I 
Q
UESTION
 
IT
 
M
YSELF

: 
M
ID
-
VICTORIAN
 
N
OVELS

F
ORMATION OF
 
E
THICAL 
S
UBJECTIVITY AND THE
 
L
IBERAL
 
R
EFORM
 
OF
 
I
NHERITANCE 
L
AWS
 
 
By
 
 
Hyunsoo Jang
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A DISSERTATION
 
 
Submitted to
 
Michigan State University
 
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
 
for the degree of
 
 
English 
-
 
Doctor of Philosophy
 
 
2015
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ABSTRACT
 

I 
Q
UESTION
 
IT
 
M
YSELF

: 
M
ID
-
VICTORIAN
 
N
OVELS

F
ORMATION OF
 
E
THICAL 
S
UBJECTIVITY AND THE
 
L
IBERAL
 
R
EFORM
 
OF
 
I
NHERITANCE 
L
AWS
 
 
By
 
 
Hyunsoo Jang
 
 
This dissertation 
explores 
the socio
-
economic dimensions of inheritance in notable mid
-
Victorian novels and their engagement with contemporary social debates over amending feudal 
inheritance laws. The dissertation argue
s that these novels contributed to reinforcing a 
reactionary cultural force that drove the compromised liberal legislation of new inheritance laws. 
The reform of the inheritance laws, led by Victorian liberals, focused on strengthening absolute 
testamentar

redistributing inherited wealth into the hands of broader population. The liberals prioritized the 
cultivation of individual moral capacity or character
-
building over the improvem
ent of economic 
equality. With their generic narrative power, mid
-
Victorian novels about inheritance dramatized 

-
economic ideas and sought to shape a subject who would internalize 
those ideas in his or her mind.
 
My dissertation 
also illuminates how mid
-

reasoning for the reform exposes a paradox in liberalism and a limit of the distinctive Victorian 
concept of ethical subjectivity.
 
The mid
-
Victorian period witnessed the establishment of modern inheritance laws 
guaranteeing an absolute testamentary freedom on real and personal property
. 
It is not
able that 
the laws
 
significantly contradicted liberal ideology
 
that 
established its moral ground by highly 
regarding self
-
reliance
. T
he 
laws 
made possible the circulation
 
of inherited wealth along family 
blood
-
lines. 
L
iberals needed to provide a new guiding principle in order to build a social 
cons
ensus for testamentary freedom. 
Victorian liberals sought this principle not only to defend 
 
 
private property ownership but also
 
to cultivate ethical subjects. In legislating new inheritance 

ary 
concern
. Liberals believed that testamentary freedom would
 
promote a favorable
 
environment
 
for the pu

morality
 
and faculty
.
 
To justify their principle, liberals 
incited the
 
anxiety that the radical reform of the laws would jeopardize the institution of private 
property and English society as well by distributing wealth to th
e morally ineligible mass public. 
In theory, liberals suggested private property ownership as a guarantor for individual moral 
autonomy. However, paradoxically, they demanded the mass public to cultivate their moral 
capacity as a precondition to owning pro
perty and to sharing the national wealth. 
 
To demonstrate these ideas, I juxtapose four 
notable mid
-
Victorian novels of inheritance 
with this socio
-
econo
mic context: 
The Warden
, 
Felix Holt
, 
The Eustace Diamonds
, 
and 
No 
Name
. In these novels we can witness idealized ethical characters who 
embody 
particular moral 
values that guided the liberal reform. The novels encourage their readers to internalize these 

pment of an 
individualized moral conscience. 
At the same time, the novels foster cultural anxieties about the
 
uncultivated subjects by includ
ing the literary characters obsessed with possessing inheritance 
through immoral ways. These characters are describ
ed as threatening both private property 
ownership and social security. Inciting this anxiety, the novels 
dramatize the liberal insistence on 
promoting character
-
building through new inheritance laws rather than improving material 
equality.
 
My reading of th
e novels also suggests that we consider the construction of Victorian 
ethical subjectivity in relation to the development of modern property laws. I elaborate how this 
interrelation produced ethical subjects that were 
cognitively liberated
 
but alienated 
fr
om the 
public sphere
, since 
this subjectivity is confined to the 
privatization of 
property rights
.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright by 
 
HYUNSOO JANG
 
2015
 
 
 
 
 
v
 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
 
This dissertation has benefited immeasurably from the responses of 
teachers, friends, and 
family. If I have omitted anyone as an oversight, then I want to apologize up front. It is my great 
ple
asure to thank all of those
 
who have 
made it possible for me to complete
 
this dissertation. 
 
I owe thanks foremost to my advisor a
nd dissertation chair
, Za
rena Aslami, for guiding
 
me through
out
 
the whole process of completing my degree
. Zarena first intro
duced me to the 
political
 
and economic
 
aspect of Victorian novels. Her enthusiasm, engagement, and critical 
contributions did much to frame and advance my u
nderstanding of Victorian literature and 
culture
. 
Her steady support also 
never failed to keep me convinced of the importance of my 
pr
ojec
t. She
 
ha
s been my idol because of her
 
passion for scholarship and
 
dedication to students
. 
 
I 
am grateful 
to Scott Michaelsen
 
for
 
his
 
constant support and w
illingness to discuss my 
ideas 
in 
theoretical frames
. 
In addition, h
is good sense of humor always 
ke
pt 
my spirit
 
up
 
and led 
me to finish the project
.
 
I 
thank
 
Stephen Arch and Judith Stoddart
 
for valuable feedback and 
thought
-
provoking questions
. 
They 
provided me with a model of the erudite yet approachable 
scholars to whom I aspired. Stephen pushed me to
 
investigate this project in a larger context of 
literary 
and political 

believed. 
 
I
 
was lucky to study with great teachers in South Korea, 
where 
I nurtured 
an idea to 
become an English teacher and to pursue a Ph.D. 
I began to love 
English
 
literature in my 
undergraduate studies with Eunai Sung and 
Minseok Oh
 
at Dankook University
. 
Their clas
ses 
awakened
 
me 
to 
the pleasure
 
of reading 
English literature
. I miss 
our discussion on literature 
that
 
often
 
extended outside the classroom. 
I
 
was privileged 
to work with 
Chulwon Cho and Sangjun 
 
 
vi
 
 
Jung
 
at Seoul National University
. They provided me 
with 
a valuable 
intellectual 
training for 
academic research and guided me to p
ursue further academic 
career
. 
 
My project would not have been possible without 
my friends at 
Michigan State 
University. 

office 
door was always open to me whenever I needed 
encouragement to overcome my frustration as an early
-
career teach
er. 
Erika Stender and Hugh 

patiently read the draft of this dissertation.
 
My thanks
 
also
 
go to Yeoniee Cho, 
Minting Ye, 
Eunah Lee, 
and Pyeongseon Oh
, who made my study there enjoyable
. They 
reminded me that East Lansing is my home in heart. 
 
 
Finally, I am indebted to my family for their unconditional faith in me. M
y parents, 
Jungsook Kim and Youngchae Jang, who do not fully understand why I study literature but never 
fail to believe in me. My parents
-
in
-
law, Junghee Joo and Youngkyun Woo, enri
ched my body 
and soul with their home
-
grown vegetables and love. My daughter, Danah, arrived when I was 
working on the first chapter, and has grown as my dissertation was fully developed. I see that 
this happy, bright, and strong toddler in the 
future will
 
have 
courage, wisdom, and compassion
 
that many heroines show in literary works
. I am deeply grateful to my partner, Jewon Woo, for 
her unfailing support. She taught me the importance of everyday life by asking me to do house 
works and childcare regardless
 
of how busily I should work on the dissertation. Without Danah 
and Jewon, I could have completed this dissertation two years ago. But, I would not exchange 
the joyful two years for anyth
ing. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
vii
 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
 
 


 
 
CHAPTER ONE
 
The Limits of Morality: 
The Problem of Unearned Wealth and 
Mr. Harding

Sacrifice 
in 
Anthony 
Trollope

s 
The Warden


 
 
CHAPTER TWO
 

Felix 
Holt

 
 
CHAPTER THREE
 

The 
Eustace Diamonds


 
 
CHAPTER FOUR
 
Protection b
ut Not Equal Property Rights: The Sentimental Anxiety about Proprietary Woman in 

No Name

 
 

 
 
WORKS 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1
 
 
INTRODUCTION
 

I 
Q
uestion It M
yself

1
:
 
Mid
-

Formation of Ethical Subjectivit
y
 
and t
he 
Lib
eral Reform of Inheritance Laws
 
Many novelists in t
he
 
mid
-
Victorian period
 
dealt with the 
theme of inheritance in 
developing their narratives. 
Despite the 
broad range of genres 
in circulation at that time, 
from 
serious social problem novels to popul
ar sensation novels
, 
it is difficult to find 
a
 
plot
 
that 
doe
s
 
not invol
ve a
 
conflict over
 
the ownership of inheritance
, such as a family estate or
 
heirloom.
 
