Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2004
Subject: [trollope-l] Home Page: Augsburg
Reply-To: trollope-l@yahoogroups.com

Now on our Home Page is an old building in Augsburg, the town where Linda went with Ludovic and stayed all too briefly with Fanny and Max.

Dagny

Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2004
Subject: [trollope-l] Linda Tressel: Chapters 12 and 13: Temporary Refuge, Back to Castigation
Reply-To: trollope-l@yahoogroups.com

Chapter 12 starts out very upbeat with Fanny and Max taking charge of Linda. Unfortunately, even though Fannie says she will keep Linda with them for several days, things revert to Aunt Charlotte's rule as Linda returns home with her the next day.

Chapter 13 is totally depressing with Charlotte castigating Linda by her prayers. Even Herr Molk gets in the act and finally Linda breaks down again and agrees to marry Peter. Peter is as determined to marry Linda as she is not to marry him. He is stronger.

Why does Peter even want to marry Linda any more after all she has said to him? Does he really think he can change her after the ceremony. He might, he keeps saying how afterwards he will have absolute control. Or is it a matter of pride and fear of being laughed at in the community?

Dagny

Re: Why Does Peter Persist?

Peter will also own the house. He will gain control and much prestige in the community; what happens inside the house is another matter.

Beyond pride and fear of ridicule, he wants revenge. Hell hath no fury .... like a man scorned.

I'll add that Trollope doesn't mean us to read Chapter 12 this way but as in his other two heroine's texts we've had this summer, we see how the idea that biology means ownership is fatal to women.

Thank you to Dagny for the picture. It helps us to visualize the place.

Ellen

Yes. I am now reading the next two chapters and it is all becoming clear that money and prestige is a big factor in his decision. And that Herr Molk is reinforcing Peter when he wavers!

Dagny

I've fallen behind on LT but will catch up tonight. I hadn't thought to look at the fiction from the standpoint of the males as males asserting their power. I will read with this in mind.

Ellen

Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004
Subject: [trollope-l] Linda Tressel: Chapter XIV: Further Confrontation
Reply-To: trollope-l@yahoogroups.com

In Chapter XIV it is as Ellen mentioned. Peter is thinking of the red house as a "chattel of great value in Nuremberg" and something he desires with all his heart.

Has love for Linda ever once been mentioned on Peter's part? Even the fact that she is pretty is now overshadowed by his desire to triumph over her. Each time Peter waivers, Herr Molk and a few others urge him to continue with the marriage, excusing Linda's actions by her youth.

When Ludovic again arrives to see Linda, she tells her aunt who goes to confront him. Ludovic calls Linda his wife to Charlotte, although shortly when he meets Peter he calls her only his young woman. Is this significant?

A confrontation ensues with Tetchen taking Linda's part. Charlotte also takes Linda's part although she still presses for the marriage. It appears Peter has given up the engagement much to the relief of Linda. (I don't believe it though.)

Dagny

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004
Subject: [trollope-l] Linda Tressel: Chapter XV
Reply-To: trollope-l@yahoogroups.com

As suspected, Linda's "escape" from the marriage with Peter was too good to be true.

A troubled month has passed. Charlotte's instinct is to side with Linda but her religion gets in the way and she thinks the "sackcloth and ashes" of a marriage to Peter would benefit Linda and the forced prayers have continued.

Meanwhile Herr Molk and others have been working on Peter to convince him that Linda's misbehavior doesn't count for anything and should be ignored. I can't figure out why. Really, what business of theirs is it?

Nothing has been heard of Ludovic although it has come to light that he was released from the prison at Augsburg and the city magistrates there "declared the city magistrates of Nuremberg to be----geese.

Charlotte is now telling Linda that the entire household will become the prey of Satan if she continues to be obstinate. Charlotte and Peter are being fully as obstinate as Linda. Too bad she is not older and more willing to take charge of her life. Linda finally again agrees to the marriage in order to avoid more prayers on her knees with Charlotte.

Dagny

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004
Subject: [trollope-l] Linda Tressel: Chapter XV
Reply-To: trollope-l@yahoogroups.com

As Dagny says: "Linda finally again agrees to the marriage in order to avoid more prayers on her knees with Charlotte." But, the date set is the Ides of March. I'm not sure what Trollope has in mind, here, but maybe it is that Charlotte and Peter care nothing about a silly bit of esoterica as the portentousness of March 15, just so Linda marries Peter and the red house keeps its brightness. There is also an implied contrast: Julius Caesar's wife warned him not to go out (according to Shakespeare's order of things); Linda has no one to turn to.

Richard

Re: Can a Person be Harassed to Death?

Yes.

Ellen