Five-minute digest
Can You Forgive Her?
Summary
Can You Forgive Her?, published in monthly parts in 1864-65, is the first of Anthony Trollope's six Palliser novels, which follow English political life over many years. Its title asks the reader whether he can forgive Alice Vavasor, a thoughtful, independent young woman of good family who cannot make up her mind about marriage. Alice is engaged to John Grey, a kind, wise and steady gentleman of Cambridgeshire, but she fears that life with him will be too quiet and that she will lose herself. Wondering what a woman should do with her life, she breaks the engagement and, under the influence of her cousin Kate, renews her old engagement to Kate's brother George Vavasor, a dashing, violent and debt-ridden man who wants her money to finance his campaign for Parliament. Alice soon realizes her mistake, and George reveals his brutality, threatening Grey and finally fleeing to America after a failed attempt to shoot him. Alice humbles herself and accepts John Grey again, and he forgives her completely. A second plot introduces Plantagenet Palliser, the serious, hardworking heir to the Duke of Omnium, and his young wife Lady Glencora, who had been made to give up her love for the handsome but worthless Burgo Fitzgerald. Glencora is tempted to run away with Burgo, and at a ball the danger is great, but she confides in her husband; Palliser, who has been offered the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, gives it up to take her abroad and save their marriage, and by the end she bears him an heir. A comic third plot follows Alice's widowed aunt, Mrs. Greenow, courted by two rivals, the rich farmer Cheesacre and the penniless Captain Bellfield. Trollope treats his characters' moral struggles with sympathy and irony, and the novel is a rich portrait of Victorian marriage and political ambition. Its great length suits patient readers who enjoy Victorian fiction.
Top Lessons
What should a woman do?
Trollope raises the question of a woman's life and choices.
Forgiveness
The title asks the reader to forgive Alice.
Duty and love
Palliser gives up high office for his wife.
Verified Quotes
“What should a woman do with her life?”
“Fall in love, marry the man, have two children, and live happy ever afterwards.”