Victorian novelists show
ed
 
their 
particular 
concern about 
establishing
 
a desirable 
transition of 
ownership in relation to
 
inheritance
, creating 
various 
narratives that dramatize the process of 
finding 
a 
legitima
te successor
 
or the commotion
 
produced by the disinherited or the beneficiary 
who refuse
s
 
inheritance. 
Along 
with
 
this
 
popular
 
literary 
theme
, 
in the same time period we can 
also observe 

interest in 
reforming outdated feudal inheritance laws. 
T
he Victorian era has been
 
called 

the ag
e of reform
,

 
and 
feudal inhe
ritance laws
 
s
uch as 
primogeniture and entail
 
constituted 
important social issues that provoked 
politi
cal tensions and 
public debates between 
pro
-
reform 
and conservative 
forces
.
2
 
Can we 
find
 
interconnect
ions 
between these literary and 
social phenomena? 
This dissertation 
explores how
 
notable 
m
id
-
Victorian novels of inheritance were 
closely
 
engaged with 
contemporary 
debate
s
 
over
 
amending
 
                                        
                  
 
1








 
2





































































 
 
 
2
 
 
the 
feudal 
inheritance laws. 
Through this exploration, I argue that these novels 
contributed to 
reinforcing 
a 
reactionary
 
cultural force that 
drove the liberal
 
reform
 
of the inheritance laws
. With 
their generic narrativ
e 
power, mid
-
Victorian novels about
 
inheritance 
sought to shape a subject 
who would 
internalize
 
contemporary 

-
economic 
ideas in 
his or her
 
mind
. 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
The mid
-
Victorian period 
witnessed the establishment of 
modern inheritance laws 
guaranteeing an absolute testamentary freedom on real and personal property. 
The liberal reform 
movement of the feudal inheritance laws
, which began in the early 19
th
 
century, resulted in 
two 
important 
statutory acts, the Wills Act 
of 1837 and the Settled Land
 
Act of 1882, that mark 
the
 
approximate
 
beginning and the end of the 
mid
-
Victorian 
period
, respectively
.
 
These two legal 
acts 
illustrate the core liberal principle of the newly legislated inheritance laws in Victorian 
Engl
and. W
hile the Wills Act
 
attempted to 
confirm
 

st by 
simplifying formal will
-
making, the Settled Land Act 
completed almost a 
century
-
long process 
of abolishing the feudal inheritance laws th
at significantly restricted 
te
stam
entary power, in 
particular
 
on real property
.
 
Since the feudal age, 
o
n the basis of 
the custom of primogeniture, 
most English nobility entaile
d their land on 
the 
eldest sons of 
their 
future family generations.
3
 
The law of primogeniture also 
forced all 

d
 
intestate, to be 
devolved on their eldest son
s
 
born of 
legitimate marriage or 
their 
heir
-
at
-
law determined by the 
canons of descent.
4
 
The Settled Land Act
 
brought
 
a 
substantial
 
change 
to these
 
c
ustomary and 
legal re
strictions 
of
 
testamentary power
. The Act 
grant
ed
 
the management of the family estate 
                                        
                  
 
3





































 
4


















 
 
 
3
 
 
entirely 
to
 
the current owner, empowering him to alienate, lease and m
ortgage the family estate
 
without any fetters
.
5
 
While 
moving
 

away from consideration of the family as an entity, to 

in legislating pr
operty laws, the act actually
 
paved a way for the 
emergence
 
of a 
distinctively 
modern 
concept of 
the 
autonomous 
individual
 
proprietor
.
6
 
This 
dissertation 
examines
 
the literary theme of inheritance 
in this significant
 
historical context
. 
 
Despite the significant impact of 
modern 
inheritance laws
 
on 
Victorian life
, 
the theme of 
inheritance in mid
-
Victorian novels has 
yet to be discussed 
in its 
socio
-
economic 
dimension 
related to 
the establishment of 
these laws.
 
A
lthough scholarship on the interconnection between 
economic matters and
 
literary narratives exists, 
literary critics have not provided a 
comprehensive understanding of
 
the 
theme o
f inheritance in its contemporary political and 
economic context.
7
 
S
cholars
 
often single out one author

s
 
text
, exploring 
how 
his or her 
novel
 
employ
s
 
inheritance 
as a 
symbolic
 
signif
ier of
 
non
-
material values such as 
national culture, 
tradition, or
 
a

concept
ualize
 
the theme
 
as
 
int
rinsically 
linked to 
a 
specific 
economic
 
context
.
 
Criticizing this tendency, the dissertation 
notes 
that 
i
nheritance
 
basically implies 
a crucial transmission of 
property 
between gen
erations
,
 
and
 
it 
frames
 
this discussion with the
 
economic system and 
distribution of 
wealth
 
specific to the mid
-
Victorian period
. 
T
he establishment of modern inheritance laws express
es
 
not only 
mid
-

 

 
but also
 
the 

d
 
its
 
                                        
                  
 
5























 
6










 
7
 
See Allan Hepburn, ed., 
Troubled Legacies:
 
Narrative and Inheritance
 
(
Toronto: University of Toronto 
Press, 200
7), 
3
.
 
This 
book
 
can be considered 
the
 
first collection of essays 
discuss
ing the theme of 
inheritance in 
19
th
 
and early 20
th
 
century English novels.
 
I
n 

 


Allan 
Hepburn
 
calls for 
further attention to the interrelation between 
inheritance and novelistic discourse. 
 
 
 
4
 
 
concept of 
the 
proper 
role of 
the state 
and
 
individuals for
 
distributing national wealth.
8
 
In 
this 
sense, 
my
 
dissertation 
delves into
 
how 
mid
-
Victorian 
n
arrati
ves of
 
inheritance 
inquire into 
the 
desirability of
 
property ownership, the
 
ideal modern state, and 
ethical
 
individuality
 
in relation to 
dominant 
s
ocial expectation
s
 
of
 
how to manage
 
inheritance as 
the most i
mportant resource of 
national wealth
.
 
More specifically
, I focus on how 
these narratives embody
 
the 
most influential 

distinctive 
reasoning for the liberal reform of the inheritance 
laws that sets up the cultivation of ethical subjects as its primary concern
.
 
 
A brief
 
sketch
 
of 
the
 
complicated political contours of 
the 
mid
-
Victorian period
 
in which 
the
 
liberal
 
re
form
ers were
 
situated
 
helps us understand mid
-
Vict

reform
. 
The legislation
 
of modern inheritan
ce laws has been generally consider
ed as
 
a victory for
 
m
id
-
Victorian liberal
s

 
in their fight against
 
conservative aristocracies
. 
The feudal inheritance 
laws, p
rimogeniture and entail
, enabled 
a great amount of land
 
to be kept
 
in the
 
hands of noble 
famil
ies for
 
generations and 
prevented 
English land
 
f
rom being distributed through
 
th
e market 
system.
 
The
 
two 
feudal 
laws
 
served 
to secure
 
a material ground for the continuation of the 
landed noble class

 
power and made the price of land rise above its actual economic value.
 
Since t
he repeal of
 
the
 
Corn Law
 
in
 
1846 
substantively
 
weakened the
ir power, 
the conservative
 
aristocracies struggled to protect
 
f
eudal inherita
nce laws from the demand of 
reform 
in order to 
maintain
 
their power
, which 
relied on 
substantial
 
land
-
ownership. 
Facing this conservative 
reaction, mid
-
Victorian libe
ral
s
 
claimed
 

 
and 

place it
 

9
 
To justify their demand, 
l
iberal 
                                        
                  
 
8





























 
9






 
 
 
5
 
 
reformers contended that the feudal inheritance laws greatly 
reduced
 
the productivity of English 
land
 
because it allowed
 
a few people to monopolize it
.
10
 
Given th
e general
 
conflict
 
between the 
conservative
 
aristocracies and 
the 
liberal reformers
, it is
 
not surprising
 
that the 
liberal 
reform
 
of 
the 
inheritance laws has been 
considered a mark of 
the decline of the landed noble class

 
power.
 
However, the 
conflict
 
between the conservative aristocracies and the liberal
 
reformers
 
over 
reforming 
the inheritance laws
 
does not fully illustrate
 
th
e 
whole 
Victorian political map.
 
L
iberal reformers were
 
also
 
challenged by 
more 
radical 
forces
 
that pursued 
egalitarian 
inheritance laws. Since the late 18
th
 
century, early English socialists demanded the abolition of 
private property in land in favor of state
-
owned 
and
 
-
managed land 
in ad
dition to 
the abolition of 
the feudal inheritance laws. 
Socialist logic maintained that
 
if 
the traditional inheritance laws 
were
 
abolished and 
absolute testamentary freedom 
guaranteed, 
English society would end up 
promoting 
selfish individualism and 
economic inequality.
11
 
Radicals
 
found 
the 
liberal reform too 
weak and 
believed that a

property
 
might
 
restore
 
the
 
feudal notion of birthright privilege 
in
 
modern society.
 
Under the 
influence of 
the early 
English 
socialists, Vict
orian radicals also claimed 
compulsory inheritance 
                                        
                  
 
10
























































 
11





















































 
 
 
6
 
 
laws that restrict
ed
 
testamentary power, thus break
ing
 
the land monopoly 
more 
quickly
 
in order 
to subdivide the national wealth into 
the hands of 
fa
r more 
people
.
 
Facing this 
other challenge, 
liberals actually 
allowed the 
conservative 
aristocracies to maintain
 
the current status quo by 
finally legislating
 
new inheritance laws in accordance with the institution of private property 
ownership
. It would 
be more accurate to picture th
e liberal reform of the inheritance laws
 
as the 
mid
-

olutionary radicals rather than 
the 
conservative aristocracies.
 
 
To the liberal reformers
,
 
t
h

it of new
 
inheritance laws 
emerged 
as 

reaction
, since the radicals significantly 

s
. 
The liberal economic system, fully developed at that 
time, established its mo
ral
 
ground by highly regarding
 
individual
 
self
-
accumulation through 
the 
exertions of 
individual 
faculties.
 
On this moral ground, the liberal reformers justified their 

 
a
bsolute testamentary power
 
contradicted
 
th
is
 
fundamental 
liberal 
principle 
because they s
till 
made
 
possible 
the circu
lation of inherited wealth along
 
family blood
-
line
s
.
 
Furthermore
, 
inheritance 
does not
 
exactly
 
fit 
into 
the 
concept
 
of private property ownership.
 
