Barchester Towers

Barchester Towers, the second in the Barsetshire series, is considered one of the most humorous Victorian novels. Humor is found in human follies and foibles and is magnified in a farcical manner, amusing the reader and giving a reason to think logically and leaving the opinion to the reader to decide whether the society is acting normally or not. It is not a comedy that would make one guffaw with laughter, but it does portray Trollope’s wit which surely makes one smile. The way Trollope portrays different characters and situations, all create comedy in the novel. Humor is created in the novel by incongruity between what is and what ought to be. Barchester Towers is filled with wry and sardonic humor, both in the dialogue of the characters and in Trollope's third person omniscient narration. The way Trollope interacts with his readers and comments on different characters and situations all serve the purpose of creating humor in the novel. 
Trollope arouses humor at many places in the novel. In chapter I,” Who will be the next Bishop?” when the ministry is about to fall and the bishop of Barchester is ill and about to die, the son of bishop is anxious about acquiring the seat of his father, which would be vacant when he dies. When the physicians predict that the bishop would live for another week, the archdeacon starts “to calculate his chances” of death. When the bishop finally dies, Mr. Harding goes to console the archdeacon but the archdeacon treats Mr. Harding more like an errand boy rather than his father in law. The archdeacon is more concerned with the vacant seat of bishop than his father’s death, a comic situation which shocks the reader and makes them laugh. Trollope has portrayed it in this way, “The archdeacon’s mind, however, had already travelled from the death chamber to closet of Prime Minister.” Trollope tries to make a travesty of the concept of death through his character of junior Grantly and his power hungry nature. 
Trollope also satirizes the ministry. The new prime minister should be busy in solving his country’s affairs but when Mr. Harding reaches him to tell the news of the bishop’s death; he is shown lounging in his chair engaged in a French novel. Humor originates when there is contradiction between what is being done and what should be done. 
When the newspaper, The Jupiter, praised the musical skills of Mr.Harding, Trollope says that “This was high praise and I will not deny that Mr.Harding was gratified by such flattery; for if Mr. Harding was vain on any subject it was on that of music.” Continuing the matter, Trollope says that after sometime the editors of the newspaper were occupied with other important issues and “the undying fame promised to our friend was clearly intended to be posthumous” meaning that the fame promised to Mr. Harding would never be given to him in his lifetime.  
Anthony Trollope criticizes the women wittily as is evident when he talks about Eleanor as “one of those feminine hearts which cling to a husband”. He compares Eleanor with “ivy” and her husband John Bold as a “tree”. Ivy covers the trunk of a tree and hides all defects so the trunk like wise Eleanor “clings to” and “loves the very faults” of her husband. The author has mocked women’s nature of relying on their father or husband and never admitting their faults, thus the author says that Eleanor “became ever ready to defend the worst failings of her lord and master.” Eleanor loves her baby and worships him as if he is a little god and Trollope mocks at her saying “let us hope the adoration offered over the cradle of the fatherless infant may not be imputed as a sin”.
At the introduction of the new bishop Dr. Proudie, the writer has used humor in characterization. Mr. Proudie, a haughty individual, is never satisfied by the praise he gets, he always wants more. Trollope is also making fun of his own misconceptions and misperceptions when he says that he would not describe about the ceremony because he didn’t understand the nature of that ceremony. Later on he introduces Dr.Proudie as someone whose own image is important to him and he knew that “exterior trappings held in proper esteem…” are necessary for “…due observance of rank”. Dr.Proudie himself thinks he is “born to move in high circles”, but Trollope thinks other wise.
The author in a whimsical way says Dr.Proudie “was friendly to those who were really in authority” and that if the doctor “didn’t do much active good, he never did any harm”. He is very worldly and avaricious as he only makes himself acquainted with those who are somehow in authority and could do him a favor at the time of need. 
Comedy springs out in the way a character is portrayed, the countenance, the features, the settings and the acts they perform makes one feel part of a comic strip or scene. Dr.Proudie is below middle height, but “he makes up for the inches which he wants by the dignity with which he carries those which he has.” Trollope criticizes ecclesiastic class while describing the Misses. Proudies. They are “now all grown up and fit for fashionable life”. This shows that they are not following the religious convictions, values, principles and traditions. Similarly Mrs. Proudie is described to us as a religious woman in her own way. She is very strict in observance of Sabbatharian rule. Mrs.Proudie overlooks dissipation, low dresses and occasional drunkenness in other weekdays but the desecration of Sabbath cannot be overlooked. Trollope compares her eyes with “the eyes of Argus”, a creature in Greek mythology that had several eyes and if one of his eyes were closed all the others remained open. Mrs. Proudie likes to control whatever she can and in one such laughable situation, “Mrs. Proudie looked at her, but said nothing. The meaning of her look might have been thus translated: ‘If you ever find yourself within these walls again, I’ll give you leave to be as impudent and affected, and as mischievous as you please.” Transmitting subliminal messages through her eyes, she seems to live for these reasons alone; firstly, to prove her authority over everyone, secondly, to psychoanalyze the people in her reach and the situations she can exercise her authority on. Trollope uses tongue in cheek when saying it is not his intention to breathe a word against Mrs.Proudie. The author makes the reader realize the role of woman over man in a laughable manner when he talks about the control of Mrs.Proudie on her “titular lord”. Mrs. Proudie rules him “with a rod of iron”. She is not satisfied with her domestic rule and wants to stretch her dominion over all movements of her husband. The author calls Dr.Proudie a “hen-pecked husband” because he is controlled over by his wife in domestic as well as official matters.   
Mr.Slope, the chaplain of bishop, will “stoop to fawn” and stoop low indeed with the people who were in authority to carry out his own purposes. Mr.Slope, also like Mrs.Proudie, could not afford violation of Sabbath rule and the author says “Sunday, however, is a word which never pollutes his mouth”.  As far as his appearance is concerned we are told “his hair is lank and of a dull pale reddish hue. It is formed into three straight lumpy masses, each brushed with admirable precision, and cemented with much grease; two of them adhere closely to the sides of his face and the other lies at right angels above them.” And about his face the author writes that his face is a little redder than his hair and “it is not unlike beef-beef, however, one would say, of a bad quality”.
The bishop’s treatment at the hands of his wife and Mr. Slope creates much humor in the novel. He is like a puppet in their hands, sometimes the strings are pulled by Mrs. Proudie and sometimes by Mr. Slope. This becomes exceedingly evident in the power play between Mr. Slope and Mrs. Proudie, especially in the chapter, “Mrs. Proudie Wrestles and Gets a Fall”, when both of them are quarreling and the bishop is sitting there scratching his head and nervously “twiddling his thumbs. Turning his eyes now to his wife, and now to his chaplain”, and he wishes that they both “fight it out so that one should kill the other utterly.”   
When Dr. Grantly and Mr.Harding pay a visit to Dr.Proudie and then depart, many instances of hilarity are disclosed before the avid reader . Firstly, Dr.Proudie is playing “Venus to Juno” and is prepared for the war, which shows that they will become enemies of each other. They both depart after meeting the Proudies, but try “escaping from Mr.Slope in the best manner each could”. As soon as they depart, both are enraged. Trollope describes the wrath and anger of the archdeacon. When he lifts his cap, “a visible stream” is emitted thus “preventing positive explosion and probable apoplexy”. 
The sermon of Mr.Slope, at Barchester “ridiculed, abused and anathematized” the high-and-dry church and makes the people of Barchester angry. Trollope, through his word-play, creates humor while describing the anger of the people of Barchester. The sermon of Mr. Slope was heard with “angry eyes” and with “widespread nostrils” from which “burst forth fumes of indignation” which show the disturbed mind of the people. Mr. Slope, who is hated by Eleanor and Mary Bold, after the sermon, comes to meet them at their house. This news shocks them. They become defensive in the baby’s case as the widow snatches the baby out of the cradle in her lap and Mary Bold stands up to “die manfully in the baby’s behalf”. Mr. Slope, an uninvited guest, is received with hatred, anger and extreme wrath but when the conversation ends and he is about to leave, he is allowed by each lady to “take her hand” for farewell and he also touches the baby’s hand and blesses him.  
Humor arises out of the introduction of the Stanhope family. A letter is sent to the Stanhope family to be called back to Barchester. Four different points are written in that letter. Firstly, Dr.Proudie calls Dr.Stanhope for the assistance in the diocese. Secondly, the bishop wants to become acquainted with him. Thirdly, it is necessary for Dr.Stanhope’s own interest. And the fourth point is a threat to Dr. Stanhope that if he does not come back his name is to be given to “councils of nation” as an absentee clergy. In reality the Stanhope’s are very heartless and selfish people but they act as refined natured human beings that no one ever feels it. They visit their neighbors in sickness and bring them oranges but when they hear about their death, they still laugh without any concern.
