Macdermots of B a l l y c l o r a n , centres on the presentation of one m o r a l issue, Macdermot,
the t r i a l of Thady
Thady's f a m i l y were w e l l on the path to poverty
because Thady's f a t h e r had allowed the p r o p e r t y to become entailed to an attorney i n the neighbouring town, M r , Keegan. sister,
Thady's
Feemy M a c d e r m o t , is w i t h child by a callous and
a r r o g a n t m i l i t a r y o f f i c e r , M y l e s tfssher.
Unintentionally,
Thady
k i l l s Captain Myles Ussher i n a fight outside the house and the ensuing events and t r i a l take up w e l l over half the book.
The
m o r a l question on w h i c h the book centres is Thady's guilt or innocence.
In m o r a l t e r m s he seems to be innocent but as the
outcome of the t r i a l shows he i s legally guilty and i s eventually executed,
TroUope seems to be w r i t i n g about the adverse effects
of an i m p o r t e d l e g a l system and his sympathetic presentation of the discontent i n I r e l a n d and County Connaught i n p a r t i c u l a r makes the book w o r t h reading today.
I n parts the s t o r y flags and
T r o l l o p e lacked the confidence i n his style to give i t polish, but there are some i n t e r e s t i n g characterisations priest,
(notably of the p a r i s h
Father John M c G r a t h , whose general benevolence and
education i n France made h i m as d i f f e r e n t i n outlook f r o m his curate,
Father CuUen, as Archdeacon Grantly was to be f r o m
Obediah Slope : they were unlike i n everything except zeal f o r the church);
and the account of the t r i a l ,
which lasts f o r f i v e
79
long chapters,
keeps the r e a d e r ' s i n t e r e s t w e l l .
aware of Thady's r n o r a l innocence, extenuating c i r c u m s t a n c e s
One is constantly-
because T r o l l o p e stresses the
of the m u r d e r , but at the same t i m e
one suspects that the E n g l i s h l e g a l system w i l l f i n d h i m guilty as i t eventually does, T r o l l o p e was u n c e r t a i n of his medium i n his f i r s t novel, as one would expect,
but The Maddermots of B a l l v c l o r a n deserves 1
m o r e c o n s i d e r a t i o n than i t has generally received ,
First
published i n 1847 and only reissued once apparently (by John Lane i n 1906) i t is t i m e this l i t t l e - k n o w n and inaccessible novel was republished : i t i s of i n t e r e s t as an unusually sympathetic account of I r e l a n d and the I r i s h by an E n g l i s h postal inspector,
and because
i t sheds light on the h i s t o r i c a l nature of A n g l o - I r i s h c o n f l i c t , I t also shows T r o l l o p e ' s e a r l y i n t e r e s t i n m o r a l issues, the law and the c h u r c h , and the s t o r y is an entertaining one, even i f the handling of i t lacks the confidence and polish of the later novels, T r o l l o p e h i m s e l f was c l e a r l y u n c e r t a i n of his medivim as some 3 recent r e s e a r c h has shown ,
His only defence f o r i t at a later
date was that i t was: ' W o r t h reading by anyone who wishes to understand what I r i s h l i f e was before the potato disease, the famine and the Encumbered Estates B i l l ' ^ . We to
can a t t r i b u t e the f a c t that i t has remained l a r g e l y unnoticed T r o l l o p e ' s own d i s m i s s a l of i t and M i c h a e l Sadleir's condemnation
of i t along w i t h The K e l l y s and the O ' K e l l y s ,
T r o l l o p e ' s other
80
e a r l y novel o f I r i s h l i f e , as
'pamphlets i n f i c t i o n a l guise
Sadleir w r i t e s : 'The two chief blemishes of The Macdermots of B a l l y c l o r a n are lack of i m a g i n a t i o n and excess of i n s t r u c t i o n a l zeal.'^; and as i f that were i n s u f f i c i e n t : ' I r e l a n d produced the man, but i t was l e f t to England to inspire the n o v e l i s t . Indeed one m a y go f u r t h e r , Ireland, having by f r i e n d l i n e s s , sport and open a i r saved T r o l l o p e f r o m h i m s e l f , a l l but choked the v e r y genius that she had v i t a l i s e d by her insane absorption y , i n her own wrongs and thwarted hopes-''. Understanding
something of T r o l l o p e ' s serious intent as a novelist
and his concern w i t h apparent contradictions, Sadleir's
i t seems that
d i s m i s s a l of these I r i s h novels may i n i t s e l f have a
c e r t a i n unintentional i r o n y , not least when he says: ' I f , as they say, I r e l a n d takes p r i d e i n contradictidusness, she may f i n d s a t i s f a c t i o n i n her influence on T r l l o p e , than w h i c h none could be more paradoxical'.^. Just so,
f o r we can see here i n embryo T r o l l o p e ' s l i f e - l o n g
concern with
antithesis]
In spite of T r o l l o p e ' s own subsequent r e j e c t i o n of The M a c d e r m o t s of B a l l y c l o r a n i t was i n fact quite w e l l reviewed by the c r i t i c s , who found g r e a t e r s k i l l and a r t i s t i c a b i l i t y than had ever been displayed by T r o l l o p e ' s mother i n her w r i t i n g c a r e e r . I n A n Autobiography, T r o l l o p e declared that:
81
' i f there was any notice of i t taken by any c r i t i c of the day, I d i d not see i t .«« I t h i n k I m a y say that a f t e r the publication I never said a w o r d about the book, even to m y w i f e ) • C l e a r l y T r o l l o p e was to some extent influenced by h i s m o t h e r ' s rather
strange r e a c t i o n to her son's f i r s t venture into novel
writing'''•''j
but i t seems u n l i k e l y that none of the press notices came to T r o l l o p e ' s attention, considering the l i t e r a r y interests
of the whole 12
f a m i l y (as both James Pope Hennessy and C. P» Snow observe
)
and this seems to be another example of the u n r e l i a b i l i t y o f A n Autobiography as an i n t e r p r e t a t i v e guide to T r o l l o p e ' s w o r k . The M a c d e r m o t s o f B a l l y c l o r a n deserves r e a p p r a i s a l then, but i t s interest f o r us lies here i n the nature of the plot which presents an apparently a n t i t h e t i c a l situation i n that the c e n t r a l f i g u r e i s both innocent and guilty o f the m u r d e r of his s i s t e r ' s seducer,
T r o l l o p e o f f e r s no easy solution to this inconsistency.
Indeed the book ends v e r y s h o r t l y ' a f t e r sentence has been passed, and the reader i s l e f t w i t h the c o u r t decision and the knowledge of Thady's m o r a l innocence u n r e s o l v e d . i s f a r f r o m unique.
Such a n ending i n a novel
H a r d y ' s Tess i s legally guilty of m u r d e r
though the reader knows that she i s m o r a l l y innocent when she goes to execution, but H a r d y leaves no doubt o r questioning i n the reader's mind: ' ' J u s t i c e " was done, and the' President of the I m m o r t a l s , i n AEschylean phrase, had ended his sport w i t h Tess!'^-^,' No f u r t h e r explanation need by sought,
T r o l l o p e ' s story
82
i n v o l v e s the reader i n m o r a l judgement and leaves no such
ready-
made explanation. The f i r s t of the B a r s e t s h i r e
novels.
The Warden,
enjoyed
a m o r e prosperous reputation a f t e r i t s appearance i n 1853.
We
should 'respect i t f o r the sake of the admirable books i t heralded', 14 a c c o r d i n g to Sadleir
, but i t has probably been m o r e widely read
than any of T r o l l o p e ' s other books, on account of i t s . i j r e v i t y .
not least,
some would say,
The short and simple story presents
the r e a d e r w i t h a situation of m o r a l complexity, and T r o l l o p e d e l i b e r a t e l y a l l i e d h i m s e l f to neither the l a i s s e z - f a i r e not the reforming factions. Mr,
He presents both sides of the case regarding
H a r d i n g ' s stipend and p o s i t i o n i n H i r a m ' s H o s p i t a l w i t h
sympathy
and s k i l l e d advocacy so that the reader can appreciate both the need to r e f o r m an out-dated w i l l by w h i c h the incumbent receives a stipend quite out of p r o p o r t i o n to his r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s ,
and also
the d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n among the beadsmen that w i l l be engendered by such r e f o r m i n g zeal,
including the d i s c o m f o r t that w i l l be caused
to M r , Harding h i m s e l f , who is quite innocent of any wrong whatsoever The novel centres on the conscience of M r , Harding : as H e n r y James observed,
' i t is s i m p l y the h i s t o r y of an old man's
conscience''''^, but the m o r a l d i l e m m a is f a r f r o m s i m p l e .
As
Ruth apRoberts puts i t : 'The situation T r o l l o p e chooses is i n 17 i t s e l f a concrete d i a g r a m of a m o r a l c o m p l e x i t y ' suggesting,
.
I f , as I am
t h i s is the essence of The Warden, a concrete
diagram
83
of a m o r a l c o m p l e x i t y , the v a r i o u s apparently i r r e l e v a n t parts of the book f i t into place.
I n p a r t i c u l a r the contemporary satire on
C a r l y l e and Dickens (as D r , A n t i c a n t and M r , Popular Sentiment) and The T i m e s
(appearing as The Jupiter) a l l assxame a m e a n i n g f u l 18
place r a t h e r than being 'a disastrous
attempt at satire or a l l e g o r y ' 19 w h i c h otherwise spoils the 'classic roundness' of the s t o r y . A s H e n r y James also observed,
the subject of the novel is indeed
'the oppozition of the two natures of Archdeacon Grantly and M r , 20 Harding'
, but i t is m o r e than that.
I t is a presentation of a
m o r a l c o m p l e x i t y w h i c h i n i t s e l f d i r e c t s the reader to a deeper m o r a l perception. A , O, J ,
Cockshut sees The Warden as an i m m a t u r e study
of psychological obsession,
i n which Trollope compares unfavourably
w i t h Scott, who had: 'Sympathetic understanding of f a n a t i c i s m , delusion and violence i n his b o n e s . , . It i s t r u e , , , that f r o m the f i r s t ( T r o l l o p e ) was apt to d w e l l on o b s e s s i o n s . , , his keenest psychological penetration was confined, t i l l he was over f i f t y , to n o r m a l characters,,. But f o r Scott f r o m the f i r s t , the a b n o r m a l mind was as easy to decipher as the n o r m a l , , . I n The Warden the c o n f l i c t i n g ideas exist m a i n l y to exercise an old m a n ' s conscience, which i s the m a i n subject of the s t o r y . And as he shows us the innocence of the m a n who is so c r u e l l y tormented, satire against the two extremes and r i g i d ideas becomes v e r y m a r k e d . Compared w i t h Scott, T r o l l o p e i n 1855 seems l i m i t e d i n his sympathies, not because he condemns e x t r e m i s m , but because he does not s u f f i c i e n t l y comprehend before he condemns'
•
84
T r o l l o p e does not pass judgement on the issues r a i s e d i n The Warden i n the way that Cockshut says he does. I t is t r u e that he d i d not show the ' u n i v e r s a l p i t y ' w h i c h c h a r a c t e r i s e d his l a t e r books, but the c o m p a r i s o n w i t h Scott is not wholly just, T r o l l o p e was i n t e r e s t e d i n p o r t r a y i n g o r d i n a r y characters as they are i n o r d i n a r y l i f e and i n p a r t i c u l a r he was concerned w i t h the i n c o n g r u i t i e s that a r i s e when r e a l people meet and their d i f f e r i n g m o r a l w o r l d s engage i n c o n f l i c t . He was not s u f f e r i n g f r o m the m e n t a l i l l n e s s a t t r i b u t e d to h i m by J , H , Hagan, who thought that d i l e m m a s like that i n The Warden were a sign of helpless indecision^^. T r o l l o p e was a good psychologist i n that he understood the workings of the minds of o r d i n a r y people i n r e a l l i f e and i n f i c t i o n , but he d i d not have the psychologist's i n t e r e s t i n abnormal behaviour and obsession w h i c h Cockshut attributes to h i m . A . O . J . Cockshut was the f i r s t among s e v e r a l c r i t i c s to arouse new academic i n t e r e s t i n the novels w r i t t e n a f t e r 1868, but his analysis of the books under the heading ' P r o g r e s s to P e s s i m i s m ' rests too f i r m l y on the assumption that T r o l l o p e ' s concern was m a i n l y a psychological one, concentrating m o r e and m o r e on studies of obsession and unhappiness, u n t i l the f i n a l s a t i r i c a l statement of a pathetically misunderstood p r o p e r t y owner i n M r , Scarborough's Family,
However, i n obsession
The Warden is not an
e a r l y psychological study
: i t presents the reader w i t h a m o r a l d i l e m m a to
w h i c h there is no ready-made
or easy solution,
T r o l l o p e is not
85
t r y i n g to promote a neat t h e o r y .
He m e r e l y points to the
c o m p l e x i t i e s of the s i t u a t i o n i n describing the day to day lives of o r d i n a r y people,
w i t h unmistakable
skill.
There may be
something
of T r o l l o p e h i m s e l f , as Cockshut suggests, i n the p o r t r a i t of H a r d i n g , but that i s p u r e l y i n c i d e n t a l to the m o r a l issues presented. The Warden stands as a novel about a m o r a l d i l e m m a i n its own r i g h t and not just as a f o r e - r u n n e r of the later
novels.
The next novel, B a r c h e s t e r Towers, was T r o l l o p e ' s f i r s t attempt to p o r t r a y the i n t e r a c t i o n that exists i n a community made up of a number of i n d i v i d u a l s .
His range is altogether w i d e r and
t h e r e i s no single c h a r a c t e r around whom the story is b u i l t . T r o l l o p e centres his attention here not on one situation of m o r a l i n c o n g r u i t y , as i n the case of Thady's guilt or innocence, a number.
The c h a r a c t e r i s a t i o n
but on
is more f u l l y developed and as
a r e s u l t the c o n f l i c t s a r i s e m o r e frequently, i n d i f f e r e n t surroundings
each t i m e .
I t was possible f o r T r o l l o p e to be m u c h
n e a r e r to the r e a l l i f e situation, because the c o n f l i c t s a r i s e i n a l l kinds of ways,
often when least expected.
In B a r c h e s t e r
Towers
there are d i f f e r e n t shades of c l e r i c a l opinion, f r o m high church to low c h u r c h ,
f r o m D r , Gwynne to M r , Slope i n t h e i r extremes;
and t h e i r d i f f e r i n g codes of t h e o l o g i c a l practice are brought into sharp focus whenever
they m e e t .
There are,
of course, those
who do not appear to have any p a r t i c u l a r d o c t r i n a l stance, Dr,
like
Stanhope and to some extent the Bishop h i m s e l f , whose low
86
c h u r c h a f f i l i a t i o n s helped to secure his appointment as the L i b e r a l nominee;
but even t h e i r lack of c o m m i t m e n t exhibits i n i t s e l f a
d i f f e r e n t m o r a l outlook.
The laymen too b r i n g t h e i r i n d i v i d u a l
m o r a l w o r l d s to the n o v e l ,
M r s , Proudie has something of low
c h u r c h zeal about her, but i t is her strong desire to be the ' p r i m a donna' of the B i s h o p ' s palace w h i c h leads to c o n f l i c t w i t h a l l and sundry.
M r , Thorne and his s i s t e r , M o n i c a , w i t h t h e i r i n t e r e s t
in pre-Christian ritual,
provide a r e f r e s h i n g contrast to the m o r a l
codes of B a r c h e s t e r Close,
These d i f f e r e n t m o r a l outlooks are
brought into sharp contrast at the Ullathorne Sports and this is the basis f o r some of T r o l l o p e ' s best comic w r i t i n g .
The e f f e c t of
m o r a l c o n f u s i o n is such that M r , Slope, albeit under the influence of champagne,
proposes to Eleanor Bold : such are the amazing
e f f e c t s of b r i n g i n g together e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t m o r a l codesj
Trollope
seems to have been fascinated by the results of such c o n f l i c t s though here he is perhaps m o r e concerned w i t h the comedy that i t gives r i s e to than w i t h m o r a l perception. nevertheless,
Barchester
Towers does,
centre on i n c o n g r u i t y .
The U l l a t h o r n e Sports is only one of the occasions conflict arises.
where
Whenever the Signora N e r o n i appears, the effect
she has is devastating and she does not l i m i t her influence to the m e n who gather round her sofa : both M r s , Proudie and Eleanor B o l d are m u c h a f f e c t e d by t h e i r meetings w i t h her.
I t is because
her values are so d i f f e r e n t f r o m those w i t h whom she converses that c o n f l i c t r e s u l t s .
I n some cases, as w i t h M r s , Proudie,
87
t h i s leads to a hardening of l i n e , but elsewhere i t leads to a rearrangement
of values,
as i n the case of M r . A r a b i n whose
outlook is considerably m o d i f i e d by his meeting w i t h the Signora, The Signora is a y a r d s t i c k against whom we evaluate the m o r a l codes of the c e n t r a l c h a r a c t e r s ,
so that her value i n the novel is
not only that of i n t r o d u c i n g an ultramontane atmosphere into the 23 confines of B a r s e t s h i r e this
.
The newspaper called The J u p i t e r i n
book is another such y a r d s t i c k , w i t h i t s c o m m e r c i a l i n t e r e s t
i n upholding what i t believes to be r i g h t , i n this case M r . Slope, Besides the Ullathorne Sports and the effect of the Signora, however, t h e r e i s one other scene i n the novel where d i f f e r i n g m o r a l codes are brought together w i t h a p a r t i c u l a r l y e f f e c t i v e c o m i c r e s u l t and that scene i s M r s , Proudie's famous r e c e p t i o n . Here the comedy does not a r i s e so m u c h f r o m the s i t u a t i o n i t s e l f (though i t is a d e l i g h t f u l l y entertaining one to read w i t h B e r t i e ' s m a s t e r f u l m o v i n g of the sofa r e s u l t i n g i n M r s ,
Proudie's
m a g n i f i c e n t dress being t o r n f r o m h e r ) , but m o r e f r o m the clash of m o r a l values produced by such a gathering,
B e r t i e Stanhope's
c o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h the Bishop is an excellent example of this and shows that even at this c o m p a r a t i v e l y early stage i n his w r i t i n g career,
T r o l l o p e could produce dialogue w i t h s k i l f u l and subtle
irony: ' " B i s h o p of B a r c h e s t e r , I presume?'* said B e r t i e Stanhope, putting out his hand, f r a n k l y ; ' ' I a m delighted to make your acquaintance. We are i n rather close quarters here, a'nt we?"
88
In t r u t h they w e r e , , , "Do you like Barchester asked B e r t i e ,
on the whole T""
The Bishop, looking d i g n i f i e d , said that he d i d like B a r c h e s t e r , "You've not been here v e r y long, I b e l i e v e , " said B e r t i e , "No - not l o n g , " said the bishop, and t r i e d again to make his way between the back of a sofa and a heavy r e c t o r , who was s t a r i n g over i t at the grimaces of the signora, "You w e r e n ' t a bishop b e f o r e , were you?" D r , Proudie explained that this was the f i r s t diocese he had held, " A h - I thought so," said B e r t i e ; 'but you are changed about sometimes, a'nt you?" " T r a n s l a t i o n s are occasionally made,'' said D r , Proudie; "but not so f r e q u e n t l y as i n f o r m e r days." "They've cut them a l l down to p r e t t y n e a r l y the same f i g u r e , haven't they?" said B e r t i e , To this the Bishop could not b r i n g h i m s e l f to make any answer, but again attempted to move the r e c t o r , "But the w o r k , I suppose, is d i f f e r e n t ? " continued B e r t i e , "Is there much to do here, at B a r c h e s t e r ? " This was said i n exactly the tone that a young A d m i r a l t y c l e r k m i g h t use i n asking the same question of a brother acolyte at the T r e a s u r y , "The w o r k of a bishop of the C h u r c h of England," said D r , Proudie w i t h considerable
89
d i g n i t y , "is not easy. The r e s p o n s i b i l i t y w h i c h he has to bear is v e r y great indeed," *'Is i t ? " said B e r t i e , opening wide his w o n d e r f u l blue eyes. "Well; I never was a f r a i d of r e s p o n s i b i l i t y , I once had thoughts of being a bishop m y s e l f . ' ' "Had thoughts of being a bishop^" said D r , Proudie, m u c h amazed. "That i s , a parson - a parson f i r s t , y o u know, and a bishop a f t e r w a r d s . I f I had once begun, I ' d have stuck to it. But on the whole, I like the C h u r c h of Rome the best." The bishop could not discuss the point, so he remained silent. "Now, t h e r e ' s m y f a t h e r , " continued B e r t i e ; "he hasn't stuck to i t , I fancy he d i d n ' t l i k e saying the same thing over so o f t e n . By the bye. B i s h o p , have you seen m y father?" The bishop was m o r e amazed than ever. Had he seen his f a t h e r ? "No,* he r e p l i e d ; "he had not yet had the pleasure: he hoped he might;" and, as he said so, he resolved to bear heavy on that f a t , i m m o v a b l e r e c t o r , i f ever he had the power of doing do. "He's i n the r o o m somewhere," said B e r t i e , "and h e ' l l t u r n up soon. By the bye, do you know m u c h about the Jews?" A t last the bishop saw a way out. " I beg your pardon," said he,; 'but I ' m f o r c e d to go round the room.."' There is m u c h said without being e x p l i c i t l y stated i n this passage. The effectiveness of the comedy and the i r o n y l i e s , however, i n T r o l l o p e ' s a b i l i t y to present the i n c o n g r u i t y of the d i f f e r e n t outlooks
90
of these two m e n so e f f o r t l e s s l y .