Since inheritance 
subsumes
 

 

bored accumulation of 
wealth, 
the legal restriction on
 
testamentary power 
would
 
not 
crucial
ly
 
damag
e 
the
 
principle of 
private property rig
ht
s
. 
B
ecause of this
 
contradiction
,
 

 
idea
 
of 
legal 
enforcement
 
by 
the state
 
of
 
the 
equal 
subdivision
 
of inherited wealth
 
widely appeal
ed
 
to Victorians
. 
L
iberals 
could not f
ully prove the necessity of testamentary power 
with
 
only
 
the economic 
reasoning that 
they employed 
to criticize
 
the feudal 
land
-
monopoly
. They 
need
ed
 
to 
provide 
another guiding 
principle that
 
would
 
enable
 
them 
to 
build a social consensus for 
the liberal
 
reform 
against the 
 
 
7
 
 

 
extreme
 
suggestions
.
 
I suggest that mid
-
Victorian novels of inheritance 
can be 
associated with 
this particular context of the mid
-
Victorian period.
 
T
he 
two quotes
 
below
 
exempl
ify how
 
J. S.
 
Mill

 

legislating new inheritance laws 
parallels one issue raised in 
a well
-
known mid
-
Victorian novel
 
of inh
eritance

The Warden
:
 
  
 
The extreme restriction of the power of bequest in French law was adopted as a 
democratic expedient, to break down the custom of primogeniture,
 
and counteract the 
tendency of inherited property to collect in large masses. I agree in thinking these objects 
eminently desirable; but the means used are not
, I think, the most judicious.
12
 
--------------------------------
 
I 
[Mr. Harding] 
had at one time an idea of keeping only some 
moderate portion of the 
income; . . .
 
but it occurred to me, and I think 
with reason, that by so doing I . . . 
should . . . 
grea
tly damage your patronage.
13
 
 
In t
he 

particular c
oncern regarding
 
the radical idea of 
compulsory inheritance laws
 
modeled after French inheritance law
. Mill 
does not 
deny
 
the 
desirability of the objectives
 
that French inheritance law pursues by restric
ting testamentary 
power. French
 
law 
proposes 
not only
 
to break
 
down
 
the feudal custom
 
but also 
to 
prevent
 
inherited wealth from being accumulated in a small portion of the population
. 
These objectives
 
actually 
comply with the lib
eral ideology that promotes
 

-
accumulation of 
wealth. Never
theless, he canno
t accept 
the 

 
intervention in the distribution of 
inheritance. 

double standard
 
evinced by 
his
 
complicated 
disapproval of the c
ompulsory 
                                        
                  
 
12













 
13




 
 
 
8
 
 
inheritance laws 
highlights
 
the mid
-
Victoria

 
in 
d
ealing with 
the 

 
 
T
he second quote
 
from 
The Warden
 
echoe

in 
as much as
 
the 

the same
 
double standard
 
as
 
Mill. 
When a radical 

entitlement to the whole income 
from a charitable landed
-
legacy
, 
Mr. Harding
 
thinks
 
that
 
to reduce his share to a moderate level
 
may
 
increase the other 

s
. 
In the novel, 
Mr. Harding
 
agrees 
w

 
that the 
i
nheritance
 
shoul
d be primarily
 
spent on supporting 
the 
retired laborers whom Mr. Harding
 
is 
suppos
ed to take care of. However, 
like Mill, 
Mr. Harding
 
is also reluctant to interrupt
 
the 

right to mana
ge the inheritance that is left
 
to a bishop
 
in t
he novel
.
 
If
 
Mill and Mr. 
Harding admi
t the desirability of the 
aims of 
the radical
 
idea
l
s
, why 
do 
they not 
accept the 

intervene in
 

inheritance? 
It was the question that mid
-
Victorian liberals and novelists 
attempted 
to answer
 
in 
order to protect
 
testamentary freedom. 
Both 
of 
them
, as I 
demonstrate
 
in the following chapters, 
formulate their answer not
 
only through
 
their defense of 
privat
e property 
ownership but also 
through
 
their concern about
 
cultivating ethical 
individuals
. It explains the 
complex 
interplay of 
political, 
economic, 
social
,
 
and ethical
 
ideas that drove the liberal reform of the inheritance laws
 
in the mid
-
Victorian period
.
 

emphasis on character
-
building
 
or cultivating proper subjects
 
underlies 
his 
idea
lization
 
of 
liberal society and 
government. 
In 
Considerations on Representative Government
, 
Mill 
contends that 
an advanced government 
guarantees
 

participation. 
For its proper functioning, 
this government
 
needs
 
cultivated subjects who can
 
self
-
regulate
 
with
 
a disi
nterested view on public matter
s through
 
their 
developed 
moral and 
 
 
9
 
 
intellectual capacity. 
In
 
this
 
view
, Mill declare

national culture
 
[or character]

14
 
In other words
, the
 
legislation of laws should aim
 
at aiding 
character
-
building or promoting human pro
gression
 
as 
a 
prerequisite for the advancement of 
modern
 
politics and civilization. Mill

laws corresponds to his beli
ef in the need of character
-
building
. 
Mill believes that com
pulsor
y 
inheritance laws

pel division of inheritances . . .
 
equal
ly among all the children, or 

would lead all chi

on t
he expressed or 

15
 
W
hile primogeniture weakens
 

, 
compulsory inheritance laws would
 
make all children b
e indifferent to the cultivation of their 
character
 
and faculties

y should . . .
 
have 
power to disp
ose by will of every part of it

 
to exert their influence
 

charac
ter
-
building and to leave their wealth in 
the hands of worthy 
candidates.
16
 
According to 
Mill, 
testamentary freedom
 
would eventually establish 
a national culture that encourages
 
each 

character
-
building
 
as well as protects the national wealth
.  
 
For
 
the same reason
, Mill 
also 
refuses 
any radical idea
s
 
of communalizing landed 
inheritance for the redis
tr
ibution of the national wealth
 
into 
the hands of broader population
. Just 
like the negati
ve effects of French 
inheritance law on 

character
-
building, this 
r
adical measure would 
debase 

character
s
. M
ill assert
s 
that 

equality 
[or equal expectation] 
of fortunes would not b

mass public
 
in cultivating 

knowledge, 
[and] 

they 
                                        
                  
 
14

























 
15
















 
16








 
 
 
10
 
 
have, as much of it
 
[wealth]
 
as their neighbours, 
[they] 
will seldom exer
t themselves to acquire 
more

 
wealth and to develop their faculties.
17
 
Furthermore, Mill believes that
 
as the numerical 
majority is not cultivated enough to participate
 
in 
representative politics
, they still lack
 
the
 
required
 
mental and moral capacity to share the national wealth. 
Therefore, Mill claims that any 
legislations pursuing the redistribution of 
concentrated 


capacity to a certain degree in advance.
18
 
The legislation of new inheritance laws should consider 
how to pro
mote the cultivation of 
the 
ma

ra
ther than the fair 
distrib
ution o
f 
national wealth. On the basis of
 

, 
mid
-
Victorian 
liberal
s limited the reform 
of 
the feudal inheritance laws 
to 
establishing 

complete testamentary 

 
without any 
consideration of 
tempering the concentration of inherited wealth
.
19
 
The interconnection between 
the 
mid
-
Victorian emphasis on character
-
building and the 
liberal reform of t
he inheritance laws provides 
a new insight into the 
inherent 
limits of Victorian 
ethical subjectivity and Victorian liberal ideology as well. 
Many Victorian studies scholars have 
p
rovided contrasting views on
 
the
 
distinctive
 
nature of
 
Victorian subjectivity. On the one h
and, 
some scholars have defined
 
the 
m
id
-
Victor
ian emphasis on cultivating
 
ethical 
citizens 
as 
an 
expression of 
the
 
social 
p
ursuit of
 
universal objectivity or 
human progression
 
and as a model for 
an 

-
emp
owerment 
to develop 
his or her
 
own authentic individuality
. For 
example, Amanda 
Anderson argues that
 
the 
Victorian concept of disinterestedness 
as a mark of
 
a
 
cultivated individual
 
is
 


-
i
nterrogation.
20
 
Lauren 
                                        
                  
 
17








 
18






 
19








 
20





 
 
11
 
 
Goodlad argue
s that Victorian interest in 
character
-
building hi
n
ts at both 



 


21
 
Similarly, 
Cathrine 
Frank 
assert
s that 

 
common
 
characterization
 
of 
morally autonomous
 
subjects 
shows 
a 
literary 
resistance 
to 

hood
. She 
believes that Victorian 
novels intended to pro
vide ideals of ethical individual
s who demonstrate 


imaginative self
-
fashioning
.

22
 
                                        
                  
 



























 
21





























































 
22
 
Refer to
 
Law, Literature, and the Transmission of Culture in England, 1837
-
1925
 
(England: As
hgate 
Publishing Limited, 2010),
 
12, 19.
 
Frank

-
Victorian novels of inheritance in the 
context of the development of modern inheritance laws provided many insights in developing my own 
project. However, my dissertation takes a different view from Frank on the core principle of the liberal 
reform of the inheritance laws and the effects of the
 
reform on the construction of Victorian subjectivity. 
Frank
 
observes that during the Victorian period many legal acts 
of 
inheritance were
 
passed through the 
British parliament. To her, this passage demonstrates that 

ic 
(
documenting and organizing
 
people so as to manage them),

since 

exist prior to such e

he 
believes that Victorian 
literature
 
basically 
opposed this rising institutional management o
f 

sense of self
-
understanding. 
In contrast 
to her
 
interpretation
, my dissertation 
suggests that 
the 
liberal reform of the inheritance laws was primarily 
aimed at empowering the testator
s
 
to freely dispose of 
their property
 
by removing the
 
historically 
established feudal legal restrictions on testamentary freedom. In addition to t
h
is different understanding of 
the legal changes, 
I
 
argue that 
mid
-
Victorian novels of inheritance 
contribute
d
 
to formulating a 
 
 
12
 
 
On the other hand, 
other
 
scholars 
pay attention to 
the limita
tions of Victorian ethical 
subjectivity 
in actualizing social justices 
and 
regard
 
it as a model
 
for the modern 
liberal state

s
 
disciplinary project
. For example, 
Elaine Hadley ap
propriately points out that
 
the
 
Victorian
 

 

abstractly 
embodied agency, of a cultivated self, was always already a political 
project

 
that 
represents
 
Victorian liberalism

s fantasy.
23
 
Hadley 
elaborates
 
on
 
its limitation
s, 
arguing
 
that the ethical 
subject

s moral autonomy w
orks primarily in 

the inward domain of
 
consciousness

 
rather than in 

the liberal public sphere.

