Moral Integrity
Senior 6 · English (Languages)
Moral Integrity
Lesson 4 of 4
35 min
Let's begin
A novel is the longest and loosest of literary forms: a long work of prose fiction in which invented people live through a sequence of events in a particular world. Because it is long, it can do what a poem or a play cannot: follow a whole society and show how one person's greed reaches into dozens of other lives. This lesson gives you the tools to analyse any novel, and tests them on an extract from a Victorian novel about a financier whose wealth is built on rumour.
Anthony Trollope published The Way We Live Now in monthly parts in 1874 and 1875. Its title is a charge against his own society: London in the 1870s, where railway shares and company promotions could make and unmake fortunes overnight. At its centre is Augustus Melmotte, a financier nobody can quite explain, whom aristocrats and politicians flatter because he is rich. Around him, several plots run side by side: a young aristocrat hunting a wealthy wife, a writer in debt, a young man drawn into Melmotte's railway company.
It was at any rate an established fact that Mr. Melmotte had made his wealth in France. He no doubt had had enormous dealings in other countries, as to which stories were told which must surely have been exaggerated. It was said that he had made a railway across Russia, that he provisioned the Southern army in the American civil war, that he had supplied Austria with arms, and had at one time bought up all the iron in England. He could make or mar any company by buying or selling stock, and could make money dear or cheap as he pleased. All this was said of him in his praise,—but it was also said that he was regarded in Paris as the most gigantic swindler that had ever lived; that he had made that City too hot to hold him; that he had endeavoured to establish himself in Vienna, but had been warned away by the police; and that he had at length found that British freedom would alone allow him to enjoy, without persecution, the fruits of his industry. He was now established privately in Grosvenor Square and officially in Abchurch Lane; and it was known to all the world that a Royal Prince, a Cabinet Minister, and the very cream of duchesses were going to his wife's ball. All this had been done within twelve months.
… Melmotte himself was a large man, with bushy whiskers and rough thick hair, with heavy eyebrows, and a wonderful look of power about his mouth and chin. This was so strong as to redeem his face from vulgarity; but the countenance and appearance of the man were on the whole unpleasant, and, I may say, untrustworthy. He looked as though he were purse-proud and a bully.
Glosses: make or mar = make a success or a ruin of; stock = shares in a company; Grosvenor Square = a very wealthy part of London; Abchurch Lane = a street in the City, London's financial district; countenance = face; purse-proud = arrogant because of wealth.
Definition
Key terms
| Feature | Questions to ask | In the extract |
|---|---|---|
| Theme | What idea does the novel keep returning to? What does it seem to claim? | Society welcomes a man of doubtful honesty because he is rich: a Prince and a Cabinet Minister will attend his ball. |
| Character | How is the character revealed: by the narrator's statements (direct) or by speech, action, appearance and others' views (indirect)? | Melmotte is built from rumour ("It was said …") and appearance ("a wonderful look of power"); he does not speak in this extract. |
| Plot | What is the conflict? How is it set up, complicated and resolved? Are there subplots? | The extract is exposition: it sets up the mystery of Melmotte's wealth, which the plot will later expose. |
| Setting | Where and when? What social world? How does the place shape the people? | London's high society in the 1870s; the two addresses show his double life: rich home, City office. |
| Style | Who narrates? What kind of language, sentences and tone? | An intrusive narrator ("and, I may say, untrustworthy"); long, balanced sentences; dry irony. |
Two scales together describe most characters: how complex they are, and whether they change.
Worked example
Analysing style: the irony of "the fruits of his industry"
Worked example
Analysing characterisation: why rumour?
Count the reporting verbs: "stories were told", "It was said", "it was also said", "it was known to all the world". Trollope tells us almost nothing as certain fact: only that Melmotte "had made his wealth in France". Everything else is hearsay. The method fits the theme: London accepts Melmotte on the strength of talk, and the reader, like London, has to decide what to believe. A strong answer notices that the way the character is presented is itself part of the meaning.
Tip
Writing about a novel: point, evidence, analysis, link. Make a point about a feature, support it with a short quotation, analyse particular words, and link back to the theme. Keep quotations short and blend them into your sentence: Melmotte's face has "a wonderful look of power", yet the narrator immediately adds that it is "untrustworthy".
Warning
Practice
Further reading
Sources and credits