Here the i r o n y is m a i n l y
conveyed through d i r e c t speech, though as T r o l l o p e ' s w r i t i n g c a r e e r progressed,
he explained c h a r a c t e r s '
thoughts and
reactions
w i t h o u t n e c e s s a r i l y having r e c o u r s e to d i r e c t speech: 'The was m o r e amazed than e v e r .
bishop
Had he seen his f a t h e r ? ' is an 25
example of a s k i l l that was to be developed f u r t h e r
,
This
passage shows something of the s k i l l of Jane Austen, whose books do not b r i n g together
such d i f f e r i n g m o r a l conceptions of the universe.
H e r c h a r a c t e r s share s i m i l a r values and the i r o n y , i s m o r e l i m i t e d i n i t s range, i n M e t a p h y s i c a l poetry as
i f more refined,
D r , Johnson's d e f i n i t i o n of i m a g e r y
'heterogeneous ideas yoked by violence
26 together'
m i g h t be applied to the kind of c o n f l i c t situation i n
Trollope,
such as that quoted above, where quite d i f f e r e n t
conceptions of the w o r l d are brought into sharp focus i n the way they c o n t r a s t .
The effect i n T r o l l o p e is often c o m i c , but as w i t h
m e t a p h y s i c a l i m a g e r y , i t can lead to a deeper perception, Barchester
Towers is f u l l of such c o n f l i c t s and i t is
s u r p r i s i n g that they have not received m o r e attention to date, 27 H e n r y James noted the ' a l m o s t Thackerayan r i c h n e s s '
of the
book, but thought that M r s , Proudie was not as good as her f a m e , and M r , Slope he d e s c r i b e d as 28 p o r t r a i t is overdone
,
'a l i t t l e too a r r a n t a scamp'
whose
Sadleir recognised the great advance
T r o l l o p e , had made since The Warden, but found i t s m a i n m e r i t i n i t s unity : 'the use of selected m a t e r i a l solely i n the i n t e r e s t s 29 of the novel's p l o t ' , In a m u c h later i n t r o d u c t i o n to Barchester
91
T o w e r s , Sadleir r e m a r k s
upon the i m p r o v e d
characterisations
i n the novel, but bemoans 'his unsureness i n these e a r l y days' and complains that T r o l l o p e ' s c l e r g y lack 'a s p i r i t u a l aspect'. His comment on the Stanhopes r e v e a l s , to understand
I think, a general f a i l u r e
(though not to enjoy) T r o l l o p e ' s a r t .
He says,
' I t was not that T r o l l o p e did not r e a l i s e what a good thing he had invented when he imagined the Stanhopes but that, out of a vaguely f o r m a l i s e d fear of contemporary m o r a l i s m , he funked t h e i r exploitation ( i n l a t e r novels).'3-^, T r o l l o p e was not j u s t the unthinking upholder of V i c t o r i a n m o r a l i t y : on the c o n t r a r y he was acutely aware of i t and d e l i b e r a t e l y focused his r e a d e r s ' attention on i t by introducing c h a r a c t e r s like B e r t i e and the Signora who have completely d i f f e r e n t outlooks. A f a i l u r e to appreciate the i r o n y that underlies
Trollope's
mature
w o r k has done m o r e damage to his l i t e r a r y reputation than any other single f a c t o r .
A , O, J .
Cockshut only sees f i t to mention
B a r c h e s t e r Towers i n passing, (as an example of c h i l d r e n being used to i l l u s t r a t e some facet of adult character, i n the chapter 'Baby W o r s h i p ' ) . ,
It is strange the best known of TroUope's
novels has r e c e i v e d such scant attention f r o m w e l l critics.
W i l l i a m Cadbury comes nearer to
established
understanding
T r o l l o p e ' s m o r a l perception when he says that Barchester
Towers
originates i n a c o n f l i c t over s o c i a l position.
he
The theme,
says, i s a m a t t e r of c o n f l i c t i n g motivations w h i c h are
resolved
i n the course of the book as characters w i t h d i f f e r e n t representative
92
stances adjust themselves to the demands of society 31 . The c h a r a c t e r s do have d i f f e r e n t m o r a l stances, but T r o l l o p e was m o r e i n t e r e s t e d i n the c o n f l i c t s that ensued f r o m these d i f f e r e n c e s than i n p r o v i d i n g any easy solution as they adjust t h e i r stances. In another a r t i c l e the same w r i t e r comments on T r o l l o p e ' s detachment f r o m his c h a r a c t e r s i n B a r c h e s t e r Towers: 'The f i g u r e s , , , are designed to be seen f r o m the outside'•^^, It is unfortunate that he then goes on to state that none of the characters develops, since he had p r e v i o u s l y said that they a l l adjusted t h e i r stances to f i t i n w i t h the demands of s o c i e t y .
More recently J,R,
K i n c a i d has d r a w n attention to the way
i n w h i c h the comedy is m o r e e f f e c t i v e because our n o r m a l expectations of comedy (of youth fighting against the establishment) 33 are r e v e r s e d as the older ones struggle against t h e i r c h i l d r e n
,
M o r e i m p o r t a n t l y , however, R u t h apRoberts has d r a w n attention to the issue w h i c h f o r m s the basis of Barchester Tow.e,:es.
She says:
'He has found i n Barchester that single s i t u a t i o n w h i c h demonstrates the c o m p l e x i t i e s of m o r a l problems''^'^. This comes nearer to i d e n t i f y i n g the r e a l value of the novel and accounting f o r i t s p o p u l a r i t y among educated r e a d e r s .
Trollope
was not yet s u f f i c i e n t l y sure of h i m s e l f to w r i t e about m a n i n a b r o a d s o c i a l setting, and he needed the f a i r l y c l o s e - k n i t c o m m u n i t y of B a r c h e s t e r as a secure f r a m e w o r k at this stage.
Previously
his concern w i t h incongruous value systems had been concentrated i n t o one s i t u a t i o n , as i n the case of Thady's g u i l t or innocence,
93
but i n B a r c h e s t e r
T o w e r s he e x t e n d e d t h i s t o w r i t e a s t u d y o£ the
incongruities which arise meet.
The s t e p f r o m
i n e v e r y situation w h e r e human beings T h e W a r d e n to B a r c h e s t e r
many ways a f a r greater
T o w e r s was i n
one t h a n t h e s t e p f r o m B a r c h e s t e r
to
L o n d o n w i t h the a p p e a r a n c e o f C a n Y o u F o r g i v e H e r ? i n 1864, A s A l b e r t C o o k has
w r i t t e n i n The Meaning of F i c t i o n ,
' T h e g r e a t e r the r e a l i t y w h i c h the n o v e l i s t d i s c o v e r s , the l a r g e r and m o r e open his plots are l i k e l y to
T r o l l o p e s t i l l f o u n d i t n e c e s s a r y t o b i n d up the l o o s e ends i n Barchester
T o w e r s , b u t h i s p l o t i s l a r g e r and m o r e o p e n ,
because the n o v e l had no single c h a r a c t e r made
as i t s h e r o ,
i t c l e a r t o h i s p u b l i s h e r t h a t he d i d n o t w a n t any
partly
Trollope character
s i n g l e d out f o r an a l t e r n a t i v e t i t l e f o r the b o o k : ' I do n o t l i k e a second t i t l e n o r the one y o u n a m e , I do n o t w i s h the b i s h o p - m a l e o r f e m a l e - t o be c o n s i d e r e d the chief character i n t h e booK.^^'.' T r o l l o p e was w e l l aware
of the d i f f i c u l t i e s posed b y any
a t t e m p t t o t i e u p t h e l o o s e ends o f a b o o k .
He knew,
however,
t h a t h i s r e a d i n g p u b l i c r e q u i r e d a neat a n d t i d y c o n c l u s i o n t o t h e events
of a s t o r y ,
even i f i t meant
c r e d i b i l i t y w h i c h had been book.
so c a r e f u l l y n u r t u r e d i n the r e s t
I n the f o l l o w i n g p a s s a g e ,
ending of B a r c h e s t e r the displeasure
s a c r i f i c i n g a l i t t l e of the
Towers,
o f the
T r o l l o p e d e f e n d s the u n n a t u r a l i s t i c
b e c a u s e he does n o t w i s h to i n c u r
o f h i s r e a d e r s (the e a r l i e r n o v e l t o w h i c h he
refers
94
obliquely is very well, to l i f e ,
The M a c d e r m o t s of B a l l y c l o r a n ,
w h i c h d i d not s e l l
a f a c t w h i c h T r o l l o p e p u t d o w n t o the u n t i d y ,
but
true
ending): 'We m u s t n o w t a k e leave o f M r , S l o p e , a n d o f the b i s h o p a l s o , and o f M r s , Proudie, These leave-takings i n novels a r e as d i s a g r e e a b l e as t h e y a r e i n r e a l life; n o t so s a d , i n d e e d , f o r t h e y w a n t t h e r e a l i t y o f s a d n e s s ; b u t q u i t e as p e r p l e x i n g , and g e n e r a l l y less s a t i s f a c t o r y . What n o v e l i s t , what F i e l d i n g , what Scott, w h a t G e o r g e Sand, o r Sue o r D u m a s , c a n i m p a r t a n i n t e r e s t t o the l a s t c h a p t e r o f his fictitious h i s t o r y ? promises of two c h i l d r e n and superhuman happiness are of no a v a i l , n o r a s s u r a n c e o f e x t r e m e r e s p e c t a b i l i t y c a r r i e d t o a n age f a r exceeding that u s u a l l y a l l o t t e d to m o r t a l s . T h e s o r r o w s o f o u r h e r o e s and h e r o i n e s , they are y o u r delight, oh public' their s o r r o w s , or their sins, or their absurdities; n o t t h e i r v i r t u e s , good s e n s e , a n d c o n s e q u e n t rewards. When we begin to tint our f i n a l pages w i t h ' c o u l e u r de r o s e ' , as i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h f i x e d r u l e we m u s t do, we altogether e x t i n g u i s h our own powers of pleasing. W h e n we become d u l l we o f f e n d y o u r i n t e l l e c t ; a n d we m u s t b e c o m e d u l l or we offend y o u r taste, A late w r i t e r , w i s h i n g t o s u s t a i n h i s i n t e r e s t t o the l a s t p a g e , hung h i s h e r o at the end of the t h i r d volume. The c o n s e q u e n c e w a s t h a t n o - o n e would read his novel. A n d who can a p p o r t i o n o u t and d o v e t a i l h i s i n c i d e n t s , d i a l o g u e s , c h a r a c t e r s , and d e s c r i p t i v e m o r s e l s , so as t o f i t t h e m a l l e x a c t l y i n t o 462 p a g e s , w i t h o u t e i t h e r c o m p r e s s i n g t h e m unnaturally, o r extending t h e m a r t i f i c i a l l y at the end o f h i s l a b o u r ? Do I not m y s e l f k n o w t h a t I a m at t h i s m o m e n t i n w a n t o f a d o z e n p a g e s , and t h a t I a m s i c k w i t h c u d g e l l i n g m y b r a i n s to f i n d t h e m ? And t h e n w h e n e v e r y t h i n g i s d o n e , the k i n d e s t h e a r t e d c r i t i c of them a l l i n v a r i a b l y t w i t s us w i t h the i n c o m p e t e n c y and l a m e n e s s of our conclusion. We have e i t h e r b e c o m e
95
i d l e and n e g l e c t e d i t , o r t e d i o u s and over-laboured i t . It is insipid or unnatural, o v e r - s t r a i n e d or i m b e c i l e . It means nothing, o r attempts too m u c h . T h e l a s t scene o f a l l , as a l l l a s t scenes we f e a r m u s t be ' " I f s e c o n d c h i l d h o o d , and m e r e o b l i v i o n . Sans t e e t h , sans e y e s , sans t a s t e , sans e v e r y t h i n g , * ' I c a n o n l y say t h a t i f s o m e c r i t i c , who t h o r o u g h l y k n o w s h i s w o r k , and has l a b o u r e d on i t t i l l e x p e r i e n c e has m a d e h i m p e r f e c t , w i l l w r i t e the l a s t f i f t y pages o f a n o v e l i n t h e w a y t h e y s h o u l d be w r i t t e n , I , f o r one, w i l l i n f u t u r e do m y b e s t t o c o p y t h e e x a m p l e . Guided by m y own iights only, I confess that I d e s p a i r of success,'^^. T h e r e is l i t t l e i n t r i n s i c a r t i s t i c m e r i t i n this passage, T r o l l o p e ' s d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n w i t h the d i c t a t e s is his
expressed
c l e a r l y enough.
writing career,
I t m a y be
T r o l l o p e was aware
though
of l i t e r a r y convention s a i d t h a t at t h i s stage i n
o f the r e s t r i c t i o n s i m p o s e d
by
t h e c o n v e n t i o n s o f h i s m e d i u m , b u t as y e t he l a c k e d t h e
to
adapt,
u t i l i s e and m o d i f y t h e m f o r his own a r t i s t i c
Such c o n f i d e n c e was to come
mastery
expression.
s h o r t l y a f t e r the s u c c e s s o f
38 Barchester
Towers
, 39
A l l the B a r s e t s h i r e
novels
the i n d i v i d u a l m o r a l universes i n c o n g r u i t i e s that arise He
show T r o l l o p e ' s i n t e r e s t i n
of his different characters
i n t h e i r m o r a l clashes w i t h each
h a d no s u p e r f i c i a l l y d i d a c t i c p u r p o s e ,
and the other.
and i f he s u c c e e d s i n
d i r e c t i n g h i s r e a d e r s t o a d e e p e r p e r c e p t i o n of the u n i v e r s e , is his
it
b y f o c u s i n g a t t e n t i o n o n the i n d i v i d u a l s i t u a t i o n as i t a r i s e s i n stories,
Trollope expressed
the nature
of h i s r o l e
accurately
96
w h e n he w r o t e ,
'The w r i t e r
of s t o r i e s , , ,
must teach,
whether
he
40' w i s h to t e a c h o r no'
,
In telling a story,
an a u t h o r
unconsciously
teaches by the v e r y p r o c e s s o f selection and o m i s s i o n . understanding
o f the u n i v e r s e
homiletics,
T r o l l o p e ' s novels
v i v i d and p e r c e p t i v e w i t h a clearcut
c a n n o t e a s i l y be t a u g h t b y d i r e c t l e a v e us w i t h a n i m p r e s s i o n ,
one b e c a u s e he o b s e r v e d
statement.
An
so a c c u r a t e l y
a not
A s Thomas H a r d y wrote a few years
later: ' L e t m e r e p e a t t h a t a n o v e l i s an i m p r e s s i o n and not an argumentJ'^^, O c c a s i o n a l l y one s u s p e c t s t h a t t h e a r g u m e n t w a s i m p r e s s i o n in Hardy's own novels,
stronger
than the
though i t n e v e r was i n T r o l l o p e ' s ,
T r o l l o p e w o u l d have b e e n w h o l e h e a r t e d l y i n
agreement
w i t h Elizabeth Bowen: ' I n the n o v e l , e v e r y t h i n g that h a p p e n s , happens e i t h e r t o o r b e c a u s e o f one o f t h e c h a r a c t e r s ' ^ ' ^ ^ He w o u l d ,
I think,
have s e e n t h i s as
than just a l i t e r a r y convention, w i t h people,
and so n o v e l s ,
something m o r e
Hiiman existence
b e i n g about l i f e ,
are
c o n c e r n e d w i t h c h a r a c t e r s and t h e i r i n t e r a c t i o n s , not
interested
human life,
i n drawing generalisations
so m u c h as
is
fundamental concerned
primarily TroHope
f r o m his observation of
i n c r e a t i n g s i t u a t i o n s to s t r e s s
the
u n i q u e n e s s o f e v e r y i n d i v i d u a l h u m a n b e i n g and the events surround his or her l y i n g the a u t h o r ' s
life,
was
which
A f a i l u r e to p e r c e i v e the i r o n y
conventional intrusions into his stories
under-
might
97
l e a d one t o s u s p e c t t h a t t h i s i s n o t the c a s e ;
and i t i s t h e s e
i n t r u s i o n s t h a t s e e m t o be q u o t e d m o s t f r e q u e n t l y i n criticism,
o f t e n out o f c o n t e x t .
Trollopian
T h e s u p e r f i c i a l i m p r e s s i o n to be
gleaned f r o m reading such c r i t i c i s m is that a large p r o p o r t i o n of T r o l l o p e ' s w r i t i n g is devoted to i n t r u s i v e m o r a l i s i n g linked by the o u t l i n e s of a s t o r y . the a n a l y s i s
of c h a r a c t e r
achievement,
together
B u t i t i s the n a r r a t i v e of e v e n t s and
t h a t f o r m the b a s i s o f T r o l l o p e ' s a r t i s t i c
Ruth apRoberts
s u m s i t up as
follows:
' T h e a r t o f i t m a k e s us see the u n i q u e n e s s o f c h a r a c t e r i n c i r c i x m s t a n c e s , and the end of i t i s m o r a l perception''^"^. I t is by this constant
f o c u s i n g o n i n d i v i d u a l m a n i n h i s xinique
e n v i r o n m e n t t h a t T r o l l o p e l e a d s the r e a d e r to a d e e p e r of the nature
o f the
understanding
universe.
D o c t o r T h o r n e w a s t h e b e s t o f T r o l l o p e ' s n o v e l s i n the o p i n i o n of M i c h a e l S a d l e i r w h o c o n c l u d e d T r o l l o p e : A
Commentary
w i t h the w o r d s : 'at the p r o u d a p e x o f the p y r a m i d o f T r o l l o p e 44 f i c t i o n (stands)
the t a l e o f D o c t o r Thorne.^
•
B u t w h e n one
a n a l y s e s the r e a s o n s f o r h i s f i n a l c h o i c e o f t h i s n o v e l ,
one
cannot
help t h i n k i n g that his outlook was unduly influenced by a Jamesian affection f o r Trollope's heroines.
H e n r y J a m e s had w r i t t e n :
' T r o l l o p e s e t t l e d d o w n s t e a d i l y to the English g i r l . . , He is evidently m o r e o r l e s s i n l o v e w i t h h e r , , , (as a) paternal l o v e r . , . T h e y a r e so affectionate,,, they have a k i n d of c l i n g i n g t e n d e r n e s s , a p a s s i v e sweetness., w h i c h i s Quite i n t h e o l d E n g l i s h tradition-
98
S a d l e i r w r o t e a t t h e end o f h i s s u r v e y o f T r o l l o p e ' s w o r k : ' A t t i m e s one w o n d e r s w h e t h e r ( T h e W a y We L i v e N o w ) i s n o t the g r e a t e s t n o v e l Trollope ever w r o t e . B u t w h e n the t h o u g h t o f M a r y T h o r n e r e t u r n s , and because beauty i s m o r e permanent than anger and s w e e t n e s s m o r e a b i d i n g t h a n e v e n r i g h t e o u s c r u e l t y , the s a t i r e ( o f The W a y We L i v e N o w ) f a l l s i n t o second p l a c e , l e a v i n g p e r p e t u a l l y e n t h r o n e d a t the p r o u d a p e x o f the p y r a m i d o f T r o l l o p e f i c t i o n , , , the t a l e o f D o c t o r Thorne,"'^'^* G e o r g e E l i o t had a l r e a d y p u t s u c h u t t e r a n c e s
in their proper
w h e n she w r o t e i n a l e t t e r i n 1870 : ' m e n a r e
place
v e r y fond of that
d o g l i k e a f f e c t i o n ( o f the T r o l l o p i a n h e r o i n e ) . ' ' ^ ^ j The n o v e l i s e x c e l l e n t i n the shape o f i t s p l o t a n d i n i t s characterisation;
i t i s a l s o j u s t l y one o f the f a v o u r i t e s a m o n g
r e a d e r s of T r o l l o p e ,
D o c t o r T h o r n e h i m s e l f i s at the c e n t r e of 48
the s t o r y ,
( T r o l l o p e c a l l s h i m the
' h e r o ' at the outset
f u l f i l s a u n i q u e r o l e i n the n o v e l ,
) , a n d he
s i n c e as t h e v i l l a g e d o c t o r he
e n j o y s the d u b i o u s p r i v i l e g e o f b e i n g c o n f i d e d i n b y a l l h i s T r o l l o p e was able t o present
patients,
us w i t h scenes of i n t i m a c y t h a t w o u l d
h a v e b e e n out of p l a c e i n t h e e a r l i e r n o v e l s and as a r e s u l t we c o m e c l o s e r t o u n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e m i n d s o f some This greater
o f the m a i n
protagonists.
i n t i m a c y leads to deeper p s y c h o l o g i c a l analysis
c o n s e q u e n t l y the m o r a l u n i v e r s e o f each c h a r a c t e r defined.
