The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope

Whereas other ecclesiastical characters in Crawley’s age-cohort, Dr Arabin and Mark Robarts, both have excellent livings (make more money), they also mingle in higher society. And it’s telling that the poor in the area respect Crawley as they realise he’s “ sincere.” These are Crawley’s good points, but he also has many bad points–pride arguably being the worst of the lot. The farmers in his parish discuss Crawley “as though he were a madman,” and even his wife sometimes deals with him as she would “ with an acknowledged lunatic.” He doesn’t patronise the poor, but rather actually helps the women with their chores. He is “ hardworking, conscientious” and will tramp miles in the rain and cold to visit the poor. When it comes to religion, this is a man who walks the talk. Crawley has become scarred by his poverty, his inability to provide for his wife and children, the deaths of many of his children, and also the promotion of those men who are less educated than he.Ĭrawley is a fascinating, complex character. Crawley, the perpetual curate of Hogglestock, his long-suffering wife and surviving children live in great poverty, for the living at Hogglestock is but 130 pounds a year. The main plot of the novel concerns the Reverend Josiah Crawley, a morose, joyless man who appeared earlier in this six-novel series. In this novel, some of Trollope’s characters are shown in London, a place in which the moral issues afoot in Barsetshire are magnified. This rich, multi-plot novel examines the social fabric and morality of Victorian England through the complex layers of money, debt, and materialism.

It was time for my last visit to some familiar characters with Anthony Trollope’s The Last Chronicle of Barset.

The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope