"Kept in the Dark" by Anthony Trollope
We’ve made this mistake before.
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[MANY SPOILERS BELOW]
This book has me torn. Read in the 1800s, I could see the main character, Cecilia, being considered a strong heroine. She is independent (as independent as a woman could be back then), has the courage to turn down an engagement when she realizes the man she is about to marry is a scumbag, and she bears the separation from her husband with utmost poise (even if she is screaming and tearing out her hair in the inside). Not surprisingly, many modern readers will instead view her as a young and naïve wife submitting to her husband. Although the story doesn’t bode well with current readers, it still produces themes that are very relevant to us today.
Trollope was considered a “feminist”… sort of. He praises women rights in his novels, but then at the same time they are critiqued or never followed through. The women always end up submitting to the men - the love interest. For instance, I was surprised that he had introduced Cecilia’s Italian friend, Miss Altifiorla, as a woman that opposed marriage and vowed to live a single life. When I read that I imagined readers at the time either bringing their fingers up to their lips in a gasp of astonishment, or feminists fist pumping while reading that passage in the candlelight. But what a letdown. Miss Altifiorla turns into a disloyal friend and mischievous lover. Her character is brought so low, that not even that scumbag from earlier can go through with marrying her. With the snap of his fingers, Trollope drags down that high-minded woman as though saying - this is what those thoughts will cost you. I don’t think he actually believed that (I hope), but I believe he was trying to make a point that even though women want equal rights and independence - we aren’t there yet. They still need a husband in order to pursue a life to live out and support those dreams.
Going back to our heroine, Cecilia initially has similar thoughts as her Italian friend, but so easily falls in love (as young girls are wont to do). We are all so malleable when we are young. Yet I was so proud of her for ending her engagement when she realized she would be unhappy with that man (the scumbag). I can’t imagine it would be easy in those times to let go of that kind of security (he was a rich scumbag). You immediately see she values happiness from company, rather than money. Getting to the crux of the story, when Cecilia meets her new man and is scared to tell him about her prior engagement. She knows she should tell him, but she can’t find the right moment. All of of a sudden they are married and months into their marriage, she is still constantly stressed and freaking out he is going to find out. A couple things here:
Did she need to tell him about her prior engagement? If this took place today, absolutely not. But I guess it would look bad if someone came up to your husband (like that guy you were engaged to) and told him - “Ain’t she an animal in the sack?”. Obviously Cecilia and her fiance did not have sex (preposterous!), but I’m trying to level it somehow so we can attempt to see it from their perspective. Mostly, I just wouldn’t want my husband to be taken off guard. But Trollope made it seem in his novel that it was a husband’s right to know everything about his wife. This I do not agree with. Unless you hiding truth will harm someone you love, everyone needs their privacy.
So I’m sure we’ve all done this before- letting something so trivial blow up into a mess of a disaster that could have been so easily avoided. Trollope has a way of reading my thoughts. What would I do in this situation, at this age? Then Trollope writes down Cecilia’s thoughts and feelings and I think to myself, “Holy shit. That is exactly how I have felt in the past”. He did this over and over again in his novel “Can You Forgive Her” as well.
Jealous and insecure men are the worst men to be in a relationship with. It’s okay when they are younger - we all learn to relationship after all. Cecilia and her husband are young - which is why I’m cutting them both slack. But his jealously and her knowledge of it, is exactly why she “kept him in the dark”. She knew he would be outraged, and one of the most uncomfortable feelings for me when reading this book was knowing how scared she was of her husband’s temper. RED FLAG CECILIA. It was uncomfortable because I’ve been in that exact scenario where I hid a small detail from someone and kept hiding it because I knew he’d get so upset. Then, as I knew it would happen, he eventually found out and even though it was so stupid and simple, the fact that I hid it resulted in him fabricating lies in his head. Like Cecilia, I was suddenly disloyal and having an affair. There were so many moments that I just wanted to budge into this novel, give Cecilia a hug, and tell her “it’s not worth stressing over”.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it - it’s a short one! The themes are relatable, and also, I’m still quite intrigued by Trollope’s hint of feminism. Is he? Is he not? I guess I will have to read some more of his work!
| Pub Date: | December 1882 | Page Count: | 253 Pages | ISBN: | 9780140438475 |