Can You Forgive Her?

It is hard not to admire Trollope's mastery of characterization and development of class conflicts and sophisticated plots. Even though the overall story is one of several romances gone awry, the context and background of politics in England in the 1800s is so well drawn it could stand in as a history lesson. Did members of Parliament care about their constituencies? Did the upper classes govern wisely or well? What were the rights of women at the time? How did they express themselves? So many social issues are woven into the story, as well as a melodramatic villain, and an adorable but doomed lover. There are also well meaning but overreaching aunts and uncles (as well as one or two completely impotent ones) and a rich widow whose manipulations of everyone around her are very funny.

The Way We Live Now is still my favorite Trollope, or the Warden, but you cannot have a totally bad time in the hands of the master. ( )

2011, Blackstone Audiobooks, Read by Simon Vance

“What's a woman to do?” (Ch 6)

Indeed! Trollope introduces a delightful cast of women in Can You Forgive Her, all of whom have their own ideas as to the age-old dilemma. Heroine Alice Vavasor cannot make up her mind at all as to what a woman should do. Twice engaged to her cousin George Vavasor, and twice engaged to John Grey, she eventually marries. But she could not possibly have made the decision more complicated. Kate Vavasor, cousin to Alice, is firmy of the mind that her role is to manage the affairs of others, in particular those of her cousin and her loathsome brother, George. Unfortunately for all concerned, Kate seems not qualified to manage her own affairs, never mind those of others. Lady Glencora Palliser, also cousin to Alice a wealthy heiress, does what a woman in her position was expected to do: marry a title and yet more wealth. Alas, she is in love not with her husband, Plantaganet Palliser, but with the worthless Burgo Fitzgerald. And Arabella Greenow, Alice’s aunt and an impressively forward thinker, determines that a woman’s best course of action is to marry young to a wealthy old man, wait out the “old,” secure the “wealthy,” and then enjoy the luxury of doing precisely as she pleases!

“Her marriage for money had been altogether successful. The nursing of old Greenow had not been very disagreeable to her, nor had it taken longer than she had anticipated. She had now got all the reward that she had ever promised herself, and she really did feel grateful to his memory. I almost think that among those plentiful tears some few drops belonged to sincerity.” (Ch 47)

Trollope’s staple political landscape is inhabited by Plantaganet Palliser, John Grey, and George Vavasor. Palliser, heir to the enormously wealthy Duke of Omnium and wholly preoccupied with politics, aspires to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. Grey, a well-educated gentleman of modest means, seeks the parliamentary seat at Silverbridge. And finally, George Vavasor, a disinherited, despicable, scoundrel, and the perfect foil to both Palliser and Grey, hopes to secure any seat he can, by any means he can.

I adored Can You Forgive Her! Hands down, my favourite character is the charming and irrepressible Lady Glencora. She is Trollope at his absolute finest, and I often could not help but laugh aloud at her spirited chatter. I read the Barsetshire series last year and loved them, but, if Can You Forgive Her is any indication, I’m going to absolutely treasure the Palliser novels! Highly recommended. ( )

The first of the Palliser novels, but this one isn't so much about politics as marriage. Three of the main female characters are in situations where they have to choose between sense and sensibility in their [prospective] partners: Trollope seems to be firmly on the side of sense, but all the same it isn't a foregone conclusion for any of them. It's interesting to see how a novelist as unromantic as Trollope manages to give a sympathetic depiction of the way someone can be attracted to a person they know would make a totally impossible partner. Still, Alice Vavasor is bound to be something of a disappointment to modern readers: we know from the start that she's going to have to give up her independent ideas and submit to superior male wisdom sooner or later, but we can't help thinking, anachronistically, that it would have been so much more interesting if she could have gone into Parliament herself.
The political plot, with three pre-1867 elections and a few parliamentary scenes, is only rather thinly sketched in: the main interest of the novel is really with the two subsidiary plotlines, the (potentially) tragic Lady Glencora story and the comic wooing of Mrs Greenhow by Cheesacre and Belling. Either of these would be sufficient justification for picking up the novel and putting up with the limitations of Alice and Kate.

One thing that struck me — in contrast to the Barchester novels — was how mobile the story is in terms of locations. Characters are forever hopping on trains and dashing off to distant parts. Norfolk, Westmoreland, Switzerland, Germany, ... — we're never in London for more than one or two chapters at a time. Not that we ever get more than a bare minimum of description of those places: apart from the Westmoreland fells, which he obviously had an affection for himself, Trollope doesn't seem to be very interested in landscape. ( )

I didn't enjoy this as much as I have other Trollope novels, largely because I wanted to strangle every single one of the characters (not to mention the narrator) at one point or another.

To an extent, that's an endorsement of the writing: they're all fully formed characters, flaws and all, and none of them are either entirely sympathetic or unsympathetic. And I did, in particular, feel sympathy for the situations that both Alice and Glencora found themselves in, but Alice's vacillation and Glencora's childish wilfulness were terribly grating at times.

Not that the men were any better. John Grey, so noble and patient... and then he goes and spoils it all by saying something stupid like "If you love me, after what has passed, I have a right to demand your hand. My happiness requires it, and I have a right to expect your compliance." At least Captain Bellfield and Mr Cheesacre were supposed to be ridiculous...

All in all, I think I liked Kate best. ( )

Audiobook.......Phew....28 hours of audio! Why would someone stick with this? Because it was wonderful! Anthony Trollope wrote this novel which is set in England in the mid 1800s. His protagonists are all women with relationship dilemmas which are fiercely controlled by the social mores of the time. Do these women need forgiveness? Can they forgive one another? Can they forgive themselves? Does the reader think they need forgiveness? Can you forgive them? Read the book and judge as you will! ( )