Sir R o g e r Scatcherd his son L o u i s ,
Gresham,
w h o has
cancer,
and her
T h o r n e at one t i m e o r a n o t h e r . these characters
son F r a n k ,
and
is m o r e c l e a r l y
Lady A r a b e l l a a l l confide i n Doctor
B e c a u s e the c o m m o n g r o u n d f o r
i s g e n e r a l l y the d o c t o r h i m s e l f , a n d b e c a u s e d i r e c t
99
confrontations are Barchester
rare,
the b o o k i s less a s o c i a l c o m e d y
T o w e r s and a m o r e
E v e n so,
we a r e
prevails.
because they expose t h e m s e l v e s
t o the c e n t r a l c h a r a c t e r who i n s o m e senses
the i n t i m a c y a f f o r d e d to s e v e r a l fiction.
tone
c o n t i n u a l l y a w a r e o f the i n c o n g r u i t i e s of
t h e i r various m o r a l outlooks, unreservedly
sombre
than
servant
Although Doctor Thorne
is
narrators
'more
enjoys
in Victorian
p u r e l y p l o t ' than the
49 novels which preceded inter-personal to the
it
,
relationships
T r o l l o p e ' s s k i l l i n the h a n d l i n g of a n d d i a l o g u e i s e x c e l l e n t and 50. a whole., ,
r i c h n e s s o f the n o v e l as
B y t h e t i m e T r o l l o p e c a m e to w r i t e Barset,
T h e L a s t C h r o n i c l e of
he h a d f o u n d the c o n f i d e n c e t o h a n d l e
c h a r a c t e r s and s e v e r a l
contributes
a number
of
e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t clashes of outlook, without
t h e n e c e s s i t y o f c r e a t i n g t h e k i n d o f c h a r a c t e r s w h o s t a n d on t h e i r o w n f e e t s o l e l y b e c a u s e o f the are
l i v e l y scenes w h i c h ensue w h e n t h e y
'yoked by violence together'.
penetration made possible
The d e e p e r
psychological
i n D o c t o r Thorne helped
c r e a t e c h a r a c t e r s w h o l i v e on t h e i r own as w e l l as situations,
Mr,
L a s t C h r o n i c l e of B a r s e t
T r o l l o p e was minds
i n social
P r o u d i e w o u l d n o t have s u r v i v e d l o n g i f h i s w i f e
h a d d i e d i n the c o u r s e o f B a r c h e s t e r i n The
T r o l l o p e to
Towers,
but w i t h her
decease
he t a k e s o n a n e w d i m e n s i o n .
a b l e to e x p l o r e the i n n e r w o r k i n g s o f h i s
characters'
a f t e r the w r i t i n g o f D o c t o r T h o r n e a n d one r e s u l t w a s
t h e c h a r a c t e r s e x i s t as m o r e t h a n s o c i a l b e i n g s o n l y .
The
that
100
R e v e r e n d J o s i a h C r a w l e y i s a n o t h e r f i g u r e w h o has own,
a l i f e of h i s
w a n d e r i n g g l o o m i l y a r o u n d the p a r i s h o f H o g g l e s t o c k ,
obsessed
w i t h h i s p o s s i b l e g u i l t i n c o n n e c t i o n w i t h t h e m i s s i n g cheque f o r t w e n t y pounds,
and m a i n t a i n i n g h i s s t o i c i s m b y r e p e a t i n g the
brick-
51 layer's
' I t ' s d o g g e d as d o e s i t '
.
N o t e v e n M r , H a r d i n g has
the
52 psychological depth of M r . C r a w l e y
.
T r o l l o p e h a d o u t g r o w n the need f o r the s e c u r i t y o f a n e n c l o s e d w o r l d s e t i n B a r s e t s h i r e b y 1866, w h e n he w r o t e T h e C h r o n i c l e of B a r s e t ,
A f t e r Doctor Thorne,
p u b l i s h e d i n 1858,
t h e r e h a d b e e n the t w o o t h e r B a r s e t s h i r e n o v e l s , a n d T h e S m a l l H o u s e at A l l i n g t o n .
F r a m l e y Parsonage
besides O r l e y F a r m ,
A l l C o u n t r i e s and the f i r s t P a l l i s e r s e r i e s .
Last
Tales of
Can You F o r g i v e H e r ? ,
T r o l l o p e w r o t e The L a s t C h r o n i c l e of B a r s e t p a r t l y i n response to 53 public demand
, b u t the u n d e r s t a n d i n g he has
of his
characters
a n d t h e i r m o r a l b e i n g s w a s m u c h m o r e s u r e as w a s h i s
control
o v e r the s t o r y .
The n o v e l belongs to the B a r s e t s h i r e
although i n t e r m s
o f a r t i s t i c m e r i t i t s h o u l d be c o n s i d e r e d
his most mature w o r k .
A , 0 ,J,
, b u t the e n t i r e
p l o t of L i l y D a l e , A d o l p h u s C r o s b i e and J o h n n y F a m e s , w i t h the scenes o f m i d d l e - c l a s s l i f e i n B a y s w a t e r ,
circles
of Barsetshire,
alongside
C o c k s h u t has s a i d t h a t t h i s b o o k 54
is m a r r e d by an excess of i r r e l e v a n t m a t e r i a l
the range w h i c h extends,
series
a n d p r o v i d e the r e a d e r
together
g i v e the
b e y o n d t h e e c c l e s i a s t i c a l and
sub-
novel
provincial
with a different
set
o f m o r a l v a l u e s a g a i n s t w h i c h t o a p p r e c i a t e m o r e f u l l y the n a t u r e o f t h e v a l u e s o f the m a i n c h a r a c t e r s
o f the b o o k .
But Trollope
has
101
been censured elsewhere f o r a f a i l u r e to relate
a l l his
sub-plots
t o the m a i n s t o r y i n t h i s n o v e l : ' I n a b o o k l i k e The L a s t C h r o n i c l e of B a r s e t the r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n the B a r s e t p a r t s o f the b o o k a n d i t s L o n d o n scenes i s o n l y o f a t e n u o u s and o f a n o m i n a l k i n d , and a c r i t i c has t o w o r k v e r y h a r d t o c o n n e c t t h e m a t i c a l l y t h e t w o a r e a s o f the b o o k w i t h any plausibility'^^' The r e l a t i o n s h i p of sub-plot to m a i n - p l o t i n Can Y o u F o r g i v e f o r example,
is m u c h m o r e
obvious,
since M r s , Greenow,
Cheeseacre and Captain B e l l f i e l d d i r e c t l y r e f l e c t A l i c e situation,
j u s t as
that of K i n g
i n Shakespeare's play,
Lear,
A l t h o u g h the
Gloucester's plight reflects
sub-plots
i n The L a s t
a y a r d s t i c k a g a i n s t w h i c h we m a y
the e v e n t s a n d the p e o p l e
who are
Mr,
Vavasor's
of B a r s e t b e a r no s u c h o b v i o u s r e l a t i o n s h i p t o the s t o r y , s e r v e t h e m a t i c a l l y as
Her?,
Chronicle t h e y do understand
c e n t r a l t o the n o v e l and the
values
which exist within i t . On the face of i t , this seems like a blanket f o r the i n c l u s i o n of any m a t e r i a l , be i n t e r m s o f s t o r y a l o n e , juxtaposition of incongruities, o r denoting the
no m a t t e r
T r o l l o p e was
justification
how i r r e l e v a n t i t m a y fascinated by this
and f a r f r o m p r o v i d i n g l i g h t r e l i e f ,
passing of t i m e ,
the
s u b - p l o t i n The
Last
Chronicle
o f B a r s e t i s a n i n t e g r a l p a r t o f the n o v e l f o r the v e r y r e a s o n the w o r l d w h i c h i t r e p r e s e n t s i s such a c o n t r a s t
that
to the w o r l d o f
56 the r e s t of the book p r o v i d e d b y the
.
Thornes
In Barchester Towers o f U l l a t h o r n e was m o r e
the
contrast
closely woven into
the m a i n p l o t , b e c a u s e the S p o r t s b r o u g h t t o g e t h e r
the t w o w o r l d s
102
into a direct clash.
Lily Dale's
B r o u g h t o n sequence never Barchester
c l e r i c a l feuds,
a l l the m o r e f o r the events p a t t e r n as achieve
subtle.
adventures
come into d i r e c t contact w i t h
the
and the p r e s e n t a t i o n o f i n c o n g r u i t y i s
I t is also,
of course,
more like real life,
of r e a l l i f e r a r e l y f i t into such a close j i g - s a w
that of B a r c h e s t e r
Towers,
T h e n o v e l i s t needs t o
a c o m p r o m i s e b e t w e e n an exact
chaotic,
and the w h o l e
r e f l e c t i o n o f l i f e as i t i s ,
i n c o n g r u o u s and d i s j o i n t e d , and a n o r d e r e d i n t e r p r e t a t i o n
o f one a s p e c t o f l i f e i n t h e t e r m s w h i c h h i s m e d i u m p e r m i t s . T r o l l o p e was ahead of h i s t i m e ,
perhaps,
wrote m o r e naturalistic i n this respect nature has
o f l i f e as
i t i s and p r e s e n t
escaped m a n y .
a unified p e r c e p t i o n of l i f e that revealed
of which life is r e a l l y composed.
s u m m e d u p the r e l a t i o n s h i p o f r e a l l i f e t o
l i f e i n f i c t i o n w h e n he w r o t e : ' T o m a k e t r u e , t h e n , c o n s i s t s i n g i v i n g the c o m p l e t e i l l u s i o n o f t r u t h , f o l l o w i n g the o r d i n a r y logic o f f a c t s and not s l a v i s h l y t r a n s c r i b i n g t h e m as t h e y happen,'^ T r o l l o p e c a m e q u i t e c l o s e t o g i v i n g t h i s i l l u s i o n o f t r u t h i n the w r i t i n g of his m a t u r i t y .
he
: h i s b o o k s r e f l e c t the
I t i s a p e r c e p t i o n t h a t c a n o n l y be
t h r o u g h the i n c o n s i s t e n c i e s G u y de M a u p a s s a n t
i n m a k i n g the n o v e l s
103 NOTES
- Chapter
Three
1
C P , Snow, h o w e v e r , d e s c r i b e s i t as ' a n e x c e p t i o n a l l y good novel', ( T r o l l o p e , p , 6 5 ) , and R , M , P o t h e r m s has d r a w n a t t e n t i o n t o i t f o r i t s u n d e r r a t e d q u a l i t i e s i n The C h a n g i n g W o r l d of A n t h o n y T r o l l o p e ,
2
T h i s has b e e n r e c o g n i s e d b y E , W . W i t t i n g w h o d e s c r i b e s i t as the o n l y n o v e l o f the p e r i o d r e v e a l i n g an o p e n n e s s about the I r i s h w h i c h approaches the best o f h i s E n g l i s h w o r k . ' T r o l l o p e ' s I r i s h F i c t i o n ' , I r e l a n d : A J o u r n a l o f I r i s h Studies, i x : i i i ( A u t u m n 1974) p p , 9 7 - 1 1 8 .
3
R . C . T e r r y , ' T h e T h r e e L o s t C h a p t e r s of T r o l l o p e ' s F i r s t N o v e l ' , N i n e t e e n t h C e n t u r y F i c t i o n , x x v i i (June 1972) pp, 71-80; and E , W, W i t t i n g , 'Significant Revisions i n T r o l l o p e ' s T h e M a c d e r m o t s o f B a l l y c l o r a n ' y N o t e s and Q u e r i e s , x x : i i i ( M a r c h 1973) p p . 9 0 - 9 1 .
4
A n Autobiography, p,
5
Trollope : A Commentary,
6
Ibid,,
p , 141.
7
Ibid.,
pp,
8
I b i d , , p, 142. Sadleir's judgement completely eclipsed that o f S i r H , W a l p o l e (whose b o o k A n t h o n y T r o l l o p e a p p e a r e d o n l y a y e a r l a t e r , i n 1928), I n i t he d e s c r i b e s The M a c d e r m o t s o f B a l l y c l o r a n as ' a l m o s t i n the f i r s t f l i g h t o f T r o l l o p e , , , T h e s t o r y i s o f the s i m p l e s t , b u t b r o a d e n s , as e v e r y s t o r y o u g h t to d o , i n t o the f u l l bounds o f i t s e n v i r o n m e n t ' ( p , 2 5 ) , C , P , Snow has r i g h t l y d e s c r i b e d S a d l e i r ' s d i s m i s s a l o f T r o l l o p e ' s f i r s t n o v e l as a ' c r a s s m i s j u d g e m e n t ' ( T r o l l o p e , p. 65).
9
F a v o u r a b l e r e v i e w s w e r e g i v e n i n John B u l l , H o w i t t ' s J o u r n a l a n d T h e S p e c t a t o r , i n 1847, See D o n a l d S m a l l e y , T r o l l o p e : T h e C r i t i c a l H e r i t a g e , p p , 549, 550 and 5 4 7 . A wider d i s c u s s i o n o f the r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n T r o l l o p e and h i s r e a d i n g p u b l i c t h r o u g h o u t h i s c a r e e r c a n be f o u n d i n D a v i d S k i l t o n ' s T r o l l o p e a n d Itis C o n t e m p o r a r i e s : A Study i n the T h e o r y and Conventions of M i d - V i c t o r i a n F i c t i o n .
10
77 ( C h , I V ) . p,
145,
142-143,
A n A u t o b i o g r a p h y , pp,
80-81 (Ch,
W).
104
11
T h e f a m i l y r e l a t i o n s h i p s , p a r t i c u l a r l y b e t w e e n A n t h o n y and h i s m o t h e r , F r a n c e s T r o l l o p e , w h o w r o t e n o v e l s t o k e e p the f a m i l y s o l v e n t a f t e r t h e f a i l u r e o f the E m p o r i u m v e n t u r e i n C i n c i n n a t t i , w h i l e A n t h o n y w a s s t i l l at s c h o o l , a r e e x a m i n e d i n T h e T r o l l o p e s : T h e C h r o n i c l e o f a W r i t i n g F a m i l y , by L , P , and R . P , S t e b b i n s .
12
J a m e s Pope H e n n e s s y , A n t h o n y T r o l l o p e , p p , C . P , Snow, T r o l l o p e . p , 66,
13
T e s s o f the D ' U r b e r v i l l e s . p ,
446.
14
Trollope : A Commentary,
374,
15
The s t r u c t u r e o f T h e W a r d e n has a l s o b e e n e x a m i n e d b y M , C , H o u s t o n , i n ' S t r u c t u r e and P l o t i n The W a r d e n ' , U n i v e r s i t y o f T e x a s S t u d i e s i n E n g l i s h , x x x i v (1955) p p , 107-113.
16
Partial Portraits,
17
T r o l l o p e : A r t i s t and M o r a l i s t , p ,
18
Partial Portraits,
19
Ibid.,
p,
110.
20
Ibid.,
p.
109.
21
A n t h o n y T r o l l o p e : A C r i t i c a l Study,
22
'The D i v i d e d M i n d of Anthony T r o l l o p e ' , Nineteenth F i c t i o n , x i v ( 1 9 5 9 - 6 0 ) p p . 1-26.
23
T r o l l o p e ' s novels contain a wide v a r i e t y of c h a r a c t e r s f r o m other c o u n t r i e s , some of whom are discussed f u r t h e r i n subsequent c h a p t e r s . T h e r e i s an a r t i c l e i n The T r o l l o p i a n , i i , n o , 1 (1947) p p . 3 - 1 0 , b y D . M , A l e x a n d e r , e n t i t l e d 'Trollope's Cosmopolitanism',
24
Barchester
25
P a r t i c u l a r l y i n The L a s t C h r o n i c l e of B a r s e t , W , J , Overton e x a m i n e s t h i s i n a s s e s s i n g the i m p o r t a n c e o f the e v o l u t i o n o f the unspoken m o n o l o g u e , i n ' T r o l l o p e : A n I n t e r i o r V i e w ' , M o d e r n L a n g u a g e s R e v i e w , I x x i (1976) p p , 4 8 9 - 4 9 9 , See a l s o D , A i t k e n , 'A Kind of F e l i c i t y ' , Nineteenth Century F i c t i o n , x x (1966) p p , 3 3 7 - 3 5 3 ,
Towers,
p.
p.
p,
106-107;
and
108, 42,
111,
pp,
pp,
36-37. Century
81-82 (Ch, X I )
105
26
L i v e s o f the E n g l i s h Poets,
27
Partial Portraits,
28
Ibid.,
29
Trollope : A Commentary,
p.
30
C i t e d e d i t i o n of B a r c h e s t e r
Towers,
31
'Shape a n d T h e m e : D e t e r m i n a n t s of T r o l l o p e ' s F o r m s ' , P r o c e e d i n g s of the M o d e r n Languages A s s o c i a t i o n o f A m e r i c a , I x x v i i i (1963), pp. 326-332.
32
' C h a r a c t e r and M o c k - H e r o i c i n B a r c h e s t e r T o w e r s ' . Texas Studies i n L i t e r a t u r e and Language, v (1963-4) p , 510.
33
I n i t i a l l y i n ' B a r c h e s t e r T o w e r s and the N a t u r e o f C o n s e r v a t i v e C o m e d y ' , J o u r n a l o f E n g l i s h L i t e r a r y H i s t o r y , x x x v i i (1970) pp. 595-612.
34
T r o l l o p e : A r t i s t and M o r a l i s t , m a d e , h o w e v e r , o f W . D . Shaw, i n B a r c h e s t e r T o w e r s ' , showed w h i c h p r o v i d e b o t h the s t r u c t u r e Nineteenth Century Fiction, x i x
35
Q u o t e d b y R u t h a p R o b e r t s i n T r o l l o p e : A r t i s t and M o r a l i s t , p. 28. O n t h i s a s p e c t o f T r o l l o p e ' s d e v e l o p m e n t , see a l s o R.H. P o l h e m u s , The C h a n g i n g W o r l d o f A n t h o n y T r o l l o p e , t h o u g h t h i s s h o u l d be v i e w e d w i t h s u s p i c i o n as r e g a r d s i t s a c c u r a d y o n c h u r c h a f f a i r s (see R u t h a p R o b e r t ' s r e v i e w i n N i n e t e e n t h C e n t u r y F i c t i o n , x x i i i (1968) p . 355) a n d a dangerous tendency to seek s i g n i f i c a n c e i n e v e r y t h i n g , as, f o r e x a m p l e , w h e n he notes ( p , 730) the p r e p o n d e r a n c e o f p h a l l i c s y m b o l i s m s u r r o u n d i n g V i o l e t E f f i n g h a m and L o r d C h i l t e r n i n Phineas F i n n . I t i s s t r a n g e t h a t C . P . Snow puts P o l h e m i n s a l o n g s i d e R u t h a p R o b e r t s as ' t w o of the a b l e s t c r i t i c s w h o h a v e w r i t t e n on T r o l l o p e ' . ( T r o l l o p e , p , 180).
36
I n a l e t t e r t o J o h n B l a c k w o o d , 3 r d M a r c h 1967, N o t i n the c o l l e c t e d l e t t e r s ( e d . B . A . Booth),, b u t q u o t e d i n M i c h a e l S a d l e i r ' s T r o l l o p e : A C o m m e n t a r y , p . 174.
37
Barchester
p.
p.
p.
31.
116.
118.
Towers,
pp.
374. p.
viii.
p. 4 1 . M e n t i o n s h o u l d be whose a r t i c l e , ' M o r a l D r a m a i n s i g h t i n t o the r e a l t e n s i o n s and the c o m e d y o f the n o v e l . (1965) p p . 4 5 - 5 4 .
446-447 (Ch. L I ) .
