Sara's Reviews > Framley Parsonage

Ah, the joy of opening the first pages on a Trollope novel and meeting someone new who is dwelling right in Barsetshire along with all our old friends and acquaintances. Our new friend, this installment, is Mr. Mark Robarts, the clergyman at Framley Parsonage, the living attached to Framley Court, home of Lady Lufton and her son, Ludovic. It does not take a great deal of time to realize this novel is going to be a lesson in social climbing, and the perils thereof.

I am sometimes amazed at the desire people have to rub shoulders with celebrities, even minor ones, and the length they will go to have it believed that they are of importance to such people. They will do very foolish things, fooling no one but themselves ofttimes.

And there is nothing viler than the desire to know great people--people of great rank, I should say; nothing worse than the hunting of titles and worshipping of wealth. We all know this, and say it every day of our lives. But presuming that a way into the society of Park Lane was open to us, and a way also into that of Bedford Row, how many of us are there who would prefer Bedford Row because it is so vile to worship wealth and title?

And there's the rub for our Mark Robarts. He knows he is better not to try to run the race with an inferior horse, but he cannot resist, and having the invitation extended to him, he cannot help feeling that these people desire his company and think of him as an equal.

We have a bit of a villain in another character we meet early on, Mr. Sowerby, but one of the things I admire about Trollope is that he never creates any character who is less than human, and so his heroes have clay feet and his villains are complex and three-dimensional.

We see and hear of such men as Mr. Sowerby, and are apt to think that they enjoy all that the world can give, and that they enjoy that all without payment either in care or labour; but I doubt that, with even the most callous of them, their periods of wretchedness must be frequent, and that wretchedness very intense.

We have, within these pages, examples of what is good and evil in people, the destructive nature of pride, the beauty of sacrificial love, the struggle for true morality in the face of temptations, and the right of individual choice. I love the fire and determination of Mark’s sister, Lucy; the devotion of his wife, Fanny (which I must note was a very popular name in this era and one you never encounter today); and the true friendship of Mr. Arabin for his friend Crawley.

I was also delighted to find Dr. Thorne, Miss Dunstable, the obnoxious Mrs. Proudie, and The Grantleys popping back into view. It makes you feel so at home when you encounter people you already know and either love or despise--it is if you take the story up again where you have left it.

I have two novels left in the series, and I hope to get to them both before the end of the year.