num_pages: 836
description: He Knew He Was Right is widely acknowledged as one of Trollope’s most striking achievements.The central theme of the novel is the sexual jealousy of Louis Trevelyan who unjustly accuses his wife Emily of a liaison with a friend of her father’s. As his suspicion deepens into madness, Trollope gives us a profound psychological study in which Louis’ obsessive delirium is comparable to the tormented figure of Othello, tragically flawed by self-deception. Against the disintegration of the Trevelyans’ marriage, a lively cast of characters explore the ideas of female emancipation and how to distinguish between obedience and subjection. Although himself no supporter of women’s rights, in this novel some of Trollope’s most spirited characters are single women.Published in 1869, the same year as John Stuart Mills’ The Subjection of Women and while the Divorce Act was a relative novelty, He Knew He Was Right was a timely novel, drawing a fine line between the obedience of women within marriage and their total possession by men.
language: English
title: He Knew He Was Right
titlecomplete: He Knew He Was Right
characters: Emily Trevelyan, Lady Rowley, Colonel Osborne, Hugh Stanbury, Dorothy Stanbury, Jemima Stanbury, Louis Trevelyan, Nora Rowley, Sir Marmaduke Rowley
genres: Fiction, British Literature, Classic Literature, Literature, Classics, Novels, 19th Century, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Victorian
ratings_count: 5930
publisher: Penguin Classics