106
38
On the r e s t r i c t i o n s o f the m e d i u m i n w h i c h T r o l l o p e and h i s c o n t e m p o r a r i e s w e r e w r i t i n g , see J , H , M i l l e r ' s The F o r m of V i c t o r i a n F i c t i o n : Thackeray. Dickens. T r o l l o p e . George E l i o t , M e r e d i t h and H a r d y . A l s o R . Stang, The T h e o r y o f the N o v e l i n E n g l a n d 1 8 5 0 - 1 8 7 0 , and R a y m o n d W i l l i a m s , The E n g l i s h N o v e l : F r o m Dickens to Lawrence.
39
T h e s e a r e : The W a r d e n ( 1 8 5 5 ) , B a r c h e s t e r T o w e r s (1857), D o c t o r Thorne (1858), F r a m l e y Parsonage (1861), The S m a l l H o u s e a t A U i n g t o n (1864) and The L a s t C h r o n i c l e o f B a r s e t ( 1 8 6 7 ) , f o l l o w i n g the g e n e r a l l y a c c e p t e d c l a s s i f i c a t i o n i n W . G . and J , T , G e r o u l d ' s A Guide to Anthony T r o l l o p e . p . x v i i i . D a t e s g i v e n a r e o f f i r s t p u b l i c a t i o n and a r e t a k e n f r o m J a m e s Pope H e n n e s s y ' s A n t h o n y T r o l l o p e , p. 389.
40
A n Autobiography,
41
Author's (1893).
42
'Notes on W r i t i n g a N o v e l ' , O r i o n I I . quoted i n W a l t e r W r i t e r s o n W r i t i n g , p , 189.
43
T r o l l o p e : A r t i s t and M o r a l i s t ,
44
p.
45
Partial Portraits,
46
Trollope : A Commentary,
47
Q u o t e d b y J o h n S u t h e r l a n d , i n h i s i n t r o d u c t i o n to P h i n e a s F i n n , p. 23. I have b e e n unable to t r a c e the r e f e r e n c e i n G.S. H a i g h t ' s e d i t i o n o f The G e o r g e E l i o t L e t t e r s .
48
Doctor
49
B.C.
50
The case f o r g i v i n g f u r t h e r attention to T r o l l o p e ' s
p.
200 ( C h . X I I ) .
P r e f a c e t o the f i f t h e d i t i o n o f T e s s o f the Cited edition, p. v i i .
p,
D'Urbervilles
Allen,
52,
401.
Thorne.
p.
p.
119. p.
401.
35 ( C h . I I ) .
Brown, Anthony Trollope,
p.
53. dialogue
i s m a d e b y C , P , Snow, w h o has c h o s e n t w o e x t r a c t s f r o m t h i s n o v e l as e x a m p l e s . T r o l l o p e , pp. 1 5 6 - 1 5 9 . 51
The
Last Chronicle
of B a r s e t ,
p.
664 ( C h , L X I ) .
52
I n h i s i n t r o d u c t i o n The L a s t C h r o n i c l e o f B a r s e t , L a u r e n c e L e r n e r t h i n k s that M r . C r a w l e y i s the c e n t r a l c h a r a c t e r of the n o v e l , who i s ' p r o b a b l y the f i n e s t T r o l l o p e ever c r e a t e d ' (pp. 20-24). A n o t h e r study of h i m is that by Helen C o r s a ,
107
i n the a r t i c l e a l r e a d y r e f e r r e d to i n C h a p t e r T w o , n o t e 5, M r . C r a w l e y i s a l s o one o f t h e c l e r i c s s t u d i e d i n P e t e r P a c k e r ' s T h e P o r t r a y a l o f t h e A n g l i c a n C l e r g y m e n i n Some N i n e t e e n t h C e n t u r y F i c t i o n , and his m a s o c h i s t i c tendency i s d i s c u s s e d i n M a r i o P r a z The Hero i n E c l i p s e i n V i c t o r i a n F i c t i o n , pp. 302-304. 53
T h e r e has b e e n s o m e s p e c u l a t i o n as t o w h y T r o l l o p e r e t u r n e d to B a r s e t s h i r e f o r the l a s t t i m e . See J a m e s Pope H e n n e s s y ' s A n t h o n y T r o l l o p e . p . 227 and M i c h a e l H a r d w i c k ' s The O s p r e y G u i d e t o A n t h o n y T r o l l o p e . p . 78.
54
A n t h o n y T r o l l o p e : A C r i t i c a l Study,
p.
169,
55
I n Stephen W a l l ' s i n t r o d u c t i o n to Can Y o u F o r g i v e H e r ? ,
56
T h e s t o r y o f t h e D o b b s B r o u g h t o n s , M a d a l i n a D e s m o l i n e s and C l a r a V a n S i e v e r has i t s p l a c e i n ' j u x t a p o s i n g the i n c o n g r u o u s ' i n the n o v e l ( L a u r e n c e L e r n e r ' s i n t r o d u c t i o n t o The L a s t C h r o n i c l e o f B a r s e t . p , 16), See a l s o J , T h a l e , ' T h e P r o b l e m of S t r u c t u r e i n T r o l l o p e ' , N i n e t e e n t h C e n t u r y F i c t i o n , x i v (1960) p p , 1 4 7 - 1 5 7 .
57
I n ' P r e f a c e t o P i e r r e et J e a n ' quoted i n M i r i a m N o v e l i s t s on the N o v e l , p. 7 1 .
Allott
p,
17,
108
Chapter
Four P u b l i c and P r i v a t e
Life
' I t i s t r u e t h a t the f u l l h i o m a n i t y of t h e s e novels o n l y e m e r g e s w h e n they are c o n s i d e r e d t o g e t h e r , f o r only t h e n t o the e f f e c t s of t i m e on c h a r a c t e r s become f u l l y apparent! , T r o l l o p e h i m s e l f m a d e i t c l e a r t h a t a l l the n o v e l s i n the s e r i e s should be r e a d t o g e t h e r , to appreciate
them,
f o r , as
i n sequence,
i f the
Palliser
reader wished
he w r o t e :
' I t w a s m y s t u d y t h a t t h e s e people s h o u l d e n c o u n t e r the c h a n g e s t h a t c o m e u p o n us all'^^ The achievement
of this i m m e n s l y v a r i e d tapestry
covered over a quarter Trollope spread from
of l i f e w h i c h
o f a c e n t u r y i n t i m e i s the g r e a t e r
the w r i t i n g o f i t o v e r sixteen y e a r s of his
1863 t o 1879,
a n d he w a s a b l e t o d e v e l o p the
because life,i
relationships
a n d c h a r a c t e r s i n a w a y t h a t w o u l d have b e e n i m p o s s i b l e i n a shorter
span.
T h e c h a r a c t e r s f o r m e d a p a r t of h i s l i f e t h r o u g h -
o u t the p e r i o d i n w h i c h he w r o t e about t h e m : ' B y no a m o u n t o f d e s c r i p t i o n or a s s e v e r a t i o n could I succeed i n m a k i n g any t e a d e r understand h o w m u c h t h e s e c h a r a c t e r s and t h e i r b e l o n g i n g s have b e e n t o m e i n m y l a t t e r l i f e ' , ' ^ . B u t no m a t t e r
how m u c h t h e y m a y have b e e n t o t h e i r
author,
these s i x novels p r e s e n t the m o d e r n r e a d e r w i t h a c h r o n i c l e of w h i c h t h e m o s t i m m e d i a t e q u a l i t y i s the q u a n t i t y of m a t e r i a l . T h e s i x n o v e l s c o n t a i n about 4 , 5 0 0 p a g e s , words i n a l l (approximately three
o r about
1,350,000
t i m e s the length of W a r
and
109
Peace) so i t is h a r d l y s u r p r i s i n g that the reading of the entire P a l l i s e r s e r i e s has been r e s t r i c t e d to the d i e - h a r d T r o l l o p i a n s and those w i t h plenty of t i m e on t h e i r hands. Thus the m o d e r n r e a d e r ,
faced w i t h the enormous
output
that made T r o l l o p e m o r e p r o l i f i c than any V i c t o r i a n novelist, and i n p a r t i c u l a r c o n f r o n t e d by the extent of the P a l l i s e r s e r i e s , may w e l l be i n c l i n e d to ask what i t is that T r o l l o p e has to o f f e r that takes so long to e x p r e s s . Barsetshire
The novels, p a r t i c u l a r l y the
ones, have long enjoyed popularity among those who
would escape f r o m the uncertainties of the twentieth century to the w a r m t h and s e c u r i t y of T r o l l o p i a n England, but the m o r e c r i t i c a l r e a d e r m a y j u s t i f i a b l y ask what i t is that makes the P a l l i s e r s e r i e s w o r t h the t i m e i t w i l l take to read these books. Y e t i n spite of the g e n e r a l t r e n d of c r i t i c i s m concerning these p o l i t i c a l l y based novels throughout the f i r s t half of this c e n t u r y , they have continued to enjoy a wide readership,
and the
1974 t e l e v i s i o n p r o d u c t i o n of Simon Raven's v e r s i o n . The P a l l i s e r s , has made them available to a m u c h wider audience, however, that the lavishness
I suspect,
of the v i s u a l presentation f o r
t e l e v i s i o n has obscured the r e a l achievement of the P a l l i s e r
series.
T r o l l o p e r a r e l y emphasises the v i s u a l aspects of his scenes and only occasionally does one f i n d scenic descriptions i n the P a l l i s e r novels.
Landscapes and settings are not imbued w i t h a r i c h
4 sensory atmosphere, F o r instance,
as f o r example are those of Thomas Hardy .
i t i s t r u e that the r i v e r i n Basle,
seen f r o m the
no b r i d g e , may have a symbolic significance f o r A l i c e
Vavasor^,
but there is no p i c t o r i a l d e s c r i p t i o n of the town, the r i v e r or the hotel, any m o r e than there i s a d e s c r i p t i o n of the dresses w o r n at Lady M o n k ' s B a l l ,
or the effects that Lady Glencora's
schemes of i m p r o v e m e n t have upon the grounds at Gatherum Castle.
V i s u a l d e s c r i p t i o n is included when i t has a d i r e c t
e f f e c t on the c h a r a c t e r s , as when M r s , Boncassen's R i v e r Party is brought to a close by a sudden s t o r m ^ .
Trollope's descriptive
passages are isolated and generally serve to b r i n g i n a b r e a t h of f r e s h a i r at a moment when the s t o r y needs one, hunting scenes.
as w i t h the
Many of these hunting scenes, i t i s t r u e ,
are
f u l l of excitement and atmosphere, but t h i s i s usually on account of the n a r r a t i v e r a t h e r than because of a d e s c r i p t i o n of the v i s u a l appearance of things.
When TroUope does employ d e s c r i p t i o n ,
i t is m o s t o f t e n of people - t h e i r features,
t h e i r clothes and their
demeanour, but even then he i s uncertain of his a b i l i t y to convey a visual impression well.
I n w r i t i n g of Isabel Boncassen's beauty,
he says: ' I doubt even whether any d e s c r i p t i o n w i l l procure f o r me f r o m the reader that amount of f a i t h which I d e s i r e to achieve,'''. Our v i s u a l i m p r e s s i o n s
of scenes i n TroUope probably owe m o r e
to the i l l u s t r a t i o n s of the e a r l y editions, p a r t i c u l a r l y those by Sir John M i l l a i s , than to the words used to evoke the scenes i n the writing itself.
I t is by means of the dialogue, the
personalities
and the n a r r a t i v e that T r o l l o p e generally achieves his e f f e c t s .
Ill
There are,
i t is t r u e ,
some passages of d e s c r i p t i o n which are
v e r y e f f e c t i v e i n the course of the P a l l i s e r novels.
The best of
these tend to be the ones d e s c r i b i n g residences i n the N o r t h - W e s t of England (like Vavasor H a l l i n the Lake D i s t r i c t and G r e x 'Castle' i n Y o r k s h i r e ) or Scotland ( w i t h L i z z i e Eustace's castle at P o r t r a y and M r . Kennedy's home at L o u g h l i n t e r ) ,
Many, however,
stand
out as u n - T r o l l o p i a n i n s t y l e , l i k e this one f r o m The Duke's Children: 'But the place i t s e l f was v e r y l o v e l y . May of a l l months of the year is i n England the m o s t insidious, the m o s t dangerous, and the most i n c l e m e n t . A greatcoat cannot be endured, and without a greatcoat who can endure a May w i n d and live ? But of a l l months i t i s the p r e t t i e s t . The grasses are then the greenest, and the young foliage of the t r e e s , while i t has a l l the g l o r y and a l l the colour of spring vegetation, does not hide the f o r m of the branches as do the heavy masses of the l a r g e r leaves which come i n the advancing s u m m e r . And of a l l v i l l a s near London The Horns was the sweetest. The broad green lawn swept down to the v e r y m a r g i n of the Thames, w h i c h absolutely washed the f r i n g e of grass when the tide was h i g h . A n d h e r e , along the bank was a r o w of f l o w e r i n g ashes, the drooping boughs of w h i c h i n places touched the w a t e r . I t was one of those spots w h i c h when they are f i r s t seen make the beholder f e e l that to be able to live there and look at i t always would be happiness enough f o r l i f e ' ' ' . ' This does not come across to the reader as n a t u r a l i n the way that T r o l l o p e ' s w r i t i n g n o r m a l l y does, and i t i s somewhat s e l f conscious and a f f e c t e d l y r h e t o r i c a l .
It m a y be, of course,
that
he was m o r e at home d e s c r i b i n g places to which his readers probably had not been,
f o r one imagines that his books were sold
m o r e i n London than elsewhere.
Of the importance of d e s c r i p t i v e
112
w r i t i n g he makes no m e n t i o n i n his advice t o a s p i r i n g novelists in A n Autobiography.
He was a c h r o n i c l e r of human l i f e and
a c r e a t o r of c h a r a c t e r r a t h e r than a w r i t e r of moving v i s u a l descriptions. Yet these v i s u a l effects have been the most i m p r e s s i v e part of the t e l e v i s i o n s e r i a l i s a t i o n . The P a l l i s e r s , of the costumes,
The
extravagance
the magnitude of the settings, the munificence
of the dinner p a r t i e s ; these are the qualities f o r which televised T r o l l o p e is r e m a r k a b l e .
Lady Glencora's alterations to the
grounds at Gatherum Castle to receive her guests i n a style b e f i t t i n g the w i f e of the P r i m e M i n i s t e r , necessitate,, i n the t e l e v i s i o n p r o d u c t i o n , considerable f i l m i n g of an apparently i n f i n i t e number of gardeners at w o r k , the spectacle
and the v i e w e r is even treated to
of a r e a l V i c t o r i a n steam engine at w o r k .
Metro-
G o l d w y n - M e y e r could h a r d l y have done m o r e i n the heyday of Hollywood m o v i e s i
But how m u c h is there of a l l these preparations
at Gatherum Castle i n the novels? r e f e r r e d to i n The P r i m e M i n i s t e r , 'Vulgarity',
The reader w i l l f i n d them Chapter X I X , entitled
T h e r e , the whole emphasis is on P a l l i s e r ' s
disgust
at his w i f e ' s extravagance and the domestic row which ensues. The row is t h e r e i n the t e l e v i s i o n production, but i t is almost t o t a l l y eclipsed by the expense and the display of the
preparations.
There is another way i n w h i c h the series has been d i s t o r t e d , i n m a k i n g Lady Glencora m u c h m o r e the c e n t r a l than she actually
113 is.
I t i s t r u e that she spans the novels u n t i l her death (which
is u n n a t u r a l l y delayed i n the t e l e v i s i o n v e r s i o n ) but she does not dominate t h e m .
Simon Raven's j u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r c e n t r a l i s i n g Lady
Gleiicora i n his v e r s i o n , i n The Listener^^, Roy H a t t e r s ley's a r t i c l e ,
has been rebuffed by
'How the essential T r o l l o p e was l o s t ' , i n
11 the same p e r i o d i c a l
.
T e l e v i s e d Trollope seems quite d i f f e r e n t
f r o m the r e a l T r o l l o p e , yet the i n t e r p r e t a t i o n given to h i m is the one to w h i c h m o s t people probably subscribe.
A s the guide
accompanying the t e l e v i s i o n s e r i a l i s a t i o n puts i t : ' T r o l l o p e (and Simon Raven) r e f l e c t a kind of u p p e r - m i d d l e - c l a s s or a r i s t o c r a t i c view of British liie'}^; This v i e w , c o n f i r m e d by the ' b o n - v i v e u r ' production of The P a l l i s e r s , has not helped to achieve a genuine and widespread appreciation of T r o l l o p e ' s r e a l qualities as a novelist, though i t has undoubtedly encouraged people to read the books f o r themselves. m a y not be the r i g h t m e d i u m f o r T r o l l o p e ,
Television
He was not the
complacent c h r o n i c l e r of m i d - V i c t o r i a n opulence that many take h i m f o r : as a novelist he showed insight into human nature and the way people behave towards each other.
His appreciation of human
nature and his understanding of m a n as a s o c i a l being may be m o r e f a r - r e a c h i n g than has generally been acknowledged. achievement is i n evidence throughout the P a l l i s e r novels.
This I t is
unfortunate, perhaps, that the relationship between T r o l l o p e and his r e a d e r s ,
and the extent of his influence over t h e m , was not
b e t t e r understood b y those concerned w i t h the t e l e v i s i o n adaptation.
114
A s R . M . Polhemus had w r i t t e n about the V i c t o r i a n novel and the reading public, i n 1968: 'The novel f o r thousands became an i m p o r t a n t way of knowing, and a w r i t e r like T r o l l o p e extended the consciousness of his public. The closest analogy we make today to the impact of the novel i n the last century is the effect of t e l e v i s i o n on our w o r l d , and when we have said that, we can begin to appreciate what a humane and noble e n t e r p r i s e the V i c t o r i a n novel was'•'•2, One cannot help wondering whether the aspirations behind the t e l e v i s i o n s e r i a l i s a t i o n were as high as those a t t r i b u t e d ,
rightly,
to T r o l l o p e , by the same author: 'He changed the w o r l d by making i t know i t s e l f better and by teaching his public the habits of sympathetic i m a g i n a t i o n ' In spite of the recent awakening of m o r e serious interest,
however,
critical
T r o l l o p e ' s a r t i s t i c qualities:
'continue to evade d e f i n i t i o n , perhaps m o r e so . than w i t h any other V i c t o r i a n novelist of note-'-*-^. I n the nadir of his reputation, the works of the second half of his w r i t i n g c a r e e r had been openly dismissed: ' F o r the m o s t p a r t , he should be judged by the productions of the f i r s t half of his c a r e e r ; later the strong wine is r a t h e r too copiously watered!'''^, 'The p o l i t i c a l novels are d i s t i n c t l y duU.'-'-'^, This r e j e c t i o n of the P a l l i s e r series and other novels remained a l m o s t unchallenged u n t i l A . O . J ,
Cockshut's Anthony T r o l l o p e :
A C r i t i c a l Study appeared i n 1955,
M i c h a e l Sadleir had l i t t l e
t i m e f o r them : 'a r e t u r n to episodic bulk' is how he described 18 Can You F o r g i v e H e r ?
, although that d i d not prevent h i m f r o m
115
editing the P a l l i s e r s e r i e s f o r the O x f o r d T r o l l o p e e d i t i o n of the nineteen-fifties.
But even A . O . J .
Cockshut's book gives Trollope
faint praise as an a r t i s t : 'He d i d not l i k e to consider things too s e r i o u s l y . He d i d not know why he d i d the things he d i d . ..''''^ 'He was not g i f t e d w i t h the power of analysing ideas.., ' D i s r a e l i , the p o l i t i c a l idealist looks f o r w a r d , T r o l l o p e the r e c o r d e r of t r a d i t i o n , looks back.' » A.O,J,
Cockshut's analysis of T r o l l o p e ' s 'Progress to P e s s i m i s m '
m a r k s a l l the P a l l i s e r novels except Can Y o u F o r g i v e H e r ? as novels of i n t r o s p e c t i o n leading to eventual despair about human nature.
Yet as one r e v i e w e r of Anthony T r o l l o p e : A C r i t i c a l
Study r e m a r k e d : 'It is so emiuently readable^ that one may'be ,In danger of. swallowing M r , Cockshut's argument, hook, line and s i n k e r , without due reflection.!^-^. I n the wake of A . O . J ,
Cockshut's book, m u c h m o r e notice has
been taken of the P a l l i s e r novels, and this has given r i s e to a number of a r t i c l e s about the i n d i v i d u a l novels and several books on the c o n t e m p o r a r y p o l i t i c a l relevance of the s e r i e s , w h i c h are discussed i n the next few chapters. advent of J . R .
some of
It is only w i t h the
K i n c a i d ' s The Novels of Anthony T r o l l o p e i n 1977
and R o b e r t T r a c y ' s T r o l l o p e ' s L a t e r Novels i n 1978 that f u l l attention has been given to the a r t i s t i c qualities of the whole Palliser
series.
