Mrs. Hurtle in Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now

My general commentary on Anthony Trollope’s The Way We Live Now is here.

About half of Trollope’s important characters are women. He has created many imaginative and dynamic personas in the novels that I have read. His female characters have been varied. While most are virtuous, mentally and emotionally strong, a few notable ones have exhibited questionable integrity. Lizzie Eustace of The Palliser Books was thoroughly immoral. Mrs. Proudy of The Chronicles of Barchester was a force to be reckoned with and mostly malicious as she waged social war on a large  host of characters over the course of a series of books. Yet, in the thirteen other Trollope books that I have read, no female character showed physical prowess and aggression in the way that men do and as Mrs. Hurtle does.  Though some of his female characters participated in fox hunts, which are common in Trollope books, none engaged in aggressive action the way that Mrs. Hurtle does. 

Coming from the American West, Mrs. Hurtle is described as being comfortable with both guns and knives. It is eventually revealed that she shot and killed an attempted rapist in Oregon.  She describes English women as “dolls.” At one point, she writes to Paul, who has broken off an engagement with her. The following is like nothing else I have ever read in a Trollope novel, 

"You shall suffer retribution. I desire you to come to me,— according to your promise,— and you will find me with a horsewhip in my hand. I will whip you till I have not a breath in my body. And then I will see what you will dare to do;— whether you will drag me into a court of law for the assault. Yes; come. You shall come. And now you know the welcome you shall find. I will buy the whip while this is reaching you, and you shall find that I know how to choose such a weapon. I call upon you to come. But should you be afraid and break your promise, I will come to you. I will make London too hot to hold you"

Other Trollope heroines have lamented the loss of those who they loved, but no others threatened to attack their lovers with a horsewhip!

Mrs. Hurtle is not just capable of violence. In fact, she is a mostly sympathetic character. She is complex and shows many virtues. She exhibits real pain over Paul’s rejection of her but eventually more or less forgives him. In fact, she eventually does the right thing and chooses to be truthful in a moment where she could have ruined him. She also tries to help Ruby Rubbles, a young woman who is being terribly misused by the vile Felix Carbury. In addition, the above letter seems to be a bit of venting. While it is revealed that she has used physical force in the past, it was in self-defense against violent men. 

Mrs. Hurtle displays something else that is rare in a Trollope book, that is, she is a big thinker. Like Jane Austen, Trollope tends to fashion characters who are mostly concerned with everyday life. He tends not to write about philosophical people. When his characters do share observations about life in general, it tends to be in relation to a specific life situation that they are dealing with. Mrs. Hurtle is a little different. She thinks about life itself as well as its big issues. 

At one point, she is sharing her observations about the apparently successful businessman, Augustus  Melmotte, and how great men do not necessarily need to be bound by the same code of ethics as others, 

“commerce is not noble unless it rises to great heights. To live in plenty by sticking to your counter from nine in the morning to nine at night, is not a fine life. But this man with a scratch of his pen can send out or call in millions of dollars. Do they say here that he is not honest?…Of course such a man will be abused. People have said that Napoleon was a coward, and Washington a traitor. You must take me where I shall see Melmotte. He is a man whose hand I would kiss; but I would not condescend to speak even a word of reverence to any of your Emperors."

It is clear from the plot and text that Trollope does not share the sentiments expressed above. At the same time, Mrs. Hurtle is a mostly decent character who is flawed. My point here is that this philosophizing about the nature of greatness and ethics is a rare thing for a Trollope creation to engage in. The only other Trollope character that I can think of that philosophizes like this is John Neverbend of The Fixed Period. That work of dystopian fiction is a very different Trollope book from the start. 

It is of course significant that Mrs. Hurtle is American. It seems clear that Trollope would not portray an Englishwoman in this manner. This does seem to reflect some measure of reality. There is no doubt that some Englishwoman of the time passed physical prowess and could take care of themselves in violent situations, however, Mrs. Hurtle's style is distinctly American. As such she is  freer and much less inhibited then her British counterparts. The fact that Trollope does not view all American women like Mrs. Hurtle is apparent in The Duke's Children, where he portrayed several American woman in ways that were much closer to traditional gender roles. 

Like many Trollope works, this book is full of interesting characters. I could devote a post to all of them. One thing that struck me about Mrs. Hurtle is just how different she is from the typical Trollope female protagonist. In the end, The Way We Live Now is another Trollope novel filled with intriguing and compelling people.

