A Man With An Agenda

'Framley Parsonage' is not the continuation of the story of 'Doctor Thorne' the way that 'Barchester Towers' was of 'The Warden', but they have a good deal in common more than characters and setting.

Mark Robarts is a clergyman, not yet thirty, who has benefited from the patronage of his friend's mother, Lady Lufton. She chose him a devoted and capable wife and granted him the comfortable living of Framley at £800 a year. He lives perhaps too respectably, with a large household and a pony-chaise - things on the edge of propriety for a gentlemen of his standing and only just within his means. He has ambitions to move into even higher circles, even at the expense of his patroness' good opinion. With good intentions, he naively signs a note for dissolute politician Mr. Sowersby. The debt falls on Mark and he has to deal with the consequences towards not only his reputation but the happiness and security of his family. This conflict Mark's refusal to so anything at all about it makes up about a third of the novel, at least. It is frustrating and tedious. Thankfully, there are other people to follow.

Mark's sister, Lucy, comes to stay at the parsonage after the death of their father. She is a bright girl, but shy and without many of the higher refinements and accomplishments of other genteel women. Slowly, Lucy and young Lord Lufton form a mutual attachment. This further aggravates Lady Lufton, who would have her son marry a girl of her own choosing. Lucy, much like Mary Thorne in Doctor Thorne acts precisely within appropriate boundaries, but also speaks her mind and her conduct does much towards securing her own happiness. Lord Lufton, too, while not being entirely gallant, is not waiting on outside windfalls to accomplish his objectives, as Frank Gresham did. Trollope handles this conflict skillfully, one understands and sympathizes with Lady Lufton and her reasons in a way one couldn't Lady Arabella's. Arabella was a hostile hypocrite and the relationship of her and her family was incomprehensible outside the needs of the plot. In this novel Trollope got it right. The Luftons and the Robarts do argue and have fundamental disagreements, but they do so in a way that is compatible with their being friends and family.

The Robarts are acquainted with the Greshams, which brings the indomitable Miss Dunstable into play. She is still pursued by all manner of fortune-hunters, including Mr. Sowersby, but she is more than a match for them. Miss Dunstable persists in beating society at its own game. Her triumph was my favorite part of the novel. There are other subplots of course. The Grantlys, the Proudies, the Arabins and others all have their chance. Even the devious Mr. Sowersby and his shallow sister and his political friends have a chance to present themselves in a way that is understandable and entertaining. All of it adds to a richly layered novel about morality, convention, marriage and politics. Trollope has his characters act and behave in a way that is stylized and exaggerated enough for a novel, but still within the bounds of realism.

Next I go to 'The Small House at Allington'