Because of the magnitude of the series i t is easy to without looking w i t h s u f f i c i e n t care at i n d i v i d u a l passages,
generalise and
116
consequently
the i r o n y w h i c h T r o l l o p e employed has escaped many.
It is p a r t i c u l a r l y easy to he m i s l e d into t h i n k i n g that T r o l l o p e ' s understanding
extends only as f a r as his m o r a l i n t r u s i o n s ,
just
as t h e r e is a tendency to t u r n to A n Autobiography when looking for
safe i n t e r p r e t a t i v e statements about the novels : one needs
something secure to hold on to to guide one through the series as a w h o l e .
But the m o r a l i n t r u s i o n s ,
like A n Autobiography,
are not to be taken at face value only,
T r o l l o p e was too m u c h
of an a r t i s t to expose h i m s e l f as c l u m s i l y as t h i s .
The
' m o r a l i s a t i o n s ' i n T r o l l o p e were part of the 'intimate r e l a t i o n s h i p ' w h i c h he knew his reading public wanted;
they were a convention
w h i c h he u t i l i s e d to the f u l l , though they are l i k e l y to lead the unwary m o d e r n reader into hazardous waters.
I t is w o r t h
c o n s i d e r i n g one such i n t r u s i o n i n Can You F o r g i v e H e r ? . T r o l l o p e asks us to t h i n k about his heroine,
A l i c e Vavasor:
'But can y o u f o r g i v e her, delicate r e a d e r ? Or am I asking the question too e a r l y i n m y story? For m y s e l f I have f o r g i v e n h e r . The s t o r y of her struggle has been present to m y m i n d f o r many y e a r s , - and I have learned to t h i n k that even this offence against womanhood may, w i t h deep repentance, be f o r g i v e n . And you also must f o r g i v e her b e f o r e we close the book, or else m y s t o r y w i l l have been told amiss'^"^.^ It has been doubted,
on the basis of this quotation, whether
Trollope's
question poses enough m a t e r i a l f o r the eight hundred odd pages i t takes to t e l l of A l i c e V a v a s o r ' s
indecision:
'To a present-day audience, of course, A l i c e ' s "offence against womanhood" is not l i k e l y to seem v e r y d r e a d f u l , and even some of the f i r s t r e v i e w e r s f e l t that T r o l l o p e was fussing r a t h e r ' ^ ^ i '
117
But the question w h i c h T r o l l o p e puts here i s not a c e n t r a l one i n the novel, even though i t is the title T r o l l o p e gives to the book.
The question demands a response f r o m the reader on
a s u p e r f i c i a l l e v e l , but we should not let that b l i n d us to the deeper levels of the n o v e l .
On its own, this question could
^ h a j c d l y L ^ a i n t a i n the i n t e r e s t of readers f o r eighty chapters. M o r a l judgement does not have the involvement that a stolen necklace or the quest f o r a m u r d e r e r does, i n t e r m s of n a r r a t i v e and suspense,
T r o l l o p e was a conscious a r t i s t , aware of his
r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h his r e a d e r s , using his s k i l l i n taking them into his confidence as m u c h as i n t e l l i n g the s t o r y .
The lines which
precede the passage quoted, r e m i n d one c l e a r l y that T r o l l o p e ' s m o r a l i s i n g i s the conscious conventional m o r a l i t y which his readers expected: 'She had done v e r y wrong. She knew that she had done w r o n g . She knew that she had sinned w i t h that sin which specially disgraces a woman. She had said that she would become the w i f e of a m a n to whom she could not cleave w i t h a w i f e ' s love; and, m a d w i t h a v i l e ambition, she had given up the m a n f o r whose modest love her heart was longing. She had t h r o w n off f r o m her that wonderous a r o m a of precious d e l i c a c y , which is the greatest t r e a s u r e of womanhood. She had sinned against her sex; and in agony of despair, as she crouched down upon the f l o o r w i t h her head against her c h a i r , she told h e r s e l f that there was no pardon f o r her. She understood i t now, and knew that she could not f o r g i v e h e r s e l f . ' . ' B u t can y o u f o r g i v e her, delicate r e a d e r ? I 26
118
Here is as good a parody as one is l i k e l y to f i n d of m i d - V i c t o r i a n melodramai
Yet such passages are often seen as keys to
understanding the book. If T r o l l o p e ' s a r t consisted i n concealing his a r t ,
he
c e r t a i n l y succeeds here : i t would be quite wrong to suppose that the i n t r u s i o n s T r o l l o p e makes contain a l l the reader needs to appreciate his a r t .
A s Stephen W a l l says i n his i n t r o d u c t i o n
to Can you F o r g i v e
Her?:
'It is the c h a r a c t e r s ' utterances rather than the author's comments that t e l l us the m o s t i m p o r t a n t truths E.M.
Forster
likened taking
the reader aside to standing a man
a d r i n k , so that he m a y not c r i t i c i s e your opinions: ' I n t i m a c y is gained, but at the expense of i l l u s i o n and nobility,' . In the case of T r o l l o p e the i n t i m a c y is gained at the expense of obscuring the r e a l issues about w h i c h he w r o t e . There i s , then,
no simple key to understanding
the
Palliser
s e r i e s , but the reader who approaches them without preconceived ideas as to the n o v e l i s t ' s viewpoint w i l l f i n d i t easier to appreciate Torbllope's a r t .
The c h a r a c t e r s a l l come to l i f e i n the pages,
not least because they t h i n k , act and behave according to t h e i r respective
m o r a l codes.
I n t h e i r relations w i t h each other T r o l l o p e
shows us how these codes d i f f e r , and the incongruities of t h e i r outlooks f o r c e us to t h i n k about t h e i r natures and perhaps even about our own.
119
A t the r i s k of o v e r s i m p l i f y i n g , T r o l l o p e ' s m o r a l i t y i n the l a t e r novels is not a preaching m o r a l i t y : r a t h e r , us to increase
i t encourages
our knowledge of ourselves by searching deeply
into the m i n d s o f characters
whom we can recognise as
living.
A s one r e v i e w e r of The Way We L i v e Now w r o t e , when the book first
appeared: 'It should make us look into our own lives and habits of thought, and see how ugly and m e a n and s o r d i d they appear, when T r u t h , the p o l i c e m a n , t u r n s his d a r k l a n t e r n suddenly upon t h e m , and finds such a pen as T r o l l o p e ' s to w r i t e a r e p o r t of what he sees.'^^ T r o l l o p e ' s concern w i t h human nature is a highly m o r a l
one, but i n d i r e c t l y so. moralising,
Behind the fagade of s u p e r f i c i a l
T r o l l o p e presents us w i t h human nature as i t i s and
f o r c e s us to examine i t i n depth.
The response T r o l l o p e evokes
i s a m o r e f a r - r e a c h i n g one than the t i t l e of the f i r s t of the P a l l i s e r s leads us to suppose.
Can You F o r g i v e H e r ? is not
the r e a l subject of that book at a l l .
Ruth apRoberts
expresses
our response as f o l l o w s : 'The novels a r e , i n a way, m o r e demanding than l i f e i t s e l f generally i s , and i n reading t h e m , one as i t w e r e flexes one's m o r a l entity and exercises one's humanity.'"^^. The means by w h i c h T r o l l o p e most f r e q u e n t l y persuades his r e a d e r s to f l e x t h e i r m o r a l entities and exercise humanity i s the use of i r o n y .
This is m o s t r e a d i l y identified i n situations
of dialogue and where better to look f o r examples than i n the
120 conferences that L i z z i e Eustace has w i t h her various f r o m t i m e to t i m e ?
Lizzie,
suitors
as her aunt Lady L i n l i t h g o w aptly
r e m a r k s elsewhere i n The Eustace Diamonds, is 'about as bad as anybody ever was. She's f a l s e , dishonest, h e a r t l e s s , c r u e l , i r r e l i g i o u s , u n g r a t e f u l , mean, ignorant, greedy and v i l e f - ^ l , (This i n i t s e l f is a l i s t of a t t r i b u t e s which t e l l s us something of Lady L i n l i t h g o w herself^)
A c c u r a t e as this strong condemnation
of L i z z i e m a y be, i t is d o u b t f u l whether she i s even m i l d l y aware of her own d u p l i c i t y i n the i n t e r v i e w with L o r d Fawn, M , P. , who comes to seek her hand i n m a r r i a g e .
L o r d Fawn i s d e f i n i t e l y
unaware of the stupidity of his' own behaviour as he asks f o r her hand o f f e r i n g to r e t u r n l a t e r i n the week to hear her
answer:
'Was he to come again on Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday? Let her t e l l h i m that and he would go. He doubtless r e f l e c t e d that Wednesday would suit h i m best, because there would be no House, But L i z z i e was too magnanimous f o r t h i s . " L o r d F a w n , " she said, r i s i n g , "you have paid me the greatest compliment that a m a n can pay a w o m a n . Coming f r o m you i t is doubly p r e c i o u s ; f i r s t because of y o u r c h a r a c t e r and secondly - " "Why secondly? " "Secondly, because I can love y o u . " This was said i n her lowest whisper, and then she m o v e d towards h i m gently, and almost l a i d her head upon his b r e a s t . Of course he put his a r m around her waist - but i t was f i r s t necessary that he should once m o r e d i s e m b a r r a s s h i m s e l f of his hat - and then her head was upon his breast.
121
"•Dearest L i z z i e i " he said, k i s s i n g her forehead, "Dearest
F r e d e r i c k " she m u r m u r e d .
• ' I s h a l l w r i t e to m y mother tonight**, he said. ''Do,
do - dear Frederic."'
"And she w i l l come to you at once, I am s u r e , " ' ' I w i l l receive her and love her as a m o t h e r , " said L i z z i e w i t h a l l her energy. Than he kissed her again her f o r e h e a d and her lips - and took his leave, p r o m i s i n g to be w i t h her at any rate on Wednesday. "Lady Fawnj^' she said to h e r s e l f . The name d i d not sound so w e l l as that of Lady Eustace, But i t i s m u c h to be a w i f e ; and m o r e to be a peeressf*"^^. The m o c k - h e r o i c tone of L i z z i e ' s avowal of love and her assessment of the s i t u a t i o n a f t e r L o r d F a w n had departed
tell
us m o r e than any comment an author could make d i r e c t l y and the numerous touches by w h i c h L o r d Fawn is deflated (his prosaic decision to come on Wednesday when there would be no p a r l i a m e n t a r y duties to attend t o , the r e p e t i t i o n of his C h r i s t i a n name and his i n s t i n c t i v e response to consult his m o t h e r ) t e l l us everything we could want to know about L o r d Fawn, without the slightest hint that the author is i n t e r f e r i n g .
The handling is
m o r e c e r t a i n than i n the e a r l i e r novels and T r o l l o p e makes m o r e use o f i m p l i e d ,
rather than actual,
speech.
The m a s t e r l y touch
122
i n this i n t e r v i e w , however,
i s the i n t r u s i o n of L o r d
Fawn's
hat at a moment of what should be sublime romance.
There
is a s i m i l a r moment i n E . M . F o r s t e r ' s A Room w i t h a V i e w . when C e c i l Vyse eventually summons the courage to c l a i m a f i r s t kiss f r o m the heroine to whom he has been engaged f o r some t i m e : the r a p t u r e is b r o k e n by the author's
simple comment
that C e c i l ' s pince-nez became dislodged by the k i s s , and C e c i l 3.3 Vyse as an e f f e c t i v e l o v e r i s deflated beyond measure, Trollope, of
like F o r s t e r ,
•
achieves his effects by the most delicate
touches. It is not only i n dialogue that T r o l l o p e exercises his
m a s t e r f u l c o n t r o l of i r o n y .
A few chapters a f t e r the i n t e r v i e w
between the newly engaged couple. 'high and p e r i l o u s destiny':
L o r d Fawn meditates
on his
' " A peasant can m a r r y whom he pleases, " said L o r d F a w n , pressing his hand to his brow and dropping one^ f l a p of his coat, as he thought of his own high and perilous destiny, standing w i t h his back to the f i r e place, w h i l e a huge pile of l e t t e r s lay there before h i m w a i t i n g to be signed'•^^» The mundane nature of L o r d Fawn's immediate task as a m i n o r government o f f i c i a l contrasts w e l l w i t h the h i g h - f a l l u t i n quality of his thoughts.
A n o t h e r example of T r o l l o p e ' s ironic:
presentation of L o r d Fawn is the letter which he w r i t e s to L i z z i e a l m o s t a year a f t e r t h e i r engagement.
I t is o f f e r e d to the reader
without any i n t e r p r e t a t i v e comment by the author,
but i t reads
123
exactly l i k e a r e p o r t w r i t t e n by a m i n o r government o f f i c i a l : ' " M y dear Lady Eustace, In accordance w i t h the promise w h i c h I made to you when I did m y s e l f the honour of w a i t i n g upon y o u i n H e r t f o r d Street, I take up m y pen w i t h the view of communicating to y o u the r e s u l t of m y deliberations respecting the engagement of m a r r i a g e which, no doubt, d i d exist between us last s i u n m e r , , ,''"35, Needless to say the l e t t e r was w r i t t e n on a Wednesday,
'which
w i t h h i m had something of the c o m f o r t of a h a l f - h o l i d a y , as on that day he was not r e q u i r e d to attend p a r l i a m e n T r o l l o p e ' s use of i r o n y is p a r t i c u l a r l y good i n his treatment of L i z z i e Eustace, because, l i k e Catherine M o r l a n d i n Northanger Abbey, she confuses r e a l l i f e w i t h l i f e i n books. A u s t e n was s a t i r i s i n g M r s , R a d c l i f f e ' s novels,
Whereas Jane L i z z i e f a l l s under
the s p e l l of a m u c h w i d e r v a r i e t y of books, both consciously and unconsciously,
and each one a f f o r d s Trollope ample scope f o r
i r o n i c comment.
A t one t i m e o r another,
she affects to read 37
38
Tennyson, f o r the benefit of F r a n k Greystock or Lady Glencora 39 B y r o n when i n m o r e d a r i n g mood w i t h F r a n k and always when w i t h her C o r s a i r ,
L o r d George,
who answers her imagination's
40 d r e a m of B y r o n ' s Conrad
;
Shelley, when she is on her own
or eager to i m p r e s s her i n t e l l e c t u a l aspirations on any female 41 staying at P o r t r a y Emilius
42
or when f i n a l l y angling f o r the hand of M r .
, f o r whom she also a f f e c t s an i n t e r e s t i n The Bible
H e r choice of books i s always delibereate and premeditated,
43
but
she unconsciously f a l l s into the t r a p of believing that l i f e r e a l l y
,
124
is l i k e the book she i s r e a d i n g .
I n her eyes, the view of the
estuary of Clyde^ w h i c h her castle a f f o r d s becomes a 'dear ocean 44 wide, with its glittering smile' which i s , i n reality, 'sombre, cold...
, and P o r t r a y castle i t s e l f , exposed,
and, i n w i n t e r , v e r y
(having) no great c l a i m to praise on the score of scenery'^^j
is t r a n s f o r m e d i n L i z z i e ' s m i n d into a romantic
castle:
'a stone e d i f i c e w i t h battlements and a round t o w e r , . , a p o r t c u l l i s . . . a cannon . . . a moat. . , standing on a b l u f f land, w i t h a f i n e prospect of the F i r t h of Clyde, and withua distant view of the Isle of A r r a n ' 4 6 , L i z z i e persuades h e r s e l f ,
where there is doubt, that the castle is
a l l she believes i t to be: 'In t r u t h . . . the battlements, and the round t o w e r , and the a w e - i n s p i r i n g gateway had a l l been added by one of the late Sir F l o r i a n s . But the castle 47' and was interesting'. • . 48 L i z z i e Eustace, heartless as she i s , bases m u c h of looked l i k e a castle,
her l i f e on what she reads, as she displays when composing h e r l a s t l e t t e r t o L o r d Fawn: 'Nobody ever heard of anything so mean, either i n novels or i n r e a l l i f e ''^^. It is the fact that L i z z i e half believes h e r s e l f to be sincere i n e v e r y t h i n g she does that b r i n g s her to l i f e and enables T r o l l o p e to deploy his i r o n y and at t i m e s enlist our sympathy f o r her. A s w e l l as using L i z z i e f o r i r o n i c comment throughout the book, the subtle changes w h i c h gradually come over her emphasise T r o l l o p e ' s a r t i s t r y i n creating l i v i n g characters who
125
'encounter the changes that come upon us a l l
Prepared
to f o l l o w her B y r o n i c instincts at the beginning, she grows aware of other f a c t o r s to be considered as a l l her
attempts
meet w i t h f a i l u r e : 'We are old enough now, F r a n k , to know that something more than what you c a l l heart is wanted to make us happy when we marry'^•'•,she says i n the light of e a r l i e r experience.
By the t i m e that
her disastrous m a r r i a g e w i t h the b i g a m i s t , M r , E m i l i u s ,
has
b r o k e n up, she no longer puts any f a i t h at a l l i n l i t e r a t u r e as a guide to r e a l l i f e :
j u s t imagine how d i f f e r e n t would have been
her response to M r , Lopez's proposal i n The P r i m e M i n i s t e r i f i t had o c c u r r e d two books e a r l i e r ,
i n The Eustace Diamonds,
on the rocks beneath P o r t r a y Castle,
Here is what actually
happens: '"To h w i t h t h e i r purient l a w s , " said Lopez, r i s i n g suddenly f r o m his. c h a i r . " I w i l l neither appeal to t h e m , nor w i l l I obey t h e m . A n d I expect f r o m you as l i t t l e subservience as I m y s e l f am p r e p a r e d to pay. L i z z i e Eustance, w i l l you go w i t h me to that land of the sun, "Where the rage of the v u l t u r e , the love of the t u r t l e . Now m e l t into s o r r o w , now madden to c r i m e " ? W i l l y o u dare to escape w i t h me f r o m the cold conventionalities, f r o m the m i s e r a b l e t h r a l d o m of this country bound i n swaddling cloths? L i z z i e Eustace, i f you w i l l say the w o r d I w i l l take you to that land of g l o r i o u s happiness,''
126
But L i z z i e Eustace had £ 4 , 0 0 0 a year and a balance at her b a n k e r ' s . " M r , Lopez, " she said. "What answer have you to make
me?"
" M r , Lopez, I t h i n k you must be a fool. " He did at last succeed i n getting h i m s e l f into the street, and at any rate she had not eaten h i m ' The i r o n y denied to those who have not read The Eustace Diamonds b e f o r e reading The P r i m e M i n i s t e r is the fact that Lopez a c c i d e n t a l l y quotes f r o m L i z z i e ' s f o r m e r f a v o u r i t e w r i t e r , 53 George B y r o n
.
m i g h t have been,
No m a t t e r how insulting the o f f e r f r o m Lopez L i z z i e would not have d i s m i s s e d h i m as
she
does here i f he had approached her i n The Eustace Diamonds. So m u c h f o r the i r o n y w h i c h pervades everything associated w i t h L i z z i e Eustace.
I t is to be found, however,
p e r m e a t i n g the entire P a l l i s e r s e r i e s .
When c h a r a c t e r s appear
the author t e l l s us m o r e about them by i n d i r e c t means and by c a r e f u l j u x t a p o s i t i o n than by any amount of a u t h o r i a l comment or d e s c r i p t i o n .
I t is this awareness of the c o m p l e x i t y of the
i n d i v i d u a l human situation that makes T r o l l o p e ' s c h a r a c t e r s a l i v e and gives t h e i r personalities the depth w h i c h has
so
f r e q u e n t l y been discarded as photographic observation. 54 'masters compexity'
TroUope
and he produced an e f f t c t of such
s i m p l i c i t y that we are l u l l e d into thinking that there is no c o m p l e x i t y t h e r e at a l l .
T r o l l o p e was w e l l aware that no
127
amount of a n a l y t i c a l w r i t i n g could i n i t s e l f probe the f u l l extent of a human personality: 'How am I to analyse her kind and make her thoughts and feelings i n t e l l i g i b l e ? ' 55 he asks h i m s e l f about A l i c e V a v a s o r , and i t is f r o m what she says and what she does that we l e a r n m a s t . The g r e a t e r a r t i s t r y that TroUope shows i n these books stems f r o m his i n c r e a s i n g l y s k i l f u l and subtle use of i r o n y . I n m a n y of the novels published before Can Y o u F o r g i v e H e r ? (1864), a u t h o r i a l comment does tend to be used m o r e often and w i t h less subtlety.
