The Eustace Diamonds

Alfred Stevens, Portrait of Mrs. Stevens (nee Deering), 1900

By Anthony Trollope, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 637

Lizzie Eustace is a beautiful young widow who schemes to hold on to the Eustace family's diamond necklace.  This is a novel about lying.  Trollope seems to be making the point that mendacity permeates Victorian society.  The most powerful scenes for me involved Lucinda Roanoke.  Trollope uses this character to retell the story of Scott's The Bride of Lammermoor.  In Scott's story, Lucy Ashton is a young woman forced into a marriage with a man she doesn't love.  She goes mad on her wedding day and stabs him.  Here, Lucinda is sold off to an aristocratic husband to obtain financial security for her family.  She refuses her family's injunction and goes crazy on her wedding day.  Excellent melodrama! Lucinda rides to the hounds with shocking recklessness.  She cares little for her body or her life.