FREESIDE EUROPE ONLINE ACADEMIC JOURNAL Issue 9 (April 2019)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
FREESIDE EUROPE ONLINE ACADEMIC JOURNAL Issue 9 (April 2019) www.freesideeurope.com Juan de Dios Torralbo Caballero Eleanor Bold's Bold Blow at Ullathorne: Transgressing John Ruskin's and Eliza Lynn Linton's Boundaries Abstract: This study focuses on the character of Eleanor Bold, from Anthony Trollope's novel Barchester Towers. First, it examines its theoretical substrate by analysing some premises of gender roles in Victorian society, according to John Ruskin in his essay "Of Queen's Gardens" (1865), and to Eliza Lynn Linton, in her article "The Girl of the Period" (published in 1868). Second, it reflects on the behaviour, reactions and decisions of Eleanor Bold, particularly at the party in Ullathorne, where she reveals herself to be a daringly defiant woman. Finally, it applies the ideas advanced by Ruskin and Linton (similar to those previously articulated by Sarah Ellis Stickney and Coventry Patmore) to the unique Eleanor Bold, concluding that this independent widow challenges the social conventions of her time with regard to the conduct expected of women. Mrs Bold transcends the domestic sphere, living a full life in society, flouting decorum, and ultimately contracting a second marriage, one between equals. In a way, Eleanor Bold embodies and exemplifies a new type of woman. Keywords: Trollope, Barchester Towers, Gender Roles, Female Agency, Eleanor Bold. "Ladies' hands, so soft, so sweet, so delicious to the touch, so graceful to the eye, so gracious in their gentle doings, were not made to belabour men's faces" (453). Introduction This work focuses on the character of Eleanor Bold in Anthony Trollope's Barchester Towers (1857), analysing her behaviour and aspirations in relation to the postulates advanced by John Ruskin in "Of Queens Garden" and Eliza Lynn Linton's remarks in "The Girl of the Period". To achieve the objective proposed, the portrayal of Eleanor Bold in the novel is examined, particularly in the work's second chapter, and her social relations, especially the amorous propositions she receives. After focusing on some aspects of Eleanor Bold illustrated at the beginning of the novel, the study concentrates on the chapters on "Ullathorne Sports". Victorian novels often depict parties held in the countryside, such as at Ullathorne, or those described by Charles Dickens (the party that Mrs Leo Hunter offers in Chapter XV of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club). These events function as complete social "murals" illustrating in detail a web of ties and relationships, friendships and courtships, along with the aspirations of the different characters making up the scene. 1 FREESIDE EUROPE ONLINE ACADEMIC JOURNAL Issue 9 (April 2019) www.freesideeurope.com This study first looks at some of the principles that John Ruskin and Eliza Lynn Linton set forth in their critical works. Upon this theoretical foundation, Eleanor Bold's behaviour is analysed. Finally, the character is studied in relation to Victorian gender roles, concluding with an observation of her deviation from existing social conventions, and the assertion that she embodies the concept of the "new woman" advanced by Sarah Grand (1894: 271) at the end of the century. The postulates of John Ruskin and Eliza Lynn Linton In his essay "Of Queen's Gardens" John Ruskin advances a conservative vision of the quintessential Victorian woman. His assertions included the idea that "The man's power is active, progressive, defensive", while "[...] the woman's power is for rule, not for battle [...]". Ruskin also associated man with "the open world", as he "[...] guards the woman from all this [the anxieties of the outer life]; within his house, as ruled by her [...]" (2009: 158). The Victorian writer defined the ideal wife and her virtues, relative to the qualities of a husband. This conceptualisation suffices and is ideal to infer the general conceptions of women and their roles during his time, and, consequently, to apply them to the character in question. Ruskin upholds the notion of the "noble woman", linked to the domestic sphere, envisioned as a "place of Peace; the shelter" (Ruskin, 2009: 158); and he described the ideal attributes of women: "she must be enduringly, incorruptibly good, instinctively, infallibly wise - wise, not for self-development, but for self-renunciation [...]" (2009: 159). In addition to the traits cited by John Ruskin in 1865, we can find many other similar ideas from the same century, such as in its conduct books, the narrative poem by Coventry Patmore "The Angel in the House", and some newspaper articles in the same vein. Another example is "The Girl of the Period" that Eliza Lynn Linton (1868: 339-340) published in Saturday Review. Linton criticises those women who transgress the traditional conventions governing acceptable female behaviour in the Victorian