24
 
David Lloyd and Paul Thomas 
also 
suggest
 
that t
he 
eme
rgence of 
ethical
 
subjectivity 
indicates 
the mid
-

 
in 
governance 
mechanism
s
 

ly coercive to a 
hegemonic form

 
in order to 

25
 
T
o secure a social 
                                        
                  
 
homogenized
 
normative
 
ethical subje
ctivity that complies with the 
mid
-
Victorian social movement 
toward the 
privatization of inheritance and property rights.
 
23


































 
24















































































 
25



























































 
 
 
13
 
 
stability in a different way, 


imposition of regulation through the for

embedding
 
the notion of 
a 
proper 
subject into the ma
ss public

.
26
 
According t
o Lloyd and Thomas
, 
the 
Victorian concept of
 
the
 
ethical subject was a 
contingent 
cultural product of this 
new 
paradigm of 
the advanced liberal 

governance. 
 
Owing to 
the
 
later
 

 
understandings of
 
Victorian ethical subjectivity

context and its limits
, 
my dissertation
 
attempts to answer 
the question of how the construction of 
Victorian ethical subjectivity was interrelated with th
e development of modern property laws
 
that 
established the 
absolute right to private property
. M
ore specifically
, I focus on how this 
interrelation
 
produced 
ethical subjects that were cognitively liberated but 
alienated
 
from the 
public sphere
.
 

asoning for the liberal reform of the inheritance laws, we should note 
that 
he sets 
t
he 
legislation of liberal
 
property laws 
as 
the 
material 
substructure for the 
construction of this subjectivity.
 
Even though 
ethical 
subjectivity
 
appears as 
a reaction to 
emerging capitalist values
, 
it
 
paradoxically 
contributes to solidifying the liberal ideology that 
grounds
 
the 
capitalist
 
economic system
. F
rom 
the time of 
John Locke
,
 
the institution of 
priv
ate 
property
 
ha
s
 
been recognized as a g
uarantor for individual 
autonomy
 
in English society.
27
 
Individual
s 
are supposed to 
develop 
freely 
their own
 
perspectives
 
and moral 
values based on 
their 
p
rivate property rights. 
T
h
is 
liberal premise
 
of the interconnection between individual
 
moral
 
autonomy and private property
 

and his projec
t of cultivating 
ethical subjects
. 
Although 
the 
Victorian concept of e
thical 
                                        
                  
 
26



 
27





































 
 
 
14
 
 
subjectivity
 
shows
 
a
 
s
hift
 
in the 
core meaning of 
individual autonomy 
from the notion of 
personal 
freedom to the
 
moral 
capacity to self
-
determine one

s own 
moral 
values
, i
t
 
is 
inherently
 
confined by
 
the mid
-
Victorian social movement toward the absolute 
privatization of 
inheritance 
and property rights
.
 
For this reason, 
this subjec

 
hardly transcend 
the 
boundary of liberal ideology 
when the subject tries to correct
 
social problems
.
 
Considering
 
the limits of Victorian ethical subjectivity, 
my dissertation 
demonstr
ate
s the 
way in which
 
m
id
-
Victorian
 
novels
 
of inheritance
 
assumed
 
a pivot
al
 
role in 
producing this 
normative subjectivity
. The dissertation
 
also observes
 
how this production, in turn, 
reinfo
rced
 
the
 
compromised liberal approach toward
 
amending the inheritance laws
. For the 

overarching 
purpose
, I
 
juxtapose
 
four notable mid
-

particular socio
-
economic ideas that led the liberal reform of the inheritance laws: 
Anthony 

The Warden
 
and 
The Eustace Diamonds
, 

Felix Holt
, 
and 
Wilkie 
Collins 
No 
Name
.
 
In these novels
 
we can observe 
idealize
d
 
ethical
 
characters who devalue
 
any 
radical
 
change
s
 
in
 
the established order. 
B
ecause of their confinement 
with
in
 
the limits of
 
liberal 
ideology, the
se 
ethical
 
characters
 
move away from 
any
 
communal approaches 
in 
their effort to 
solve
 
social
 
problems
 
caused by the unfair distribution of wealth
. 
Instead, they seek only
 
atomized efforts 
in accordance
 
with 
libe
ral ideology
 
because
 
it
 
underpins 
the construction of 
their subjectivity
 
itself
.
 
Even though
 
the idealized moral characters 

misery and 
poverty, 
they
 
rather
 
focus on displaying their own moral autonomy 
by individually 
sacrificing their self
-
interests 
to 

 
instead 
of 
finding a communal
 
measure to improve their material condition. 
At the same time
, t
he novels
 
foster
 
cultural
 
anxieties
 
about the 
uncultivat
ed subject

private property ownership
 
and 
to 
social
 
security
 
by 
employ
ing 
literary characters who
 
ar
e
 
obsessed with possessing 
 
 
15
 
 
inheritance
 
through immoral ways
.
 
Provoking
 
this anxiety
,
 
the novels
 
call for the necessity of 
cultivating moral capacity 

 
in
 
those of their readers. 
In 
these ways
, the novels 
dramatize
 

hasis on character
-
building as the
 
primary con
cern 
with
 
legislating new 
inheritance laws. 
 
In my
 
specific
 
focus on 
the 
novel as the most popular
 
literary mode 
in the mid
-
Victorian 
period
, I 
also 
observe
 
how
 
t

narrative power 
to
 
detail a
 
character

s inner
 
development 
served 

project of cultivating
 
ethical subject
s
 
and legislating liberal
 
inheritance laws
.
 
Mid
-
Victorian
 
novels of
 
inh
eritance
 
often try to describe
 

intensive self
-
reflection during their in
ner
 
decision
-
making 
process
 
regarding the disposal of 
inheritance
. 
I
n these
 
description
s
, the characters

 
interiority 
precedes 
the public 
sphere
 
that 
recedes into the bac
kground
. 
In other words, t
he
se
 
novels
 
have their dramatic focus 
not
 
on
 
the 

 
moral 
capacity
. This shifted focus
 
plays 
a crucial
 
role in cultivating ethical subjects and justifying the 
liberal reform of the 
i
nheritance laws. 
By reading these
 
novel
s
, readers are 
guided
 
to internalize
 
the
se
 
idealized 
moral values
. 
M
ore importantly, t
he novel

 
detailed narrati

inner thoughts
 
enable
s
 
readers to 
witness
 
closely
 
the 
internal 
development 
that occurs when 
characters 
discover 
their 
subjective self
-
independent from external material conditions. T
his 
cultivated
 
internal freedom 
to make 
moral 
decisions
 
is
 
introduced to 
readers
 
as the most essential 
condition for an individual t
o be independent 
from 
external
 
manipulation and influence
.
28
 
R
eaders
 
are
 
also 
encouraged to
 
envision 
their interiority
, 
imagin
ing
 
themselves as autonomous 
                                        
                  
 
28






















 
 
 
16
 
 
individual entit
ies
 
with 
psychological freedom regardless of their external material condition
s
.
29
 
T
he
refore, 
this
 
private practice of envisioning interiority 
guide
s
 
rea
ders 
more readily 
to
 
accept
 

 
prioritization of
 
the cultivation of moral capacity
 
o
ver 
the 
redis
tribution of inherited 
wealth for
 
reforming the 
feudal 
inheritance laws.
 
 

The 
Warden
, published in 1855. T
he novel exemplarily
 
employs the theme of inheritance and 
characterizes an ethical sub
ject. 
My reading
 
focuses on 
how 
the core liberal principle generates 
a
 
limited
 
version of
 
morality
 
in the context of
 
mid
-
Victorian social attitudes
 
toward the 
problem of 
unearned wealth
 
and how the novel idealizes
 
its
 
main character 
as a man 
who embodies this 
morality
.
 
T

fictio
nal conflict over the
 
growing surplus from
 
a l
anded charitable 
bequest 
reflects 
the 
contemporary concern about
 
how to fairly distribute 
unearned wealth. 
I 
demonstrate how 
the ethical 
character

-
interests
 
serves to 
maintain
 
the liberal ideology
 
and 
the dominant 
economic system
. To develop
 
my argument, the 
ch
apter explores 
contemporary 
radical demand
s
 
for
 
communalizing the main resource
 
of 
unearned wealth 

 
inheritance
, in particular, landed inheritance 

 

to bequest as th
e completion of 
private property ownership. 
Paying attention especially to
 
the 
implication of su

, I 
suggest 

individual sacrifice embodies
 

compromised liberal solution 
that intended to 
displace the 
                                        
                  
 
29







































































 
 
 
17
 
 
rising radical mobility
 
regarding 
the problem of unearned wealth. Through th
is reading 
this 
chapter
 
also 
illuminates that
 

s compromised liberal approach
 
necessitates 
the 
moral 
cultivat
ion 
of individuals 
in order to reveal 
how 
the idea of 
developed morality
 
valorized 
in this 
political 
context
 
cannot help being confined 
with
in the 
limits of 
liberal ideology. 
 
