Review: Doctor Thorne, by Anthony Trollope

Review: Doctor Thorne, by Anthony Trollope

by Rich Horton

By mistake I read Framley Parsonage, the fourth of Anthony Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire, before reading the third, Doctor Thorne. This isn't really a big deal, though Doctor Thorne, as well as his niece Mary, and Frank Gresham, the main characters in Doctor Thorne, do have small roles in Framley Parsonage, so I knew how the earlier novel would end. But, really that doesn't matter in a Trollope novel. At the end of this review I'll discuss some of Trollope's schemes, and why they both make him so fun to read, but also are the reason that, great as he is, he's not quite at the level of Dickens or Eliot. As with Framley Parsonage, I listed to this book via Audible, and with the same narrator, Timothy West, who does a fine job.

Class of course was a major aspect of Victorian novels -- always present if not necessarily centered. In Doctor Thorne is it absolutely -- and overtly -- central. The other Barsetshire novels I've read were a bit more about church politics (The Warden and Barchester Towers) and about financial maneuvering and electoral politics (Framley Parsonage.) Can You Forgive Her, the only Palliser (or Parliamentary) novel I've read is about electoral politics but also about romance. The latter subject is of course a thread in all these novels, but not quite as central. And indeed, in Doctor Thorne, while the romance between the two main younger characters is key, it is never questioned really. That is to say, in Can You Forgive Her the main character (the Her of the title) is truly torn between two quite different men, but in Doctor Thorne the only question is whether or not Frank Gresham can marry Mary Thorne -- but never whether or not he loves her and she him.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Which is okay, because Trollope does too -- at any rate, he tells us early on that he is too kindhearted a writer, so that the reader can trust that our young hero won't die of a broken heart. So -- as mentioned the chief young characters are Frank Gresham and Mary Thorne. Frank is the son of the squire of Greshamsbury, Frank Gresham Sr. He is considered to be the highest ranked commoner in the county, and his wife, Lady Arabella, is a daughter of the Earl of Courcy -- the second highest ranked noble in the county, after the Duke of Omnium. Which is to say that the Greshams are a very good family -- but, unfortunately, Frank Sr. has gotten into serious financial difficulties, caused in part by his unwise attempts to regain a seat in Parliament, and also the expenses inherent in his role as Master of the local hunt, but also due to his wife's extravagance. The upshot of this financial peril is that his son must marry money. 

Mary Thorne, on the other hand, is the niece of the title character, Doctor Thorne. The Thornes are also a good family, but Doctor Thorne is only a second cousin of the head of the Thornes, Mr. Thorne of Ullathorne (whom many readers will have met as he and his sister were (somewhat comic) characters in Barchester Towers.) Doctor Thorne is not on good terms with his cousins, which only lowers his prestige. And his only income is from his profession -- but he is a very good doctor. Alas, that too is a problem of sorts, for his advanced ideas about the profession have offended the older Doctor Fillgrave (Trollope loved to give his minor characters punny names of that sort.) Doctor Fillgrave is clearly not a particularly good doctor, at least not compared to Doctor Thorne, but he does have a prestigious practice, and many powerful clients. At any rate, Doctor Thorne is a man of particular integrity, but a sometimes prickly character, and he is at the same time convinced that anyone's virtue is based on their own character, a rather republican view, while also extremely proud of his "good blood". And his niece, Mary Thorne, has "good blood", as she is the daughter of Doctor Thorne's brother Henry; but also "bad blood", as she is illegitimate, the result of her father seducing a local girl, daughter of a working man. It's made very clear that the girl is innocent, and Henry Thorne's character is terrible, but still, somehow in class-obsessed England, it is her "blood" that is base.

Doctor Thorne had arranged to adopt his niece after his brother was killed by the girl's brother, a certain Roger Scatcherd, a tremendously talented stonemason but also an alcoholic. Miss Scatcherd was married off to a man who had been sweet on her, but who won't tolerate raising a bastard child, and the couple emigrated to America. Mary Thorne, then, is brought up by the Doctor, who does not reveal the secret of her birth. He is a good parent to her, and she gets a good education, and is a frequent and (mostly) treasured guest at the Gresham's house. Meanwhile, Roger Scatcherd, Mary's other uncle, rises greatly in the world, becoming a very wealthly construction magnate, and even a Baronet. Alas, he is still an alcoholic, with one son who is also dissolute, and only one friend -- Doctor Thorne, who had forgiven him for the (apparently somewhat accidental) murder of Henry Thorne, and who had helped him re-establish his place after a short spell in prison.

Then comes the main action of the novel. Frank Jr. is coming of age. Frank Sr.'s money problems worsen, and his primary creditor is Sir Roger Scatcherd. Sir Roger runs for Parliament. Frank has realized he is in love with Mary Thorne, but his mother of course opposes any such match (because "Frank must marry money!" -- and indeed Mary, conscious of their difference in social standing, and of the financial issues, has refused to listen to Frank's suit. Frank is sent off to Courcy Castle with instructions to court a rich if somewhat older woman, the delightful Miss Dunstable (whom I already knew from her somewhat important role in Framley Parsonage.) Frank out of loyalty does pay court to Miss Dunstable, but she gently lets him down, and the two become great friends. Sir Roger is forced out of Parliament due to an election scandal, and his alcoholism worsens. He persuades Doctor Thorne to be executor of his will, and also to be a guardian for Roger's wild son -- Sir Roger hopes that Doctor Thorne can reform the young man.  And Doctor Thorne learns of a surprising clause in Sir Roger's will -- 

I won't detail the rest of the plot -- most readers can probably figure out where it's going. But the plot isn't what matters, it's the telling. As ever, Trollope's voice is delightfully engaging. There are some very funny passages, some satirical ones, some quite moving ones. And as I said, the book turns on questions of class. Money is important of course -- and money is the only thing that overcomes class questions. And always hypocritically. Characters like Lady Arabella, and the whole de Courcy family, are profoundly hypocritical. There are several examples of decidely low born individuals who are eagerly promoted as potential mates only due to money -- one of Frank's sisters has a narrow escape early on from what would have been a bad marriage that her mother promoted; and later on she rejects an eligible man because he works for his money -- and the most supercilious of the Courcys, having urged her to tell the man no, proceeds to marry him herself. But the hypocrisy, if less pronounced, extends even to Doctor Thorne. Thorne's pride in his family connections always rubs against his general republican sympathies; and even in his niece's case, while he defends her as having a better character than anyone else in the book (which is true in the author's eyes, I'd say) he still cannot quite see his way to her marrying a Gresham for a long time. There are reasons that class differences could have made marriages founder -- primarily differences in expectation due to how people have been brought up. But of course Mary does not have that problem, having been brought up almost in the Gresham family.

I found the novel immensely enjoyable. Trollope has yet to fail me. But I must say that the ending is a bit of a cheat. It is set up by a somewhat outlandish set of circumstances, maintained by even more outlandish circumstances -- and in the end I rather felt that Doctor Thorne acted in a slightly less than upright manner. But so be it -- we know what we are getting, and we accept that -- and enjoy the journey the whole way.