On Reading Trollope

Just as I suspected: I stuck with Anthony Trollope's The Eustace Diamonds long enough to get drawn in and enjoy the story.  Although Trollope was prolific and is still popular in certain small circles, I had never read any of his novels.  I had started this one a couple of times only to set it aside in favor of something more gripping. But I finally read far enough along to get to know the characters and to care about them, even though they aren't really very likable, except Lucy Morris, the governess, and Lady Fawn, her employer.

The plot: Clever young girl from a good but indebted family gets herself married to a Lord.  Lizzie Eustace is very beautiful, but she doesn't have any gifts or abilities other than a talent for lying and manipulative dramatics.  Her love for romantic poetry extends only to the extent to which it provides her a frame for her own narrative and a text to study up on how to woo a husband.  Her first marriage is a success: She marries Lord Eustace, gets herself an income and a son, and then he obligingly dies.  For a year or so she plays the part of the sad widow, but she quickly realizes she must find another husband.  She's lonely and an object of interest because she has thousands of pounds a year and an estate in Scotland.  She's finds herself courted by her cousin and another young peer, Lord Fawn.  Her cousin is in love with Lord Fawn's sisters' governess, Lucy, but he is an up and coming barrister with a political career in Parliament and he needs money.  Lord Fawn proposes first, but unfortunately, shortly after Lizzie Eustace accepts him, he learns how conniving she is, and that she is involved in a potential lawsuit with her late husband's family about some diamonds her husband let her wear. The contention is that these diamonds, worth 10000 pounds, are a family heirloom, and since they weren't listed in the will, they couldn't be simply given to Lady Eustace.  She, of course, claims (dishonestly) that he expressly gave them to her while at their estate in Scotland (since everything at the estate supposedly belongs to her).

That's the set-up. The rest of the 700 pages go on about Lizzie's attempts to keep the diamonds, Lord Fawn's internal debate about breaking the engagement, Frank Greystock, the cousin, and Lucy's secret engagement, and Lizzie's other romantic entanglements, with the crisis occurring when the diamonds are believed stolen and then actually stolen.  Lizzie's dishonesty is finally revealed, her false friendships are tested and found wanting, Lord Fawn escapes from a disastrous near-marriage, while Frank and Lucy finally make their engagement known, even though this means Frank will sacrifice future prestige for future happiness, if all goes well.

I loved reading this, even though it did drag on. Pure escapism into a very different world. The women do little but try to find husbands and entertain.  Money and prestige are hugely influential in this hunt. (The most dramatic part of the novel is a foxhunt where the ladies nearly outride the men - a metaphor, I assume?) Trollope must not have had much faith in happy marriages. And he certainly saw money/greed as a huge motivation for human choice.  The introduction of this book went on and on about the politics of the day in regard to inheritance and titles, of which I understood very little, other than that Trollope was writing during a period of cultural shift, and he captures the pretense at decadence very well.

What captured my attention was the acceptance of the status quo and the fear of going against public approval. Lord Fawn is terrified of breaking off an engagement with a girl who is obviously a terrible match for him. Why would anyone think badly of him?  Today, no one thinks a thing about broken engagements (or broken marriages). Frank is afraid both to deny his affection for Lucy (and seeing himself as a romantic hero) or his need for money. No one would think badly of him for marrying his rich cousin instead of the girl he has won the affection of. And poor Miss MacNulty, Lizzie's companion, and Lucy Morris. Since they have no family and no money, they have no prospect for happiness without a romantic miracle.  They are limited to earning their income by accompanying rich people around and listening to their petty problems.  Theirs was a very small world.

What a contrast to today. Potential spouses can be found worldwide, thanks to the internet. Breaking a promise means nothing. Women have opportunities to seek their own fortune. Fortunes are made and lost and made and lost.  Family of origin is not destiny.  But people are still motivated by greed and vanity. They still gossip.  They still lie and steal and litigate.  Human nature doesn't change even if our circumstances do. Which is why it's so much fun to read about human nature in Victorian dress.