THE ETHICS OF COURTSHIP IN THREE NOVELS BY ANTHONY TROLLOPE

by

FloraS. Rigolo

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of

the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Arts

Florida Atlantic University

Boca Raton, Florida

August 1998 Copyright by Flora S. Rigolo 1998

11 THE ETIDCS OF COURTSHIP IN THREE NOVELS BY ANTHONY TROLLOPE

by

FloraS. Rigolo

This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate's thesis advisor, Dr. Carol McGuirk, Department ofEnglish, and has been approved by the members of her supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.

SUPER VISOR Y OMMITTEE: c Thesis Advisor

Chairperson, Department of English

an, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Dean of Graduate Studies and Research Date

Ill ABSTRACT

Author: Flora S. Rigolo

Title: The Ethics of Courtship in Three Novels by Anthony Troll ope

Institution: Florida Atlantic University

Thesis Advisor: Dr. Carol McGuirk

Degree: Master of Arts

Year: 1998

Anthony Trollope's novels provide insight into the courtship rituals of the

Victorian Era. Three novels in particular, Miss Mackenzie, The American Senator, and The Way We Live Now, are analyzed in this thesis. Primary emphasis is placed on the social and moral repercussions that result when women violate the subtle codes of courtship. Honesty versus lying, the difficulties of the older woman, the creation of individual identity within a restrictive society, the definition of a "lady," and the laws pertaining to marriage rights are my major focal points. Trollope rewards and punishes his female characters based on his version of Victorian moral dogma.

IV Table of Contents

I. Introduction ...... 1

II. Honesty vs. Transgression...... 7

III. Women' s Role in Courtship and Marriage ...... 20

IV. The Disillusioned Older Woman ...... 31

V. Conclusion ...... 44

Works Cited ...... 50

v To Jim, Elizabeth, and Emma, without whom this would never have been accomplished I. Introduction

In his autobiography, Anthony Trollope writes that he strives to create "real portraits" (116) when developing his characters: "I have always desired to 'hew out some lump of the earth' and to make men and women walk upon it just as they do walk here among us" (133). He argues repeatedly that characterization is the key to his novels.

Trollope also makes a point of stressing that his novels teach morals and virtue: "But the novelist, if he have a conscience, must preach his sermon with the same purpose as the clergyman, and must have his own system of ethics" (202). It is this "system of ethics," and primarily the ethics of his female characters, that I will address in my thesis:

Trollope' s investigation of the difference between the "lady" and the opportunist.

Trollope's novels are popular in part because they mirror the society in which he lives. He creates a range of characters and forces them to interact. His portrayal of diverse female characters who are involved in the marriage mart, their varied motivations for marriage, machinations to achieve marriage, and reactions to a wide range of suitors, tell a great deal about how Troll ope views the institution of marriage, and imply his critique of nineteenth-century courtship practices. His novels entertain, but they also enlighten the reader on the social ramifications of a society that subverts the needs and freedom of its female members and often denies them choices.

1 I have concentrated on three novels written at different times in TroHope's Jife that contain exceptional female characters and have plots in which courtship and marriage are major elements. Miss Mackenzie (1865) is a fairly early work of which Trollope says in

An Autobiography that he tried to write a story about marriage without including love and yet "I had to make her fall in love at last" (204). Miss Mackenzie contemplates marriage to four suitors, but love is not an issue until rather late in the story. She faces the choice between spinsterhood and potentially mercenary marriages in which she is the object of conquest because she represents financial gain to her potential husbands. The process by which she eventually chooses a mate says much about Trollope' s moral expectations.

The Way We Live Now and The American Senator are by contrast late novels.

Despite having been written closely together, in 1874 and 1876, they provide a contrast: some critics have argued that The American Senator is an attempt to revoke controversial issues brought up in The Way We Live Now. I will argue in my thesis that the two works complement each other and create a wider picture, not a contradictory one. Both novels scrutinize the role of social class in the marriageability of women. The struggle between new money and old aristocracy is ever present and the issue of honesty is central in both works. Morals and values are challenged and abused by the characters and Trollope does not hesitate to make moral judgments and to teach ethical lessons by playing with the characters' destinies. He plays God in both works, punishing and rewarding as he sees fit , and so enlightening the reader to his expectations and the flaws that he sees in society.

2 I will also consider such issues as how the laws pertaining to marriage and

inheritance affect characters' choices. Miss Mackenzie, for example, knows that

marriage will represent a loss of her financial independence. Christopher Herbert has

provided extensive information concerning the issues of laws and conjugal rights in "He

Knew He Was Right, Mrs. Lynn Linton, and the Duplicities ofVictorian Marriage."

Rajiva Wijesinha has written about husband hunting and autonomy in The Androgynous

Trollope: Attitudes to Women Amongst Early Victorian Novelists. William A. Cohen' s

work on the laws concerning heirlooms and paraphernalia entitled "Trollope' s Trollop"

will be adapted to form my argument concerning the perception of the role of women

themselves, not just their property, as heirlooms and paraphernalia in the marriage mart.

Trollope has created women who are fully aware that their primary value is monetary. He evaluates how this knowledge can, over time, erode a woman' s sense of self-worth. He also shows how women can use and tum that knowledge to their personal advantage, but at great ethical cost.

Female autonomy is an issue in all three novels. The Way We Live Now features a divorced and possibly violent American femme fatale, Mrs. Hurtle, while The American

Senator features the husband-hunting Arabella Trefoil. Both women can be said to be more independent than other female characters in the novels, yet both are actively hunting for a husband and both are depicted as dangerous. Female strength equals social deviancy. Trollope shows both a sense of sympathy and compassion for these dangerous women, but not enough to counterbalance their potential destructive power to that society. In Miss Mackenzie he provides an alternative to these extremes through the title

3 character' s journey into society and her subsequent development as a strong, yet loved

woman.

I will primarily be referring to the criticism of John Kucich, A. 0 . J. Cockshut, and

Alice Fredman in clarifying the concepts of honesty and transgression as Troll ope presents

them and in evaluating the moral and ethical lessons he has woven into his works. In his

novels, the perceived imperative to marry well encourages deceit that is sometimes

unconscious. Self-deception encourages some women to believe themselves in love when they are not. Troll ope also questions the existence of love in many engagements,

expressing pessimism about the possibilities of attaining a happy marriage. John Kucich' s

"Transgression in Trollope: Dishonesty and the Antibourgeois Elite" explores Trollope' s contrast between inherently honest women characters and transgressors as well as comparing the outcomes of honest versus deceptive courtship behavior. In Anthony

Trollope: A Critical Study, A. 0 . J. Cockshut refers to the self-deception of many of

Trollope' s female characters and analyzes how that self-deception can lead to obsession.

Fredman, in Anthony Trollope, offers insight into "the outsider' s aspiration to be absorbed into a social hierarchy" (13). I will go on to show that many ofTrollope's female characters fall into the category of social "outsider."

In "The Androgynous Trollope: Attitudes to Women Amongst Early Victorian

Novelists," Rajiva Wijesinha considers mothers and other elderly female characters who have survived the marriage mart. The reactions of such characters to younger women are interestingly censorious, he notes. Instead of being supportive and understanding, they are manipulative and demanding. Su?h characters as Arabella Trefoil's scheming mother are

4 using their daughters as tools for the power and autonomy that they failed to achieve

through their marriages. These older women also serve as visual representations of the

results of extended unhappiness in marriage. Trollope's older women are complex visions

of how a poorly chosen Victorian marriage can, over time, alter a woman' s personality.

The male characters who become objects of affection or subjects of conquest in

the novels suggest the goals and aspirations of the women seeking marriage. Are the

female characters searching for men who will treat them as "equals," are they looking for

a "gentle patriarch" who will guide, protect, and control them, or are they looking for

men they can subjugate? Characters ofboth genders who seek to subjugate and control

others play an important part in all three novels.

Susan McDonald has provided research on the apparent incompatibility in

Trollope' s novels between being a lady and being a woman. Trollope questions the

definition of the term "lady" in all three novels. We repeatedly see a dichotomy between

what polite society defines as a lady, and what deeper investigation into a woman' s

character reveals. Trollope shows that a husband-hunter cannot be perceived as a true

lady, but then he proceeds to show that it is a sport as popular among "ladies" as fox

hunting is among gentlemen.

Trollope' s sense of morality is strict throughout his novels. Those who use

marriage as a stepping stone ultimately suffer, while those who allow themselves to be guided by their conscience and morality are rewarded. What makes these novels

interesting is the analysis of character motivation -- and how motivation leads to decisions

that in turn lead to an unforeseen chain of events.

5 Anthony Troll ope creates ambiguous women characters. Some of his critics have called his novels feminist, while others have referred to him as a chauvinist. I view these contradictory perceptions as proof of the complexity and diversity ofTrollope' s women characters and propose to analyze them as reflections of their time and their society.

Trollope has provided us with a window through which we can view the world of the

Victorian woman and explore the sources and deep motives of her actions.

