The lady as criminal: Anthony Trollope's adaptation of the Victorian sensation novel

This dissertation examines Anthony Trollope's adaptation of the Victorian sensation novel in plots involving lady criminals as protagonists. The anti-heroines of these novels displace the conventional, sentimental heroine to provide the main interest of the story. Trollope continually juxtaposes the conventional heroine to a criminal anti-heroine and thereby subverts popular Victorian expectations for the novel. By making anti-heroines the centers of interest, Trollope implies that both fictional and social conventions are inadequate for women.;The Mid-Victorian sensation novel cast women as both victims and victimizers. The sensation heroine rebels against social conventions by openly embracing crime; she most often commits crimes against the family and the patriarchy. Although partly following the pattern of the sensation novel, Trollope domesticates the form by allowing his women criminals to participate in society. Rather than attack the patriarchal structure, these women attempt to infiltrate the patriarchy to gain for themselves the patriarchal advantages of wealth and power. Trollope uses marriage, particularly the mercenary marriage, as a means for the criminal women characters to test their values against those of the general society.;The novels are discussed in chronological order to demonstrate that, throughout his career, Trollope included subversive characters and values as part of his thematic canon. The chronology also shows a progression in the complexity of the anti-heroines' crimes, a movement from obvious legal crimes to amorphous moral crimes. The progression suggests Trollope's growing understanding of the complexity of women's issues and represents a maturing criticism of Victorian social values, particularly the restrictions and double standards placed on women.