Chapter II 
analyzes 
another notable
 
mid
-
Victorian
 
social problem novel
 
of inheritance,
 

Felix Holt
, published
 
in 
1866
,
 
that similarly 
highlights
 

heroic 
refusal of inheritance
. 
By e
xamining another exemplary case of 
the 
literary 
const
r
uction of
 
the
 
ethical subject, this chapter 
develops 
my 
dis

 
the close 
involvement of mid
-
Victorian novels 
in 
contemporary liberal politi
cs. 
The
 
chapter
 
examines how
 
the
 
main
 

higher 
mental 
pleasures
 
that
 
can o
utweigh any amount of 
the lower bodily pleasures
. T
hen, 
noting that
 
the 
novel reconceptualizes a 
social issue of inheritance as an
 
individual 
matter of choice,
 
the chapter 
illustrates
 
that the heroine


Benthamite 
utilitarianism. 
Through his critical response to 
hedonist
 
utilitarianism, Mill 
moved the
 
emphasis 
from quantity to
 
quality in measuring the desirability of individual actions for
 
the utilita
rian 
principle of 
the greatest happiness 

shift
 
provided a 
f
undamental principle for
 
the
 
liberal
 
reform of 
the 
inheritance laws.
 
Felix Holt
 
envision
s
 

revised
 

 
higher 
mental pleasures
 
can eventually promote the 
utilitarian principle of 
the 
greatest
 
happiness 
more 
than the material
 
improvement of the 
uneducated 
mass public
 
can do
. 
Situ
ating 

refusal of inheritance in this context, the chapter
 
concludes
 
that the novel 
contributed to 
producing
 
a reactionary
 
cultural force that the liberal reform of the inheritance laws needed 
in its 
struggle 
against the radical demand for the
 
redistribution of inherited wealth. 
 
 
 
18
 
 
After analyzing the
se
 
two 
social problem novels of inheritance, 
the dissertation expands 
this
 
argument by dis
cussing 
two particular 
subgenres of novel such 

 
the 
domestic and
 
the
 
sensation novel 

 
i
n order to
 
establish
 
mid
-

 
questioning the reform of the inheritance laws
.
 
Chapter III examines
 
another novel
 
of inheritance
 
written by Anthony Trollope 
because
, as Ayelet Ben
-
Yishai points out,
 
he is the most si
gnificant 
Vict
orian novelist to attend
 
to
 
the
 

landed property and questions of inheritance

30
 

1873 domestic novel 
The Eustace 
Diamonds
 


heirloom, a diamonds necklace
, against the feudal regu
lations of inheritance, 
primogeniture and 
entail
. 
I
n contrast to the 
two novels
 
in the previous chapters
,
 
the 
m
ain character
 
in 
The Eustace 
Diamonds
 
does not embody
 
Victorian ethica
l subjectivity.
 
Aware of
 
this difference
, 
this
 
chapter 
argues
 
that 
this popular story also reinforces
, 
but 
in a different way,
 
the 
mid
-
Victorian social 
emp
hasis on character
-
building as the primary principle for 
the reform of the 
feudal 
inheritance 
laws.
 
I
 
look into
 

 
heirloom
 
mirrors
 
mid
-
Victorian 
cultural anxieties
 
about
 
the
 
significant change that the reform of 
the feudal inheritance laws would bring to English society. The novel 
contribut
e
s
 
to amplifying 
this 
cultural 
anx
iety by thematizing the negative
 
results that the
 

desire for
 
the
 
inherit
ance
 
brings to 
both 
the family and
 
national wealth
, as well as
 
the security of 
private property ownership. 
T

pessimism over the expectation that 
the reform of the feudal inheritance laws
 
would
 
necessarily 
be positive for 
English 
society
 
regardless of
 
the moral cultivation of th

he novel
 
eventually
 
suggests 
                                        
                  
 
30



























 
 
 
19
 
 
that the desirable reform of the inheritance laws must aim at promoting individual moral 
autonomy 
prior to enhancing 
material equality.
 
The final cha
pt
er of the dissertation explore
s
 
another 
popular 
subgenre
 
of the
 
novel
 
of
 
inheritance,
 

1862 sensation
 
novel 
No Name
, which
 
d

deceptive efforts to retrie
ve her inheritance in a 
way
 
similar to 
The Eustace Diamonds
. 
But, 
unlike my reading of 
The Eustace Diamonds
, 
this chapter
 
situate
s
 
the novel
 
in 
relation to 
the 
W
om
a
n
 
Question
 
and
 
the patriarchal 
inheritance and
 
property laws
.
 
By examining 
the 
historical 
context
 
of 
the questioning of 

roles
, t
he
 
chapter 
illustrate
s 
the 
limits of 
mid
-
Victorian 
li
beralism 
in 
f
ulfilling its 
goal to reform the feudal system by
 
valuing individual moral autonomy 
and guaranteeing the right to private property. W
e can witness these limits through
 
its
 
paradoxical stance toward 
social injust
ices
 
in relation 
not only
 
to
 
the
 
problem of 
inherited wealth 
but also 
to 

 
I also 
examine 
how 
the emphasis of 
mid
-
Victorian liberal reformers
 
on character
-
building
 
generates
 
the
se limits
 
even in their 
liberal 
pursuit of equal property right
s
 
for women.
 
For these purposes, 
I analyze 
No Name
 
in the 
context 
of 
the amendments to
 
the Married W

s P
roperty B
ill by the
 
British parliament around the 

 
critically expose
 
th
e liberal 

 
toward establishing equal economic and social condition
s
 
between men and women. 
T
he liberals
 
were worried that 
equal property rights 
for women 
would destroy 
the 

 
marital 
association and the assumed moral nature of 
women as well
. 
In the liberal mind
set
, the 
traditional domestic structure 
reinforced by 
t

s and disinterested 
morality played
 
an essential part in 
their project of 
character
-
building. Thus, 
the liberals could 
not help 
but oppos
e 
the 
B

original pursuit of 
married women

 
with their husbands in the household
. 
This
 
chapter demonstrate
s
 

s
 
ambivalent 
 
 
20
 
 
position regarding 
its heroin
e

s unfeminin
e characteristics, which we 
observe in h
er 
unconventional aggressive reaction
 
to
 
her disinheritance,
 
reflects th

mised 
approach in reforming 
patriarchal 
inheritance and 
property laws.
 
 
By historicizing the four novels o
f inheritance in the 
context of the 
mid
-
Victorian process 
of 
es
tablishing 
compromised
 
inherita
nce laws, this dissertation 
revisits the
 
tendency to 
define 
literature as the 
reservoir of non
-
political or anti
-
mater
ial
ist
 
humanist values against class
-
based 
partisanship or capitalist values. As I introduce in the following chapters, 
we can 
f
ind this 
tendency in 
previous discussions of these four novels. Many critics have 
argued 
that 
these 
novels 
express 
an anti
-
material
ist
 
stance as a reaction to the
 
expansion of capitalism
 
by valorizing 
disinterested moral values or demonstrating the negative effects of c
apitalism on 
human agency. 
More regretfully
, some critics have read
 
the
se
 
novels 
as 
suggest
ing
 
a non
political radical 
vision
, 
pursuing
 
instead
 
a pure human progression or a total subversion of the established 
class 
order
 
and gender structure
.
 
Wary of 
this problematic tendency 
within current 
criticism, m
y dissertation 
remind
s
 
us of the importance of situating literary work
s in their
 
contemporary political and social 
context
s
. The
 

s focus on the interrelation
 
between socio
-
economic issues and 
novelistic discourses leads us to understand that 
dominant political and socio
-
economic thoughts 
at the time permeate 
the
 
production of literature
 
and that literature, in turn, shapes these 
discourses
.
 
I do not claim that all literary works genetically 
participate in
 
contemporary
 
political 
ideology. Nevertheless,
 
it is notable that, in
 
the mid
-
Victorian
 
period, c
ulturally 
influential 
novelists
 
were 
deeply 
involve
d 
in 
formalizing and 
establishing
 
liberal ideology. A
s the following 
chapters show
, 
the penetrating emphasis
 
on 
internal mo
ral improvement rather than 
external 
material changes
 
in reforming the feudal inheritance an
d property laws
 
evince
s the contemporary 

-
Victorian socio
-
economic discou
r
ses.
 
   
 
 
 
21
 
 
CHAPTER
 
ONE
 
The Limits of Morality: 
The Problem of Unearned Wealth and 
Mr. Harding

Sacrifice 
in 
Anthony 
Trollope

s 
The 
Warden
 

The Warden
 
dramatizes a conflict over an unearned wealth from a 

ocus is deeply engaged with the 
mid
-
Victorian 

In the 
time, unearned wealth 
was one of the most 
imp
ortant socio
-
economic issues that provoked social tensions in Victorian society. The liberal 
economic system, fully developed at that time, established its moral ground by valuing each 

-
accumulation through his or he
r own faculties. However, unearned wealth 
critically weakens this moral ground because a small number of members of society procure 
wealth without investing their labor in it. Victorian liberals needed to find a justifiable way to 
distribute unearned wealt
h without damaging the principle of liberal economy, as they were 
facing the rising radical demand of communalizing the resources of unearned wealth such as land 

-
in
terests solves the st


 
the unfair distribution of unearned wealth. Through its 

concept of morality that seeks a limited individual solution to
 
social problems instead of a 
communal effort or governmental intervention. In doing so, the novel reinforces the mid
-

 
T
he novel 
begins with an explanation of how t
he unfair distribution of unearned wealth 
made a conflict between the warden and the 
bedesmen
 
in a hospital. A
 
philanthropist
 
named 
John Hiram 
bequeathed his 
meadows 
centuries ago 
to the local parish of the Church of England 
in the 
fictitious town, Barches
ter
. Hiram proposed 
that 
the parish
 
use his 
landed legacy 
as
 
a 
 
 
22
 
 
charitable fund 
to support
 

 
who would take
 
care of 
them
.
 

unexpe
ctedly. Since 
this unearned 
surplus, unlike earned property,
 
cannot be defined as 
a 
private 
property
 
in a m
oral sense, 
one individual or 
institution
 
cannot
 
claim a clear
 
ownership on
 
it
. 
Despite this unclear 
property 
status 
of the unearned surplus
, 
the warden, Mr. Harding, is allowed 
to take 
most 
surplus
 
from the legacy under the man
a
gement of the bishop as a trustee of Hiram

legacy
. Thus, it
 
causes a conflict between Mr. Harding and the 
bedesmen
, 
raising a thematic 
question of how to appropriately
 
distribute the unearned surplus from the 
bequeathed
 
land. 
 
The novel ends with 
Mr. Harding

s moral
 
sacrifice that temporarily suppresses the 
dispute over the unfair distribution of the surplus rather than providing a sufficient answer to the 
above themati
c question.
 
Mr. Harding voluntarily resi
gns from the wardenship, a
s a social 
reformer
,
 
John Bold
,
 
and radical 
popul
ist 
newspapers problematize the unequal
 
distribution 
between 
him and 
the 
bedesmen
.
 
Highlighting his heroic decision, the novel
 
presents 
Mr. H
arding 
as
 
an ideal 
moral figure who 
solv
e
s
 
a social conflict 
through his 
individual 
sacrifice of self
-
interest
s
.
 
His moral decision is described to 
reconstruct
 
a social harmony
 
in the traditional 
community of a small town
.
 
In this manner, 
Mr. Harding 
features a 
distinctive 
ethical 
subjectivity.
 
He can renounce his self
-
interests
 
on the basis of the 
moral values he has 
determined. However, 
I argue that 
this subject

s morality
 
valorized in the novel
 
is sig
nificantly 
circumscribed by 
liberal ideology. T
he
 
morally self
-
governing subjectiv
ity 
embodied by Mr. 
Harding is 
culturally constructed in order to 
secure social stability 
and to maintain 
liberal 
ideology 
in
 
the context of 
the 
mid
-
Victorian 
social 
con
cern about
 
the
 
problem of
 
unearned
 
wealth.
 
 
 
23
 
 
The previous 
critical 
conversations of the novel have focused on 
highlight
ing
 
Mr. 
Harding

s moral behavior without historicizing the novel in its contemporary socio
-
economic 
context
s
.
 
David Skilton
 
interprets 
Mr. Harding

s
 
decision
 
as 
a 
struggle to find a 


31
 
According to him, 
Mr. 
Harding ideal
ly 
keeps
 
essential 
moral values against the 
troubled material world
.
 
Echoing 
Skilton, 
Jane Nardin 
defines
 

epre

 
of 


32
 
According to
 

s 

common morality

 
can be conceptualized as a
 
minimal morality that does not 
establish any authoritative and positive general rules for human action. 
In a similar sense, Susan 
Macdonald poi
nts out that Trollope opposes
 

[ing]
 
issues from their context or rights and 
wrongs from the p
eople whose lives are concerned.

33
 
Mr. Harding envisions 
T

morality that leads people
 

 
based on their rationality and 
different contexts.
34
 
In 
particular, Mr. Harding

s
 
prime
 
achievement of
 
seemingly 
disinterested 
moral 
autonomy
 
has provoked the above dominant approach to the novel
. 
The novel
 
features
 
the 
                                        
                  
 
31























 
32
 
Jane Nardin, 
Trollope and Victorian Moral Philosophy
 
(Athen
s: Ohio University Press, 1996),
 
12. In 
the book, Nardin
 


society by uniting all men in the pursuit of a single moral goal. But Trol

(14). Nardin elaborates that, to Trollope,
 


 

respect one another as they seek to realize their 
different goals
,

 

offer the only generally acceptable standard by which its laws and mores 

 
33





 
34


 
 
 
24
 
 
gradual process of 

acquisition of
 
his 
own self
-
reflected mo
ral values. Trollop
e 
present
s
 

any party 
principle
s
 
or 
interests
 
regarding the management of the bequeathed 
land
.
 
As the bishop and 
the 
archdeacon 
struggle to 
persuade Mr. Harding to 
keep
 
the position, the Church of England
 
wants to 
protect 

the 
control 
of the legacy as a
 
church
 
property
. 
Mr. 
Harding, as a paid clergy of the Church of England, is 
expected
 
to represent the
 

party intere
sts. 

 
the wardenship 
looks like his 
overcoming of 
the party 
or class bias
.
 
Thus, it is not surprising that many critics consider Mr. 

the party interests
 
as his achievement of disinterested
 
m
oral 
autonomy. 
For example,
 
Shirley Letwin 
defines
 

to embody
 
the ideal 
Victorian gentleman who is able to 
detach
 
himself from his party 
or class 
interests.
35
 
According to her,
 
what distinguishes Victorian gentlemen is their disinterested way of thinking 
rathe
r than their allegiance to th
eir
 
party
 
during a
 
battle against
 
their 
opponent
s.
 
Victorian 
gentlemen
 
can recognize their opponent
s

rsial quest
ions are 
raised between
 
parties.
 
In a similar sense, 
Cathrine Frank asserts that the novel problematizes 


36
 
T
he novel attempts to 
show how an individual can self
-
devel
op his 
own
 
subjectivity
 
by 
resisting the enforcement of external 
principles
. 
 
The
 
critics
 
above
 
agree 

moral performance
 
basically expresses an 
anti
-
material stance as a reaction to the
 
emergence of th
e ever more 
material
ized
 
world.
 
In their 
                                        
                  
 
35











 
36
 
Frank,
 
Law, Literature, and the Transmission of Culture
, 
177
-
79. 
Frank argues that 
The Warden
 
is one 
of the exemplary Victorian novels th
at 
c
ombat 
the cultural shift toward
 
public
 
or
 
institutional 
h
omogeneous 
identities
. According to her, this shift occurred
 
with the development of modern 
bureaucratic 
government
 
in Victorian England since the mid
-
19
th
 
century. 
 
 
 
25
 
 
mind, h
is 
cultivated moral and mental capacity enable
s
 
him to abstract himself from his
 
party 
interests as well as h
is self
-
interests. Relying
 
on his self
-
reflective rationality
, Mr. Harding can
 
finally achieve individual
 
moral autonomy that makes him 
free from any external forces
 
or 
principles
. More importantly, as Frank 
especially 
points out,
 
the critics interpret that his moral 
autonomy lead
s
 
him to develop an 
authentic 
subjectivity
 
that is no
t shaped by any social
 
or 
political
 
forces. 
I
n fact, 

lized moral commitment has been understood as an 
embodiment of the mid
-
Victorian 
belief
 
on liberal agency
 
that
,
 
as J. S. Mill states
,
 
enlightened 
free
-
thoughtfulness
 
empowers
 
each indiv
idual to achieve his or her
 
own individuality
.
37
 
This 
belief also assumes that the 
self
-
reflective
 
liberal agency guides individuals
 
to 
develop 
disinterested objectiveness 
toward
 
any 
biased 
class or party interests.
 
Eventually
, 
on the basis of 
this cultivat
ion 
autonomous individuals voluntarily contribute to 
promot
ing
 
a common good
 
and 
constitute a public sphere where 
a mutually
 
beneficial 
agreement can be found to solve social 
problems
.
38
 
This chapter 
reexamine
s
 
the above previous understandings of Mr. Harding

s individual 
moral autonomy as well as his self
-
fashioned authentic ethical 
subjectivity
. 
In contrast to the
 

 
I argue that Mr. Harding

s moral autonomy shows a limited mode of agency. Even 
th
ough the mismanagement of the bequeathed public fund
 
awakes his morality
, Mr. Harding 
                                        
                  
 
37










































 
38








































 
 
 
26
 
 
responds passively. His resignation from the wardenship is the only choice that his alienated, or 
enclosed moral
 
autonomy,
 
allows him
 
to take
. His resignation is a passiv
e reflex
,
 
rather than the 
active realization of moral justice.
39
 
Mr. Harding

s morality is too individualized to motivate him 
to actualize social justice in the public arena. Instead, he contents himself with a passive private 
justice that avoids any interr
uption of others

 
rights to 
develop
 
their own rules for 
choosing 
action and managing private property. 
 
Paying attention to the limited character of Mr. Harding

s moral autonomy, this chapter 
demonstrates that Mr. Harding

s individual solution represents 
t
he mid
-

compromised liberal approach to the problem of unearned wealth. Mr. Harding

s moral sacrifice 
expresses
 
a possible peaceful way 
in that 
an 
ethical subject
 
individually
 
attempts to 
solve social 
problem
s
 
as an acceptable alternative
 
solution to radical communal ones
.
 
His moderate version 
of moral agency was a politically imbued cultural product for social stability in securing the fully 
developing liberal economy rather than for social justice in correcting the troubled material 
worl
d. 

s individual morality embodies 
the distinctive 
ethical 
subjectivity 
that
 
was promoted by the dominant liberal politics in 
the mid
-
Victorian 
period.
 
For 
the 
reexamination of Mr. Harding

s moral autonomy
, I
 
situate the novel 
within the contemporary 
socio
-
econom
ic context of the 
problem
 
of
 
unearned wealth that the
 
novel employs as its main 
them
atic issue
. 
In particular, juxtapos
ing
 
the novel with 

 
view on
 
the 
problem, I 
explore how the novel 
reproduces the liberal p
olitics by 
idealizing Mr. Harding

s individualized 
ethical approach to
ward
 
the problem.
 
