Scribd
Upload
46 views

Power and Ambition

The document analyzes the themes of power and ambition in the novel "Barchester Towers". It discusses how several characters pursue power and status, such as the Archdeacon wanting to succeed his father as Bishop. Others like Mrs. Proudie and Signora Neroni manipulate situations and people to further their own ambitions. However, characters like Mr. Harding and Mr. Arabin channel their drives in a more unselfish manner by focusing on duty over personal gain. The document examines how Trollope depicts both the positive and negative aspects of ambition in shaping the personalities in the novel.

Uploaded by

Faisal Jahangeer
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
46 views

Power and Ambition

The document analyzes the themes of power and ambition in the novel "Barchester Towers". It discusses how several characters pursue power and status, such as the Archdeacon wanting to succeed his father as Bishop. Others like Mrs. Proudie and Signora Neroni manipulate situations and people to further their own ambitions. However, characters like Mr. Harding and Mr. Arabin channel their drives in a more unselfish manner by focusing on duty over personal gain. The document examines how Trollope depicts both the positive and negative aspects of ambition in shaping the personalities in the novel.

Uploaded by

Faisal Jahangeer
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 13

“ Barchester Towers”

Power and Ambition


Instructor: Faisal Jahangeer
Power and Ambition
• In terms of power and ambition Barchester Towers is
particularly interesting since it reveals the struggle
that men of the cloth must undergo when they
encounter a discrepancy between their desire for
position and their duties as Christians.
"Power and ambition are the key-
notes in the novel "Barchester
Towers". How far do you agree
with this point of view?
Power and Ambition
• This is most apparent • Vacant post of Bishop.
perhaps at the start of • Great instance of
the novel when the Ambition and Desire.
archdeacon is forced to
• Mr. Proudie Succeeded.
realize that the sooner
his father, the bishop, • Dr. Grantly Junior failed.
dies, the more likely he is • Instance of Power and
to succeed him. Ambtion
Power and Ambition
• Dissolution of Conservative • Dr. Grantly junior.
Party's Govet.
• Liberal Party in Power. • Fully qualified.
• Mr. Got appointment as Bishop. • Archdeacon
• Indifferent to religion. • But is of conservative
• Week in decision making.
party
• Incapable to face war of
resistance moved by • Waged a war of
conservative party resistance.
Power and Ambition
• Quite apart from power on the level of politics and status, is
that which is evinced by Signora Neroni, who uses her
almost hypnotic charm over men to the full to both help and
hinder them, and is in this sense very much a modern
character.
• In the vein of woman's power over men however, she is
certainly not alone in the novel, as nearly all the intrigue of
the book is very closely related to the plotting of women.
Power and Ambition
• There is Charlotte Stanhope and the "friendship" she
makes with Eleanor in order to increase her brother's
chances of marriage;
• Mrs. Quiverful, who goes behind her husband's back in
order to recruit Mrs. Proudie's help in getting him
appointed warden; and then there is of course Mrs.
Proudie herself of whom no more need be said I think.
Power and Ambition
• On the other side of the coin there is then the
bishop, who instead of using his drive to make
himself powerful, uses it instead to protect himself
from those who would, such as his wife and the
archdeacon, putting his energies into submission
with regard to the former.
Power and Ambition
• The power theme is very important in the shaping of the
characters' personalities.
• Mrs. Proudie feels she must always triumph, her husband that
he must always hide from conflict or submit to the power of
another stronger character.
• Arabin and Harding on the other hand, who show the least
selfish personal motivations, are not as it might at first seem
devoid of a drive towards power.
Power and Ambition
• What is instead the case is that Harding tries to use his drive
in harmony with the unselfish views that are integral to his
personality. He is therefore not free from ambition, but
instead sublimates it to a personal idealism.
• Arabin, although in many respects similar to Harding, differs
in that he doubts his own motivation for doing or wanting
things, while Harding instead is ready to accept unselfishly
the possibility that his way may not be the best.
Power and Ambition
• Arabin, while unselfish, directs his ideology upon himself in a
negative fashion, such as when he questions his motivation for
loving Eleanor, and asks himself whether it could be on account of
her money that he is attracted to her, something that the reader can
instantly see to be patently ridiculous.
• Trollope is thus somewhat unusual in that he shows not only the
positive side of his most sympathetic characters, but also delves into
the more frustrated or frustrating aspects of their personalities.
Power and Ambition
• Finally, it is also interesting to note in a study of
Trollope's depiction of the quality of unselfishness in
the novel that Bertie, the most unselfish of all the
novel's characters, is also the furthest removed from
the conventional Victorian morality of the time.
Questions
The End

You might also like