6 II. Honesty vs. Transgression

One ofTrollope' s central issues is honesty: "I thought I might succeed in impregnating the mind of the novel-reader with a feeling that honesty is the best policy; that truth prevails while falsehood fails; that a girl will be loved as she is pure, and sweet, and unselfish" (Autobiography 133). Trollope' s honest woman follows a code of conduct, in contrast to his transgressive females. A true lady must be intrinsically honest. The honest woman has limitations and stipulations placed on her conduct and she must often make difficult choices to remain true to her ideals. In the end, however, Trollope' s novels

"manage to reward truthful characters and to punish deceivers" (Kucich 595). Trollope strives to peel away the layers of civilization that surround each character and "divide the characters into those ofrank, those of money, and those ofworth" (Fredman 15). A woman may have rank and money, but lack worth, and such women are doomed to failure in Trollope' s novels. He judges a character's worth by an inherent sense ofright and wrong-- a deeply rooted sense of honesty that transcends social convention and social class.

This honesty is viewed by Trollope' s critics as a middle-class ideal: "Middle-class honesty signifies not the aggressive assertion of one's honor, but peacefulness, humility, and self-denial. It is a correlative of equanimity and conscientiousness, not valor" (Kucich

597). Mary Masters in The American Senator and Hetta Carbury in The Way We Live

7 Now are honest characters who retain their honor by refusing to marry men they do not love. Both show elements of self-denial in their dealings with families and loved ones.

Middle class honesty emphasizes personal integrity over the desire for acquisition of money, position, or power. "Middlingness in both moral and social domains is defined, by

Trollope, as the capability of rejecting desires for hierarchical advancement--a gesture

toward the democratic values so central to bourgeois self-understanding. Ambition and

dishonor are projected as the linked sins ofboth high and low social standing " (Kucich

605).

Kucich argues that Troll ope shows a greater interest in the moral hierarchy of his

characters than in their identified social class: "The exact social identity of his characters

was ultimately less important to Trollope than his ability to rank their moral behavior in a

symbolic hierarchy clearly divided into low, middle, and high registers" (598). Trollope

shows repeatedly that honesty and transgression are present in all levels of society. He

gives us characters as honest as John Crumb, a miller nearly at the bottom of the social

scale, and as dishonest as Sir Felix Carbury, nearly at the top. The characters' "general

commitment to the value of honesty makes them, in some sense, indifferent to higher kinds

of social ambition" (Kucich 602). In Troll ope' s novels, truly honest characters have to be

disinterested in social status. An example of this is Lady Ushant, Mary Master's

benefactress in The American Senator. She has seen the goodness and potential in Mary

and has nurtured it although Mary is "beneath" her in social standing. Mary' s father is a

lawyer in the service of the Mortons and her step mother is repeatedly depicted as

8 bourgeois. Lady Ushant supports the wedding between Mary and her nephew Reginald

because she values their moral compatibility despite their unequal social position.

It is interesting to note that the most honorable and honest members of the upper

class can be alienated from their class, choosing to live in the country instead ofLondon,

for instance, and not frequenting the city during the season. They exhibit security: the

London group are obsessed with rising. Lady Ushant in The American Senator and

Roger Carbury in The Way We Live Now are prime examples of county gentlefolk.

Margaret Mackenzie, after inheriting wealth, subconsciously makes a similar decision

when she decides to leave London and move to Littlebath to find her social niche. She is

not worldly enough to know the inherent dangers ofLondon society, and she is still

exposed to a variety of threats, but she knows enough to prefer a smaller setting for her

debut into polite society. In Trollope' s novels, as in Austen's, true gentility has a better

chance of survival in the country. The acquisitive spirit of London is not genteel or

aristocratic and therefore is dangerous territory for an undeveloped moral character.

Georgiana Longestaffe in The Way We Live Now threatens to run away if her father does not return her to London: "If he treats me like that I'll run off with the first man that will take me, let him be who it may" (Way 1: 193). Her father permits her to

stay with the Melmottes, definitely lower class and dishonest; eventually her London visit allows for a questionable engagement with Mr. Brehgert, a middle-aged Jewish financier who already has children. In this case "the girl, not her parents, tries to sell herself for money; the parents, not particularly averse to any method of settling their debts, are indignant for their own sake rather than for their daughter' s; the middle-aged monied

9 suitor is morally and humanly more attractive than the prospective bride and her family"

(Fredman 29). The irony of this situation is that between Georgiana and Mr. Brehgert, he is the more honest and worthy of the two: "While Georgiana' s parents react with bigotry to her engagement to a Jew, Georgiana, like the other Londoners of the novel, has ironically gone beyond prejudices because she has also gone beyond principles"

(McDonald 84). "It is quite clear, and particularly to him, that he is being accepted only for his money, but he has no objection in principle to being used by Georgiana in this way, is quite confident that their marriage would be satisfactory, and only withdraws when her demands become excessive" (Wijesinha 111). He is honest about the nature oftheir engagement while she is so dishonest that she can't bring herselfto admit to him that she wants to rescind their agreement and resorts to unreasonable demands to force him to break off the engagement. Morally, Mr. Brehgert proves himself to be on a higher level than Georgiana even though society views him as her inferior. The novel leaves the reader to question who is really the better "catch" in this arrangement.

Ambition and a quest for high rank are indications of a character' s dishonesty and almost always predict subsequent unscrupulous behavior. Trollope repeatedly shows that

"characters who use marriage for economic or social advancement ... come in for heavy punishment" (Jones 406). In The American Senator, Arabella Trefoil's goal in life is to find a wealthy and titled husband. She will do virtually anything to attain that goal:

"Trollope, when he does comment on husband hunting, makes it clear that none of the women he considers fit to be heroines would engage in it actively" (Wijesinha 111 ). This simple rule separates the heroines in Trollope' s novels from the rest of his women

10 characters, especially such venal husband hunters as Georgiana Longestaffe, mentioned above. She is willing to live with the unsavory Melmotte family in order to stay in London and improve her prospect of marriage. She and Arabella share the element of desperation.

Georgiana is twenty-nine years old; Arabella, at twenty-eight, is also facing a future of diminishing prospects. Trollope describes Arabella: "She knew that she was heartless . . . and that she belonged to a heartless world; -- but she knew also that there was a world of women who were not heartless" (American 517). Margaret Mackenzie is one such woman. "She desired to be married" (Mackenzie 473) is Trollope's statement about her, yet she does not succumb to the temptation ofbecoming a hunter. Instead, she allows herself to be hunted, receiving four marriage proposals.

Arabella's desperation is evident in her treatment of men as adversaries in an intricate game. She does not acknowledge the possibility of love or affection, but treats the entire proceedings of courtship as a delicate business deal. Her first target is John

Morton. She "is quite ruthless about charming him into proposing to her, about accepting him and then treating him inconsiderately, about planning to throw him over if she could get Lord Rufford while being determined to hang on to him if she failed with Rufford"

(Wijesinha 113). Love and affection are alien values to her and therefore form no part of her motivation. During her pursuit of Lord Rufford, "the only intense love scenes are those in which she contemplates the estate" (Tracy 213 ). She falls in love with the idea of becoming mistress of Rufford Hall, not with the man who owns it. She exclaims of Lord

Rufford: "What a shame it is that a man like that should have so much and that a girl like me should have nothing at all. I know twice as much as he does, and am twice as clever,

11 and yet I've got to treat him as though he were a god" (171). She realizes she is behaving

badly towards John Morton and regrets the fact that she has to use him: "Poor Mr.

Morton! I do feel he is badly used, because he is so honest. I sometimes wish that I could

afford to be honest too, and to tell somebody the downright truth" (167).

With honesty being such an important element in Trollope's heroines, the

antiheroic Arabella commits the ultimate deception--she deceives herself. She reaches a

point in the novel where she convinces herself that Lord Rufford has asked for her hand in

marriage and that she has accepted him. The event never happens, but in her mind it has.

Trollope sarcastically states: "Miss Trefoil must have thought that kissing and proposing were the same thing. Other young ladies have, perhaps, before now made such a mistake.

But this young lady had had much experience, and should have known better" (American

271).

Arabella is made into an infinitely more complex character when she goes to see

John Morton on his deathbed, not expecting to gain anything by it, thereby losing her chance to become Lady Rufford. Arabella allows compassion and guilt to distract her from her quest for marriage. There is no danger that this moment will change her permanently, however. Arabella has another moment of near-heroism when she becomes indignant with her mother, who has schemed to get 8,000 pounds from Lord Rufford as hush-money in order to avoid a scandal and a lawsuit for breach of contract. One would assume that Arabella would be thrilled to acquire such a sum of money but instead she is indignant. "I am to understand then you have sold me" (American 428) is her reaction to her mother. Trollope goes on to elaborate, "Together they had fished in turbid waters for

12 marital nibbles, and had told mutual falsehoods to unbelieving tradesmen. And yet the

younger woman, when tempted with a bribe worth lies and tricks as deep and as black as

Acheron, now stood on her dignity and her purity and stamped her foot with honest

indignation" (428-29). The honesty ofher reaction is proven by the fact that she does

indeed return the money. These moments ofuncharacteristically altruistic behavior on

Arabella' s part show that Trollope is not altogether unsympathetic to the plight of

husband-hunting women. In a letter dated 17 February 1877 he writes:'" Think ofher

virtues; how she works, how true she is to her vocation, how little there is of self

indulgence, or of idleness. I think that she will go to a kind of third class heaven in which

she will always be getting third class husbands"' (Wall 59). Trollope introduces an element of irony at the conclusion ofthe novel, when Arabella inherits money from John Morton and finally finds herself the quarry of the marriage hunt. She is suddenly thrust into the position of heiress and is eventually caught, for her money. One believes that she and her social-climbing husband will do well together since they are so similar in nature. They will understand each other.

