Anthony Trollope published the fourth entry in his Palliser series, Phineas Redux, first as a serial in The Graphic between July 1873 and January 1874. It appeared seven years after its predecessor, Phineas Finn, which introduced the adventurous protagonist named in the novel’s title. At the conclusion of that novel, Phineas had left behind a political career in London to return to Ireland, having become discouraged with the political scene. He married his childhood sweetheart, Mary Jones, and took the post of Inspector of the Cork Poor Houses.

In Phineas Redux, Mary has died in childbirth, leaving Phineas a grieving widower. Surprised by a call from his former Liberal peers to reenter the political fray, he accepts the offer. Upon his arrival in London, readers recognize many of the characters with whom he interacts, as Trollope continues his previous storyline. He enjoys the hospitality of a former love interest, Violet Effingham, who in the previous novel married Lord Chiltern, with whom Phineas had fought a duel, although the two men later became great friends. Lady Laura Standish, who also once loved Phineas but was forced by family to marry the depressing Robert Kennedy, has left her husband to travel abroad with her father. Another of Phineas’s previous admirers, wealthy widow Madame Max Goesler, renews her interest in the young Irish barrister. She continues as companion to the elderly duke of Omnium, despite gossip regarding their relationship.

Believing Phineas to have caused his separation from Lady Laura, Kennedy attempts to shoot Phineas, missing his mark. The event threatens to grow into a scandal, thanks to Phineas’s previous nemesis, the radical journalist Quintus Slide, but an injunction prevents publication of a letter from Kennedy in Slide’s possession. With the help of friends, Phineas manages to hide the facts of the events, but Kennedy descends into depression, then madness, eventually committing suicide. However, Phineas cannot cover up the scandal of a public argument with the cabinet minister Mr. Bonteen, who is jealous of Phineas’s rise to power. After a visit to his Club, Bonteen is murdered. When suspicions fall on Phineas, his arrest and trial leave him exhausted. His friends surround and support him, helping him retain a “manly dignity,” although he wonders whether Mary is looking down at his plight from heaven. Thanks to his lawyer, Chaffanbrass, and the efforts of Madame Max Goesler in finding crucial evidence, Phineas is acquitted. The husband of Lady Eustace, Mr. Emilius, is suspected as the murderer, but his guilt cannot be proved.

Phineas continues his political career with reelection as Tankerville’s representative. He subsequently refuses an important post, once again disillusioned with the political and legal systems. While he once fantasized about public service, “during the last few months a change had crept across his dream—which he recognized but could hardly analyse. He had seen a man whom he despised promoted, and the place to which the man had been exalted had at once become contemptible in his eyes. And there had been quarrels and jangling, and the speaking of evil words between men who should have been quiet and dignified.”

When the duke of Omnium dies, Madame Max Goesler will accept none of the inheritance he designated for her, proving her innocent motivation in their relationship. Because of her refusal, Adelaide, a cousin of Plantagenet Palliser, the title character for Trollope’s series, may marry the poor but honorable Gerard Maule. Phineas again finds happiness in marriage to Madame Max Goesler, although he decides to leave politics permanently.

Trollope focuses on traditional themes, those that often held his interest. In addition to politics, in which he, like Phineas, had become increasingly disillusioned, Trollope regularly examined the plight of women in high-society Victorian England, of interest to feminist and new historicism critics. In one early discussion, Lady Chiltern tells Phineas that men seldom have sympathy for women: “What man thinks of changing himself so as to suit his wife? And yet men expect that women shall put on altogether new characters when they are married, and girls think that they can do so. Look at this Mr. Maule, who is really over head and ears in love with Adelaide Palliser. She is full of hope and energy. He has none. And yet he has the effrontery to suppose that she will adapt herself to his way of living if he marries her.” The book remains popular, available in electronic and print versions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Glendinning, Victoria. Anthony Trollope. New York: Knopf, 1993.
Halperin, John. Trollope and Politics: A Study of the Pallisers and Others. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes & Noble, 1977.

Categories: British Literature, Literature, Novel Analysis

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