2. Barchester
TowersBarchester Towers, published in 1857
by Anthony Trollope, is the second novel
in his series known as the "Chronicles of
Barsetshire". Among other things it
satirises the antipathy in the Church of
England between High
Church and Evangelical adherents.
Trollope began writing this book in 1855.
He wrote constantly and made himself a
writing-desk so he could continue writing
while travelling by train. "Pray know that
when a man begins writing a book he
3. Continue…..
• In his autobiography, Trollope observed
"In the writing of Barchester Towers I
took great delight. The bishop and Mrs.
Proudie were very real to me, as were
also the troubles of the archdeacon and
the loves of Mr. Slope". When he
submitted his finished work, his
publisher, William Longman, initially
turned it down, finding much of it to be
full of "vulgarity and exaggeration".
4. Characters of the
novel• The High Church faction
• Archdeacon Grantly, Dr Theophilus Grantly, is the
son of the former Bishop of Barchester, Dr Grantly
senior, who dies at the start of the novel. Married to
Susan Harding, he has three sons (Charles James,
Henry, and Samuel) and two daughters (Florinda and
Griselda) and lives at Plumstead Episcopi. His sister-in-
law is Mrs Eleanor Bold, née Harding.
• Mrs Susan Grantly, Mr Harding's elder daughter and
the Archdeacon's wife.
• Mr Septimus Harding is the meek, elderly precentor of
Barchester and Rector of the church of St. Cuthbert's
near the Cathedral Close. He was formerly Warden of
Hiram's Hospital but resigned in The Warden.
• Mr Francis Arabin, vicar of St Ewold, Fellow of Lazarus
5. The Low Church faction
• Bishop Proudie, apparently henpecked, weak-
willed and under the influence of his wife Mrs
Proudie and chaplain Obadiah Slope concerning
the matters of the see.
• Mrs Proudie, a proud, vulgar, domineering wife,
who promotes evangelical causes such as
Sunday schools and is adamant in eliminating
high-church rituals.
• Mr Obadiah Slope, a wheedling, oleaginous
chaplain who has much influence over Bishop
Proudie. Midway in the novel Slope decides that
he will marry Mrs Eleanor Bold (née Harding).
Formerly Mrs Proudie's ally, he comes into
conflict with her over the wardenship of Hiram's
Hospital and she regards him as a traitor. The
narrator speculates that he is a lineal
descendant of Doctor Slop from the
6. Others
• Mrs Eleanor Bold, widow of John Bold with an infant son and
younger daughter of Mr Septimus Harding. She has three
potential suitors, Mr Obadiah Slope, Mr Bertie Stanhope and
Mr Francis Arabin.
• Dr Vesey Stanhope is the rector of Crabtree Canonicorum
and of Stogpingum, in the diocese of Barchester and a
prebendary of Barchester Cathedral. He and his family lived
for twelve years in Italy before being recalled by Bishop
Proudie on Obadiah Slope's advice. He has two daughters,
Charlotte and Madeline and a son, Bertie (Ethelbert).
• Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni née Madeline Stanhope is
the beautiful younger daughter of Dr Vesey Stanhope, given
to inflation of her own status- "her father had been christened
Vesey as another man is christened Thomas, and she had no
more right to assume it than would have the daughter of a Mr
Josiah Jones to call herself Mrs Josiah Smith, on marrying a
man of the latter name"; her card bears "a bright gilt coronet",
despite the fact that her husband, Paulo Neroni, "had had not
the faintest title to call himself a scion of even Italian nobility".
Lamed by her abusive Italian husband, she is disabled and
needs to be carried around the house on a sofa, although it
7. Others
• Ethelbert "Bertie" Stanhope is the only son of Dr Vesey
Stanhope. An idling, carefree man who never settles down, he
is a gifted artist, who borrows and spends a great deal and
earns nothing. His sister Charlotte advises him to woo the rich
and beautiful widow Eleanor Bold.
• Charlotte Stanhope is the polymath elder daughter of Dr
Vesey Stanhope; she challenges Eleanor Bold to comment on
the theological arguments concerning intelligent life on other
worlds as presented by William Whewell and David
Brewster.[4] She is the manager of the family and a good
friend of Eleanor Bold until Eleanor realises Charlotte is the
primary instigator of her brother wooing her.
• Mr Quiverful, a poor clergyman with 14 children who
becomes the new Warden of Hiram's Hospital.[a]
• Mrs Letty Quiverful, his wife.
• Wilfred Thorne, the squire of St Ewold's. A bachelor of about
fifty who comes under the charms of Signora Neroni.
• Miss Monica Thorne, his spinster sister of about sixty, who is
an extreme traditionalist. She throws a party at their residence
for the notables of Barsetshire.
8. Plot summary
• Barchester Towers concerns the leading
clergy of the cathedral city of Barchester.