The American Senator has an extended and very detailed fox hunting scene that

Trollope uses to symbolize the relationship between men and women: the fox hunting expedition is in reality a man hunting expedition. "The hunting scenes are an elaborately extended and dramatized metaphor for the great husband hunt, the hunter of foxes pursued by the huntress of men" (Tracy 222). Arabella has joined the fox hunt for the express purpose of having some time alone with Lord Rufford in order to insure a proposal from him: "She must have known that she had hunted him as a fox is hunted;--

13 yet she believed that she was being cruelly ill-used" (American 336). She feels ill-used

because Lord Rufford is trying to get out of the alleged engagement. Of Lord Rufford,

Trollope writes: "He was being hunted and run down, and, with the instinct of all animals

that are hunted, he prepared himself for escape" (307). The first fox hunted is found dead

by poisoning, and John Morton, Arabella 's first lover, also is destined to elude the hunter, though by dying. Even though the hunters already have a fox in hand, they pursue another one suggesting a parallel to Arabella's hunt for Lord Rufford after she already has caught

John Morton.

Within the hunting sequence, the disturbing chapter "Jemima" describes fatal injuries received by Major Caneback, a minor character, by the strong willed mare he is riding. This chapter can be viewed as a commentary on the feminine quest for independence. It is obvious to everyone present that Jemima cannot be ridden and is violently fighting her rider. The Major, however, is encouraged by her behavior: '"Have her like a spaniel before the day is over,' said the major, who thoroughly enjoyed these little encounters" (American 148). As the hunt continues, Trollope writes that the major

"was determined to break either the mare's neck or her spirit" (150). In the end, Jemima manages to throw her rider, who receives a severe head wound and eventually dies.

Before the major has a chance to die, however, Jemima is shot. Caneback's obsession with "breaking" her has destroyed them both. This sequence could have been written using a stallion: I believe Trollope uses a mare to make a statement about the potentially destructive chemistry that can exist between overly independent females and overly dominant males.

14 Just as active and aggressive husband hunting acts as an indicator ofunladylike

behavior, the quest for gratification of physical desire is also judged inappropriate behavior

in Trollope' s fiction. According to Kucich, "one must be able to renounce desire to be

truly honest" (597). In Miss Mackenzie, Margaret Mackenzie renounces Mr. Ball the first

time he proposes marriage--even though she loves him. She is aware that his interest in

her is financial and that he lacks true affection because he has been honest enough to admit

it. She therefore renounces her desire for him. Similarly, Roger Carbury in The Way We

Live Now has to renounce his desire for Hetta in order to make her happy. Hetta cannot

marry Roger even though she knows he loves her deeply, is very wealthy, and is her

mother' s choice, because she knows she does not love him. The love shared by characters

has to be honest in order for them to find happiness. Margaret Mackenzie ultimately finds

happiness because she and John Ball realize a true and honest love for each other that is

not tainted by the need or desire for wealth. Mary Masters, in The American Senator,

ultimately marries Reginald Morton for love. He is certain of her love for him, not his

newfound wealth.

Another interesting woman character in Trollope is Mrs. Hurtle, the aggressive

American widow to whom Paul Montague is briefly engaged in The Way We Live Now.

She is ostracized and criticized, but her character is inherently honest. Mrs. Hurtle is

vocal in her love for Paul, and she feels justified since she has indeed become engaged to

him, an engagement from which he is now retreating. She transgresses in her attempt to get him to spend two nights in Lowestoffe, thus compromising herself and Paul. She is viewed as an unacceptable match because in her past she has had the strength of courage

15 to defend and protect herself from violent men: " She once shot a rapist in the head and had defended herself against her drunken husband with firearms" (Nardin xv). She has not permitted men to victimize her, but now she must suffer social victimization. She is not viewed as an acceptable mate because she is too strong, too passionate, somewhat too wild. Trollope makes her American, perhaps, to make these qualities seem un-English, untamed. Paul chooses to jilt her and marry the more gentle Hetta Carbury. Mrs. Hurtle asks him: "Is it that you are afraid to have by your side a woman who can speak for herself,-- and even act for herself if some action be necessary?" (Way 1: 447). Trollope tells his readers, " She had seen so much of drunkenness, had become so handy with pistols, and had done so much of a man' s work, that any ordinary man might well hesitate before he assumed to be her master" (Way 1: 446-47). Indeed, the question of who will be "master" in a relationship is very important to Trollope, and it is clear in this case that

Paul is supposed to be "master." Strength of character and will prevent Mrs. Hurtle from finding happiness and love, even though that same strength has saved her life: "Mrs.

Hurtle' s experiences suggest that when life forces a woman to deviate from the ideal of sheltered, passive femininity, society punishes her savagely" (Nardin xvi). Even though

Trollope is sympathetic, he emphasizes that her strength and self-assertion prevent her from being accepted as a lady: "Her passion is not placed in any sort of opposition to goodness but, on the contrary, is to be seen as the origin of an appreciation of a gentler life than the one she had led before" (Wijesinha 177). She is allowed to appreciate the gentle life, but not to enter it.

16 Troll ope does not judge honesty in his characters by whether the statements made

are true or false but by what the person making the statement intends to gain. Honest

characters are allowed to lie as long as the lie is for an altruistic cause. Dishonesty is only

condemned if it is used for personal gain, especially financial ambition and social climbing.

Paul Montague in The Way We Live Now is "narratively excused for breaking promises of

marriage" (Kucich 606) to the American widow, Mrs. Hurtle, and for withholding

information about the betrothal from Hetta. But as Trollope puts it, "true love always

forgives" (Way 2: 248). Margaret Mackenzie also withholds information from John about

her relationship with Mr. Maguire, which is also not entirely honest. In the end, however,

both characters benefit from their deceptions by acquiring the true object of their affection.

Characters who are too rigidly honest, like Roger Carbury, although admirable, lose out in the end because of their inflexibility. They are too straightforward to win the courtship game.

Trollope repeatedly creates women charac!ers who are depicted as outsiders.

Some are dysfunctional within their own society even though they are desperately trying to fit in; others are being forced by outside agents to join a group in which they do not belong. These stresses cause the women to react with extreme measures that invariably cause condemnation by society. Georgiana and Arabella's quest for a husband in The

Way We Live Now and The American Senator are both prime examples. Arabella is a duke's niece, and though very impoverished, has high social expectations. She takes drastic measures to insure her social and physical survival. Georgiana has a similar problem: she, too, is lacking in funds to live in London, where the majority of the eligible

17 men are, and she has come to realize that "hitherto she had always fixed her price a little too high" (Way 2: 94). And yet "on three things she was still determined,--that she would not be poor, that she would not be banished from London, and that she would not be an old maid" (Way 2: 94). Both characters wish to marry within their own social class, but advancing age and the lack of family funds have driven them to throw themselves at men and to become manipulative. In the end, both have to settle for "inferior" matches. Their aggressiveness prevents them from attaining their goal, or rather is punished by Trollope.

In The Way We Live Now, Hetta Carbury faces a similar dilemma: "A woman, she thought, if she were unfortunate enough to be a lady without wealth of her own, must give up everything, her body, her heart,--her very soul if she were that way troubled,--to the procuring of a fitting maintenance for herself' (Way 2: 383). By contrast to Arabella and

Georgiana, however, Hetta maintains her scruples and her sense of right, and is rewarded with the man she loves as well as land and wealth.

Marie Melmotte and Mrs. Hurtle in The Way We Live Now are both outsiders striving to join a supposedly higher level of society. Mrs. Hurtle is heartbroken and abandoned in the end. Of herself and Paul Montague, Troll ope writes: "They had played a game against each other; and he, with all the inferiority of his intellect to weigh him down, had won,--because he was a man" (Way 2: 439). Marie, in the end, is very wealthy but very cautious. She has lost her romantic fantasies and is referred to by her father' s former employees as " her father' s own daughter" (Way 2: 448). She becomes a shrewd and rather cold business woman, moving to America and marrying Mr. Fisker, her father' s advisor. This is a marriage of convenience, not love: " She had contrived to learn that, in

18 the United States, a married woman has greater power over her own money than in

England, and this information acted strongly in Mr. Fisker' s favour" (Way 2: 453). Marie directly tells Mr. Fisker: "But ifl find when I get to Francisco anything to induce me to change my mind, I shall change it. I like you very well, but I'm not going to marry a pig in a poke" (Way 2: 456). It is very telling that in the end Mrs. Hurtle and Marie travel to

America together as friends and companions; Arabella, too, through her final marriage to the minor diplomat who woos her for her money, is exiled to Patagonia.

