The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

Did anyone anticipate this ending for Melmotte? He started that section with a truly remarkable battle to keep up appearances, including his attendance at the house and the attempt to speak. Sadly, he undermined himself by becoming drunk, but until that point it was a quite a performance. Did anyone anticipate the suicide?

Lord Nidderdale has shown himself to be an admirable young man, with his kindness and support to Marie, and even his tolerance for his father's quite objectionable behaviour.

What do you think will become of Marie and Mme Melmotte? Marie clearly does not consider her her mother, and she currently holds a considerable fortune, it appears.

That was an interesting interlude, in which Mr Longstaffe and Brehgert are thrown together for a time. What did you think of their respective characters?

Finally we see poor Roger Carbury tying himself in knots in an agony between his feelings for Hetta and his desire to do what is right, even extending this agonizing to dealing with the local Catholic priest. Why do you think Trollope makes him such a good man, and yet so lacking in attractions? Do you think he will ever find someone else to love?

Please share your thoughts on this section.

Melmotte's suicide took me somewhat by surprise, since he was such a fighter and such a proud man. His life was a constant struggle to achieve fame and success, and I think he was just tired of fighting. He wanted to go at a high point in his life.
Although he was completely unscrupulous and violent at times, in a way I felt sorry for him because he had never known love.

Lord Nidderdale has become a more rounded character, with self knowledge as well. He knows his limitations but has a good heart.

I was a bit surprised by Melmotte's suicide, but not that much. I think prison would have been worse than death for him, and he couldn't flee at this point.

I was also impressed by Nidderdale's behavior.

Melmotte managed his death with the same bravado he exhibited all his life. I hope the Longestaffes can retrieve their property title somehow.

Marie showed good presence of mind while asking Nidderdale to help her, but making it clear she had no marital expectations, and enabling him to extend basic friendship.

Lori wrote: "I was a bit surprised by Melmotte's suicide, but not that much. I think prison would have been worse than death for him, and he couldn't flee at this point.

I was also impressed by Nidderdale's b..."

I somehow expected he still had an escape plan up his sleeve, but perhaps he was just tired of running and starting again somewhere else.

It's interesting that the older aristocracy are uniformly so awful. Lord Alfred, Mr Longstaffe, the old Marquis (Nidderdale's father), are all terrible husbands and fathers. Mr Brehgert appears kinder and more generous than any of them. Roger Carbury is a decent man, but he appears to be destined to die single and then his estate will pass to Felix, I assume. There are none of the decent and honest men such as Plant. Palliser.

Comparison with Plant. Palliser brings out the difference between good and bad aristocrats. If they devote themselves to the welfare of the nation, they’re admirable. If they are wasteful drones, they’re not. As TWWLN is a satire, we find no models of good peers.

Melmotte's demise reminds me of people like Madoff in the U.S. They live for years on scam money but then get caught - yet they never have an escape plan. This doesn't make sense as they have to know they will be found out eventually. Melmotte's death was surprising because it came earlier than I would have expected -there was still a couple hundred pages left at the time of his suicide.

Nidderdale is very light weight but basically good-hearted. He's more like a Bertie Wooster, but with title not money. He'd do well if he had the money to afford a Jeeves.

The section on Longstaffe and Breghart confirms that, even if a bit anti-Semitic himself, Trollope's intent is to satirize the extent of society's illogical anti-Semitism.

Brian wrote: "The section on Longstaffe and Breghart confirms that, even if a bit anti-Semitic himself, Trollope's intent is to satirize the extent of society's illogical anti-Semitism...."

Yes, Longstaffe's superior attitude towards Brehgert has no foundation in anything except Longstaffe's social standing - Brehgert is by far the superior man, being intelligent, principled and compassionate (certainly towards Melmotte) : all qualities that are lacking in Longstaffe. Longstaffe thinks of Brehgert as vulgar and indelicate, but sees nothing wrong with piling up debt, misleading his own family and bullying his daughter. (in fact doing everything Melmotte did but with much less success)

I was also not really expecting Melmotte to commit suicide, but perhaps Trollope thought there could be no other outcome realistically from the viewpoint of finishing the novel. Melmotte had been in this position before in terms of having gone to jail, having to escape from other countries to evade the law- his direction to his wife to wrap up the jewels as usual and that it’s time for another get-away makes clear they have planned for such quick escapes before.
Perhaps this time was different as Melmotte had never allowed himself to become so caught up with achieving social status and power that he’d become careless in trusting other people and living an extraordinarily lavish lifestyle. You can see his mind begin to dissolve as he makes decisions which he immediately regrets or revises. It is true that he never wants to lose face, to maintain his air of dominance till the end- even when he falls over drunk in Parliament. Was that the final straw or had he been planning to commit suicide before he even entered the chamber?

Nidderdale has discovered his honorable nature in his commitment to help Marie. It was curious to me that while Marie felt no true grief for her father within her internal thoughts, she expresses such sorrow to Nidderdale and wishes she could be dead also. She certainly doesn’t think that. Are her comments meant to solicit his sympathy?

Longestaffe’s deep seated anti-Semitism surfaces again after having a brief “friendship” with the honorable Brehgert. It is this prejudicial hatred which underlies Longestaffe’s reaction to Brehgert’s honesty about his discussions with Georgiana during their engagement. I would like to think that portraying Brehgert as perhaps the most honorable man in the novel reflects Trollope’s personal lack of anti-Semitism.

‘He told himself that he could not touch pitch and not be defiled! How vulgar had the man been, how indelicate, how regardless of all feeling, how little grateful for the honour which Mr Longestaffe had conferred upon him by asking him to dinner! Yes;—yes! A horrid Jew! Were not all Jews necessarily an abomination? Yet Mr Longestaffe was aware that in the present crisis of his fortunes he could not afford to quarrel with Mr Brehgert.’

It’s almost amusing how quickly upper-class characters can appear to shed their anti Semitic prejudice when they need money. Happens in Edith Wharton as well.

Bill, I agree with you that Brehgert is the most honourable man in the book and Longstaffe is one the most despicable characters, even though not a major character.

I did not expect Melmotte's suicide... and here is where the similarities with Berlusconi or Trump end: they have no shame, in my opinion they dealt with worse circumstances than Melmotte's, while Melmotte could not face the situation and escaped in this way.
What has Trollope in mind about Lord Nidderdale? I think by now it is clear that he is not going to marry Marie, but I hope we will have some disclosures about his future. I can say the same about Roger Carbury, even if I am afraid he will not love anyone but Hetta and so his fate is to remain alone.
I hope the future has something good in store for Marie and Mrs Melmotte, they are so ill-equipped for life.

Marie has been gaining self-awareness during the course of the book, and strenth of will as well.

Daniela wrote: "I did not expect Melmotte's suicide... and here is where the similarities with Berlusconi or Trump end: they have no shame, in my opinion they dealt with worse circumstances than Melmotte's, while ..."

Good point-in this case Melmotte overreached himself and felt he'd left himself no way out.

While I agree that Mme Melmotte is ill-equipped for life, I rather felt that Marie is pretty savvy, and will protect herself from any further sharks that circle.

I had not expected this end for Melmotte, either, up until about two pages before it actually happened. I don't know if he did it from shame, or just practical reasons. He obviously had the prussic acid on hand for a reason. He does seem to have had a different internal life from Trump or Berlusconi. Perhaps it's because he grew up dirt-poor.

Since Melmotte departed without paying the Longstaffes in full, part of me wonders if Dolly will marry Marie to get the remainder out of her trust.