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 '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 (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.

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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.

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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

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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. As is usual in such meditations, he did little but blame her; blame her for liking Mr Slope, and blame her for not liking him: blame her for her cordiality to himself, and blame her for her want of cordiality; blame her for being stubborn, headstrong, and passionate; and yet the more he thought of her the higher she rose in his affection. (424)

Then the narrator reveals that Signora Neroni is convinced of Arabin's love for Eleanor Bold, expressed in the metaphorical and graphic way below:

It is impossible to say how the knowledge had been acquired, but the signora had a sort of instinctive knowledge that Mr Arabin was an admirer of Mrs Bold. Men hunt foxes by the aid of dogs, and are aware that they do so by the strong organ of smell with which the dog is endowed. [...] by some such acute exercise of her feminine senses the signora was aware that Mr Arabin loved Eleanor Bold [...] (426)

As Mr Arabin speaks with Madaline Neroni, they contemplate a scene charged with significance: Eleanor Bold sitting between the other two suitors (Bertie Stanhope and Mr Slope). In this way a triangle of admirers is graphically configured in the same scene: "Mr Arabin, rising from his position, leaned over the sofa and looked through the drawing-room door to the place where Eleanor was seated between Bertie Stanhope and Mr Slope" (431). This striking image continues when Miss Thorpe places Mr Slope and Mr Arabin amongst them, sitting on either side of Eleanor Bold: "And the two gentlemen [Slope and Arabin] bowed stiffly to each other across the lady whom they both intended to marry, while the other gentleman [Bertie] who also intended to marry her stood behind, watching them" (434). This chapter, entitled "The Bishop Breakfasts, and the Dean Dies" focuses more on the triad of the widow's suitors than on the events the title alludes to,

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Mr Slope, or a slap as a symbol of female pluck The Rev Mr Slope is introduced in the fourth chapter, constituting as a kind of caricature, the descendant of an 18th-century character created by Laurence Sterne[3] in his novel Tristram Shandy. Mr Slope had become infatuated with the bishop's daughter, Olivia Proudie, but did not win her over, and settled for being named the Bishops' Chaplain (30-31), maintaining a relationship of power based on a union of synergies with the cleric's wife, thereby influencing the decisions that he takes at the Barchester Diocese. Another aprioristic aspect meriting mention is his physical appearance, described with negative and caustic semantics in the fourth chapter, as in this image: "His face is nearly of the same colour as his hair, though perhaps a little redder: it is not unlike beef - beef, however, one would say, of a bad quality" (33). In one case the narrator compares Archdeacon Grantly with Mr Slope, and expresses his predilection for the former (33-34).

At the beginning of Chapter 40, Mr Slope decides to confess his love to Eleanor Bold. The prolegomena of this scene are defined by several details worthy of emphasis. First, the chapter begins with a quote from Lady Macbeth: "That which has made them drunk, has made me bold" (447), to stress to the reader that the lover had drunk a lot of "champagne" (448) in order to steel his resolve and overcome his shyness. The narrator expresses it thus: "He is not the first man who has thought it was expedient to call in the assistance of Bacchus on such an occasion" (447). Secondly, when Eleanor leaves the table and goes to the garden ("Eleanor was out through the window, and on the grass"), Mr Slope follows her, which Eleanor notices: "Eleanor saw that he was pursued, and as a deer when escape is no longer possible will turn to bay an attack the hounds, so did she turn upon Mr Slope" (447).

The lady tries to deter the suitor from his intentions, but Mr Slope reaffirms his decision, even offering her his arm, to walk together. Eleanor Bold's first reaction is: "Thank you, Mr Slope, I am much obliged to you; but for the very short time that I shall remain with you I shall prefer walking alone" (449). In response to Slope's insistence, the lady responds thus: "Pray hoped nothing, Mr Slope, as far as I am concerned; pray do not; I do not know, and need not know what hope you mean. Our acquaintance is very slight and will probably remain so. Pray, pray let that be enough; there is at any rate no need for us to quarrel. " (450). The narrator explains that she "was rejecting him before he had offered himself" (450). Trollope underlines Eleanor's negative response by means of another literary quote, in this case of Henry Taylor, in Philip Van Artevelde (1834): "From such a sharp and waspish Word as 'no' / To pluck the sting". The scene's protagonist deduces that "the widow was bearing himself, as he thought, with too high a hand, was speaking of himself in much too imperious a tone" (450).

