BARCHESTER TOWERs

M.A
SEMESTER 1
 Anthony Trollope
• Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) .
• Was born in London to a failed barrister.
• A novelist whose writing for many years
supported the family.
• Financial difficulties forced him to transfer from
one school to another and prevented a university
education.
• At age 19 he began work for the Post Office, for
which he labored for more than thirty years.
 Anthony Trollope
• His earliest novels, written in Ireland in the
late 1840s.
• Were not especially successful.
• Publication of The Warden in 1855.
• He began the series of six Barsetshire
novels, known as the Barchester Chronicles.
• Daily issues of church politics in upper
middle-class England,
• Foundation of his reputation.
 Anthony Trollope
• Trollope was by personal profession a High
Churchman, but sought to find good in
evangelicals and reformers as he skewered
their enthusiasm; he consistently attacked,
not the Church, but its foibles.
 Anthony Trollope
• Rising daily at 5:30 .
• Writing at the steady rate of a thousand words.
• Post Office work.
• He methodically produced sixty-five books,
• forty-seven of which were novels,
• writing even while he was traveling abroad to places as
far-flung as Australia, Ceylon, Iceland, and even America
(of which, like Dickens, he was very critical).
• He continued to write until the end, and died of a sudden
stroke at the age of 67.
 Anthony Trollope
• Barchester Towers is the second of six
books in Trollope’s Barchester Chronicles.
• It, like The Warden, deals largely with
church politics.
• In this volume, the conflict between High
and Low Church factions is the context
within which the story takes place.
 Anthony Trollope
• Barchester Towers (1857) by English author
Anthony Trollope satirizes the role of the
church in English life in the mid-19th
century.
• Considered a comedic classic, this novel is
the second in a six-part series known as The
Chronicles of Barsetshire.
 Summary
• Its themes include human conniving
• the abuse of religion
• the foibles of human nature
• the predominance of moral nobility.
 Summary
• Set in western England in the Catholic city
of Barchester (Barchester Towers refers to
the major cathedral in the town), the novel
opens to the well-respected Bishop of
Barchester, Dr. Grantly, dying.
• There is much commotion and speculation
over who, after the Bishop’s passing, will
ascend to his very powerful role.
 Summary
• Dr. Proudie wants in on the Bishop’s wealth
and power.
• He is a strict reformer from the “Low
Church,” meaning he wants to make church
services more informal and relaxed.
• Dr. Proudie is rather arrogant and hard to
please.
• He is largely controlled by his cunning and
energetic wife, Mrs. Proudie.
 Summary
• Meanwhile, the scheming and hypocritical
chaplain, Obadiah Slope, wants to see Dr.
Proudie ascend to the position; he will, by
serving him, also ascend the church ranks.
• Mr. Slope also has his eyes peeled for a
wealthy single lady he might marry.
 Summary
• Because his politics align with the current Prime Minister,
Dr. Proudie is appointed to the bishop’s position after the
bishop dies.
• Not everyone in Barchester is pleased by Dr. Proudie’s
ascension to power. The more conservative forces in town,
such as Archdeacon Theophilus Grantly—the son of Dr.
Grantly—are irate that Dr. Proudie, a newcomer to the
town, received the promotion when there are other, more
qualified people (such as himself) to assume the position.
 Summary
• While Archdeacon Grantly looses the battle of
receiving the bishopric, he is determined not to
lose the war. This means that he must place an ally
of his own into the newly open position of Warden
of Hiram’s Hospital.
• As these larger actions transpire, Obadiah Slope
gleefully obeys Mrs. Proudie’s requests. This
includes that he presents a sermon supporting the
abandonment of traditional church rituals, such as
chanting the sermon.
 Summary
• That Sunday, Chaplain Slope executes Mrs.
Proudie’s request, and lectures on the need to keep
church practices simple so as to focus with more
resolution on God and salvation.
• The churchgoers are outraged. Chanting the
sermon is part of their tradition, going back
centuries. The "higher ups" at the cathedral agree
that Chaplain Slope should never again have the
power to give a sermon on Sunday.
 Summary
• Dr. Proudie, now Bishop Proudie, is determined to
shake things up in the cathedral town.
• He implements a rule that says high church
officials must be present in the diocese to receive
their salary.
• This means that certain powerful officials, such as
Dr. Vesey Stanhope who has been residing in Italy
for the last 12 years, must come back to England if
he wants to remain employed by the church
 Summary
• With immense reluctance, Dr. Stanhope returns from Italy.
He brings along his disgruntled wife and three adult
children. Chaplain Slope becomes infatuated with the
crippled Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni.
• Signora Neroni is a volatile, passionate woman who hopes
to divorce her husband. She encourages Chaplain Slope’s
advancements, and he appears to hold a romantic interest
for her, but he stops, suddenly, once Mrs. Proudie
intercedes and commands him to keep away from the
Signora.
 Summary
• As the game of political appointments
continues, Archdeacon Grantly receives a
victory when one of his loyal men, the
Reverend Arabin, wins the appointment of
warden of St. Ewold’s. Reverend Arabin is
a bright scholar and well-respected within
the church.
 Summary
• Meanwhile, the Reverend Septimus
Harding learns that he is to be reappointed
to the principle position at Hiram’s
Hospital.
• But due to the Bishop’s new management
style, his salary will decrease and he will
have to take on more lectures.
 Summary
• Mr. Slope delivers this new information,
and in the process, comes across Eleanor
Bold, a wealthy widow and Reverend
Harding’s youngest daughter.
• Throughout the novel, Chaplain Slope will
try to win over Mrs. Bold, though by the
end he proves unsuccessful. Part of winning
her over includes trying to connect her
father with the “wardenship” of Hiram’s
 Summary
• Mrs. Proudie tells Mr. Slope that he cannot
support Reverend Harding’s promotion to
warden: he is, after all, supported by their
nemesis, Archdeacon Grantly.
• Mr. Slope lies to her by agreeing.
 Summary
• But Chaplain Slope is in love and, in order to win
over Eleanor Bold, campaigns for her father’s
promotion. Mrs. Proudie discovers his actions and
interprets these moves as a betrayal, and casts Mr.
Slope out of her circle.
• She gains revenge on everyone by convincing her
husband to give the wardenship not to Reverend
Harding, but to a less qualified, timid, and
complicit man: Mr. Quiverful, who will benefit
from the increase of salary as he has 14 children to
support.
 Summary
• At a garden party, Chaplain Slope proposes to
Eleanor Bold. She slaps him for the
presumption that she would even think of
marrying him.
• Later, Mr. Arabin overhears the Signora
rambling about Mr. Slope, and learns that he
was never a real friend to the Harding family.
Thus exposed, Mr. Slope is ostracized by both
Mrs. Proudie, Reverend Harding, and Signora
 Summary
• When Mr. Arabin, who has shown himself
to be loyal to her family, proposes to
Eleanor, she says yes.

Defeated in love and with no hope of

professional advancement, Mr. Slope ends
up returning to London.