Dr. Stanhope is a clergyman, supposed to follow religious convictions but this is not so. Instead he never obtrudes them even on his children. This is not because he thinks not of influencing their thoughts and actions but according to the author “he was habitually idle”. Skilton coolly demonstrates that while there is very little "poetic" in Trollope and little of religion (there's plenty of satirized religiosity), his work abounds in "mental life." - Margaret Markwick
Like wise, Mrs. Stanhope only knows how to dress and according to the author as for “other purposes in her life, she had none”. She is also very inactive, that is why her eldest daughter takes the charge of the house. Madeline Stanhope is very beautiful. She has been married and has a child, yet she is a flirt and always tries to attract men towards herself. Trollope says she “had destroyed the hearts of dozens cavaliers without once being touched in her own”. She is not at all religious. Trollope compares her eyes with that of Lucifer’s because they depict cruelty, mischief, cunning and courage. When they were called to Barchester, Trollope describes her as “the lady who had now come to wound the hearts of the men of Barchester”. She has changed her name to La Signora Madeline Neroni, which is humorous. Just to gain an air of importance in her circle she is willing to sacrifice her identity. In Barchester Towers we come to know about signora Neroni that “Her ambition was to create a sensation, to have parsons at her feet, seeing that the manhood of Barchester consisted mainly of parsons, and to send, if possible, every parson’s wife home with green fit of jealousy.” Trollope has made Neroni a pitiable character, especially the incident of her mysteriously returning home crippled.
The rector of the Perish has constantly been made fun of by the author as being fat and in one such situation “The rector’s weight was resting on the sofa, and unwittingly lent all its impetus to accelerate and increase the motion which Bertie intentionally originated. The sofa rushed from its moorings, and ran half-way into the middle of the room” concluding that rector is uninviting for the whole gathering and even a mere non-living object is not welcoming him. Trollope dissects the farcical values which the people of Barchester have built which have no care for human feelings and they continue to live by it.
In chapter, “The Widow’s Suitors” he lashes out at the writers as he writes “Our doctrine is that the author and the reader should move along together in full confidence with each other. Let the personages of the drama undergo ever so complete a comedy of errors among themselves, but let the spectator never mistake the Syracusan for the Ephesian; otherwise he is one of the dupes, and the part of a dupe is never dignified”. Trollope brings forward his complete message and explains to the reader that the way comedy should go is that the writer should always be in control of it.
One way that Trollope's humor unfolds before us is in wordplay and hyperbole as is evident when the unpleasant Mr. Slope tries to declare his love for Signora Neroni, he takes her hand and this is how Trollope portrays it, "Mr. Slope was big, awkward, cumbrous, and having his heart in his pursuit, was ill at ease. The lady was fair, as we have said, and delicate; everything about her was fine and refined; her hand in his looked like a rose lying among carrots, and when he kissed it he looked as a cow might do on finding such a flower among her food." The analogy of a woman’s hands lying in a man’s hand looking like a rose lying among carrots and Mr. Slope looking like a cow is simply hilarious. The whole episode of Mr. Slope declaring his love for Signora Neroni is mirthful. The way she makes an utter fool out of this chaplain is humorous. We are told that Mr. Slope for Signora Neroni was “the finest fly that Barchester had hitherto afforded to her web; and the signora was a powerful spider that made wondrous webs.” In the same way Mrs. Grantly’s comparison of Mr. Arabin to a goose and his not being able to prove “his qualifications in swanhood to her satisfaction” create humor as well. 
When a visit is paid to St. Ewold’s parsonage to establish proper lodging for Mr. Arabin, many instances of comedy are disclosed before us. When Eleanor points out a beautiful view from a window to Mr. Arabin, he turns it into a barrack in some battlefield from where he can have a clear view of his adversaries and he can “fire away at them at a very pleasant distance”. Similarly the way Mr. Grantly walks up and down the dinning-room with “ponderous steps”, the way he snubs Mr. Harding and argues about something as trivial as a round table in the dining- room and advocating to tear down the walls just to make the dinning-room larger, all serve to create humor. 
Trollope through his Novel tries to capture the snapshot of the past, he does not seem to be interested in just narrating the story, it looks as if he is interested in finding the comic nature of characters, situations, events and risibility of the want of acquiring power. Riffaterre explains that Trollope uses metonymies as comic devices, and that this comic and descriptive tool is reflective of Trollope's emphasis on contradiction, a hallmark of his literary style.