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Eleanor Bold does not like to be addressed with the familiar tone that Mr Slope takes towards her, calling her by her Christian name, so she responds: "My name, Mr Slope, is Mrs Bold" (451). Mr Slope[4], nevertheless, goes a step further in his advances, and dares to run his hand along her waist[5] ("and he contrived to pass his arm round her waist", 451). The woman's remarkable reaction, described through the simile of a viper, and the hyperbolic simile of thunder,[6] is as follows:

She sprang from him as she would have jumped from an adder, but she did not spring far; not, indeed, beyond arm's length; and then, quick as thought, she raised her little hand and dealt him a box on the ear with such right good will, that it sounded among the trees like a miniature thunder-clap. (452)

Analysis

Nancy Armstrong (2001: 112) writes that "Victorian fiction revised an earlier narrative that insisted on a woman's quest for financial security [...]". Eleanor, however, embodies just the opposite, as her situation (a widow and the mother of a child) is one of affluence. Thus, Mrs Bold embodies a problematic ("dangerous") feminine ideal, according to the culture of her era.

Trollope wishes for the reader to fix his attention on this brave, atypical reaction by a woman in the Victorian novel, for which he has his narrator comment in the following way: "And now it is to be feared that every well-bred reader of these pages will lay down the book with disgust, feeling that, after all, the heroine is unworthy of sympathy" (452). Thus, Eleanor issues "an insult as a blow from a man would have been to another. It went directly to his pride" (453). Implicitly, the narrator applies the standards of the Victorian status quo with regard to the kind of submissive and non-dissonant behaviour expected of women when he states: "She is a hoyden, one will say. At any rate she is not a lay, another will exclaim. [...] she has no idea of her dignity of a matron; or of the peculiar propriety which her position demands" (432). The narrator, donning the mask and perspective of a moralist thinker, insists: "But, nevertheless, she should not have raised her hand against the man. 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).

These statements articulated by Trollope reflect the likely views of his readers, who were bound to be surprised by Eleanor's behaviour, which transgressed the kind of conduct permissible according to the norms of the era. Mrs Bold's behaviour contravenes, for example, the calls of the likes of Ruskin and Patmore. It also violates the principles of many conduct manuals in vogue at that time, such as the case of the conservatism endorsed by Ellis Sarah Stickney in her books, in which she argued that: "It is the domestic character of England, the home comforts, and fireside virtues, for which she is justly celebrated" (1939: 10).

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The female protagonist's behaviour is certainly not in accord with the sensibility that Lord Alfred Tennyson (1969: 741-844) expressed, in 1847, in the fifth canto of "The Princess":

Man for the field and woman for the heart; Man for the sword and for the needle she; Man with the head and woman with the heart; Man to command and woman to obey; All else confusion. (Lines 437-441)

Trollope recapitulates the daring and boldness of Eleanor Bold, stressing her deft juggling of friendship and love with three suitors, while emphasising that she is a newly widowed woman: "At one moment she is romping with young Stanhope; then she is making eyes at Mr Arabin; anon she comes to fisty-cuffs with a third lover, and all before she is yet a widow of two years' standing" (452). The author highlights the contrast between the woman's behaviour and that expected of her. I believe that Trollope engages the reader's attention through the different perspectives he has generated, alluding to several deplorable reactions ("[...] one will say. [...] another will exclaim") and that the sparks generated by these incompatible perspectives on Eleanor's behaviour constitute a vivid reflection of two schools of thought in the Victorian era.

Next, the narrator explains Eleanor's abrupt reaction by arguing that she had not been raised in the refined neighbourhood of Belgravia, or had had a strict upbringing or influence, either by her father, or her husband. He even states that: "She was too keen in the feeling of Independence, a feeling dangerous for a young woman, but one in which her position peculiarly tempted her to indulge" (452).

This challenge[7] to the Victorian conventions of decorum is encapsulated in this statement in which the noun "deed" and the verb "sinned" stand out, conveying the lady's heroic bravery, and the conceptualization of the act as if it constituted a sin[8] or error: "The moment the deed was done Eleanor felt that she had sinned against all propriety [....]" (453). This feeling of guilt, or at least its evocation, is transmitted again in the chapter's conclusion, where the incident is compared to a theatrical performance: "The thought [...] of what she had done grieved her greatly, and she could not abstain from bursting into tears. 'Twas thus she played the second act in that day's melodrama" (456).

The narrator revisits and reiterates this pivotal event several times, from different perspectives, over the course of the novel[9]. For example, the protagonist recounts the episode in the following chapter when she tells Charlotte Stanhope, in this way:

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'I can easily imagine that sort of stuff he would talk. Well - and then -?' 'And then -he took hold of me.' 'Took hold of you?' 'Yes - he somehow got close to me, and took hold of me -' 'By the waist?' 'Yes,' said Eleanor shuddering. 'And then -' 'Then I jumped away from him, and gave him a slap on the face; and ran away along the path till I saw you.' (460)

Charlotte's reaction was indulgent, and not without a dose of mockery and irony towards Slope: "It was delightful to her to think Mr Slope had his ears boxed. [...]. His friends would ask him whether his ears tingled whenever he saw a widow; and he would be cautioned that beautiful things were made to be looked at, and not to be touched" (460).