These numerous exiles are indications ofTrollope' s moral requirements for

English women. Those who do not meet the criteria are literally thrown out of the country and sent to wilder regions where their lack of refinement will not be so offensive.

He suggests that Marie, Arabella, and Mrs. Hurtle will not find happiness in England, but he permits them to seek it elsewhere. Moral flaws have made all these characters fail in the quest to move up in the social hierarchy ofEnglish society. They are much more likely to be content with their spouses and their position in society if they are away from the

English ideal as well as the English temptations. Arabella and Marie will do well in

America and will probably enjoy a position in society similar to that for which they strove in England. Trollope insists that the codes of conduct are more permissive outside of

England than in it.

19 III. Women's Role in Courtship and Marriage

When considering marriage, Victorian women had to be careful. The laws pertaining to marriage and the rights and property of married women were decidedly biased in favor of the male. Young women in Trollope are often used as tools by their family for the acquisition of money, power, or social standing. They are often treated more as property than as people. Hence, the issue of male dominance is intrinsic toTrollope's novels. The female character who is contemplating marriage must weigh such factors as her potential suitor's social status, financial position, and most importantly, personality. In The Way We Live Now, Mrs. Hurtle states the matter succinctly when she says: "It is a poor time we women have,--is it not,--in becoming playthings to men?" (Way

2: 387). The female character must be made aware of what type of man she is contemplating marrying or she risks becoming a "plaything."

Most typically, "Victorian husbands exercise their potentially autocratic sway over their wives almost unknowingly" (Herbert 460). "The Victorian marriage system maintains itself by allowing authoritarian husbands to believe in themselves as loving companions, diplomatically screening the fact of their nearly absolute power over their wives even from their own view" (Herbert 462). "The patriarchal tyrant thinks of himself as at heart a warmly companionate husband; the companionate young lovers almost unconsciously take their broad masculine authority for granted. Under these conditions,

20 how can marriage be other than fraught with tension and instability?" ( Herbert 465-66).

This almost invisible yet ineluctable power of the man threatens the women in Troll ope who are contemplating marriage.

Trollope repeatedly shows that when true and honest love exists on the part of

both lovers, the risk of an autocratic and destructive marriage is greatly reduced. He

repeatedly shows that "for those fortunate enough to find love in the world, marriage is a joy as well as a duty, while marrying without love is a sin" (Jones 406). Trollope writes

about Frarnley Parsonage: "And it was downright honest love, -- in which there was no pretence (sic) on the part of the lady that she was too ethereal to be fond of a man, no half-and-half inclination on the part of the man to pay a certain price and no more for a pretty toy. Each of them longed for the other, and they were not ashamed to say so"

(Autobiography 131 ). This definition of"honest love" in Frarnley Parsonage is also found in other works by Trollope. In Miss Mackenzie, Margaret does not find happiness until she and John Ball are both assured that money is no longer the reason for his courtship. Finally, she knows he cannot be marrying her for money because she has none ~ this allows her to know true happiness. In The American Senator, Mary Masters knows that Reginald Morton truly loves her. She has nothing to recommend her to him but affection: she does not bring wealth, title, or prestige to the marriage. Trollope has gone to great lengths throughout the novel to show what a genuine and kind person she is, so that the reader cannot question her motives by the time Reginald inherits John Morton' s property and proposes. In The Way We Live Now, Hetta Carbury stands true to her love,

Paul Montague, even though she could marry the very kind, loving, and wealthy Roger

21 Carbury. Paul returns her love and breaks an engagement for her. Mrs. Hurtle has more

money than Hetta, so financially he makes a poor choice. Paul believes, at the time that he

propose~ that Hetta will be poor and that he will have to support her. Yet both are rewarded by Trollope, becoming the heirs of Roger Carbury, who, upon losing Hetta to

Paul, realizes "the uneasy dependence of patriarchy upon a female vessel to pass along wea\th" ~Cohen, W\\1\.am 13<&). He bends the ru\es at \)atri.arch)' to \)\ease Retta and

manages to marry her vicariously. In an impassioned speech he tells her: "You shall be all

that I have in the world . . . And if you have a child, Hetta, he must be my child . . . If

there be anything that I can do to add to your happiness, I will do it. You must believe

this of me, --that to make you happy shall be the only enjoyment of my life" (Way 2: 407).

She will provide Roger with the heir who will bear his family name, but the baby will not

be his and Hetta will not have to be his wife. Through his generosity, Hetta is greatly

empowered. Her child, in bearing Roger' s name, also bears her maiden name ofCarbury,

so in a way she has not lost her identity. Paul, even though he is rewarded with the

woman he loves, has also been punished for his transgressions with and against Mrs.

Hurtle--emasculated in that his child will not bear his name, he will live in another man' s

house, and he will have to share his wife with Roger in every sense except the physical.

Hetta, in a sense, marries both men, but she gives to each what she chooses to give, not

what they would have preferred.

In contrast to such altruistic and prosperous loves, Marie Melmotte in The Way

We Live Now believes herself to have fallen deeply in love with Felix Carbury. Felix does

not return her affections but simply needs her money: " If I were to marry her, and if the

22 money wasn't there, it would be very like cutting my throat then" (Way 1: 213). "He regarded her simply as the means by which a portion of Mr. Melmotte' s wealth might be

conveyed to his uses" (Way 1: 163). Marie has unwittingly chosen a man whose priorities are very similar to her father' s. "Felix' s concept of gentlemanliness here consists of externals only (rank, position, appearance), not of any inner characteristics, and Marie, in choosing a man to marry, is incapable of seeing past the externals to the hollowness within" (McDonald 83). She is saved from this potentially disastrous marriage by Felix' s own laziness and fear of speaking to her father. Felix Carbury is also involved in the potential ruination of Ruby Ruggles, a village girl: "He cared very little about her, and carried on the liaison simply because it was the proper sort of thing for a young man to do" QY.ay 1: 173). Felix' s society allows him to believe that it is "proper" to have an affair with a woman from the lower classes, to destroy her honor and her chances for a happy marriage, to use her for his pleasure and subsequently to discard her. While poor

Ruby is hoping for marriage to the young lord, he is contemplating making her his mistress. When she does mention marriage, "it was in his estimation ' confounded impudence' on the part of Ruby Ruggles to ask to be his wife" (Way 1: 405). Both women greatly mistake Felix's character. They look at the pretty face and dashing clothes and fail to see the creature within. Ruby is fortunately saved by John Crumb, an honest and loving miller, who forgives her because he loves her.

The young women in the marriage mart are often expected to marry a man chosen by others for them. This is one reason why Ruby has run away to London; she is being coerced to marry John Crumb, a man not of her choosing. Marie Melmotte is another

23 example. Her autocratic father controls his family through the use of force. Marie writes

in a letter: "He does beat mamma sometimes, I know" (Way 1: 235). Augustus Melmotte

himself states: "If my daughter marries to please me, I shall give her money, no doubt.

How much is neither here nor there. If she marries to please herself, without considering

me, I shan't give her a farthing" (Way 1: 219). And yet under England's laws, Marie

would not control that money--her husband would. "Melmotte' s motives for marrying off

his daughter are intrinsically selfish . .. the advance in his social position her marriage

could bring him would increase his financial prestige and thus make his speculations easier

for him" (Wijesinha 63). Melmotte has "taught her to regard him as her natural enemy,

making her aware that it was his purpose to use her as a chattel for his own advantage,

and never allowing her for a moment to suppose that aught that he did was to be done for

her happiness" (Way 2:256). As the novel progresses, Marie changes her role in the

courtship game from pawn to player. It is because she does join the game, however, that

in the end, she becomes a manipulator and marries for convenience. The primary difference is that she marries for her own convenience, not someone else' s: "What might be called the cynicism of the marriage market in which Marie finds herself rubs off on her, so that she has no qualms about pursuing single-rnindedly what she sees as her own interests" (Wijesinha 64).

Mr. Melmotte is so certain of his complete control over his daughter that he signs over part of his fortune to her in order to protect the money from creditors. He is convinced that when needed he can use it as he wishes. He sees Marie as a tool to be used for his benefit, not as a daughter to be cherished. When she surprises him by refusing to

24 return the money, he beats her: "That cutting her up into pieces was commenced after a

most savage fashion. Marie crouching down hardly uttered a sound .... Marie gradually

recovered herself, and crouched, cowering, in the comer of a sofa, by no means

vanquished in spirit, but with a feeling that the very life had been crushed out of her body"

(Way 2: 257). Marie has no concept oflove because she has never been loved. She ends

up in a marriage that she can financially control through her move to America:

symbolically, she becomes like her father.

In Miss Mackenzie, Margaret awakens to a new world that requires her active

participation, but she reacts differently from Marie Melmotte. Until the age of thirty-five,

she takes care of her father and later her brother, activities that preclude marriage or even

socializing. She is liberated, financially and socially, after the death of her brother. Like

Marie, she has money and is therefore regarded as a commodity. In the novel she is

courted by four suitors from diverse backgrounds. The first, Harry Handcock, is a lawyer

who writes on company letterhead to propose. The second, Mr. Rubb, is a tradesman

who is acquiring a loan from her at the same time that he is courting her. The third, Mr.