The much loved bishop having died, all
expectations are that his son, Archdeacon
Grantly, will succeed him. Owing to the
passage of the power of patronage to a
new Prime Minister, a newcomer, the far
more Evangelical Bishop Proudie, gains
the see. His wife, Mrs Proudie, exercises
an undue influence over the new bishop,
making herself as well as the bishop
unpopular with most of the clergy of the
diocese. Her interference to veto the
reappointment of the universally popular
9. Continue….
• Even less popular than Mrs Proudie is the bishop's
new chaplain, the hypocritical and sycophantic Mr
Obadiah Slope, who decides it would be expedient
to marry Harding's wealthy widowed daughter,
Eleanor Bold. Slope hopes to win her favour by
interfering in the controversy over the wardenship.
The Bishop or rather Mr Slope under the orders of
Mrs Proudie, also orders the return of
the prebendary Dr Vesey Stanhope from Italy.
Stanhope has been in Italy recovering from a sore
throat for 12 years and has spent his time catching
butterflies. With him to the Cathedral Close come
his wife and their three adult children. The
younger of Dr Stanhope's two daughters causes
consternation in the Palace and threatens the
plans of Mr Slope. Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni
is a disabled serial flirt with a young daughter and
10. Continue…
• Summoned by Archdeacon Grantly to assist in the
war against the Proudies and Mr Slope is the brilliant
Reverend Francis Arabin. Mr Arabin is a
considerable scholar, Fellow of Lazarus College
at Oxford, who nearly followed his mentor John
Henry Newman into the Roman Catholic Church. A
misunderstanding occurs between Eleanor and her
father, brother-in-law, sister and Mr Arabin, who
think that she intends to marry Mr Slope, much to
their disgust. Mr Arabin is attracted to Eleanor but
the efforts of Grantly and his wife to stop her
marrying Slope, interfere with any relationship that
might develop. At the Ullathorne garden party held
by the Thornes, matters come to a head. Mr Slope
proposes to Mrs Bold and is slapped for his
11. Conclusion of the summary…
• The old Dean of the Cathedral having
died, Mr Slope campaigns to become
Dean but Mr Harding is offered
the preferment, with a beautiful house
in the Close and fifteen acres of
garden. Mr Harding considers himself
unsuitable and with the help of the
archdeacon, arranges that Mr Arabin be
made Dean. With the Stanhopes' return
to Italy, life in the Cathedral Close
12. Themes: CHURCH
DOCTRINE AND REFORM• The major theme of Barchester Towers is the
ongoing struggle between the conservative and
liberal factions of the Church of England. The
conservative, or high-church, faction seeks to
preserve the ceremonies and traditions of the
older church, usually involving great elaborate
musical and spiritual exercises. In Barchester, the
Archdeacon and his followers represent the
conservative side. The liberal, low-church, wants
to abandon symbols and concentrate on personal
spirituality. In Barchester, Mr. Slope and Mrs.
Proudie represent the liberal side.
• The conservative side is shown as seeking to
maintain the status quo at all points. It is also
regarded as boring and unconnected to real life by
many of the common churchgoers. Many members
of the clergy, particularly Dr. Slope, are shown to
have taken advantage of the lax accountability
13. Continue….
• The liberal side, however, focuses on evangelical
rhetoric to win followers. Common churchgoers
respond to sermons delivered in this way because
they are different and more interesting than the ones
given by the conservative preachers. The liberal side
presses individual church doctrinal issues in order
to force reform. Issues like the formation of Sabbath
schools become extremely important because they
represent change in how the church groups are
conducted, including the religious instruction of
children.
• In Barchester, these religious issues take on
personal significance as each side rejects the
other’s ideas about what makes the church. Rather
than seeing each other as opposite sides of the
same organization, both sides work to establish their
own dominance and to make sure that the other side
cannot enforce its own views. In doing so, many
14. HUSBANDS AND WIVES
• Several sets of husbands and wives, and potential
husbands and wives, are presented in the story. Each set
shows some variation on what the author considers to be
natural and unnatural relationships between men and
women.
• Dr. and Mrs. Proudie are presented as an unnatural
couple because Mrs. Proudie is the dominant partner. The
author offers various statements of how Dr. Proudie
should rise up and reclaim his rights as the man in the
relationship and dismisses him as weak and ineffectual
because he does not. Mrs. Proudie, having been allowed
to assume this unnatural power, uses it against other
men, such as Mr. Slope and the Archdeacon, who both
resent being told what to do by a woman.
• The relationship between the Archdeacon and his wife is
set up in contrast to the Bishop’s. Their relationship is
based on mutual respect and it is out of respect that the
Bishop’s wife believes that she should obedient to him.
When the Archdeacon decides to cut off their relationship
with Eleanor, his wife does as he says despite her own