The other two suitors: Bertie and Mr Arabin Early in Chapter 41, Charlotte Stanhope and her brother, Bertie, are looking for Eleanor Bold. Charlotte paves the way for her brother to win Eleanor's affections: "He swears that you have gone off with Mr Slope, and he is now on the point of hanging himself" (458), as she is revealed as a manipulative character who goads her brother to take the step of asking Mrs Bold to marry him. The narrator describes how Mrs Bold is astonished upon receiving two marriage proposals on the same day, with reference to Bertie's proposal, plotted by his sister Charlotte. In this context, striking Classical imagery is employed once again to describe Bertie: "Bertie, in short, was to be the Pegasus on whose wings they were to ride out of their present dilemma" (462). Eleanor Bold's reaction is: "It never occurred to her, that now that she had killed one dragon, another was about to spring up in her path [...]" (462). I insist on the above: Trollope amplifies these images to capture the reader's attention.

Bertie views this possible conjugal unit as "a new profession called matrimony" (468), ostensibly a consequence machinated by his sister, as the two's relationship is devoid of love or physical attraction. Bertie, after a "singular exordium" (470) -which retards the action and reveals his lack of authenticity or sincerity upon asking for Eleanor's hand- confesses to her "She [Charlotte] wants me to marry you" (476). Eleanor -now cognizant of Bertie's manipulation and aware of his lack of conviction- becomes "really angry [...], entirely impassive" (477) and responds with a categorical refusal.

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In the meantime, Mr Arabin is sitting next to Signora Neroni. When Mrs Bold enters the room, Arabin "blushed and rose from his chair" (464). Arabin and Eleanor chat about some vapid topics. The former is portrayed as a meditative and hardworking character, in contrast to the idle and suspicious Slope[10]. The narrator concludes Chapter 41 confirming, through a prolepsis, that Mr Arabin and Mrs Bold are, indeed, attracted to each other:

And yet these two people were thoroughly in love with each other; and though one was a middle-aged clergyman, and the other a lady at any rate past the wishy-washy bread-and-butter period of life, they were as unable to tell their own minds to each other as any Damon and Phillis, whose unite ages would not make up that to which Mr Arabin had already attained. (465).

In this case the London novelist highlights Eleanor's maturity and experience through the striking expression, prosodically and syntactically: "the wishy-washy bread-and-butter period of her life", and the characters' mutual attraction, through the image of a couple out of pastoral poetry[11]. Mrs Bold and Mr Arabin are ultimately joined in a marriage based on family unity between equals, in which happiness reigns. This is made clear in the "Conclusion"[12], thanks to the adverbial of manner whose noun is premodified by the two eloquent adjectives "perfect" and "mutual": "He and his wife live together in perfect mutual confidence" (586-597). Conclusion: "the heroine [...] unworthy of sympathy"?

The widow Eleanor Bold's "new duties" consist of attending and enjoying parties in middle-class Victorian society; essentially, social relations. But the "new duties" of Mrs Bold involve rejecting, with aplomb and bravery, those who never transgress the canons of "appropriate" female behaviour; and to seek her own happiness, even should her conduct clash with the society that contextualizes and defines her life.

The case of Eleanor Bold is not an example of a timorous, self-conscious woman confined to the solitude of her house. Rather, Eleanor is a virtuous widow and the mother of a son. She enjoys a series of Victorian middle class social gatherings held at the home of the Thornes. She is a widow who embraces her independence and exhibits the maturity born of her life experience.

Eleanor's behaviour and free-spirited reactions deviate from the path dictated by critics and thinkers like John Ruskin, Coventry Patmore, Eliza Lynn Linton and Sarah Ellis Stickney, among many other champions of Victorian moral standards. Through this clash of sensibilities, Anthony Trollope points to the conservatism of Victorian culture, while portraying Eleanor Bold as just that: bold. The novel's protagonist functions as a synecdoche that prefaces and, in a way, epitomizes a new woman, one who rejects the ties

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Works cited AA.VV. 1810. The Works of the English Poets. From Chaucer to Cooper; Including the Series Edited, with Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, by Dr. Samuel Johnson [...], Vol XIV. London: C. Whittingham, Printer.

Armstrong, Nancy. 2011. "Gender and the Victorian Novel". The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel. Ed. David Dreirde. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 97-124.