                                        
                  
 
39






































 
 
 
27
 
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
The Rev. Septimus Harding was, a few years since, a beneficed clergyman residing in the 
cathedral town of 
----------
; let us call it Barchester. Were we to name W
ells or Salisbury, 
Exeter, Hereford, or Gloucester, it might be presumed that something personal was 
intended; . . . Let us presume that Barchester is a quiet town in the West of England, more 
remarkable for the beauty of its cathedral and the antiquity of
 
its monuments, than for any 
commercial prosperity; . . . that the aristocracy of Barchester are the bishop, dean, and 
canons, with their respective wives and daughters.
40
 

The Warden
 
opens its first page with the above introduction of the main 
ch

cclesiastical 
aristocracy
. The narrator seems to design an introduction of Mr. Harding for general plot 
development, but even the ending of the first line reveals his true purpose
. Leaving a blank space 


issue. Although the narrator pretends
 
that he does not want the story to be connected with 

vent, it ironically arouses 

in making a connection between them. Then, picturing the fictitious town, the narrator guides 
readers
 
to read the story of Mr. Harding as a social comment on the ecclesiastical aristocracy. As 

e 
narrator gives a hint that the
 
story will mainly deal with the old,
 
but still firm, principle and 
economy that uphold the ecclesiastical aristocracy. 
 
                                        
                  
 
40







 
 
 
28
 
 
To contextualize the story of Mr. Harding in the specific social issue, the narrator 
provides 
a 
summarizing d
escription
 
of how 
Mr. Harding was assigned to two
 
clerical posi
tion
s 
that 
raised a scandal
 
about 
him
. Mr. Harding started his clerical duty as a minor canon at 
Barchester. At the age of fifty he became the 
precentor. At the same time,
 
the wardenship
 
of 
Hiram

s hospital
 
was assigned to him 
upon
 

popularity as a minor canon, 
th
ese
 
appointment
s
 
brought
 
him
 
trouble

daughter, Susan, had been married to a son of the bishop, the archdeacon of Barchester
, right
 


for the beauty of his daughter, Mr. Harding would hav

b
oth 

 
to Mr. Harding because of 
the 
fa
milial bond
.
41
 
 
Following th
is
 
beginning 
to the story
,
 
the novel
 
commences its interrogation of t
he 
prerogative
 
of ecclesiastical aristocracy
 
as one of the 
remaining 
feudal 
legacies
. 
G. F. A. Best 
notes that 
Trollope began to conceive the idea of the novel 
in 1851 and published it in 1855.
42
 
According to 
Best
,
 
the process of reforming 
feudal institutions was fast advancing
 
in this 
period
.
43
 
In particular,
 
the feudal preroga
tives 
in
 
the Church of England
 
drew critical social 
attention
. 
The b
ishops
 
of the institution
 
customarily
 
appointed importan
t clerical 
positions and 
                                        
                  
 
41






 
42





































































 
43


 
 
 
29
 
 
sinecures with 
a 
substantial income
 
to their family members.
 
This feudal practice prevailed in the 
C
hurch of England and
 
became one of 
the main target
s
 
for the 
mid
-
Victorian 
reform
 
project
. As 
the n
arrator
 
s
tates that 

respective wives and daughters
,

44
 
the novel
 
b
rings up 
the 
aristocratic society of the religious 
institution
 
as the main 
social background for 
the
 
story.
 
Centering on
 
Mr. Harding

s personal 
scandal with the contemporary major social concern, 
the novel illustrates him in the specific 
social co
ntext of the feudal prerogative
 
i
n the Church of England
.
 
 
More importantly, p
roblematizing the feudal cus
tom in the ecclesiastical institution, the 
novel 
elaborates
 
how the problem of unearned wealth is closely interconnected with the political 
issue of reforming the feudal aristocratic system. 
For the purpose, the novel attends
 
to the 
mis
management
 
of 
church
 
endowment. 
The main reason
 
that
 
the
 
assignment of the
 
wardenship 
brought
 
a problem
 
to Mr. Harding 
was
 
that this sinecure
 
position
 
highly increased his
 
income
. 
This increase 
reveals the disproportionate distribution of the surplus 
profit from the 
landed 
church 
endowment
, left by Hiram,
 
between 
him
 
a
nd the 
bedesmen
.
 
T
he endowment was 
originally 
donated
 
to support 
the 
s
uperannuat
ed labors
 
in the town
. As the narrator
 
also mention
s
 
non
-
fictional 
similar cases
 
at that time
,
 
such as the Hospital of St. 
Cross and Mr. 
Whiston at 
Rochester
, the novel 
intend
s to exemplify 
the
 
ecclesiastical 
aristocracy

s
 
abuse of church 
endowment in Victorian England
.
45
 
 
                                        
                  
 
44






 
45































































 
 
30
 
 
In the mid
-
Victorian p
eriod, the mismanagement of 
church endowment 
constituted 
important socio
-
economic issues in relation to the problem of unearned wealth. 
The church 
endowment
 
was
 
generally 
made
 
by individuals 
up
on their death to
 
a local church 
as a
 
charitable 
f
und
 
to maintain
 
schools or hospitals for the poor.
 
However, as Owen Ch
adwick points out, t
he 
high rank clergies appropriated the church endowment for their personal interests.
46
 
In particular, 
the 
clergies
 
w
ho served for 
sinecure positions in charitable 
establishments 
obtain
ed
 
most 
material 
benefits from the 

end
owment, although the
ir
 
position
s
 
d
id
 
not require 
them 
mu
ch labor
.
47
 
Because
 
these profitable 
sinecure 
jobs
 
were 
circulated 
along
 
the cler
gies

 
family 
blo
od
-
line
s
, the church endowment 
provided an unearned material resource 
to sustain the feudal 
ecclesiastic
al aristocracy. 
Thus,
 
Victorian radicals and reformers tried to intervene in the
 
Church 

managing 
of 
its endowment
.
 

constructed in this contemporary socio
-
economic concern. 
 
Furthermore, t
he 
specific character of th
e endowment 
in the story represent
s
 
the
 
significant
 
socio
-
economic issue
 
of u
nearned growing 
surplus from 
landed property. 
The novel 
narrates in detail t
he 
background of Hiram

s l
egacy 
in economic
 
terms
 
at the beginning of the 
                                        
                  
 













 
46



































 
47

























































 
 
 
31
 
 
story
.
 
T
he bequeathed endowment was 
originally 
certain meadows
 
near the town of
 
Barchester. 

 
produced hay and
 
fed cows. 
The bigger
 
the town 
grows, the
 
more the
 
land becomes covered with rows of houses
,
 
and 
the more sur
plus income 
it 
produce
s
. The detailed 
background
 
of Hiram

s landed legacy
 
indicates that 
the novel
 
relates its
 
specific focus on the church endowment
 
to the
 
broader contemporary 
socio
-
economic issue. 
When the national economy improves, the land produces more profits without 

certain personal investments or labor in it
 
because
 
of the 
increasing 
demand for land and its 
limited supply. As Susan Macdonald notes that 
the mid
-
Victo
rian period

 
socio
-
economic 
change
s
 
drive
 
the novel

s main p
lot,
 
t
he novel

 
this 
issue
 
of 
unearned growing surplus from the land
.
48
 
 
The unearned value change in the land 
necessarily 
engenders an important political 
question of how to appropriately distribute its surplus. 

unequal distribution between
 
the warden
 
and the 
bedesmen
 
can be associated with this question.
 
Because of the rapid economic growth
, Victorian society experienced great increase in the value 
of land. 
The aristocra
cy
 
could gain 
mo
st
 
unearned wealth from 
the national prosperity 
since 
thei
r 
material foundation 
was
 
mainly
 
based
 
on the inherited 
large 
land
-
ownership
.
 
The laborers 
began 
to 
ask for their share of the surplus be
cause
 
the national prosperity was actually generated by 
their work. 
The Warden
 
intends to handle these
 
overlapp
ing
 
crucial 
socio
-
economic 
question
s
 
of 
its time. The novel

s specific focus on the abuse of the church charity endowment is intertwined 
with
 
the problem of unfair distribution of unearned surplus from the land. T
hrough
 
this 
                                        
                  
 
48
 
See 
Macdonald, 
Anthony Trollope
, 13
. Macdonald
 
notes that the novel especially focuses on how the
 
value 
r
ise in the land causes a
 
problem of 
inequity betw
een the warden and the bedesmen.
 
S
he suggests 
that 
The Warden
 
proposes to picture how the socio
-
economic change
s
 
in the mid
-
Victorian period 
threaten a traditional English community. 
 
 
 
32
 
 
correlation between the issues, the novel
 
also
 
ask
s
 
how to
 
modernize the feudal system whil
e 
appropriately reorganizing the circulati
on of material wealth among 
all 
social members. The 
novel

s pivotal conflict over Hiram

s endowed land 
contains 
these 
inquiries
.
 
Driving the main story from Mr. Harding

s doubt of his moral e
ntitlement to 
the incom
e, 
the novel 
attempts
 
to a
nswer the questions above.
49
 
The traditional feudal society maintained its 
social order based on the belief of the 
due 
difference in the distribution of unearned wealth 
according to 
people

different ranks. 
T
hus, t
he bishop states that 



arrangement

50
 
On this 
feudal 
belief the bishop and the archdeacon contend that Mr. Harding is 
eligible for the wardenship and its income. 
Trollope basically implies that this traditional belief 
is no longer stable, while attending to 
Mr. Harding

s 
inner moral dilemma
 
as to whether to 
hold 
or resign the wardenship or share his income with the 
bedesmen
. A new rule needs to be found to 
replace the old one in order to secure social stability. Mr. Harding

s 
inner struggle to make
 
a 
respectable decision on his dilemma c
an
 
be read 
as Trollope

-
economic questions above.
51
 
                                        
                  
 
49










































 
50




 
51



































 
 
 
33
 
 
Despite 
Trollop

embedding
 
of the 
story
 
in the important 
social contexts, however, the 
novel does not suggest a
 
clear final answer to the above
 
inquires.
 