era. Publishing her article on March 14, 1868, Linton points to purity and dignity as attributes consubstantial to the feminine essence, while lamenting a change in paradigm that she observes towards the end of the 19th century: "Of late years we have changed the patterns, and have given to the world a race of women as utterly unlike the old insular ideal as if we had created another nation together". Linton contrasts "the fair young English girl" with "The Girl of the Period", and asserts that the only thing they have in common is their language, which is also shown to be adulterated "through the copious additions it has received from the current slang of the day". Linton's article embodies a philosophy (Bloomfield 2001) utterly averse to feminism. 2 FREESIDE EUROPE ONLINE ACADEMIC JOURNAL Issue 9 (April 2019) www.freesideeurope.com Introducing Eleanor Bold: A widow with three suitors Eleanor Bold appears in the second chapter of the work. Widowed after expecting for one month, her son is born eight months later. Eleanor Bold is a wealthy widow. The character of Eleanor represents a virtuous and sympathetic woman, standing in contrast to other women populating the pages of Barchester Towers , like Mrs Proudie (the personification of pride), the Signora Neroni (a seductress), Charlotte Stanhope (a manipulator) and Mrs Lookaloft (an arriviste). Enjoying a comfortably economic position, she stands out for her exceptional "feeling of independence". A widow, her surname "Bold" retained from her marriage, she attracts a number of suitors. Charlotte Stanhope -who intercedes as a matchmaker- wants her for her brother, Bertie. Eleanor's independence is portrayed as an anomaly and, at the same time, constitutes the engine that propels much of the plot's dynamism. Eleonor's independence[1] is highlighted and, at the same time, problematized by Trollope, as she is "too keen in the feeling of independence, a feeling dangerous for a young woman" (452). Despite this, the work culminates in a happy ending, with Eleonor marrying Arabin, one of her three suitors[2] (the other two are Mr Slope and Bertie Stanhope). Trollope rolls out Mrs Bold's three suitors throughout the literary text, with the question of who shall prevail generating narrative tension. The author includes several ironic scenes in which he presents the three suitors together; for example when they are grouped around the same table and two of them must make room for the third. The narrator mentions the "new duties" (19) of Eleanor Bold twice in the same episode. Eleanor is the Archdeacon Dr Grantly's sister-in-law, both women being daughters of Mr Harding (a moral force in the novel). It is worth asking, then, what are this character's "new duties"? At the end of Chapter 37, Eleanor is mentioned when the guests are sitting around the table at the party at Ullathorne. Trollope wishes to draw the reader's attention to Mrs Bold's admirers, and does so dramatically through mythological semantics taken from the epic poem The Odyssey. Thus, tactically, he focuses the reader's awareness through language contrasting with the plain and natural images portrayed in all the previous pages of the chapter: Eleanor had been right glad to avail herself of his [Mr Slope's] arm, seeing that Mr Slope was hovering nigh her. In striving to avoid that terrible Charybdis of Slope she was in great danger of falling into an unseen Scylla on the other hand, that Scylla being Bertie Stanhope. Nothing could be more gracious than she was to Bertie. She almost jumped at his proffered arm. Charlotte perceived this from a distance, and triumphed in her heart; Bertie felt it, and was encouraged; Mr Slope saw it, and glowered with jealousy. Eleanor and 3 FREESIDE EUROPE ONLINE ACADEMIC JOURNAL Issue 9 (April 2019) www.freesideeurope.com Bertie sat down to table in the dining room; and as she took her seat at his right hand, she found that Mr Slope was already in possession of the chair at her own. (422) Trollope indicates that Eleanor Bold avoids Slope (who is compared to Charybdis), but faces another danger: Bertie Stanhope (likened to Scylla). Eleanor's favourable reaction towards Bertie, with the hyperbole "She almost jumped at his proffered arm", rouses jealousy in Slope, who hastens to the table to sit next to Eleanor Bold. The author wishes to stress the fact that Eleanor Bold has several suitors, and that, despite this, she endeavours to pursue her own aims and shape her own destiny at all times. In fact, at the beginning of the next chapter (38), the narrator portrays Mr Arabin as concerned about Eleanor's reaction to Mr Slope, which confirms the centrality that these themes of courtship, conquest and acceptance or rejection acquire in the novel, as well as the importance that the suitors assign to the widow's reactions. Mr Arabin is described as follows: He had sat there alone with his glass before him, and then with his teapot, thinking about Eleanor Bold.