Bloomfield, A.L. 2001 "Much More than an Antifeminist: Eliza Lynn Linton's Contributions to the Rise of Victorian Popular Journalism", Victorian Literature and Culture 29(2). 267-283.

Grand, Sarah. 1894. "The New Aspect of the Woman Question", North American Review, 158. 271.

Hardy, Thomas. 2012. Far from the Madding Crowd. London: Penguin.

Linton, Eliza Lynn. 1868. "The Girl of the Period", Saturday Review. 339-340.

Patmore, Coventry. 1854-63. The Angel in the House. London: John W. Parter & Son.

Ruskin, John. 2009. "Sesame and Lilies (1865). Of Queens' Gardens". Selected Writings, Dinah Birch, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 154-174.

Stickney, Ellis Sarah. 1839. The women of England Their social duties and domestic habits, London: Fishe, son & Co.

Tennyson, Alfred Lord. 1969. The Poems of Tennyson. Ed. Christopher Ricks, London: Longmans.

Trollope, Anthony. (1857) 2012. Barchester Towers. London: Penguin.

[1] At times Eleanor Bold's conduct is a source of public scandal. Dr Grantly himself asks Mr Arabin

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[3] We read: "I have heard it asserted that he is lineally descended from that eminent physician who assisted at the birth of Mr T. Shandy [...]" (29). [4] In the next chapter (41) Eleanor Bold describes Slope thus: "That horrid man [...]" (458). "He is an abominable, horrid, hypocritical man [...]. He is the most fulsome, fawning, abominable man I ever saw" (549). "[...] he is such a nasty man" (460). [5] Anthony Trollope does not want the reader to forget this episode, so he revisits it at the start of Chapter 41: "Had anyone told her a week ago that he would have put his arm round her waist at this party of Miss Thorne's she would have been utterly incredulous" (457). [6] Her strength is later reiterated by the narrator: "His [Mr Slope's] was stinging with the weight of Eleanor's fingers, and he fancied that everyone who looked at him would be able to see on his face the traces of what he had endured" (454). The idea of humiliation is repeated, and also of revenge, in this description: "He stood motionless, undecided, glaring with his eyes, thinking of the pains and penalties of Hades, and meditating how he might best devote his enemy to the infernal gods with all the passion of his accustomed eloquence" (454). [7] The author stresses the male character's reaction thus: "But how shall I sing the divine wrath of Mr Slope, or how invoke the tragic muse to describe the rage which swelled the celestial bosom of the bishop's chaplain?" (453), thereby conveying a heroic sense, evocative of the epic poems cited by the omniscient narrator, through his reference to the muses' singing and invocation. Trollope, thus, contrives a striking way to focus the reader's attention on the reaction of the humiliated cleric. [8] The narrator insists, through hyperbolic imagery taking from the Greek tradition, with tinges of tragedy: "The painter put a veil over Agamemnon's face when called on to depict the father's grief at the early doom of his devoted daughter" (453). He continues: "We will not attempt to tell with what mighty urgings of the inner heart Mr Slope swore to revenge himself on the woman who had disgraced him, nor will we vainly strive to depict his deep agony of soul" (453-454). [9] In the novella's "Conclusion" the narrator informs the reader that "There is but one secret in her bosom which he [Arabin] has not shared. He has never yet learnt how Mr Slope has his ears boxed" (586). [10] For instance, in this statement by Eleanor Bold: "'We have had a very pleasant party,' said he, using the tone he would have used had he declared that the sun was shining very brightly, or the rain falling very fast" (464). Previously, along with Neroni, he is described thus: "But Mr Arabin uttered no oaths, kept his hand

11 FREESIDE EUROPE ONLINE ACADEMIC JOURNAL Issue 9 (April 2019) www.freesideeurope.com mostly in his trousers pocket, and had no more thought of kissing Madame Nenori, than of kissing the Countess De Courcy" (464). And in this way: "So little had he known of female attractions of that peculiar class which the signora owned, that he became affected with a kind of temporary delirium, when first subjected to its power. He lost his head rather than his heart, and toppled about mentally, reeling in his ideas as a drunken man does on his legs" (463). [11] From amongst the numerous poems that poeticise their names, I cite the pastoral eclogue by John Cunningham entitled "Damon and Phillis", which dates from 1760 (AA VV, 1810: 440). [12] The wedding is briefly described in this final segment of the novel. Eleanor has been a widow for more than two years, and the religious ceremony was overseen by the archdeacon. The narrator places their happiness and affinity beyond all doubt: "We have no doubt that they will keep their promises [...]" (582). This is followed by the celebration where we are presented with Johnny Bold, Eleanor's son from her first husband.

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