Maguire, is a minister who would like his own living, and the fourth, Mr. Ball, is an impoverished widower, a relative with nine children. Margaret has to decide not only between these four less than romantic suitors, but whether she should marry at all .

Each of the first three shows himself, through the course of the novel, as a poor choice. Mr. Handcock, a former suitor, sees marriage as a business arrangement. He has plenty of opportunities to ask Miss Mackenzie to marry him, but he waits until the reading of the will. It is only once he knows that she has inherited wealth that he asks for her

25 hand: "She would have fallen back upon her former love, and found that to be sufficient,

had he asked her to do so even now. She would have felt herselfbound by her faith to do

so, had he said such was his wish, before the reading of her brother' s will" (Mackenzie

386). His mercenary attitude destroys his chance with her.

The second suitor, Mr. Rubb, is not a gentleman. Margaret has to face her

upbringing and her prejudices when interacting with Mr. Rubb: "She knew that she, with

ever so much good blood in her veins, and with ever so many hundreds a year of her own,

was entitled to look for acquaintances of a higher order than that" (Mackenzie 407).

Trollope goes on to state that she "might at any rate boast that she was a lady. Now, Mr.

Rubb was not a gentleman. He was not a gentleman by position . . . and she thought that

she had also discovered that he was not quite a gentleman in his manners and mode of

speech" ( 407). The minister, Mr. Maguire, has several imperfections that impede the

marriage--a squint in one eye that ruins his good looks, and his reputation (he is widely

known as a fortune hunter): "looking out for a wife too, only she must not have a father living" (419-20) . Margaret is very well aware that she is a good catch for someone who wants money. Mrs. Stumfold informs Margaret that "another lady has a prior claim upon

Mr. Maguire's hand and heart" (Mackenzie 487). When Margaret confronts him with this information, he denies the engagement but admits that there is such a lady. What ultimately ruins his chances is that he underestimates her: "He put her down in his own mind as one of those weak, good women, who can bring themselves easily to love any man, and who are sure to make useful wives, because they understand so thoroughly the nature of obedience" (Mackenzie 596). Margaret, because of her quiet nature, gives

26 several people this impression, but she is not docile, obedient, or easy to manipulate.

Trollope has made her much more interesting than that. John Ball seems doomed to

failure like the others until Margaret loses her fortune. His kind treatment of her and his

genuine affection for her allow him to win her heart. After she loses her money to him,

John begins to see her as a person instead of a source of income and he begins to

appreciate her: "There was about her a quiet power of endurance, and at the same time a

comeliness and a womanly softness which seemed to fit her altogether for his wants and

wishes" (Mackenzie 526).

Margaret struggles with the popular idea that "women should cease being

sheltered, contented daughters, only to become sheltered, contented wives" (Nardin 4).

Women who are outside of the sphere of male dominance are viewed as superfluous or eccentric. Margaret is exposed to two such women in the novel. The first, Miss Todd, lives on her own with several children. When they meet, Miss Todd states: 'T m single myself, and these are my nieces. You've got a niece, I believe, too. When the Popes have nephews, people say all manner of ill-natured things. I hope they ain't so uncivil to us" (Mackenzie 401). The inference about illegitimate children is lost on Margaret because of her sheltered past, but not lost on the reader. The second lady, Miss Baker, an old friend and acquaintance ofMiss Todd, is presented quite differently: "Miss Baker, poor soul, was in these days thoroughly subject to the female Sturnfold influence, and went about the world of Littlebath in a repressed manner that was truly pitiable to those who had known her before the days of her slavery" (Mackenzie 400). The religious doctrine imposed on Miss Baker is presented as a type of servitude, although it does not

27 seem to be Reverend Stumfold who has enslaved her, but his wife. Miss Todd and Miss

Baker are old friends with much in common. Miss Todd tells Margaret: "There have been

so many things between us that it wouldn't do for us to drop each other. We have had the same lovers; and you know, Mary, that you've been very near corning over to Mammon yourself' (Mackenzie 426). Trollope seems to pity Miss Baker and to enjoy Miss Todd' s

free and happy nature. Of the two, Miss Baker is the one who is depicted as suffering

while Miss Todd continues to enjoy her freedom. Mrs. Stumfold, the minister's wife, is

depicted as a battle-ax who dominates her social circle with an iron will. She not only

controls the women around her, but her husband as well. She is the wealthy one in the

marriage. The fact that her father is living but under her control due to his infirmity also

empowers her. She has taken this power and become an autocrat within her circle.

Mrs. Stumfold and Miss Todd are in very different social circles. Miss Todd states

that "she found me out to be past all grace ever so many years ago" (Mackenzie 402) and

her niece says: "Mrs. Stumfold thinks that Aunt Sally is the old gentleman himself'

(Mackenzie 402). The fact that even the children know that Mrs. Stumfold thinks Miss

Todd is devilish is quite telling. Margaret is tempted to take up the ways of Miss Todd

and learn about the world, but shyness and ignorance of how to go about it keep her from going in that direction. Trollope shows that she is too innocent for such a life, but she is also not deserving of the purgatory of life under the auspices of a Mrs. Stumfold.

Margaret Mackenzie is aware that if she marries, she will lose control of all her money, assets, and personal freedom: "Marriage laws ensured the non-subjectivity of women in a variety of ways. A married woman was classified in the same legal category

28 as 'criminals, idiots, and minors' . .. A wife was completely in the power of her husband:

he could beat her, lock her up, and live openly with his mistress, and she had no recourse

to law" (Jones 403). In view of the legal system, this is a fearful position for women;

Margaret has to be careful in choosing a mate. In marriage Margaret will only be allowed

to keep paraphernalia, described as "property belonging to a married woman exclusive of

what her husband appropriates from her" (Cohen, William 241 ). Virtually everything she

owns will be placed under the control ofher husband. When looking closely at her

suitors, it becomes evident that the primary quest is for her money and she herself is

viewed as the paraphernalia. She, like Marie Melmotte in The Way We Live Now, is the

trinket that comes along with the fortune. This is not the kind of relationship Margaret wants, but it seems to be all that is on offer. Her sense ofmorality and self-esteem are damaged in that she is contemplating trading her wealth for the acceptability and protection that can be provided by a man. Marie Melmotte manages to get married and maintain economic control, but she has to move out of England to San Francisco in order to accomplish that.

Regardless of all perils, Miss Mackenzie "desired to be married" (Mackenzie 473).

Margaret believes that "a woman's life is not perfect or whole till she has added herself to a husband" (473). The negative change in her financial status in the novel is really a blessing to her because it takes away the greedy motivation of her suitors. By accepting

John' s proposal when she is poor, she loses nothing financially and she still gets the protection and acceptability that marriage provides without having to purchase it. There is no trade on her part. Her disinterest is clear: true affection is what propels the marriage,

29 not money. For Margaret, "marriage, then, is the reinforcement of a social bond created

through mutual agreement" (Cohen, Joan 97). Margaret has the opportunity to litigate

against John for the money but she chooses not to do so. She puts her trust and faith in

John Ball rather than in the courts. Trollope rewards her for her trust since it is apparent

that John' s claim is the more legitimate.

Through the experiences of Margaret Mackenzie, Hetta Carbury, and Mary

Masters, Trollope strives to show that "marriage for love ... legitimizes a woman' s

desires and choices, recognizing the very personhood and autonomy of which the law

would deprive her after marriage" (Jones 407). These women represent the epitome of the Victorian lady and show that love can survive in the same social climate as greed and corruption. They are rewarded with men who love them as individuals and are empowered to return this love. Characters such as Marie Melmotte and Arabella Trefoil, by contrast, do not achieve disinterested matches because, through moral imperfections, they are unable to see the personalities of potential mates, leading them to make poor choices. They neither find men who love them for themselves, nor learn to love their men unconditionally.

30 IV. The Disillusioned Older Woman

Trollope repeatedly creates embittered mother characters who, from a sense of frustration and inadequacy in their own lives, try to manipulate the marriage arrangements of their offspring to acquire power and status. Long-term exposure to tension and instability in marriage creates bitter and manipulative mothers such as Lady Trefoil, Lady

Carbury, and many others. These women have been oppressed for years and each sees her daughter's quest for a husband as an opportunity to right the mistakes of the past.

Ironically, however, they are perpetuating them. The older woman, instead of a comforting ally, becomes a powerful force against whom the young woman must contend.

Trollope also creates women characters who have taken the option of remaining single, analyzing the position in society of the single older woman. She may be an independent and liberated misfit or a dependent leech who relies on the charity of others.

Miss Mackenzie, at one point in the novel, has the option of beconiing a bride ~ an outsider, or a permanent "guest" at her brother' s house. Trollope, through analysis of these limited options for unmarried older women, gives us insight into the world of the no longer debutante Victorian woman.

Augustus Melmotte is the only controlling father in the three novels. The same cannot be said about meddlesome and controlling mothers. These characters are trying to relive their youth through their offspring, wishing to correct the mistakes they themselves

31 have made and to make more profitable choices for their daughters. Most of these women are unhappy in their personal lives and have turned to the acquisition of wealth as the solution to their problems.

