'What should a woman do with her life?' Women and the social machinery in the novels of Anthony Trollope

Trollope criticism tends to locate female characters within Trollope's personal attitudes and cultural milieu. Adopting a different approach, this thesis examines depictions, in Anthony Trollope's novels foregrounding women, of a constraining "social machinery" within which women characters negotiate what they "should" do with their lives.;The Victorian "separate spheres" ideology posited woman's invisible and intangible moral function within the domestic sphere, and man's visible and measurable functions in the public sphere. After brief historical and critical surveys, this thesis treats four major elements of the "social machinery": (1) Chapter Two analyzes female abettor-figures. Successful abettors are agents and oracles of both the social machinery and the novel's plot. Officially "invisible", they are publicly efficient, shepherding stalled marriage-plots to socially and personally appropriate conclusions. Novels examined are Rachel Ray, Miss Mackenzie, Can You Forgive Her?, Phineas Finn, Ralph the Heir, The Duke's Children, The Vicar of Bullhampton, An Eye for an Eye. (2) Chapter Three describes ways successful female ambition is defined and achieved. Through conscious pre-marital negotiation with self, society and lover, a woman's initially vague ambition takes a concrete form harmonizing personal needs and social realities. Ultimate success involves achieving an official "invisibility" which permits covert use of public power. Novels examined are Rachel Ray, Can You Forgive Her?, Ralph the Heir, Ayala's Angel. (3) Chapter Four describes unsuccessful female ambition as a woman's failure to negotiate with her social context. Placing personal needs first, she sells herself imprudently into marriage. Her larger personal ambitions become inaccessible, as inevitable repression precludes all exercise of public power. Novels examined are The Eustace Diamonds, He Knew He Was Right, Phineas Finn, Ralph the Heir. (4) Chapter Five examines use of an arbitrary "line" to police female behaviour through externally and internally conferred labels. Female sexuality becomes a regulatory mechanism defining the individual woman, her personal and social identity, and her relationships. Novels examined are The Vicar of Bullhampton, The Small House at Allington, An Eye for an Eye.;The Conclusion treats how female characters must negotiate "moments of visibility" which determine what they should ---and can---do with their lives.