I’ll be frank and admit that The Warden by Anthony Trollope fell short of my expectations. I’ve heard many good things about this first book in the Barsetshire Chronicles and was quite eager to accommodate it into my reading schedule. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for me. However, if I liked a book for none other than its social satire and fine writing, I wouldn’t hesitate to name The Warden for that book. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t like the story, for I did to a considerable extent, but my enjoyment of the book was primarily based on its social satire and Trollope’s excellent writing.
The story of The Warden is developed from one of the prevalent themes of his day. The Church of England was heavily criticized for the wealth and income held by its clergy. This attack, initiated by some zealous reformists, was happily backed by the press. Trollope, while not betraying his personal views, addresses this subject from a neutral perspective. While not deterring from exposing the material comforts of the clergy, especially the higher ranks, Trollope proceeds to probe into the truth of these allegations. Reformists were of the view that the clergy were unjustly enriched and that they misappropriated funds that were meant for the benefit of the poor. But Trollope shows that sometimes things are far from being what meets the eye and that overzealous reformist ideas can do more harm than good.
Mr. Septimus Harding, the warden of Hiram’s hospital, is accused of benefiting from an income that was due to the 12 resident-inhabitants of the hospital. On close legal scrutiny, this was discovered to be untrue in the strictest terms. Mr. Septimus resigns from the wardenship since, according to his own conscience, he is unable to hold a position and an income which was thus questioned. Mr. Harding makes his position clear when he expresses his disinterest in these terms: “one does question it – the most important of all witnesses against me – I question it myself. My God knows whether or no I love my daughter; but I would sooner that she and I should both beg, than that she should live in comfort on money which is truly the property of the poor.” Mr. Harding acts nobly and sacrifices a good income and a comfortable life in his old age for a much poorer one. However, since the inhabitants would not benefit in any way from Mr. Harding’s resignation, nothing good comes out of it. Worse still is that, with Mr. Harding gone, there was no one to care for the poor invalids of the hospital, and they suffer considerably from lack of attention. Trollope shows that society’s misplaced zeal can sometimes do more harm than good. And the penitent reformist, Mr. Bold (the Barsetshire Brutus as Trollope calls him), realizes a little too late that his misguided conduct has, in fact, marred the good name of an innocent man, driving him from a position which he is suitable to hold, and putting those who were under his care in a much worse position.
I enjoyed this thematic debate, and as I’ve already said, Trollope’s satiric writing. But I had certain issues in some quarters, especially on the plot and character development. The story started promisingly and was built up well about two-thirds of the book. Then, it kind of collapsed as Trollope rushed to conclude the story. Technically, he wound it up “realistically” by not pressing too much on “happily ever after”. But the latter part was felt more as a closing of an account than the closing of a story. As to the characters, though I liked them to a varying degree, the only fully-fledged one was that of Mr. Harding. A close second is secured by the Archdeacon, Dr. Grantly. But the rest were half-formed. I expected more character participation from Mr. Bold since he is the “opposing” party. But here was a bitter disappointment as Trollope had evidently decided to make him only a tool to get the plot going. He was almost nonexistent in the last third of the story, which was unforgivable. 🙂
On the whole, The Warden was light and entertaining with beautiful, satirical writing and a thought-provoking message. It was my fault to raise my expectation level too high, so the disappointment robbed a star from the book.
Rating: 3/5