The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope was first published in 1875. It is a stand-alone novel in that it was not part of Trollope’s two big series. I have heard a fair number of people call this the author’s best book. Though I thought a few of his other books were better, I thought that it was excellent and one of his best.

The plot of this book is fairly complex and involves a lot of characters. One center of gravity involves Augustus Melmotte. A British citizen who has recently returned from France, Melmotte is apparently fabulously wealthy. There are rumors that he has gained his money through disreputable means. Because of that, and because he displays vulgarity, he is initially shunned socially. However, as he gains power, people begin to fall in line and even established aristocrats begin to behave obsequiously to him. 

Lady Carbury also plays a central role in the story. She is a widow entering middle age. Though she tends to be deceitful and manipulative, she has redeeming qualities. One such positive personality trait is that she is enormously self-sacrificing toward her son. She has also survived a difficult past with an abusive husband.

Marie Melmotte, Augustus’s daughter, is essentially being put up for sale by her father. He wants to marry her to a member of the aristocracy. One of her suitors is the wretched Sir Felix Carbury, Lady Carbury’s son. Felix Carbury, like most of Marie’s suitors, is only interested in her money.

Paul Montague, a flawed but complex young nobleman, is vying for the affections of Hetta Carbury, who is Lady Carbury’s daughter. His life is complicated by the reappearance of his former fiancé, the American widow, Mrs. Hurtle, as well as the fraudulent machinations of Augustus Melmotte.

A common theme that cuts through various families is the changing social situation that is going on in Great Britain at the time. The old aristocracy is for the most part broke. Family properties are mortgaged as everyone falls deeper and deeper in debt. There is a lot of new money around. The new money families have gained their wealth through commerce. Though the aristocracy formally looked down upon the new mercantile class, the older members of the old families are desperate to marry their children into this new wealth as a way to stave off insolvency. For their part, the new money families are eager to marry their children into aristocracy because it will bring aristocratic titles into the families. Amidst all this, Trollope portrays the young, aristocratic sons as spoiled, narcissistic spendthrifts whose behaviors are further burying their families into debt. 

The ultimate example of this is Sir Felix Carbury. Though he is a baronet, he has squandered the modest fortune that his father has left him. Along the way he has ruined his military career. He lives a parasitical life draining his mother of her modest income as he continues to lose money gambling. Throughout the narrative he dishonestly courts Marie Melmotte in an attempt to get his hands on her fortune while simultaneously carrying on a dalliance with the lower class Ruby Ruggles. He is initially described as follows, 

"He had given himself airs on many scores;—on the score of his money, poor fool, while it lasted; on the score of his title; on the score of his army standing till he lost it; and especially on the score of superiority in fashionable intellect.  But he had been clever enough to dress himself always with simplicity and to avoid the appearance of thought about his outward man.  As yet the little world of his associates had hardly found out how callous were his affections,—or rather how devoid he was of affection.  His airs and his appearance, joined with some cleverness, had carried him through even the viciousness of his life.  In one matter he had marred his name, and by a moment's weakness had injured his character among his friends more than he had done by the folly of three years.  There had been a quarrel between him and a brother officer, in which he had been the aggressor; and, when the moment came in which a man's heart should have produced manly conduct, he had first threatened and had then shown the white feather.  That was now a year since, and he had partly outlived the evil;—but some men still remembered that Felix Carbury had been cowed, and had cowered."

Add to this the many characters who are corrupt and greedy who populate this work, many of whom are in the orbit of the ultimate conman Augustus Melmotte. . 

All of this has led many to call this a cynical work by Trollope. I found it in many ways similar to his The Eustace Diamonds. I wrote about that novel here.  Both of these books are filled with unethical and narcissistic characters. Thus, these novels are darker than typical Trollope. However, Trollope still presents a world where good people act in contrast to the bad. Like The Eustace Diamonds, this book has a moral center of virtuous people such as Hetta Carbury and Paul Montague. In addition, at the work’s end, Lady Carberry turns away from vacuousness and narcissism when she accepts a marriage proposal from a man of decency and substance.  Though much more cynical than the usual Trollope book, I find that this virtuous core, in the end, prevents this from being a truly cynical work.

There is so much more to this novel. It is filled with fascinating characters and situations.  I will be posting at least one more blog on one particularly intriguing character. This is one of my favorite Trollope books. Though I liked Barchester Towers, The Last Chronicle of Barset and Can You Forgive Her? a little better, since this book is a standalone, it would be a fine introduction to the author.