In The Way We Live Now, Lady Carbury tries to manipulate the lives of both her children. She encourages Felix to court Marie Melmotte even though she is aware that he has no feelings for her. She tries desperately to convince her daughter Hetta to marry

Roger Carbury for his money and title, even though she knows Hetta loves Paul

Montague. Lady Carbury is depicted as "a still attractive widow who is trying to offset the depredations caused by her worthless son Felix through hack-work masquerading as literature" (Wall44). In a way, her literature makes her as much a fraud as Melmotte:

"the end of all was to induce some one to do something which would cause a publisher to give her good payment for indifferent writing, or an editor to be lenient when, upon the merits of the case, he should have been severe" (Way 1: 3). She uses her charms to convince editors to publish her mediocre books, yet she is aware of her literary limitations and knows that there is another way out of their financial difficulties. She looks to her children to save her. She says to Hetta, "You know what I want. . . . You could save me from much if you would. I work like a horse, and I never spend a shilling that I can help ..

. . accept your cousin's offer. What right have you to refuse him?" (Way 1: 45).

Trollope goes on to explain, "In regard to her daughter she was always influenced by a vague idea that Hetta was an unnecessary trouble. There was an excellent match ready for her if she would only accept it. There was no reason why Hetta should continue to add herself to the family burden" (Way 1: 334). She torments Hetta throughout the novel with

32 comments such as "I wish I were childless" (Way 2: 14) in an effort to force Hetta to

marry Roger. Lady Carbury is in effect "asking [Hetta] to prostitute herself-- to negate

her desires . . . and to commodifY herself, exchanging her person and devotion for a good establishment" (Jones 407). Hetta, who is too honest to do that to Roger when she loves another, "could doom herself to poverty, and loneliness, and heart-rending regrets for her mother's sake. But she did not know how she could give herself into the arms of a man

she did not love" (Way 2: 15). When Lady Carbury finds out that Hetta is engaged to

Paul, her reply is "there would have been a home for us all. Now we must starve, I

suppose" (Way 2: 155). "There" refers to Roger Carbury' s estate.

Trollope writes of Lady Carbury's hopes for Felix: "In her very heart ofhearts

she worshiped wealth, but desired it for him rather than for herself' (Way 1: 101 ). She is not concerned that her son does not love Marie Melmotte. She does not see the importance of marital love. Troll ope gives us an insight into what her own marriage had been like: "Perhaps the truest aspiration of her heart had been the love of freedom which the tyranny of her late husband had engendered. Once she had fled from that tyranny and had been almost crushed by the censure to which she had been subjected" (Way 1: 289).

She has suffered under her late husband's tyranny, but is willing to submit another to her son's tyranny. She argues with Roger in Felix's defense: "The only chance for a young man in his position is that he should marry a girl with money" (Way 1: 13 7). Felix himself tells her: "It may be brutal; but you know, mother, business is business. You want me to marry this girl because of her money" (Way 1: 213). Lady Carbury even comes up with the scandalous suggestion that Felix elope with Marie, compromising her reputation, in

33 order to ensure that the marriage subsequently takes place. "From all I can hear she' s just

the sort of girl that would go with you" (Way 1: 269). Lady Carbury is so entranced by

the idea ofMarie's money that she does not realize she is encouraging her son to marry

someone whose behavior is scandalous. However, she herself admits: "the wife without the money would be terrible" (Way 1: 282). Lady Carbury has helped to make her son the spendthrift and cold-hearted person he is, paradoxically because she loves him. She

herself admits: "I know he is bad. I know that I have done much to make him what he is"

(Way 2: 209). Yet she continues to deny him nothing and to sacrifice everything for him.

She is, in effect, the perfect wife for Felix. She slaves for him and requires nothing in

return.

Lady Carbury herselfbecomes the object of affection for Mr. Broune, one ofher

editors, and he proposes marriage: "She felt sure that she never could love him. Had it

been on the cards with her to love any man as a lover, it would have been some handsome

spendthrift who would have hung from her neck like a nether millstone" (Way 1: 288-89) .

This image of her imaginary lover brings to mind her son Felix. Lady Carbury is aware

that Mr. Broune is wealthy and could resolve her financial difficulties, as well as making

publication of her works much easier. He has already compromised his professional ethics

because of his affection for her. She refuses him, however, telling him: "Marriage as I

have found it, Mr. Broune, has not been happy. I have suffered much. I have been

wounded in every joint, hurt in every nerve, -- tortured till I could hardly endure my

punishment. At last I got my liberty, and to that I have looked for happiness" (Way 1:

291). For herself, she has learned the value offreedom and is loath to return to marriage,

34 even when it means she must continue to sacrifice and work to pay for her spendthrift son' s lifestyle. Paradoxically, by the end ofthe novel, Mr. Broune has helped her financially and socially numerous times and she begins to feel obliged to him. His attitude also changes and he becomes more authoritative: "The more she thought of him, the more omnipotent he seemed to be. The more she thought of herself, the more absolutely prostrate she seemed to have fallen from those high hopes with which she had begun her literary career not much more than twelve months ago" (Way 2: 461). Lady Carbury was dependent on an abusive husband and at least psychologically dependent on an abusive and selfish son. Mr. Broune becomes interesting to her when he becomes harsher, more authoritative, telling her how to manage her affairs. She is psychologically switching from dependence on her son to dependence on Mr. Broune: "She was becoming subject to the great editor, almost like a slave" (Way 2: 460). In the end she marries him, making her subjugation complete: "Then he drew her toward him, and in a moment she was kneeling at his feet, with her face buried on his knees" (Way 2: 465).

By the end of the novel Lady Carbury has lost her constant and supportive daughter because Hetta has moved to the country. She has lost her son Felix because Mr.

Broune sends him abroad, and she has become the wife of a man to whom she is financially indebted and who has "forbidden her to write any more novels" (Way 2: 462).

She has reentered the world of marriage as fully dependent as the first time. Mr. Broune might be doing the world a favor by preventing her from writing novels, but he is also assuring his financial control of the relationship. Trollope shows Lady Carbury to be a woman who has to be controlled by a strong male because she is incapable of surviving on

35 her own. She has always depended on a male and compared to her first husband and her son, Mr. Broune is an improvement. Lady Carbury has been a victim for so long that she does not know how to be anything else. The fact that she encourages her daughter to become another victim and that she sees nothing wrong with her son' s attempting to marry a woman without feeling any affection for her, are indications of her corruption.

Lady Augustus Trefoil in The American Senator is another example of an overbearing and manipulative mother: "Lady Augustus is vulgar, grasping, meddlesome and far more ruthless that Arabella in their joint pursuits" (Wijesinha 113). She has been involved with the marriage market for many years, having made a poor marriage for herself and been separated from her husband, who has squandered her money.· She survives through the charity of friends and family who provide temporary homes for herself and Arabella. Arabella is now twenty-eight--on the market for a decade at least.

The desperation in Lady Trefoil' s actions becomes evident in the scene where she literally bribes Lord Rufford into paying 8,000 pounds for breaking off an engagement to Arabella that she knows has never really existed: "What seems her meanness with regard to a settlement for Arabella is understandable ... deserted as she virtually is by her husband, it is understandable that she should be so involved in Arabella' s pursuits, and the more pathetically in that success there would leave her destitute" (Wijesinha 114). Lady

Augustus knows that she is living vicariously through Arabella and that her life in society will be over the moment Arabella finds a husband. Nevertheless, she relentlessly seeks to find her daughter a husband. Ironically, Arabella finally finds a husband when she is distanced from her mother. Lady Augustus has no say in Arabella' s final choice. Her fate,

36 however, is sealed by the marriage: " She knew that she was an old woman, without money, without blood, and without attraction, whom nobody would ever again desire to see" (American 530).

The Way We Live Now and The American Senator were published fewer than two years apart. I find it interesting that both works use the name Augustus. The Way We

Live Now, published in 1875, casts as its central figure Augustus Melmotte, Marie' s tyrannical and manipulative father; The American Senator, published in 1877, features

Lady Augustus Trefoil, Arabella' s slightly less tyrannical but equally manipulative mother.

The reader is never told Lady Trefoil' s first name--she is always referred to by her husband's first name. I do not see this as an accident. Augustus Melmotte was a very powerful and memorable figure, and Lady Augustus is intended as an echo of Melmotte, a female version. Like Augustus, she strives to control and manipulate the situations and society around her. Marie' s relationship with her father has been discussed earlier, and

Arabella' s equal dislike for her mother is made apparent when Trollope writes: "if she could only get away from her mother that in itself would be something. Most people were distasteful to her, but no one so much as her mother" (American 337). Trollope also writes of Lady Augustus: "She thought that she had done her duty by her child, and her child hated and despised her" (American 377). Each parent is manipulative but both are brought low, and either physically or symbolically are removed from society by the end of the story.

