Les sept péchés capitaux dans l'univers d'Anthony Trollope
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Abstract EN:
Between the years of 1847 and 1882. The english novelist anthony trollope wrote an impressive corpus of almost 50 novels. Within this fictional dimension he created his own universe, and peopled it with a host of diverse and complex characters. As the god of his own creation. Trollope also invented a distinctive moral universe. This being the case, let's establish what were for him the seven most reprehensible forms of behaviour, or, in other words. Trollope's seven deadly sins. The first of these was excess. A great admirer of cicero, trollope believed in moderation in all things. You can enjoy a good wine. But never sink into alcoholism. That curse of the nineteenth century. Secondy. Trollope detested untruth in all its forms. He was particularly concerned by slander, and in this context the increasing power of the written press worried him. In third position came the love of money. In a world of change, certain aspects of the new financial distribution were particularly offensive to trollope. He explicitly condemned miserliness, sponging on others, marriage for money, the loss of old values, usury, blackmail and various frauds in the stock exchange. The central sin was that of idleness, hardly surprising in view of trollope's reputation as one of the great workaholics of all time. He considered laziness as a moral taint, and was in total agreement with the victorian work ethic. The fifth sin was that of vulgarity, to avoid which a man had to have a certain social standing, to have had a public school education, to dress neither like a dandy nor like a beggar, (above all avoiding the colour yellow), and to be a member of the high church. In short, he had to be a gentleman. The penultimate sin as that of hypocrisy. Trollope deplored religious hypocrisy, which he saw as an attempt to wield power over the weak. He was wary too of the ubiquitous sin of bad faith, one of the most difficult to diagnose in oneself. Finally, he felt that not being english was a fault in it itself. He was specifically critical of the french (untrustworthy), the italians (brutal and bigamous husbands), the americans (unrefined, brash and dishonest), and the jews (base and grasping). Inn this universe, the perfect man was he who resisted all these sins - the english gentleman.
Abstract FR:
A travers pres de 50 romans, ecrits entre 1847 et 1882, le romancier anglais anthony trollope a cree son propre univers ; il l'a peuple de personnages complexes et varies, vivant selon un systeme moral precis. Dans un monde ou trollope est dieu, quels sont les comportements a reprimer, autrement dit, les sept peches capitaux? le premier est l'exces, car trollope est un homme qui recherche avant tout la moderation en toute chose. On peut aimer le vin, mais il ne faut pas somber dans l'alcoolisme, ce grand fleau du dix-neuvieme siecle. Le deuxieme est le mensonge ; il ne faut pas tromper autrui, mais il faut surtout se garder de la calomnie. Dans ce contexte, trollope craint particulierement le pouvoir croissant de la presse. En troisieme lieu se trouve l'amour de l'argent. Trollope condamne l'avarice, l'ecorniflage, le mariage "interesse", l'usure, le chantage et l'escroquerie en bourse. Ensuite trollope, repute pour son acharnement au travail, n'admet pas la paresse chez ses personnages, il s'agit, selon lui, d'une tare morale. C'est le grand defenseur de l'ethique victorienne en ce qui concerne le travail. Le cinquieme peche est la vulgarite. Pour eviter cette faute, le personnage se doit d'appartenir a un certain rang social, d'avoir suivi une education appropriee, de s'habiller ni comme un dandy, ni comme un mendiant, et surtout de ne pas adherer a l'eglise evangelique ; en un mot,il se doit d'etre un gentleman. A la sixieme position se trouve l'hypocrisie, et plus particulierement l'hypocrisie religieuse, qui dissimule une envie de pouvoir sur l'autre. Trollope reconnait egalement l'omnipresence de la mauvaise foi, peche fort difficile a eviter. Enfin, trollope estime que l'origine etrangere empeche ses personnages d'atteindre une perfection morale. Specialement mal percus sont les francais (indignes de confiance), les italiens (maris brutaux et bigames), les americains (vulgaires, nouveaux riches et de mauvaise foi), et les juifs (rapaces et abjects). L'homme parfait dans cet univers fictif est celui qui resiste a ces sept peches : le gentleman anglais.