F u r t h e r m o r e , the c h a r a c t e r s have m o r e
evidently w o r k e d out t h e i r own codes of m o r a l values i n the novels w i t h a p o l i t i c a l setting and the m a t e r i a l f o r T r o l l o p e ' s s t o r i e s comes f r o m the occasions when the 'codes' of various c h a r a c t e r s are brought into c o n f l i c t w i t h one another.
I t is
the jvtxtapositioning of these d i f f e r i n g codes that enables the r e a d e r to develop a new and deeper perception of human nature. A n example of such a c o n f l i c t can be found i n Phineas Finn,
concerning L o r d C h i l t e r n and Phineas F i n n h i m s e l f , both
s u i t o r s f o r the hand of V i o l e t E f f i n g h a m ,
The two men belong
to the same London c i r c l e s , and Phineas's one-time to L o r d C h i l t e r n ' s s i s t e r . f r o m t i m e to t i m e .
attachment
Lady Laura, b r i n g s t h e m together
Phineas subsequently wins the f a m i l y
p a r l i a m e n t a r y seat f o r the Borough of T a n k e r v i l l e (because he is nominated by L o r d C h i l t e r n ' s f a t h e r . L o r d B r e n t f o r d ) and he
128
is later c l e a r l y involved i n an attempt to reunite L o r d C h i l t e r n w i t h his f a t h e r .
I n spite of t h e i r frequent meetings, they are
quite d i f f e r e n t i n temperament and outlook and t h e i r argument over who w i l l have V i o l e t E f f i n g h a m ' s hand i n m a r r i a g e
comes
to a c l i m a x when a l e t t e r which Phineas wrote and posted i n Loughton, takes s i x and a half months to reach L o r d C h i l t e r n at M a u r e g y ' s H o t e l i n London^^,
When L o r d C h i l t e r n eventually
m e e t s Phineas at his lodgings i n M r s . Bunce's house,
the
argument that takes place i s not over the f a c t s , but because of t h e i r d i f f e r e n t m o r a l codes of what is acceptable
conduct:
' " Y o u have Cabinet M i n i s t e r s f o r your f r i e n d s , " (Lord C h i l t e r n complains when they meet) "while I have h a r d l y a decent associate l e f t to me i n the w o r l d . You have been chosen by m y f a t h e r to sit f o r our f a m i l y borough, while I am an o u t cast f r o m his house. But I can say of m y s e l f that I have never done anything unworthy of a gentleman, while this thing that you are doing is unworthy of the lowest m a n . " " I have done nothing unworthy, " said Phineas' 57^ Phineas had a l r e a d y w r i t t e n to explain his actions i n the l e t t e r that got delayed; ' " I am endeavouring to t r e a t you w e l l , and I ask you to do the same by m e . I cannot address m y s e l f to M i s s E f f i n g h a m without t e l l i n g you. I should f e e l m y s e l f to be false were I to do so"«58.This is m o r e than j u s t 'A Rough Encounter',
as the chapter is
called (though i t is the prelude to a dual at which blood is shed).
129
The two m e n have d i f f e r e n t notions of unworthy behaviour and each considers that his behaviour has been quite c o r r e c t . course.
L o r d C h i l t e r n ' s character
Of
i s a f i e r y , w i l d one (though
TroUope m o d i f i e d his i n i t i a l d e s c r i p t i o n of h i m considerably^^), but i n t h i s encounter T r o l l o p e makes both sides appear to have about equal r i g h t .
L o r d C h i l t e r n would probably t r e a t a w i f e
as w e l l as he t r e a t s his beloved horses, as Phineas had unwittingly said to V i o l e t E f f i n g h a m h e r s e l f before he knew of 60 t h e i r attachment
, but then Phineas's own behaviour towards
V i o l e t and C h i l t e r n shows that his own conscience was not e n t i r e l y clear^^*" The f a c t that T r o l l o p e was f a r m o r e interested i n the m o r a l c o n f l i c t over codes of conduct than i n any p h y s i c a l m a n i f e s t a t i o n s of an argument is supported by the way T r o l l o p e plays down the duel at Blankenberg,
This would have provided
an excellent opportunity f o r a number of s p i n e - c h i l l i n g chapters of the events leading up to the duel, keeping the reader i n suspense as to the outcome u n t i l the last possible moment (as happened i n the 1974 t e l e v i s i o n production), but that was not apparently T r o l l o p e ' s a i m .
The outcome of the duel is
stated
b e f o r e the manner i n w h i c h i t took place is described> and the account of the incident is given only in the tone of necessary background i n f o r m a t i o n .
( T r o l l o p e makes use of the p l u p e r f e c t
tense i n t h i s passage, thereby playing down the d r a m a of the episode as m u c h as possible).
130
'The manner of the meeting had been i n this w i s e . Captain Cole pepper and Lawrence F i t z g i b b o n had held t h e i r meeting, and at t h i s meeting Lawrance had taken c e r t a i n standing-ground on behalf of his f r i e n d , and i n obedience to his f r i e n d ' s positive i n s t r u c t i o n ; w h i c h was t h i s , that his f r i e n d could not abandon his r i g h t of addressing the young lady, should he h e r e a f t e r ever t h i n k f i t to do so. . . '^^ This is h a r d l y a racy n a r r a t i v e ,
the more so as the reader
already been t o l d the outcome of the duelj
has
The emphasis is
altogether d i f f e r e n t f r o m that i n the e a r l i e r novels.
One
such
i n c i d e n t , i n The S m a l l House at AUington, a f t e r Adolphus C r o s b i e had j i l t e d L i l y Dale, gave Trollope the opportunity to d e s c r i b e a scene of p h y s i c a l violence, as Johnny Eames gave C r o s b i e a t h r a s h i n g at the r a i l w a y station. excitement the d e s c r i p t i o n conveys, significance i n that n o v e l . Finn,
Beyond the p h y s i c a l
i t has l i t t l e f u r t h e r
But by the t i m e he w r o t e Phineas
the m o r a l issues were of f a r more use to T r o l l o p e than
any p h y s i c a l excitement he could extract f r o m such a situation. Indeed,
i f one thinks of the dramatic incidents i n the
P a l l i s e r s e r i e s (the g a r r o t t i n g of M r . Kennedy, the Eustace Diamonds,
the m u r d e r
the stealing of
of M r . Bonteen,
on E v e r e t t Wharton i n St, James's Park),
the
attack
one is aware that
T r o l l o p e could have made f a r m o r e of the physical drama i n them.
This is not to say that he never relates a story
p r i m a r i l y f o r i t s excitement or suspense, (John Grey's e v i c t i o n of George Vavasor f r o m his r o o m s i n Suffolk Street,
Kennedy's
131
potshot at Phineas i n Macpherson's H o t e l ,
Tregear's
riding
accident at H a r r i n g t o n H a l l and Lopez's suicide at Ten Way Junction are some examples that he can do j u s t that).
But
r i g h t across the extensive range of the P a l l i s e r novels T r o l l o p e ' s f o r e m o s t i n t e r e s t seems to have been i n the m o r a l outlooks of his characters
and i n how they adjust to each other.
132
NOTES - Chapter
Four
1
Stephen W a l l ' s i n t r o d u c t i o n to cited edition of Can Y o u Forgive H e r ? , 'The P a l l i s e r s e r i e s ' r e f e r s to the s i x novels w h i c h have been c a l l e d 'The Novels of P a r l i a m e n t a r y L i f e ' ( M . Sadleir) and ' P o l i t i c a l Novels' ( W , G . and J , T . Gerould). They are as f o l l o w s (with dates of f i r s t publication taken f r o m James Pope Hennessy's Anthony T r o l l o p e ) : Can Y o u F o r g i v e H e r ? (1864); Phineas F i n n (1869); The Eustace Diamonds (1873); Phineas Eedux (1874); The P r i m e M i n i s t e r (1876); and The Duke's C h i l d r e n (1880).
2
A n A u t o b i o g r a p h y , p,
3
Ibid.,
4
T h i s is not to say that T r o l l o p e ' s descriptions never evoke a strong atmosphere, w h i c h pervades the action. The d e s c r i p t i o n of ' B a l l y c l o r a n ' , the h a l f - r u i n e d home of L a r r y M a c d e r m o t w i t h w h i c h The Macdermots of B a l l y c l o r a n opens is one such example. P . E , M o r e defends T r o l l o p e ' s a b i l i t y to w r i t e e f f e c t i v e , relevant descriptions on pp. 109110 of The Demon of the Absolute.
5
Can Y o u F o r g i v e H e r ? ,
6
The Duke's C h i l d r e n , pp. 257-258 (Ch. X X X H ) .
7
Ibid,,
8
T r o l l o p e ' s w o r k s were also i l l u s t r a t e d by H , K , Browne ( ' P h i z ' ) , Luke F i l d e s , H . L . Shindler, M a r c u s Stone, W. H . Thomas and F , C. T i l n e y . It is a pity that they are not m o r e f r e q u e n t l y reproduced i n r e p r i n t s of T r o l l o p e ' s novels now, even i f T r o l l o p e occassionally found them i r r i t a t i n g , especially those by ' P h i z ' . James Pope Hennessy's Anthony T r o l l o p e contains a good selection.
9
The Duke's C h i l d r e n , p, 95 (Ch, X I I ) .
169 (Ch. X ) .
p . 166 ( C h . X ) .
p. 91 (Ch, V I ) ,
p, 218 (Ch. X X V I I I ) ,
10
'The W r i t i n g of The P a l l i s e r s ' . (17th January 1974) pp. 65-68.
The
L i s t e n e r . 91 : 2338
11
The L i s t e n e r . 92 : 2365 (25th July 1974) pp, 105-107. See also ' T r o l l o p e , The P a l l i s e r s and the Way We View N o w ' by S h i r l e y L e t w i n , i n The Times L i t e r a r y Supplement (5th J u l y 1974) pp. 727-728.
133
12
Lacey, R o b e r t ,
The P a l l i s e r s
: Radio Times Special,
p. 8.
13
The Changing W o r l d of Anthonv T r o l l o p e , p. 244,
14
Ibid.,
15
Smalley, Donald, 'Anthony T r o l l o p e ' i n V i c t o r i a n F i c t i o n : A Guide to R e s e a r c h , ed. L i o n e l Stevenson, p. 213. Anyone i n t e r e s t e d i n the development of recent c r i t i c a l trends about T r o l l o p e w i l l f i n d Ruth apRoberts's entry c o v e r i n g the p e r i o d 1963-74 i n V i c t o r i a n F i c t i o n : A Second Guide to R e s e a r c h , ed, G, H , F o r d , pp. 143-171, and Hugh Kennedy's ' T r o l l o p e Studies', 1963-73 i n B r i t i s h Studies M o n i t o r , v i : i (1975) pp. 3-27, u s e f u l . See also R a f a e l H e l l i n g , A Century of Trollope C r i t i c i s m (1956), w h i c h contains many extracts f r o m c o n t e m p o r a r y sources and subsequent c r i t i c i s m , and I . G, Jones's unpublished thesis A Study of the L i t e r a r y Reputation of Anthony
p. 255.
to. 16
Partial Portraits,
17
I b i d . , p. 131.
18
Trollope : A Commentary,
19
I b i d . , p. 22,
20
Ibid,,
21
I b i d . , p. 110.
22
This is the t i t l e of the Commentary.
23
B u r n , W, L , , ' V i c t o r i a n D i v e r i Ixv (1956) p, 1,
24
Can You F o r g i v e H e r ? ,
25
Wall,
26
Can You F o r g i v e Her?^^ p, 398 (Ch. X X X V H ) .
27
p. 2 1 .
28
Aspects of the N o v e l ,
p.
113.
p.
p. 79.
second
p, 398 (Ch. X X X V I I ) .
Stephen, i n t r o d u c t i o n to Can You F o r g i v e H e r ? , p, 1 1 ,
p,
35.
134
29
Unsigned notice i n The Times (24th August 1875) r e p r i n t e d i n Donald Smalley, T r o l l o p e : The C r i t i c a l Heritage, p. 409.
30
T r o l l o p e : A r t i s t and M o r a l i s t , p. 52,
31
The Eustace Diamonds,
32
Ibid.,
33
A Room w i t h a V i e w ,
34
The Eustace Diamonds,
35
Ibid.,
p. 647 (Ch.
LXVII).
36
Ibid.,
p. 647 (Ch.
LXVII).
37
Ibid.,
p. 209 (Ch. X I X ) ,
38
Ibid.,
p. 534 (Ch, L I V ) .
39
Ibid,,
p. 271 (Ch.
40
I b i d , , pp. 81-82 (Ch, V ) , L o r d George is subsequently r e f e r r e d to as The C o r s a i r (Ch, L X I I I ) ,
41
Ibid,,
pp. 232-235 (Ch. X X I ) w i t h M i s s M a c n u l t y .
42
Ibid.,
p. 759 (Ch.
43
I b i d , , , p . 763 (Ch. L X X I X ) and e a r l i e r p. 419 (Ch. X L E ) when L i z z i e is c a r e f u l to equip herself w i t h a B i b l e before going to hear M r , E m i l i u s preach.
44
Ibid.,
p. 231 (Ch. X X I ) .
45
Ibid,,
p. 228 (Ch. X X I ) ,
46
Ibid,,
pp, 227-228 (Ch. X X I ) .
47
Ibid,,
p. 227 (Ch. X X I ) .
48
'She had not a heart to g i v e ' .
49
Ibid.,
50
A n Autobiography, p,
51
The Eustace Diamonds,
p.
p. 349 (Ch.
XXXIV).
112 (Ch. V I I I ) .
p. 704 (Ch.
p.
115. p.
140 (Ch. X I ) .
XXVI),
LXXIX),
Ibid.,
p, 230 (Ch. X X I ) .
LXXIII). 169 (Ch. X ) . p. 610 (Ch,
LXII),
135
52
The P r i m e M i n i s t e r . I I , pp.
140-141 (Ch. LEV),
53
M r , Lopez's quote comes f r o m The B r i d e of Abydos I . i . 3, (a r e f e r e n c e f o r w h i c h I am indebted to R, W. Chapman's notes i n the c i t e d e d i t i o n of The P r i m e M i n i s t e r ) .
54
T i l l o t s o n , G e o f f r e y , i n his essay on ' T r o l l o p e ' s Style' i n M i d - V i c t o r i a n Studies by G, and K . T i l l o t s o n , p. 60.
55
Can Y o u F o r g i v e H e r ? ,
56
This is a r a r e a d m i s s i o n i n T r o l l o p e ' s f i c t i o n of i n e f f i c i e n c y i n the G. P, O, , and m u s t have been w r i t t e n i n the months j u s t before his r e s i g n a t i o n . I t is also an example of the i n t e r v e n t i o n of fate i n the a f f a i r s of m e n , since neither Phineas nor L o r d C h i l t e r n was to blame f o r the m i s u n d e r standing that a r o s e . Who can say what would have happened i f Thomas Hardy had picked up the w r i t e r ' s pen
p, 397 (Ch.
XXXVU).
at t h i s point? 57
Phineas Finn^
58
Ibid,,
59
A note by John Sutherland on T r o l l o p e ' s textual changes here can be found i n the cited edition of Phineas F i n n , p. Phineas F i n n , p. 155 (Ch. X I I I ) .
60
p. 374 (Ch. X X X V I I ) .
p. 348 (Ch.
XXXIV),
61
The l e t t e r w r i t t e n at Loughton betrays an anxiousness on Phineas's f>art. I b i d . , p. 367 (Ch. X X X V I ) .
62
Ibid.,
p. 382 (Ch. X X X V I I I ) .
727.
136
Chapter F i v e C e r t a i n A s s u m p t i o n s Questioned
T r o l l o p e ' s concern w i t h d i f f e r e n t m o r a l codes led h i m , i n the course of w r i t i n g the P a l l i s e r novels, to examine a n\imber of concepts w h i c h by and large V i c t o r i a n s never questioned and w h i c h T r o l l o p e h i m s e l f would not have stopped to t h i n k about at an e a r l i e r stage i n his w r i t i n g c a r e e r .
I n the argument
between L o r d C h i l t e r n and Phineas Finn discussed i n Chapter Four,
T r o l l o p e was concerned w i t h worthy conduct and honesty :
'Was he h o n e s t ? ' is the t i t l e of the chapter i n which Phineas w r o t e his f i r s t l e t t e r .
The i m p l i c a t i o n of L o r d C h i l t e r n ' s
accusation that Phineas had acted unworthily, however, Phineas is not 'a gentleman', constitutes
is that
and the exact d e f i n i t i o n of what
'a gentleman' was one concept to which T r o l l o p e
frequently returned. I n The Eustace Diamonds,
L o r d Fawn makes a statement
about
t h i s concept a f t e r being e m b a r r a s s e d i n P a r l i a m e n t by F r a n k G r e y stock's question to do w i t h the Sawab of Mygawb: '"Gentlemanlike conduct i s the same e v e r y w h e r e . There are things w h i c h may be said and things w h i c h m a y not, Mr» Greystock has altogether gone beyond the usual l i m i t s , and I s h a l l take c a r e that he knows m y opinion" ' ^ L o r d Fawn's l i m i t e d p e r c e p t i o n elsewhere makes i t unlikely that T r o l l o p e would have agreed w i t h his c l a i m that conduct is the same e v e r y w h e r e ' .
'gentlemanlike
137
A r e f r e s h i n g l y d i f f e r e n t concept of gentlemanly behaviour is that which gives j u s t i f i c a t i o n to Laurence F i t z g i b b o n f o r t e l l i n g downright l i e s , i n Phineas F i n n : 'Laurence F i t z g i b b o n c e r t a i n l y possessed the r a r e a c c o m p l i s h m e n t of t e l l i n g a l i e w i t h a good g r a c e . Had any m a n called h i m a l i a r he would have considered h i m s e l f to be not only i n s u l t e d , but i n j u r e d also. He believed h i m s e l f to be a m a n of t r u t h . There w e r e , however, i n his e s t i m a t i o n c e r t a i n subjects on w h i c h a man m i g h t depart as wide as the poles are asunder f r o m t r u t h without subjecting h i m s e l f to any ignominy f o r falsehood. I n dealing w i t h a t r a d e s m a n as to his debts, or w i t h a r i v a l as t o a lady, or w i t h any m a n o r woman i n defence of a lady's c h a r a c t e r , , , Laurence believed that a gentleman was bound to l i e and that he would be no gentleman i f he hesitated to do so! • I t i s by such means as t h i s that Trollope turned commonly accepted m o r a l concepts inside out, leading the reader into a deeper understanding of t h e m . Only i n The Duke's C h i l d r e n , the last of the P a l l i s e r novels to. appear, does T r o l l o p e entrust any r e a l understanding of the a c t u a l l i m i t a t i o n s of such a t e r m as
'gentleman',
to the Duke of
Omni-um, the e r s t w h i l e P r i m e M i n i s t e r , r e c e n t l y made widower by the death of Lady Glencora,
When his daughter,
protests that her s u i t o r , F r a n k Tregear,
i s 'a gentleman',
Duke r e p l i e s : I
II
Mary,
So is m y p r i v a t e s e c r e t a r y . There is not a c l e r k i n one of our public offices who does not consider h i m s e l f to be a gentleman. The curate of the p a r i s h is a gentleman, and the m e d i c a l m a n who comes here f r o m Bradstock,
the
138
The w o r d is too vague to c a r r y w i t h i t any meaning that ought to be serviceable t o y o u i n thinking of such a matter" ' ^ . Yet f o r a l l his p o l i t i c a l w i s d o m the Duke is no judge of character, f o r , as he is eventually f o r c e d to recognise,
F r a n k Tregear
qualities that make h i m v e r y w o r t h y of M a r y ' s hand, he had no money to r e c o m m e n d h i m ,
has
even though
T r o l l o p e is interested i n
delving into the d i f f e r e n t concepts that people hold of what i t is to be a gentleman, similarly.
and he encourages his reader to question
The f i n a l judgement seems to be that the w o r d
'gentleman' conveys no defined concept i n i t s e l f , but depends upon i t s u s e r s f o r the meanings i t can convey a strangely m o d e r n view of l i n g u i s t i c s i I t m i g h t be thought that concepts like 'gentleman' and 'duty' do not have i m m e d i a t e i n t e r e s t or appeal f o r the twentieth century r e a d e r .
As one i n t r o d u c t i o n to The Eustace Diamonds,
w r i t t e n i n 1969, puts i t : 'The question "Was she being u n m a i d e n l y ? " the t e r m ' m a n l y ' , the concept of the 'gentleman', o r the duty i m p l i c i t i n " Y o u w i l l be true won't you F r a n k ? " a l l resound to positives which the m o d e r n :^eader o f t e n f i n d s i t d i f f i c u l t to perceive' . Although the t e r m s (like m a i d e n l y , manly, gentleman and duty) m a y not be m u c h i n c u r r e n t usage, the concepts are ones which are m o r e openly the subject of debate today than they were i n the m i d d l e of the nineteenth c e n t u r y . of acceptable
Meaningful definitions
concepts of behaviour are m u c h sought a f t e r today.