Lady Augustus is also paralleled, within The American Senator, to the Honourable

Mrs. Morton, John Morton' s grandmother. Mrs. Morton is a snobbish woman who tries

37 at every tum to control and manipulate those around her. Trollope describes her as

follows: " She had a great idea of her duty, and hated everybody who differed from her

with her whole heart. She was the daughter of a Viscount, a fact which she never forgot

for a single moment, and which she thought gave her positive superiority to all women

who were not the daughters ofDukes or Maquises (sic), or ofEarls" (American 50). Mrs.

Morton, although widowed early in life, has tried to raise her grandson as an aristocrat, as

she herself was raised. She has tried to instill in him her own pride and sense of

superiority over others but she has failed. At the beginning of the novel, Arabella knows

that she has been invited to Bragdon Park so that Mrs. Morton can form an opinion about

her. Arabella is well aware of the lady' s powerful attempts to control her grandson. John

later mentions inviting his estranged cousin Reginald to Bragdon to try to heal the family

wounds. Since these wounds were caused by a lawsuit started by Mrs. Morton, she is

opposed to the reunion and threatens to leave. John acquiesces to her demands: "as you

will not meet him, of course I have given up the idea" (American 54). Lady Augustus

complains to Arabella: "It seems to me that he' s altogether under the control of that

hideous old termagant" (American 85). The "termagant" is Mrs. Morton and there is

irony in Lady Augustus's giving her this title. Even as John lies on his deathbed, Mrs.

Morton tries to influence him in regard to his will. " She did not scruple to tell her

grandson that it was his duty to leave the property away from his cousin Reginald, nor to

allege as a reason for his doing so that in all probability Reginald Morton was not the legitimate heir of his great-great-grandfather, Sir Reginald" (American 391). When John declares that he will not adhere to her demands, she leaves the house and refuses to return

38 for some time. Later, as she sits by his bed moments after his death, all she can regret is

that she did not have enough time to convince him to alter his will: "Her greatest agony

arose from the feeling that the roof which covered her, probably the chair in which she sat,

were the property of Reginald Morton--' Bastard! ' she said to herself between her teeth"

(American 439). Both she and Lady Augustus "live only to scheme, and their ultimate

fate is the same--at the end both face an empty future alone, all their hopes defeated"

(Tracy 218).

Lady Augustus has lived vicariously through her daughter for many years and on

Arabella's marriage she faces a symbolic death. Trollope has denied her not only a social

future, but even the gratification ofbeing instrumental in choosing her daughter' s spouse.

Similarly, Mrs. Morton has kept alive her fantasies of superiority through her grandson

John. Now that he has died and given away the estate, she has no recourse but also to disappear. Both of these women are severely punished at the end of the novels. They are socially killed without the mercy of a physical death. Troll ope uses them to suggest what uncontrolled urges for power can do. Both women have been so focused on the lives of their progeny that they have forgotten to live their own lives.

Mrs. Masters, Mary Masters' stepmother, is yet another parallel to Lady Augustus:

"Both women are vulgar, both are social liabilities to their husbands and daughters, both try to force their daughters into prosperous but loveless marriages" (Tracy 219). Mrs.

Masters tells Mary: "the place for girls is to stay at home and mind their work, -- till they have got houses of their own to look after" (American 225). When Mary explains repeatedly that she cannot marry Larry Twentyman because she does not love him,

39 Trollope describes Mrs. Master' s reaction as follows: "Mrs. Masters hated such

arguments, despised this rhodomontade about love, and would have crushed the girl into

obedience could it have been possible. ' You are an idiot,' she said, ' an ungrateful idiot;

and unless you think better of it, you' ll repent your folly to your dying day. Who do you

think is to come running after a moping slut like you?"' (American 291-92).

Lady Ushant, in The American Senator, serves as the one exception among the

older generation, as a woman who is neither power hungry nor scheming. She has

virtually adopted Mary Masters and raised her to be a lady, even though Mary is "only" an

attorney' s daughter. She does not try to force any type of marriage on Mary even though

she would like to see her marry Reginald Morton. She allows life to take its course without trying to force situations. She holds no ill will towards Mrs. Morton even though

she has good reason thoroughly to dislike her. In the end, all her wishes come true:

Reginald and Mary are married and Bragton Park becomes their home. Trollope rewards

her kindness to a young girl and her unselfishness.

One possible explanation ofLady Ushant's charity is that she has not had long term exposure to a husband. Trollope tells us that Lady Ushant "married, not very early in life" (American 10). He goes on to explain that her husband "was employed by his country for many years in India and elsewhere, but . . . found, soon after his marriage, that the service of his country required that he should generally leave his wife at Bragton"

(American 10) . Lady Ushant has enjoyed the social acceptance consequent on marriage, but she has not been expected to submit to a husband: "Lady Ushant became the mistress ofthe house" (10). Trollope has left her unmarred by a loveless match and he has given

40 her a child to raise in the person of Mary Masters. She has had the benefits of marriage and motherhood without the subjugation usually involved in the process during the

Victorian era. Mrs. Morton, on the other hand, because of her early indoctrination in pride as a member of the peerage, her marriage to a man "beneath" her station, and her subsequent aggressive stance towards those she deems inferior, is punished.

Miss Mackenzie, the title character, also has to deal with overbearing older women. Margaret herself is thirty-six, categorically an old maid, but this does not make her immune to machinations by older women. Her primary antagonist is Lady Ball, John

Ball' s mother. Lady Ball, whose son is a widower with nine children, has become accustomed to being the lady of the house and is greatly threatened by the idea of

Margaret's joining the household. If her son marries, his wife will represent a challenge to her authority, so at every tum she tries to put Margaret in her place and to assert her own authority: "Lady Ball was altogether injudicious in her treatment of her niece" (Mackenzie

523). She takes advantage of every opportunity to berate Margaret for inheriting money she feels John should have received, and she has no scruples about using Margaret's weaknesses against her: "There lay her niece, however, sick with the headache, and therefore weak, and very much in Lady Ball's power" (Mackenzie 545). Lady Ball is very conscious that the family needs Margaret's money, but she has great difficulty accepting the idea that Margaret has to come with the money. Her great reliefbecomes evident when it becomes known that the money is really not Margaret' s, but John Ball's. When

Margaret is verbally attacked in Lady Ball's house by Mr. Maguire, Lady Ball does nothing to protect her: "Her aunt, she thought, had been untrue to hospitality in not

41 defending the guest within her own walls; she had been untrue to her own blood, in not defending her husband' s niece; but, worse than all that, ten times worse, she had been untrue as from one woman to another!" (Mackenzie 581). Their power struggle comes to a climax when it becomes necessary for Lady Ball to move out of the house upon John' s marriage to Margaret. Her parting words to Margaret are filled with venom: "Nothing shall induce me to live in the same house with him if he marries you. It will be on your conscience for ever that you have brought ruin on the whole family, and that will be your punishment. As for me, I shall take myself off to some solitude, and -- there -- I -- shall -­ die" (Mackenzie 608). Lady Ball knows that, through the death of her husband and her son' s subsequent inheritance of the family title, Margaret has become the new "Lady Ball" and she herself the dowager. She resents that Margaret has risen in social power while she has fallen.

Another powerful female force in this novel is Mrs. Stumfold. Her husband is a popular and controversial minister, but in the novel she is the one who seems to wield the power. She has around her a bevy of women, called Stumfoldians, who are religious followers of her husband but who seem to be mostly under her control. Margaret joins this group and finds her friendships being dictated. Mrs. Stumfold lets her know that she should not socialize with Miss Todd, Margaret' s rather questionable neighbor. Shortly thereafter, she visits Margaret: "It was an understood thing that Mrs. Stumfold did not call on the Stumfoldians unless she had some great and special reason for doing so - unless some erring sister required admonishing, or the course of events in the life of some

Stumfoldian might demand some special advice" (Mackenzie 483). The "special advice"

42 she comes to deliver is really a command: she orders Margaret to stay away from Mr.

Maguire, demanding to be told whether they are engaged. Trollope writes: "She was accustomed, probably, to weak, obedient women- to women who had taught themselves to believe that submission to Stumfoldian authority was a sign of advanced Christianity; and in the mild-looking, quiet mannered lady who had lately come among them, she certainly did not expect to encounter a rebel" (Mackenzie 484). Margaret, however, does rebel: she stands up to Mrs. Stumfold early in the novel, just as she later stands up to Lady

Ball. Trollope provides a heroine who appears mild mannered and gentle, but "she can be a lioness too when there is an occasion" (Mackenzie 651 ).

Trollope, through his disillusioned older women characters, shows the effects of a

Victorian marriage. The common theme uniting all the overbearing and controlling women is an unhappy and loveless marriage in their own lives. Each is striving to overcome this major failure in her life but each has been so warped that she has become as grotesque as the institution that created her. Loveless marriages will create loveless mothers who are manipulative and who see their children as tools--they are users, just as their husbands were. They are incapable of finding for their children the love and acceptance that they failed to find for themselves. Trollope depicts them as horrible creatures, but also shows the pitifulness of their situation. He blames the social codes that force this type of marriage as much as he blames the mothers who are perpetuating those codes.

