Book Review: Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope

Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I could not stop listening. I just love Trollope and his paternal amusement and gentleness toward his characters (view spoiler)[(the ones who he can, but he can’t really even make bad things happen to his villains) (hide spoiler)]

Alice, Glencora, and Mrs. Arabella Greenow – an unmarried woman, a married woman, and a widow – are traversing what it means to be a wife in Victorian England. They each face their trials with men and relations with them. I like seeing how Trollope weaves their disconnected stories together to show the comparisons. They each have more power over their men than we generally associate with Victorian England; each is embroiled in choosing between two men; each make the right decision ((view spoiler)[Mrs. Greenow is the most questionable, but with the decision she makes she retains control of the purse where with her other suitor, she would not. (hide spoiler)])

I have a lot of disconnected thoughts. I think we definitely have some interesting, parallel situations that resolve in different ways. I’m not going to mark spoilers below, read further at your own peril:




We have three women, Alice, Lady Glencora, and Mrs. Arabella Greenow are our women. All have varying degrees of money and social status and thus agency. Alice has the least money and is wishy-washy about using her agency. Glencora has the most money and the least agency because of her “purple” (aristocratic) birth. Mrs. Greenow is a widow, is in the lowest “class” (still genteel), inherited a fortune from a lower class, and has the most agency.

We have three stalwart men: Mr. Grey, Mr. Palliser, and Mr. Cheesacre. All of have money and comfort. Mr Grey is very comfortable and something of a scholar. Mr. Palliser is an accountant aristocrat, heir to a Duke, powerful in Parliament. Mr. Cheesacre is a farmer – a successful one, but still a farmer. They follow the social norms and customs of their class – which means that Mr. Grey and Mr. Palliser are perhaps too reticent for their lady loves while Mr. Cheesacre is a little too willing to share his thoughts and feelings. The ladies long for a grand gesture and the men don’t seem willing to give them, until forced into it.

Then we have our three rogues for whom money (or lack thereof) is the root of their roguishness. Mr. George Vavasor is pretty much described as wicked and evil. He descends throughout the book – always looking for money and eventually contemplating and threatening murder. Mr. Burgo Fitzgerald is accustomed to privilege and wealth, but has none of his own and he goes along scheming, but ineffectively, and is one of those people that things just happen to. And Captain (Lieutenant) Bellfield who is handsome and spendthrift.

One of our rogues succeeds to win the hand of his lady, one of our rogues is supported far away, and one of our rogues self-exiles (to America) where there is no expectation of salvation. One of our stalwarts fails to gain the hand of our ladies, but is rewarded with a good woman appropriate to his station. And our other two men are rewarded with love and meaningful work.

But there is more. I think John Grey is our Christ figure fighting George Vavasor as the devil for Alice (the church). George is after worldly ambition and power and money for it’s own sake and doesn’t have many qualms about how to attain them. Alice embodies Romans 7 – she does what she does not wish to do. She sees clearly, but cannot give up George Vavasor entirely even when she loves John Grey. John Grey eventually gains the power and influence deserved through his constancy and love. He goes out to seek Alice. He sees her clearly and understands her motives. He never gives up.

There is much here in the first of the Palliser novels. Trollope is witty and engaging. He loves his characters when they deserve it … and he loves them whilst puncturing their foibles, too. I’m looking forward to the next …



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