139
The questions T r o l l o p e was asking m i g h t be wrapped i n d i f f e r e n t t e r m s now, but they s t i l l seek to define the same ideas : 'What are acceptable
standards of behaviour?
What are the rules
w h i c h society expects its m e m b e r s to observe?
What
r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s does m a n have to his own f r i e n d s and to society at l a r g e ?
What i s j u s t i c e ? '
This i n t e r r o g a t i v e
atmosphere
and uncertainty pervades m o s t aspects of w e s t e r n l i f e today and there are,
of c o u r s e ,
no easy answers to such questions.
T r o l l o p e was ahead of his t i m e i n exploring some of the p o s s i b i l i t i e s and he questions o f t e n made,
some of the suppositions m o s t
w h i l e entertaining us at the same t i m e .
m o r e aware of the l i m i t a t i o n s of language, define our concepts,
He was
i n which we seek to
than has generally been recognised.
In
an essay w r i t t e n i n 1867, he said: 'It is good t o be honest and t r u e . Yes, indeed. There is no doubt of that. But what is t r u t h and goodness?'^ (To w h i c h question no m o r a l i s i n g instant solution is o f f e r e d j ) Questions like this are f a r f r o m new. ones, rephrased
They are the
and presented a f r e s h i n every age.
recurrent There is
l i t t l e m e r i t i n m e r e l y asking t h e m , but the r e a l a r t i s t has a c o n t r i b u t i o n to make to the answer.
He can,
as i t w e r e ,
us a few steps f u r t h e r on the road to Parnassus,
lead
Trollope's
c o n t r i b u t i o n m i g h t be b r i e f l y put like this : he helps us to look at human situations as they r e a l l y are,
encourages us to t h i n k
about the m o r a l i t y of human behaviour;, and by juxtaposing the
140
i n c o n g r u i t i e s of human m o r a l i t y forces us into a deeper perception of the u n i v e r s e . In his i n t r o d u c t i o n to Can You F o r g i v e H e r ? Stephen W a l l has recognised that T r o l l o p e posed questions i n his novels, but he sees t h i s as no m o r e thaii 'deep m o r a l uncertainty': ' T r o l l o p i a n m a n lives i n a perpetual q u a n d a r y . , . Whom should he m a r r y ? And underlying these i s a l a y e r of deep m o r a l uncertainty : what is honesty, t r u t h , g o o d n e s s ? , . . The mood of Trollope's fiction is, typically, i n t e r r o g a t i v e , . , L i f e i n its m o d e r n f o r m has become intractable to t r a d i t i o n a l m o r a l t h e o r y ' • B u t T r o l l o p e went f u r t h e r than j u s t posing the questions, was conscious,
moreover,
f o r m i n g our ideas. concepts
and he
of the part that language plays i n
As w e l l as asking questions about p a r t i c u l a r
like 'goodness', he chose words w i t h considerable
i n t e l l i n g his s t o r i e s .
care
L i z z i e Eustace's downright lies about
her necklace are to her only ' s e c r e t s ' and 'cleverness', T r o l l o p e i r o n i c a l l y r e f e r s to the.m as 'shams',
'fictions',
and 'schemes' 7
and ' w i l e s ' , knowing a l l along that they are no better than lies . Mr,
Chaffenbrass,
the eloquent and f o r m i d a b l e b a r r i s t e r i n
Phineas F i n n ' s t r i a l , of M r , Bonteen; of the evidence.
has no i n t e r e s t i n the ' t r u t h ' of the m u r d e r
he.is only interested i n establishing the
'truth'
T r o l l o p e was p a r t i c u l a r l y aware of the m i s -
leading i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s of what constitutes t r u t h i n legal cases, and the books w h i c h centre on legal quibbles a l l show his concern w i t h divergent and m i s l e a d i n g interpretations of t r u t h .
In the
141
case of L i z z i e Eustace's 'missing' diamonds, the law concerns itself with the precise distinction between 'heirlooms' and 'paraphernalia', when the reader knows that the issue is clearly and simply one of theft or rightful ownership.
None of the
five lawyers i n the e a r l i e r novel, Orley F a r m : 'gave to the course of justice the credit that it would a s c e r t a i n the truth, and not one of (them) wished that the truth should be ascertained'^. In Cousin Henry, written in 1878, the story hinges on the precise whereabouts and dating of a w i l l , though the issue is presented to the reader as the broader and more straightforward one of deciding who is the rightful owner of the estate at Llanfeare. The law, it seems,
fails to execute justice at times because it
emphasises the insignificant and misleading aspects of a case. Whereas Dickens had satirised the B r i t i s h legal system for its time and money-wasting abuses to great effect in Bleak House, TroUope concerned himself with the values of justice which that legal system upheld as distinct from its inefficiency. little,
if any, open corruption in Trollope's law c a s e s .
There is It is
the decisions which the courts come to that are so often in direct opposition to the situation, as the reader is made to see it.
The
verdict of the court in The Macdermots of Ballycloran is quite at odds with what really happened, and at the other end of Trollope's writing c a r e e r , M r , Scarborough manipulates the law to his own
142
ends in defeating the entail which exists on his property, Trollope's f i r s t concern was with the concepts and values on which Victorian society was ordered. solutions,
He had no ready-made
but he hoped, by making his readers aware of the
complexities
surrounding m o r a l issues, to educate them into a
deeper perception of their situation in the universe, 'It is this honesty, this clarity of vision that places Trollope with the greatest novelists of the nineteenth century, with Dickens, Thackeray and George Eliot'^, Trollope's own 'honesty' consisted in close and accurate observations (of human nature, but for his characters in the P a l l i s e r novels,
the interpretation of 'honesty' formed another concept
which he examined in detail. The question,
'Was he honest?', had already been asked about
Phineas Finn's dealings with Lord Chiltern, and the reader was given no c l e a r - c u t answer.
It seems that Trollope was attempting
to offer a definition of 'honesty' which could be used in discussing c h a r a c t e r s , for whenever the question a r i s e s about the honesty of one character or another, some c a r e .
Trollope expounds his meaning with
What is interesting is that to Trollope's mind the
man who is dishonest has no understanding of the concept of honesty.
The implication is that one cannot be honest
unless
one understands what honesty i s : hence the need for men to think carefully about such concepts as honesty. Trollope's m o r a l purpose.
Herein lies
143
An example of a man almost totally void of personal integrity in the P a l l i s e r novels is Ferdinand Lopez, and it is significant that Trollope says of him: 'He did not know that there was such a quality as honesty, nor did he understand what the word meant' Another c h a r a c t e r , F r a n k Greystock, whose conduct is otherwise faultless,
falls under suspicion as a result of his relationship
with his cousin,
L i z z i e E u s t a c e , because 'honesty' in his terms i s
simply maintaining his integrity and his faithfulness to the girl to whom he is secretly betrothed,
Lucy M o r r i s ,
He is aware of
the difficulties of remaining 'honest' when he explains himself to Lizzie: ' "And then there is a cringing and almost contemptible littleness about honesty which hardly allows it to a s s e r t itself. The really honest man can never say a word to make those who don't know of his honesty believe that it is there. He has one foot in the grave before his neighbours have learned that he i s possessed of an article f o r the use of which they would so willingly have paid, could they have been made to see that it was there. The dishonest man almost doubts whether in him dishonesty is dishonest, let i t be practised ever so widely. The honest man almost doubts whether his honesty be honest, unless it be kept hidden. Let two unknown men be competitors for any place, with nothing to guide the judges .but their own words and their own looks, and who can doubt but the dishonest man would be chosen rather than the honest? Honesty goes with a hang-dog look about him, as though knowing that he cannot be trusted till he be proved. Dishonesty c a r r i e s
144
his eyes high, and assumes that any question respecting him must be considered to be unnecessary." "Oh F r a n k , " (responds L i z z i e ) , "what a philosopher you are" '^•^, L i z z i e ' s comment .reveals, of course, that she is incapable of understanding what r e a l honesty i s . This passage might be said to indicate that Trollope was becoming increasingly cynical about life in the second half of his writing c a r e e r , but he was not a prophet of gloom«
Rather, he
was aware of the complexities that surround any attempt to get to grips with the rteal nature of human existence,
Frank
Greystock here shows that 'honesty' in itself defeats any attempt to spread any more honesty in the world : 'honesty' has become a self-defeating
concept.
The bext example of self-defeating honesty in the P a l l i s e r novels i s , of course,
Plantagenet Palliser himsel;^ P r i m e Minister
and later Duke of Omnium.
Yet Trollope's treatment of this
unusually self-effacing man, whose integrity is the cause of his downfall, analyses in depth the concept of 'honesty' which is the b a s i s of a l l his behaviour.
The Duke of St, Bungay, the elder
statesman of the s e r i e s , discusses the nature of P a l l i s e r ' s 'honesty' with Lady Glencora in The P r i m e Minister: 'The old Duke patted her on the head as though she were a little girl, and was more comforting to her than her other counsellors. He would say nothing to her husband n o w ; , . , "This husband of yours is a very peculiar man, " he said,
145
smiling, "his honesty is not like the honesty of other men. It is more downright; - more absolutely honest; less capable of bearing even the shadow which the stain from another's dishonesty might throw upon it. Give him credit for a l l that, and remember that you cannot find everything combined in the same person. He is very practical in some things, but the question i s , whether he is not too scrupulous to be practical in a l l things'" The Duke of St, Bungay accurately foresees P a l l i s e r ' s f a l l from office^ because his honesty is too absolute to bear the attack of any 'dishonest' man. Ferdinand Lopez,
In his case, the attack comes from Trollope wants us to understand the character
13 of P a l l i s e r
and it comes to life because he shows us the basis
of his m o r a l code and encourages us to think about its concepts, its strengths and its weaknesses*
It is in just such a way that
we think about people in r e a l life and the novel can tell us more while we are less immediately involved than in real life situations, Trollope's naturalistic observation brings us closer to reality than we may have been aware,
Henry James's observation that 'Mr,
Trollope is a good observer, but he is literally nothing else'''''^, might unwittingly be drawing attention to Trollope's most important quality, for to see c l e a r l y is to perceive truthfully and few people question Trollope's naturalism.
The ideas considered so far (like 'gentleman',
'truth',
'goodness' and 'honesty') are easily recognisable as behavioural
146
concepts.
A s such it is easy for the modern reader to understand
Trollope's attempts to define them though the terms in which we discuss them might be different today. One more particular concept which seems to have p r e occupied Trollope throughout his writing career is the idea of 'duty'.
Most of Trollope's characters act according to a sense
of duty, though each interprets his duty in a very different way. At the outset, like most of his contemporaries,
Trollope did not
question the concept at a l l , yet in the last two novels of the P a l l i s e r series.
The P r i m e Minister and The Duke's Children, he seems
to be examining the whole concept of 'duty' in depth. The term 'duty' does not evoke immediate sympathy in the modern reader and it is worth looking at the current usage to understand it better in Trollope.
Apart from common usage
such as 'customs duty' and 'heavy duty c a r battery', the word 'duty' is now frequently used in defining professional responsibilities, A doctor or a policeman w i l l say he is 'on duty', meaning that he has professional obligations to fulfil,
A member of the armed
forces knows that he has to 'do his duty' and in almost every profession an employee has certain 'duties' to perform. the sphere of professional employment,
however,
Outside
few people will
speak openly of doing their duty, to God, to the Queen, to society as a whole,
or to their families.
It is true that people speak of
visiting an aged relative, for example, out of a 'sense of duty',
147
but the phrase c a r r i e s with it a certain reluctance. 'duty' , i n social and general ethical senses,
In fact,
seems to c a r r y a
hint of obligatiion which is unpleasant to the person who has the duty.
Of course an older usage of the word survives in some
instances of traditional ritualistic language:
'I promise to do
my duty to God, and the Queen, to help other people at a l l t i m e s , , , ' the boy scout s ays, and we may s t i l l be reminded in church that 'it is our bounden duty that we should at a l l times and in a l l places, give thanks unto Thee, O L o r d , It does seem,
Holy F a t h e r , , , '
therefore, that the sense of obedience
implicit in the traditional meaning of 'duty' is alien to modern ideas of 'freedom'.
In a professional sphere, duties are in
many instances undertaken because there is a direct reward for those duties.
Any duties outside this sphere are different and
little m o r a l obligation or pressure bears upon the individual to c a r r y them out.
The notion of 'duty' to an ethical code is no
longer a common concept to which an individual can appeal, knowing that he w i l l meet with general sympathetic concordance. Duty in Victorian England was quite different.
It was
a governing force in every educated man's dec is ion-making processes,
and it was, perhaps, one of the distinguishing features
of man as a civilised being, that his actions were motivated not by instincts of self-preservation alone, but by an understanding of his duty as well.
The divergence of behavioural patterns,
148
of course, indicates that not a l l hums-n beings were obedient to the same m o r a l codes, and herein lies the strength of Trollope's characters as r e a l beings. Directed by different m o r a l codes, they a l l have different notions of 'duty', and, as often as not, their notions of duty bring them into direct conflict with one another. Duty i s , in sum, the connecting link between a man or woma,n and his or her m o r a l code.
F o r over half of his writing c a r e e r , Trollope accepted that his characters had their 'duty' to perform, as he observed people in r e a l life having their 'duty' to follow, led to conflict.
even though this often
The early novels record such conflict faithfully,
but Trollope never questioned the reasons for the conflict : he m e r e l y observed,
accurately.
It is worth reminding ourselves
of one or two instances of this briefly, before examining the change in his approach in the later novels.
In the Barsetshire
s e r i e s a l l the characters have clear notions of what their duty involves : M r , Harding, M r , Slope, Archdeacon Grantly, M r s , Proudie and the rest a l l know what they ought to do and they c a r r y out their duties accordingly, both good and bad. P a l l i s e r novels,
In the early
Trollope seems to make more use of the word
'duty', as the explanation which his characters have for their s e v e r a l courses of action.
F o r example, in Phineas F i n n , M r ,
Kennedy absoluely insists that his wife return to her conjugal home,
and Phineas r e m a r k s that M r . Kennedy 'means to do his
duty' in ensuring her return, when he is alone with Lady Laura
149
before she leaves for Dresden''"^.
Phineas himself uses a sense
of duty to justify making overtures to Violet Effingham when he had already promised to m a r r y the girl back home in Ireland, Mary Flood-Jones : he 'resolved sternly that it was his duty to be constant to Miss Effingham'•^^,
In The Eustace Diamonds,
Lady Linlithgow, whose wicked and selfish nature i s her most obvious c h a r a c t e r i s t i c , takes in L i z z i e Greystock out of a sense of family duty: 'Why should such a countess have troubled herself with the custody of such a niece? Simply because the countess regarded it as a d u t y . , , she went to c h u r c h . , , because she thought it was right. And she took in L i z z i e Greystock, whom she hated almost as much as she did sermons, because the admiral's wife had be^n her sister, and she recognised a duty' ' , By the time that Trollope came to write Phineas Redux, in 1873-4, he was clearly much more concerned with the notion of duty.
The same M r , Kennedy, writing to Phineas,
about his estranged wife.
says
Lady L a u r a ,
"•'Her duty demands her presence here (at Loughlinter) and my duty calls upon me to receive her"'"''?. And in the same letter,
Kennedy asks Phineas to visit him before
he goes to Dresden to see Lady L a u r a and her father L o r d Brentford,
'not as a pleasure, but as a Christian duty'.
Phineas goes to Dresden, son.
L o r d Chiltern,
When
Lord Brentford is pleased to hear his
praised by Phineas and 'felt that now, as ever, 19
he had done his duty by his family'
.
Another character in the
150
same book, the editor of 'The People's Banner', Quintus Slide, has quite a different concept of duty : as he asserts to Phineas with pride,
'We've got our duty to do, and we mean to do it, '
by which duty he means to proclaim 'purity of m o r a l s , throughout the nation.
'You've no notion, Finn, in your mind of what will
soon be the extent of the duties, privileges and influences of the 20 daily press'
•
F o r some characters, a notion of 'duty' permits
them unquestioningly to accept lines of thought which a r e , by any standards,
strange : the death of the old Duke of Omnium produces
some odd judgements on his life, but none more strange than from M r , Maule Senior: 'A great fortune had been entrusted to him and he knew that it was his duty to spend it '^•'•, Such indeed might be the only m o r a l defence that could be made for 22 that 'worn-out, old debauchee'
, the old Duke of OmniumJ
In the next P a l l i s e r novel. between 1874 and 1876,
The Prime Minister, written
Trollope's interest in the concept of 'duty'
led him to give it much fuller treatment, not only in the private lives of his characters but in their public roles as well,
Palliser,
or the Duke of Omniiam as he has become by the beginning of The P r i m e Minister, is adamant that he will not interfere in the Silverbridge borough elections:
'I must do my duty', he states 23
categorically to Lady Glencora
, and his duty, unlike other Dukes
of Omnium before him, is to remain quite uninvolved in the borough's nominations,
Trollope summed up P a l l i s e r ' s notion
151
of his wife's duty, later on when he wrote about the P a l l i s e r novels in A n Autobiography: ' '7. should not choose that my wife should have any duties unconnected with our joint family and home" '?'^, Unfortunately for P a l l i s e r , Lady Glencora sees her duty as something more than this, and the resulting interference with the nominations for the borough has disastrous consequences P a l l i s e r ' s political c a r e e r .
for
In the same book E m i l y Wharton
has a concept of duty which does not allow her any escape from the marriage she has made to Ferdinand Lopez, a marriage as disastrous as that between Lady L a u r a and M r , Kennedy: am bound to do as he tells me',
'I
she says, , and her anti-feminist
outlook is wrapped up in terms of duty when she says to Lopez himself later on,
'It is not my duty to have any purpose, as what
I do must depend on your commands'^^.
But when her former
suitor, Arthur F l e t c h e r , renews his suit after Lopez's suicide at Tenway Junction, he earnestly reminds her that she now has a very definite duty: ' "No man ever had a right to say more positively to a woman that it was her duty to m a r r y him, than I have to you. And I do say it, I say it on behalf of a l l of us, that it is your duty," It is in the last of the P a l l i s e r novels,
however,
that
Trollope developed and examined the concept of 'duty' most fully, and it is manifestly c l e a r from the different tone of this book
152
that the questions he r a i s e d and the situations he presented for the characters took him and his readers to a new and deeper understanding of the nature of 'duty'.
The Duke's Children
was in fact written immediately after An Autobiography was completed in A p r i l 1876, though The Duke_'s Children appeared f i r s t (in 1879-80), 1883,
while A n Autobiography was not pizblished until
shortly after his death.
Consequently The Duke's ChiMren
was not part of Trollope's output when he wrote A n Autobiography, and to some extent this may explain why it has perhaps been less popular than the other P a l l i s e r hovels, in spite of its more domestic,
less political setting.
Other reasons may be because
Trollope's reputation was waning at the end of a long run of popularity and success,
or because Lady Glencora does not enliven
the page of its story, dying as she does before the narrative begins, 28 the second female protagonist to be disposed of in this way However, the novel deserves more attention, because of its more perceptive analysis of concepts, artistic appeal.
quite apart from its immediate
The constant return to ideas of duty and the
study of how it becomes necessary to reform those ideas as circvunstances dictate give the novel a depth and perception that is easily m i s s e d if one sees the novel as merely 'a work of reparation'^^ in an attempt to defend the character of P a l l i s e r himself. In the Duke's Children itself,
we find interest and perception
quite different from the books which preceded it, and the concept
153
of 'duty' is central to this.
A s elsewhere,
his own notion of what his duty it.
each character has
The electors of Silverbridge
prefer to do their duty in returning a castle candidate, rather than enjoying the new freedom of choice which had become
theirs:
'the f i r s t and only strong feeling in the borough was the one of duty. The borovigh did no|^altogether enjoy being enfranchised' . Reginald Dobbes, the organiser of shooting parties at CrximmieToddie, on the other hand, ha.s a very different notion of his obligations,
for he regarded it 'as a great duty to keep his body 31
in the finest possible condition'
And something of his
enthusiasm for the sporting life has rubbed off on another devotee of shooting,
the Duke's elder son, Lord Silverbridge,
The Duke
does not share his son's craving for such pastimes, but tolerates in his son what he would not permit for himself: ' '!But as (shooting) is so manifestly a duty, go and perform it like a man " '•^'^. A s w e l l as shooting the covers of Barsetshire, L o r d Silverbridge comes to realise that he has another duty to perform, that of ridding himself of the parasitic Major Tifto.
