Question 1

Do I need to read The Warden before Barchester Towers?

Accepted Answer

You don't need to, but it helps. Barchester Towers begins with the death of Bishop Grantly and the events that follow from it — events that presuppose knowledge of The Warden's characters and situation. Most readers who start with Barchester Towers find it immediately accessible, but they often go back and read The Warden afterward and find it enriches the experience. The Warden is short (about 200 pages) and introduces Mr. Harding, whose character is clearer and warmer in the context of The Warden's story.

Question 2

Who is Obadiah Slope, and what is wrong with him?

Accepted Answer

Obadiah Slope is Bishop Proudie's chaplain — ambitious, unctuous, evangelical, and physically repellent to almost every character in the novel (his hands are 'clammy' and his breath is objectionable). He represents a type of pushy ecclesiastical ambition that Trollope clearly despised: Slope combines genuine religious fervor with worldly calculation in a way that makes his religious expressions seem permanently contaminated by self-interest. He courts Eleanor Bold for her money while pursuing the Widow Signora Neroni for other reasons, and his eventual ejection from Barchester is one of the most satisfying moments in Victorian comedy.

Question 3

Is the 'Signora' a real character?

Accepted Answer

Madeline Vesey Neroni (née Stanhope), the Signora, is one of Trollope's most unusual inventions — an invalid woman who cannot walk (injured in unclear circumstances by her Italian husband) who reclines on a sofa and defeats every man who encounters her with her beauty and wit. She is the novel's most unconventional figure: unlike every other woman in Barchester Towers, she has no interest in marriage, children, or the domestic world, and her power over men (including Slope and Arabin) is purely a product of her wit and beauty exercised with complete detachment. She is one of the few Victorian female characters who seem genuinely outside the conventions the novel is otherwise comfortable with.

Question 4

What is the Barchester Towers ending?

Accepted Answer

Eleanor Bold marries Francis Arabin, the new Professor of Divinity who has been brought to Barchester to reinforce the High Church position against Slope's evangelical challenge. Mr. Slope is dismissed and leaves Barchester. Mrs. Proudie triumphs over Slope but is established as the permanent dominant force in the diocese — Bishop Proudie's long suffering continues. Archdeacon Grantly's position is strengthened. The novel ends with the famous passage in which Trollope addresses the reader directly about the conventions of ending: 'Is it not a pity that people who are so good at goodbyes should be so awkward at it when the occasion really comes?'

Barchester Towers Reading Order

Complete Barchester Towers Book List