43 V. Conclusion

"Trollope's fiction generally functions as a searching analysis of his society" (Wall

43). He gives us a window into Victorian society through which he shows us its worst

failures and disappointments as well as its greatest accomplishments. Critics "have argued

that several of the novels Trollope wrote between the late 1860's and the 1880's

demonstrate a sustained interest in the plight of women under the rule of Victorian

custom" (Nardin xvii). His women characters are not cookie cutter images, but living,

breathing representatives of a spectrum of personalities. They struggle daily with their

sense of identity, much as we do today. The marriage mart and the fox hunt have changed

their names--the term "meat market" comes to mind--but they have not ceased to exist.

The quest for financial security, social acceptance, and a satisfying marriage, are as

important today as during the Victorian era.

The struggle for identity is a central theme shared by all the women characters.

The young women often find themselves fighting against aggressive parents who would

force them into a loveless marriage: this is the plight of Mary Masters, Hetta Carbury, and

Marie Melmotte. Such characters must develop an identity that will protect them while under this attack. Some, like Mary and Hetta, fight quietly and suffer from their consciousness that they are disappointments. Their quiet struggle and their adherence to a higher moral conviction than their mothers are rewarded: they win in the end and achieve

44 their hearts' desire. It is a lesson to the parents that their daughters attain excellent marriages because they have behaved unselfishly.

Marie Melmotte attains a middle ground. She is like her father in developing a shrewd business sense; she makes a marriage of convenience instead of a love match. She manages to escape becoming brutal and abusive as her father was, but she is to Trollope not the heroine that Mary Masters and Hetta Carbury are. Mary and Hetta attain love and respect, Marie loses out on the love. She has been badly treated, yet she remains honest and clear headed. Her marriage is of her choosing and she has chosen someone like herself instead of attempting to social climb. Troll ope both punishes and rewards her.

She is exiled from England, but she will be happier in America. She will not have the social clout her father searched for, but she will be in a place where the code is not important. She does not make a love match, but she chooses her husband carefully and honestly. Marie is a compromise between the ideal woman, the Trollope heroine, and the transgressor.

Arabella Trefoil and Georgiana Longstaffe have been too long exposed to the marriage mart. Their integrity has been permanently compromised· by that ruthless institution. At the age oftwenty-eight, Arabella is facing a future of financial ruin. Fewer and fewer of society' s doors are open to her because she has failed in her duty as a woman to marry well. This has caused her to become reckless, manipulative, ruthless, and highly dishonest. Arabella' s personality is warped by society's harsh punishment offailure in the marriage mart. Her one kind act towards John Morton as he faces death gives a glimpse into the person she could have become if the pressure on her had not been so

45 ovetwhelming. Arabella' s act of human kindness shows a potential in her while

emphasizing the destructive quality of the marriage mart. Georgiana Longstaffe is not

facing financial ruin as Arabella is, but at the age of twenty-nine, she is facing social ruin.

Her younger sister' s impending marriage has forced her to desperate measures. She will

be socially ostracized if her sister marries while she remains single, she is running out of

time and eligible suitors, and she has reached the point where she will settle for anyone as

long as she does not have to face the possibility of becoming the single dependent "aunt"

in her sister' s household. It is the sin of pride that drives her actions, a sin that Trollope

punishes.

Margaret Mackenzie is also facing spinsterhood, but she handles the crisis much

more gracefully. Due to her isolation throughout her life, society has not really had a

chance to influence her. She has been a personal nurse for most of her thirty-six years,

and her sudden economic and financial freedom plunge her into unknown territory. Her financial circumstances allow her to contemplate marriage, and Trollope generously provides her with four candidates. Aside from marriage, she might choose the carefree life represented by Miss Todd, become religiously dependent like Miss Baker, or become a permanent and unwelcome member of her brother's household.

Margaret realizes that joining her brother's household would be degrading: she is invited only for her money. That option offers all the negative aspects of marriage without any of the positives. She also quickly discovers that she does not have the submissive personality necessary to lead a life like Miss Baker's, revolving around religious activities.

Again, she would inherit a master, in this case Mrs. Stumfold, without any apparent

46 benefits. The bohemian life depicted by Miss Todd, although at first alluring, is too far

from the life she has so far led to be a viable option. This leaves marriage. She has always

led a "married" life of sorts in that she has so far spent her life taking care of men. It is a

natural reaction for her to wish to continue to do so. Her newfound sense of identity comes into play, however, in the sense that she is no longer willing to pay the same price as when dealing with her father and brother. She has learned to value independence and self reliance and she is no longer willing to give these up. She realizes that marrying a man who simply wants her money would be the same as moving into her brother' s house: she is the paraphernalia that has to be accepted in order to get the money. She is not desperate enough, as Arabella and Georgiana are, to sell herself Her moral conviction is rewarded by Trollope by way of a marriage of affection: John Ball falls in love with the woman she has become. He learns to appreciate her quiet strength, her goodness, and her gentleness, and in the end both marry for love.

The older women are the most telling testament of the effects of marriage on female identity. Lady Ushant, who has only been marginally exposed to the institution of marriage, is unspoiled. Her kindness and gentleness are dramatized in her treatment of

Mary Masters, her love for Reginald Morton, and her consideration towards John Morton.

Mrs. Morton, on the other hand, has spent her life trying to make up for a marriage beneath her station. As the daughter of a viscount, she married the son of a country squire who proceeded to go into debt and then died. She has spent her life trying to raise her grandchildren, including the heir to the estate, as she was raised and trying to sever the ties with the rest of the Mortons, whom she deems inferior. Troll ope punishes her pride and

47 spitefulness by killing John Morton, her one hope for power as the manipulative

grandmother ofthe lord ofthe manor, and by giving Bragdon Park to the member ofthe

family whom she most despises.

Ofthe older set, Lady Ushant and Mrs. Morton are the only ladies who have not

had long term exposure to the effects of having a husband. Lady Carbury' s husband beat

her while he was alive, Lady Augustus' s husband squandered her money. Lady Ball and

Mrs. Stumfold try to wield their power through their husbands' positions in society. All

of these "ladies" are depicted as unpleasant and the reader comes to expect and look

forward to their comeuppance.

Trollope uses his novels to show how morals and ethics can be warped and

destroyed by the very society that claims to encourage them. The society that worships the angel in the house creates women like Lady Ball and Lady Trefoil. That same society

insures that this pattern will be perpetuated, encouraging women like Arabella Trefoil,

Marie Melmotte, and Georgiana Longestaffe to sell themselves. Trollope goes on to

show, however, that all hope is not lost, giving us such alternative characters as Mary

Masters and Hetta Carbury.

All of these women are in the process of creating a sense of self The individual who results is in part a product of her experiences within society. Trollope warns his readers that there are some very dangerous elements in the Victorian social code that can, and often do, warp one's values. Society looks down upon and punishes those women it has influenced negatively, yet it is unwilling to admit responsibility for creating their problems and even their personalities. It is easy for the reader to look down on a

48 character like Arabella or Georgiana, but Trollope encourages the reader to ask why characters like Arabella and Georgiana were forced by long-standing traditions and customs to become as they are. He questions not just the family, but the social institutions that have created such women. Troll ope shows through his novels that he is aware of the adversity women face and of the struggles women endure to achieve honest and fulfilling lives. He shows the winners and the losers, but most importantly, he forces the reader to look at why they win or lose.

49 Works Cited

Cockshut, A. 0 . J. Anthony Trollope: A Critical Study. New York: New York UP, 1968.

Cohen, Joan Mandel. Form and Realism in Six Novels of Anthony Trollope. Paris: Mouton, 1976.

Cohen, William A. "Trollope' s Trollop." Novel: A Forum on Fiction. 28 .3 (1995): 235- 255 .

Fredman, Alice Green. Anthony Trollope. New York: Columbia UP, 1971.

Herbert, Christopher. "He Knew He Was Right, Mrs. Lynn Linton, and the Duplicities of Victorian Marriage." Texas Studies in Literature 25 .3 (1983): 448-469.

Hughes, Robert. '"Spontaneous Order' and the Politics of Anthony Trollope." Nineteenth Century Literature 41.1 (1986): 32-48.

Jones, Wendy. "Feminism, Fiction, and Contract Theory: Trollope's He Knew He Was Right." Criticism 36.3 (1994): 401 -415.

Kucich, John. "Transgression in Trollope: Dishonesty and the Antibourgeois Elite." ELH 65 (1989): 593-618.

McDonald, Susan Peck. Anthony Trollope. San Diego: Twayne, 1987.

Nardin, Jane. He Knew She Was Right: The Independent Woman in the Novels of Anthony Trollope. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1989.

Tracy, Robert. Trollope's Later Novels. Berkeley: U of California P, 1978.

Trollope, Anthony. The American Senator. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1986.

An Autobiography. London: Penguin, 1993 .

Barchester Towers, Miss Mackenzie, Cousin Heruy. Stamford: Longmeadow P, 1995 .

50 The Way We Live Now. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1982.

Wall, Stephen. "Trollope, Satire, and The Way We Live Now." Essays in Criticism 37 (1987): 43-61.

Wijesinha, Rajiva. The Androgynous Trollope: Attitudes to Women Amongst Early Victorian Novelists. Washington: UP of America, 1982.

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