It was unfortunate
for him that he procrastinated, in the belief that: 'that duty could not be performed t i l l after this race (the disastrous one at Doncaster, which cost his father over £ 7 0 , 000) had been run'^^^' A more seasoned sportsman than Silverbridge is L o r d Chiltern whose only occupation in life besides pursuing the Trumpington
154
Wood question seems to be hunting. Effingham of e a r l i e r books,
A s his wife, Violet
puts it succinctly:
' 'Lord Chiltern has taken up hunting as his duty in life,, and he does it with his might and main" '^^^ These examples of 'duty' in The Duke's Children only serve to illustrate the author's frequent return to that term as a means of expressing people's reasons for behaving in a particular way. The dispute between the Duke of Omnium and his son over the choice of a suitable wife presents us with a clash of duties which heightens our perception of the characters and the situation. After acknowledging that Silverbridge has a justifiable duty to perform his shooting,
the Duke proceeds to outline another duty for him:
' "You have explained to me that it is your duty to have the Barsetshire coverts properly shot, and I have acceeded to your views. Surely it must be equally your duty to see your B a r s e t s h i r e neighbours. And you are a young man every feature of whose character would be improved by matrimony , . , I could never bring myself to dictate to a son in regard to his choice of a w i f e , , , s t i l l I would wish you to bea.r in mind what is my idea as to your dut^' ' " ^ ^ i The contradiction in the Duke's advice is quite clear : he will not impose on his son as regards a choice, but he expects his son to comply with his own concept of his duty.
This 'duty'
is at odds with the Duke's naturally sensitive outlook,
and it
does subsequently lead him to dictate to his son in regard to his choice of a wife.
155
It is significant that the interviews in which the Duke seeks to impose his conception of 'duty' on his sons take place within the confines of his study at Matching,
When Silverbridge tells
his father that he has proposed to Lady Mabel Grex, he does so on his own territory, namely,
after dinner, in the library at the
Beargarden Club, and his father accepts the news though he does 36not really approve of the match.
,
The Duke never doubts that
he is in the right when he is within the four walls of his own study,
and he would have been unlikely to agree to a connection
with the impoverished G r e x family if the interview had taken place there. In the third interview between Silverbridge and his father, back on the Duke's home ground, in the study at Matching, the conflict between them comes to a head,
Silverbridge informs his
father that he wishes to m a r r y Miss Isabel Boncassen,
the
daughter of an A m e r i c a n , descended from a Dutch wharf worker, and not the 'approved' candidate.
Lady Mabel Grex.
To the
r e a d e r , Isabel is a much more attractive personality than Lady Mabel, but Trollope exposes the flaws in the Duke's sense of duty by making him stand out against Isabel as a suitable wife and as the future Duchess of Omnium: "I thought you liked her, sir,," (said Silverbridge), "Liked heri I did like her. I do like her. What has that to do with it? Do you think I like none but those with whom I should think it fitting to ally myself in m a r r i a g e ? Is there to be no duty in such matters, no restraint, no
156
feeling of what is due to your own name, and to others who bear it? The lad out there who is sweeping the walks can m a r r y the f i r s t g i r l that pleases his eye if she w i l l take him. Perhaps his lot is the happier because he owns such liberty. Have you the same freedom?" '^"^ The Duke gives open vent to his anger in expounding his idea as to his son's matrimonial duty,
Silverbridge's defence of
his choice is equally valid, if less eloquently expressed. he completed his Cambridge education,
Had
instead of being sent
down (for a prank of which Kingsley A m i s ' s undergraduates would have been proudi), he would no doubt have responded to the Duke's arguments in a more logical way.
But then, of
course, the readers' sympathies would not have been so much in his favour: ' "Have you the same freedom?" (continued the Duke). I suppose I have,
- by law • "
"Do you recognise no duty but what the laws impose upon you? Should you be disposed to eat and drink in bestial excess, because the laws would not hinder you? Should you lie and sleep a l l the day, the law would say nothing] Should you neglect every duty which your position imposes on you, the law could not interfere.] To such a one as you, the law can be no guide. You should so live as not to come near the law, - or to have the law come near to you. F r o m a l l evil against which the law bars you, you should be barred, at an infinite distance, by honour and conscience and nobility. Does the law require patriotism, philanthropy, self-abnegation, public s e r v i c e , devotion to the needs of others who have been placed in the world below you?
157
The law is a great thing, - because m e n a r e poor, and w e a k , and bad. A n d it i s g r e a t , b e c a u s e w h e r e it e x i s t s i n i t s s t r e n g t h , no t y r a n t c a n be a b o v e i t . But b e t w e e n y o u a n d m e t h e r e s h o u l d be no m e n t i o n o f l a w a s the g u i d e to c o n d u c t . S p e a k to m e of h o n o u r , of d u t y , a n d o f nobility: and t e l l m e what they r e q u i r e of y o u . " Silverbridge something
listened
his
point h e r e , the
strong
colour
necessity
own convictions
at once,
conversation.
to t h e
and w i t h
of t r u e a d m i r a t i o n i n h i s
B u t he felt the declaring
in silence
on one
Dean's
lodge had
he w a s
unable
put h i s
proper
shape;
to
put i n h i s
point,
into
w h i c h told
r e j o i n d e r at
what you m e a n ,
*'And,
him in
Miss if 1 understand
by nobility just as
"Because you have
a
this
"'I t h i n k I a m b o u n d said,
that
b e l o n g e d to h i m
a n d i n d u t y to m a r r y
B o n c a s s e n , * * he
stood
^ so
argument
but t h e r e
certain natural astuteness
honour
of
That accident in r e g a r d
of the
logical studies,
particular
special
i n this new c r i s i s
i n the w a y of h i s
t h a t he m u s t
heart.
of
much,"
promised,
"Not o n l y f o r t h a t , I have p r o m i s e d and therefore I a m bound. She h a s - w e l l , she h a s s a i d that she loves m e , and t h e r e f o r e of c o u r s e I a m b o u n d . B u t i t i s not o n l y that," "What do y o u m e a n ? "
he It i s his
interesting father's
the
the
to n o t e t h a t S i l v e r b r i d g e d o e s
concept
it r a t h e r by his to m a r r y
s u p p o s e a m a n o u g h t to m a r r y l o v e s , - i f he c a n get hei''
of
'duty' i n a m a t t e r
own interpretation,
w o m a n he
loves'
is
as
not m e r e l y
of l o v e .
'I suppose much a
woman
He a man
repudiate
replaces ought
'duty' f o r S i l v e r b r i d g e
158
as
r e s p o n s i b i l i t y to
Lord
his
class
is
f o r the
Duke,
o r hunting
for
Chiltern. A t the
Silverbridge
e n d of t h e is
able
Boncassen accepts
s t o r y w h e n the D u k e c a p i t u l a t e s
to m a r r y
Isabel,
S i l v e r b r i d g e as
the w a y
and
in w h i c h M r ,
a son-in-law
is
significantly
different^ ••I s h a l l r e j o i c e to "Mro
Boncassen
you are of y o u r
Lord
Silverbridge,
- the
as
a judgement
a prospective
but
because because I
hand"
from English class
to m a k e
because not
i n d i v i d u a l being whom
now h o l d b y the
able
h e r to y o u , * '
^ "not
rank and wealth;
you are
Free
give
says,
prejudices,
o n the
Mr.
Boncassen
individual m e r i t s
s o n - i n - l a w A m e r i c a n s a r e not
is
of S i l v e r b r i d g e
o n the
whole
treated 40
generously
i n the
books
of e i t h e r
but at the
e n d of
with more
c r e d i t t h a n the
their
The Duke's
open-mindedness
brought reader
sphere
knows
the
come
in this
liberal politics
h i s p e r s o n a l position i n the
to m a k e
Duke's
concepts
because
of
of
'duty'
b o o k i s t h a t of p o l i t i c s . i n the
one
will
dichotomy
between
h a n d a n d h i s d e s i r e to
M o n k and M r .
are The
Palliser series
n a t i o n o n the o t h e r .
quizzing M r ,
away
perceptual rather
w e l l a w a r e o f the
on the
,
situations^
e a r l i e r novels
the
had been
Boncassens
of new
Lady Glencora was
Glencora
C h i l d r e n the
D u k e of O m n i u m h i m s e l f ,
r e c a l l that Duke's
Trollope
i n w h i c h the
s h a r p l y into focus who
or Anthony
and w i l l i n g n e s s
than preceptual judgements Another
Frances
preserve
In Phineas Bonteen
on
the
Finn
159
s u b j e c t of e q u a l i t y a n d h a v i n g c o n f u s e d t h e m equally-muddled M r ,
Kennedy,
she
o n the w a y i n t o
explains
to
the
dinner:
' "You will understand m e , I a m not s a y i n g that people a r e equal; but that t h e t e n d e n c y of a l l l a w - m a k i n g a n d of a l l g o v e r n i n g s h o u l d b e to r e d u c e t h e inequalities" . The Duke's
own lengthy
the
at M a t c h i n g ,
grounds
explanation
of h i s
in The P r i m e
politics
to
Minister,
Phineas
reveals
in
the
42 distaste
he
has
f o r w h a t he c a l l s
is
in The D u k e ' s
is
more
aid
C h i l d r e n t h a t the
c l e a r l y expounded,
compromise
states
o u r p e r c e p t i o n of the
issues
i n the
account
of the
conflict in his
Trollope offers
: he m e r e l y
given
'a m o c k e q u a l i t y '
and restates involved.
Duke's
no the
.
sense
for
of
solution,
'duty' no
incongruity,
The explanation
p r i v a t e thoughts a s
i n h i s s t u d y a f t e r w r i t i n g the c h e q u e s o n , G e r a l d , of a g a m b l i n g d e b t :
B u t it
he
c o n f l i c t i n the
Duke's is
ideas
expressed
: if there
perception
and understanding
of h i s
£ 3 , 400 to c l e a r h i s
a solution,
'duty' i s
it lies
of t h i s
here
o n l y i n the
dichotomy.
clearly full
to is
sits
' A n x i o u s a s he w a s that both h i s sons should be p e r m e a t e d by L i b e r a l p o l i t i c s , studious a s h e h a d e v e r b e e n to t e a c h t h e m t h a t t h e h i g h e s t d u t y of t h o s e i n h i g h r a n k w a s to u s e t h e i r a u t h o r i t y to e l e v a t e t h o s e b e n e a t h t h e m , still h e w a s h a r d l y l e s s a n x i o u s to m a k e t h e m u n d e r s t a n d that t h e i r s e c o n d duty r e q u i r e d t h e m to m a i n t a i n t h e i r o w n p o s i t i o n . It w a s by f e e l i n g this s e c o n d duty, - by feeling it and p e r f o r m i n g i t , - thal^^they w o u l d be e n a b l e d to p e r f o r m t h e r e s t ! . The
easy
other
160
As
far as
his
their
political duties
It i s
strange,
the
pays
the
two.
men's
ignores
his
as
to t h e close
ideas
and his is
diffidence,
couched
a p p e a l to d u t y .
the
is
duty-bound
D u k e of S t ,
he
political any
D u k e of O m n i u m
The letter
himself might
formed, of
the
a p p e a l f o r a r e t u r n to he
to
Bungay as
Duke a few home-truths
such as
unsuccessful.
political adviser,
His sense
completely.
but the
in terms
quite
b u t on t h i s o c c a s i o n
friend's advice
i n r e g a r d to
L i b e r a l M i n i s t r y be
to t h a t o f the
tells
sons
the D u k e i s
r e m i n d s h i m that he
could be,
of B u n g a y w r i t e s
influence his
that w h e n his lifelong
should another
no a t t e n t i o n be
to
concerned,
Bungay,
country
duty m u s t
is
however,
D u k e of S t ,
serve
attempts
that the about
Duke
his
pride
political ministry
have
used
to
his
own children:
There
are,
consider first is
I think,
in this
two things
matter,
your capacity, As
have
difficulty in carrying
less
you,
to t h a t m a t t e r
should
be
T h e D u k e d o e s not responsibility.
be
The
is
your
yau with
me.
personally
your
country country,,,
shown
himself
cannot r e c e d e
without
duty'' this
[^^,
a p p e a l to
his
sense
h a s w e a r i e d a little of
rigid an observance
of w h a t he
of
governing conceives
to
'duty'. Nevertheless,
he
r e s p o n d to
P e r h a p s he
o w n l i f e b y too is
of m a n i f e s t
serve
y o u has
n e c e s s a r y . , , he
breach
to
of d u t y I s h a l l
to y o u . . , s t i l l i f y o u r you
when a m a n such as to
only.
other
r e n e w e d t a s k m a y be
disagreeable wants
his
and two a n d the
duty,..
Though this
for you
conceives
he
for t h e m ,
expects a n d the
his
c h i l d r e n to f u l f i l the
c l a s h over
Mary's
r i g h t to
duties marry
161
the p e n n i l e s s F r a n k T r e g e a r i n p r e f e r e n c e to the s u i t a b l e c a n d i d a t e , L o r d P o p p l e c o u r t , p r o d u c e s the f u l l e s t s e l f - a n a l y s i s i n the D u k e himself. T h e a g e n t i n t h i s s e a r c h i n g a n a l y s i s of ' d u t y ' i s the o l d f r i e n d of t h e D u c h e s s , M a d a m e M a x G r o e s l e r , n o w t h e w i f e of P h i n e a s F i n n , It i s a m a r k of the c o l d n e s s of the D u k e ' s h u m a n n a t u r e that h i s long a c q u a i n t a n c e w i t h t h i s l a d y , w h o s e i n t e g r i t y i s w e l l - k n o w n to h i m , d o e s not p r e v e n t h i m f r o m c u t t i n g h e r o f f o n the s l i g h t e s t s u s p i c i o n t h a t s h e d o e s not a g r e e w i t h h i m o v e r M a r y ' s r i g h t to m a r r y F r a n k , I t w a s the s a m e w i t h t h e D u k e o f St, B u n g a y : t h e i r l i f e - l o n g a s s o c i a t i o n i s swept a s i d e upon r e c e i p t of the l e t t e r r e f e r r e d to a b o v e , i n s p i t e of the a p p e a l 'to o u r o l d friendship','^^»
In his Mary, is
the
f i r s t m a j o r i n t e r v i e w w i t h M a d a m e M a x about
Duke admits
i n a n a f f a i r of t h i s ' "It i s
so
t h a t he
Had
h a r d that
to
he
the
a m a n s h o u l d be
of w h i c h f r o m i t s
cannot u n d e r s t a n d the
Lady G l e n c o r a been
resolved
still alive
the d i f f i c u l t y w i t h e a s e ,
emotional
i t h a r d to k n o w w h a t h i s
guidance
left
very duties"
she would doubtless
t r u s t i n g not to
of h e r h e a r t ,
her
is
quite
absolute
it m a y
cost,
"But then, "one
has
'duty',
- duty; duty
- and whatever
s h o u l d be
Duke," (says to b e
this
is
pang
Madame Max), easy
requires. enough,
'mistake'
and
the
performed:
performed,,,"
s u r e w h a t duty
In m a n y m a t t e r s
but
However,
i n h i s b e l i e f t h a t d u t y m u s t be
' "But duty i s
have
m i n d f u l of h e r o w n
i n m a r r y i n g P a l l i s e r i n s t e a d , of B u r g o F i t z g e r a l d J Duke
'duty'
kind:
" with a charge nature
finds
Lady
162
the only d i f f i c u l t y c o m e s f r o m t e m p t a t i o n . T h e r e a r e c a s e s i n w h i c h i t i s s o h a r d to k n o w , , , I only s a i d that this w a s a c a s e i n w h i c h i t m i g h t b e d i f f i c u l t f o r y o u to s e e y o u r duty plainly".'47^ B u t the him
image
i n the
of h i s d a u g h t e r
c o n v i c t i o n that
'breaking her heart' m e r e l y
'duty' m u s t be done:
confirms
'The higher
the
48 duties from
the
keener
the
Madam Max's
m u s t be
deceitful
pangs',
,
reasoned
tricks
were
i n the
of F r a n k
story,
the
duty i s
D u k e ' s duty i n this Duke's
wiles,
to
-
have the
guard
n a t u r e ''^^. some
t h o u g h t to
is on
the
his
different from F r a n k ' s ,
matter
argument
and m a s t e r s ?
different f r o m his.
as
Frank's
First,
Frank:
a m a n without a shilling,
w h o s e m a n i f e s t duty it w a s so
that h e r
and it is i n t e r e s t i n g that as
himself
woman:
l e a r n to
Duke gives
reflections
' ''Here was work,
a
on h i s
of t h i s
Tregear,
of F r a n k ' s
a r e the
is
lords
h i m to b e
against attacks
there
she
not f e m i n i n e
of t h e i r
(It b e c a m e )
of t h e
suspecting
own w a y in opposition
judgement
conception
by
by w h i c h w o m e n
their
character
case
simply because
'And if there
Later
A n d he f u r t h e r p r o t e c t s
that he m i g h t of d o i n g
to go
to
earn his
so,
bread,
who,
instead
had hoped
to
raise
h i m s e l f to w e a l t h a n d p o s i t i o n
by 50
e n t r a p p i n g t h e h e a r t of a n u n w a r y g i r l " " Then there to
a r e the
Duke's
reflections
on t h e
g i s t of F r a n k ' s
him: '"Whether would
I am
like
such a son-in-law
o r not,
accept me,
if by
as
it is y o u r duty r e f u s i n g to do
so
you
to you
w i l l r e n d e r your daughter m i s e r a b l e , " That was
Mr,
Tregear's
argument.
letter
idea
163
He
himself might
argue to
be
prepared
i n a n s w e r that it was
reject such a son-in-law,
t h o u g h b y r e j e c t i n g h i m he make
his
daughter
of
'duty' a r e
C o n f l i c t i n g notions case
there
is
a resolution
to
c l i m b down f r o m his
as
a
to
his
duty
even might
miserable! here
o f the
position
clearly presented
conflict.
and in this
The Duke i s
by Madame M a x ' s appeal
forced to
him
father: ' " I n t h u s p e r f o r m i n g y o u r d u t y to your o r d e r , would you feel satisfied that y o u h a d p e r f o r m e d that to y o u r child?"
This
together with another m i s s i v e
about the
collapse
of the
Duke's
from F r a n k
Tregear,
brings
defence:
' H e h a d e n d e a v o u r e d to s t r e n g t h e n h i s own w i l l by a r g u i n g w i t h h i m s e l f that w h e n he .saw a duty p l a i n l y b e f o r e h i m , h e s h o u l d c l e a v e to t h a t , l e t the r e s u l t s be w h a t t h e y m i g h t . B u t that picture of h e r f a c e w i t h e r e d and w a n a f t e r t w e n t y y e a r s of s o r r c ^ i n g h a d h a d i t s e f f e c t upon h i s heart! • He
even
admits
to b e i n g
'half-conquered' and there
is
a warmth
and h u m a n i t y about h i s
affection for Mary which has been
in h i m for m o s t
life:
of h i s
'It w a s
s w e e t to h i m to
caress. as
Now
years
were
i n the
it w a s
who would
love
by the
of h i s
on h i m ,
t h a t he
him.
should have
debarred from
necessity
of
been words
his to
d u t y to be his
how someone
stern.
daughter
by a c o n v i c t i o n that he
had
these
showing
a n t a , o n i s m to h e r d e a r e s t w i s h e s .
to
years,
he f e l t
Since his wife
left h i m he had been caresses
something
solitude
coming
necessary
have
his It had
In a l l his
he had b e e n ought n e v e r
governed to
allow
repressed
164
the
d u t y of
lover
to b e
He w a s
separating her from absent
not p r e p a r e d to
acknowledge
that that duty had c e a s e d ; there
had crept
that a s
s h o u l d he in his
It i s years the
been
easy
not
to
see
considered
seek
has
feeling
some
why
recompense
The Duke's C h i l d r e n has s u c c e s s f u l than the
There
l a c k of one
him a
yet
love.?'*^'^
why
less
- but
half-conquered,
daughter's
Palliser series.
and the
over
he w a s
her
f r o m his m i n d .
is
no h e r o
led s o m e
other
over
the
novels
in
o f the t r a d i t i o n a l k i n d
c r i t i c s to m i s c o n s t r u e
the
whole
in
terms
book: 'In any c a s e , hero
of t h e
the
Duke
story,
boyish Silverbridge is
quite
of a s s u m i n g , , .
neither
sons so
c o u l d be
the
Since
daughter.
Isabel the i n spite
they
cannot
always
the
hero,
Mary Palliser,
role
of
heroine.,,
easily
of h e r o i n e '
slips
into
