The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

This section concentrates on the fortunes on our four pairs of lovers.

Young Nidderdale is being deceived by both father and daughter. Do you think this marriage will actually come about? What do you think about his admiration and support for Melmotte?

Hetta has broken off her engagement to Paul and told him he should go back to Mrs Hurtle. Do you think this action is out of character for her?

What did you think of the Brehgert correspondence? What was your impression of the whole Longstaffe family and how they behaved to each other?

Finally, Mrs Hurtle suggests a plan of action for Aunt Pipkin to take with Ruby which turns out to be quite effective. Do you think this was Ruby's only options and will she be happy with John Crumb in the end?

On top of the above, we see Melmotte being pushed to the wall in his financial dealings, and losing control of the funds that he has put in Marie's name. Can he ever bring this right?

I think that Mrs. Hurtle is showing her true worth in trying to prevent Ruby from making a big mistake and ruining her life. She is becoming one of the less self-absorbed characters in this novel. As to how her efforts will succeed-it's too early to tell.

Poor Nidderdale is having to straddle a fence, not to destroy the potential marital riches, but also not going full pro-Melmotte and thereby destroying his own reputation if things fall apart. I think Hetta just did what she had to do as a proper young lady of her time, but she certainly didn't wish it. As usual, Felix ruined the situation. In the Ruby affair, Mrs. Hurtle presents her most sympathetic and generous side so far. She understands manipulation very well, and proposes to use it to help Ruby.

Melmotte is in deep waters, and Marie proves to be as stubborn as her father.

The Longestaffe family is a nightmare. I can see why Georgiana was so eager to get out (even though she's as bad as the others, especially as shown by her response to Brehgert's letter - evidently he was too good for her after all).

So are the Carburys. Lady Carbury is annoying and meddlesome, and Felix is Felix. Because it's Trollope, I'm sure Hetta will have a happy ending with Paul in the end, but imagine if it were a different writer and Paul went back to Mrs. Hurtle or otherwise wasn't able to prove himself to Hetta. Hetta would then have a choice between marrying a man she doesn't love but having a peaceful, quiet life, or staying true to herself but being stuck with her mother and Felix.

So are the Melmottes. I think Marie would be happy with Lord Nidderdale if she let herself be. She would have to forget about Felix and let go of the grudge against her father and Nidderdale for putting her in that position. But she once admitted to herself that she could have liked him if circumstances were different, and he likes her, so maybe it's not too late for them to start again. Unless her father successfully gets ahold of her money and spends it.

Too bad Mrs. Hurtle, Ruby, and Marie Melmotte can't just go travelling together. They'd probably get along well and enjoy themselves. At this point I don't really like any of the characters except Mrs. Hurtle.

Melmotte’s explanation of what we’d call his ‘business plan’ to Lord Nidderdale :

‘Because you don’t understand how delicate a thing is credit. They persuaded a lot of men to stay away from that infernal dinner, and consequently it was spread about the town that I was ruined. The effect upon shares which I held was instantaneous and tremendous. The Mexican railway were at 117, and they fell from that in two days to something quite nominal—so that selling was out of the question. Cohenlupe and I between us had about 8,000 of these shares. Think what that comes to!’ Nidderdale tried to calculate what it did come to, but failed altogether. ‘That’s what I call a blow;—a terrible blow. When a man is concerned as I am with money interests, and concerned largely with them all, he is of course exchanging one property for another every day of his life—according as the markets go. I don’t keep such a sum as that in one concern as an investment. Nobody does. Then when a panic comes, don’t you see how it hits?’ ‘Will they never go up again?’ ‘Oh yes—perhaps higher than ever. But it will take time. And in the meantime I am driven to fall back upon property intended for other purposes. That’s the meaning of what you hear about that place down in Sussex which I bought for Marie. I was so driven that I was obliged to raise forty or fifty thousand wherever I could. But that will be all right in a week or two. And as for Marie’s money—that, you know, is settled.’

Basically Melmotte is leveraged up to his eyeballs. Investors bought shares in the railway only because they believed in Melmotte, it was never going to be built and had it been would never returned a profit. So once investors lose faith and sell, the price of the shares goes through the floor. Hence the only way Melmotte can raise ready cash is to resort to forgery to sell assets he does not legally own.

I agree that Mrs. Hurtle is one of the most honorable and kind characters in this novel. It being Trollope, Paul will probably end up with Hetta, although I don’t believe he deserves either woman. How fortunate for him that he forgot to mention to Hetta how he continually kissed (or more) Mrs. Hurtle as he made sure she didn’t feel deserted. Hetta, at least sees the general truth in Paul’s bad behavior towards a woman he was engaged to while he fumbles for an adequate explanation.

The Longestaffes are a prejudiced, superficial and snobbish group of people. Thankfully Mr. Brehgert was so clear-eyed in his assessment of the situation and he is done with them. He, along with Mrs. Hurtle and John Crumb are examples of people victimized in various ways by society, but still remain true to themselves and their beliefs.

I found it interesting that, at this point in the story, Mrs. Hurtle is the most likable character. I think she fell in love as Paul is a basically good man, who is moderately intelligent, appears to be physically attractive and wouldn't beat her. However, Paul was right to avoid marriage as it would have been unbalanced. Mrs. Hurtle needs a stronger man than Paul to be her equal mate. Her manipulative strengths were only confirmed in how she got Ruby to realize that life with John ain't so bad. Paul would have been putty in her hands.

Trollope also paints Brehgart as the most reasonable and emotionally balanced of the characters, even as he slips out of his engagement with a "if that's how you want it" line. While this indicates that Trollope is not anti-Semitic in developing his character, he does in his physical description of Brehgart. Trollope likes to use the word 'greasy.' Hetta's reaction is also reasonable.

At one point, I found myself was reading a chapter with John Crumb at the start of it and, for a minute, I thought I was reading about John, the main character in my other Kindle read, Lorna Doone. I'm switching my Kindle between the two books. There are similarities, though. Both Johns are big country boys who, while not unintelligent, sometimes take things too literally and miss nuances.

‘Nec pueros coram populo Medea trucidet.’

‘Let not Medea with unnatural rage Slaughter her mangled infants on the stage.’

Horace, Ars Poetica, 185.

Horace advises that violence take place only off-stage. This is famous basis of the neo-classic rule that 18th-century critics invoked against Shakespeare. Trollope implies - facetiously - that what Melmotte is about to do to his daughter is as atrocious as infanticide. Including a translation (by the 18th-century writer Philip Francis) shows Trollope wanted to be sure all of his readers got the joke.

Bill, indeed Melmotte's business plan could hardly even be called a plan. It's just counting on being able to sell shares at a particular price, when that price is by no means guaranteed. Those prices are largely governed by the psychology and emotions of the buyers and sellers.