The novel

Mr. 
Harding highlights
 
his
 
seemingly apolitical character. 
Facing the conflict over the issue of 



52
 
Mr.
 
Harding
 
does not want to be personally involved with any political conflicts or activities. 
Throughout the story he consistently shows an evasive
 
attitude toward 
open 
political arguing
s
. 
Instead, Mr. Harding only ponders the issue
 
in his mind to make his own individual decision.
 
His 
genial nature 
also 
makes him pursue a peaceful domestic 
sphere
 
away from 
friend
-
and
-
enemy 
political troubles. 
Considering his 
apolitical character

 
resignation from the 
wardenship is predi
ctable from the beginning of the main 
political 
conflict.
 
On behalf of Mr. Harding, his son
-
in
-
law, Dr. Grantly, and his future would
-
be son
-
in
-
law, Mr. Bold, 
bring
 
up two different major political views a
round the issue of managing 
the 
church endow
ment and distributing its 
profit
. 
They respectively represent the conservative and 
the 
pro
-
reform force
. 
Dr. Grantly
 
contends that
 
the fair portion
 
of the profit
s
 
from t
he 
endowment for the 
bedesmen
 
should be
 
shelter and food
.
53
 
In his mind
, the distributio
n should 
be settled depending on the recipients

 
different social ranks. M
oreover
, he asserts that
 

every individual reformer, but every committee and every commission . . . [cannot] ask a 
question respecting the appropriation of church revenues
.

54
 
Dr. Grantly clearly represents the 

s 

 
                                        
                  
 
52




 
53


 
54


 
 
 
34
 
 
endowment
 
must be protected
 
as 
an 
institutional private property
. In other words, the Church of 
England should be allowed
 
to m
anage its 
income
 
without any external interventions.
55
 
In 
opposition
 
to Dr. Grantly
,
 
Mr. 
Bold
 
assert
s that the share of
 
the 
bedesmen
 
should be 
adjusted again according to the increased rate of the profits from the endowed land. 
E
ven th
ough 
Hiram stipulated the 
amount of money in his will, sixpence a day together with breakfast and 
dinner, for the 
bedesmen
,
 
is not enough. From 
Mr. 

legacy
 
are
 
not fairly divided.
 
Hiram
 
wanted the
 
legacy
 
to be use
d for 
the 
comfort
 
of the aged 
laborers. 
It is not 
appropriate
 
to expect him to have predicted the future value change of his 
landed property. He would 
have 
change
d
 
his will, if he 
had 
expected the
 
value
 
change. 
For this 
speculation,
 
Mr.
 
Bold believes that 
th
e current distribution o

origina
l purpose. He claims that an external legal intervention would 
forcefully and effectively 
correct 
the problem of mismanaging the church endowment. 
Mr. 
Bold speaks for his 
contemporary 

o the problem that justifies a
 
legal restriction on the 

 
 
Mr. Harding

o 
stand aloof from the 
above 
two contentious poli
tical views
. His sacrifice 
does not 
explicitly 
stand 
for 
either the po
litical
 
views of Dr. Grantly or of 
Mr. 

insistence on keeping the wardenship
 
for the 
party 
interest
s
 
of the Church of England
.
 
Mr. 
Harding

s resign
ation also does not indicate that he sides with
 
Mr.
 
Bold

s view.
 
H
e does not 
                                        
                  
 
55







































 
 
 
35
 
 
suggest
 
t
hat his wardenship income should be
 
redistribute
d to the
 
bedesmen
 
as 
Mr. 
Bold 
claims.
56
 
Therefore, it is not surprising that many critics define Mr. Harding

s final moral 
sacrifice as a non
-
political decision
. 
James Kincaid
 
considers 

[a]
s far as the issues are involved, 
the novel does tend to do battle with both Bold and Grantly, but issues become trivial as the 

57
 
According to Kincaid, 
the
 
political
 
issues around the misuse 
of the charity 
endowment 
and 
the 
unequal distribution of 
its profits
 
are insignificant
 
in the novel
.
 
Instead,
 
he 
maintains that
 


 
solve 
the 
political conflicts.
58
 
Susan Macdonald 
similarly 
argues that
 
the 
novel criticizes 

dogmatic self
-
righteousness 
abstract
ing
 

from the people involved and then simplify it into a matter of good and evil, reform
 
and 

59
 
She concludes that 

f Trollope takes sides at all in 
The 
Warden
, he sides with Mr. Harding for his gentleness, his lack of contentiousness, and his 

60
 
T
o her
, 
Mr.
 
Harding

s internal s
truggles 
to 
                                        
                  
 
56











the views of the author on the subject 
of ecclesiastical revenue are not apparent, there is no 
fitting en
d attained by all which is done

 
(39). In a 
similar point
, 
Eclectic Review
 

[t]
he defective part of the book is the 
conclusion, which seems to us careless and unsatisfactory

as if the author had got tired of his
 
sub
ject 
before he had done with it

 
(37).
 
Leader
 
also complained t

f one there be, is, 
that it would have been far better if John Bold had never meddled in the matter at all,
--
seeing that the only 
result of his labours is to
 
bring much trouble and inconvenience upon everybody connected with the 
charity, and to leave thin
gs far worse than he found them

 
(34).
 
See Donald Smalley
,
 
ed.
, 
Anthony 
Trollope: The Critical Heritage
 
(Lon
don: Routledge & K. Paul, 1969),
 
34
-
9. 
In contrast to the 
Victorian 
critics

 
negative
 
reception of the conclusion of the novel, 
recent literary critics tend to praise 
Mr. 
Harding

s moral 
sacrific
e as I summarized at the beginning of this chapter. It leads us to understand that 
the ethical subje
ctivity envisioned through the novel

Mr. Harding
 
was an emerging 
new 
concept in that time period.
 
But, 
Mr. Harding

s individualized moral decision becomes natural
 
and 
laudable
 
to current readers and 
literary 
critics
 
after being more w
idely circulated and reproduced
. 
 
57

See 
The Novels of Anthony Trollope
 
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), 98.
 
58

Ibid., 
101.
 
59

See her book, 

, 18.
 
60


 
 
 
36
 
 
resign the wardenship 

involve both a strong moral element and a great degree of free choice.

61
 
T
hese
 
critics
 
assume
 
that Mr. Harding can achieve his noble morality since he distances himself 
from any political views.
 
 
However,
 

as a
 
non
-
political decision. His moral character does not 
stand
 
alo
of from any political ideolog
ies
.
 
Mr. 
Harding seems to succeed in 
abstaining
 
from any party interests based on h
is cultivated 
individual moral agency, but his
 
distinctive human 
conscience or his disinterested moral agency 
was
 
a 
politico
-
cultural
 
product 
constructed 
by the mid
-
Victorian
 
liberal
 
ideology
.
 
As 
Elaine 
Hadley appropriately 
defines
 
this
 
distinctive moral a
gency as
 
a Victorian liberalism

s fantasy
,
62
 
Mr. Harding

 
moral 
decision
 
especially
 
embodies the mid
-
Victorian period

s individuated 
liberal approach to socio
-
economic issues
, in particular,
 
the
 
problem of
 
unearned wealth
.
 
It wa
s a 
culturally promoted 
individual 
solution
 
to avoid communal radical 
approaches
 
to the issues. 
In 
the rest of this chapter, I argue that 
Mr. Harding

s moral sacrifice should not be read as
 
a
 
general
 
achievem
ent of non
-
political 
human conscience
.
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
English society was 
modernized through
 
the gradual establishment of the
 
right to 
private 
property. Liberal political economists, from John Locke to J. S. Mill, who led the reform of the 
feudal system
, define
d
 
the institution of private property
 
as a guarantor for individual l
iberty
. 
P
rivate property 
right
s
 
secure
 
an inviolable sphere for 
each 
individual
 
from authorit
arian external 
forces. With 
property right
s
 
individual
s
 
as modern subject
s
 
can be
 
the
 
autonomous
 
proprietor of 
their own person, the
ir own
 
actions, and the products 
generated 
by their labor.
63
 
                                        
                  
 
61

Ibid.,
 
58.
 
62






 
63






 
 
 
37
 
 
On this premise set by Locke at the dawn of the modernization of English society, libera
l 
political economists also a
llowed
 
the unequal distribution of wealth
. Mill states, in his 
Principle
s
 
of Political Economy
, 

[t]
he inequalities of property which arise from unequal industry, 
frugality, perseverance, talents, and to a certain extent even opportunities, are inseparable from 

64
 
The right
 
to
 
p
rivate property 
guarantees 
individual
s
 
to 
possess the wealth produced by their
 
own 
exertions of 
talents
 
and faculties.
 
Thus, 
in
 
Mill

, 
the unequal
 
distribution of
 
wealth 
is inseparable fr
om the
 
institution of
 
private property 
because
 
e

different capa
cities
 
and talents 
bring him
 
or her 
different material outcomes. 
Liberal economists set forth this principle as the basic premise for the 
liberal
 
society and 
economy
.
 
To them, i
f we accept 
the inevitability of 
private property 
right
s
 
for individual liberty
 
and autonomy
, we must bear with the inequality resulted from the principle.
 
A
 
new social order 
in 
modernizing
 
English society had been developed on this premise.
 
The problem of unearned wealth, however, critically complicates this basic premise that 
established the fundamental ground for the liberal economic system. 
The 
unearned wealth 
contradicts 
the liberal belief 
that
 

labor is
 
crucial to the accu
mulation of his or her 
wealth. 
T
he 
un
equal
 
distribution of wealth cannot be justified 

 
different 
faculties
 
or talents
.
 
In other words, t
he problem of unearned wealth significantly 
weakens
 
the
 
principle of 
private property
,
 
as it 
can 
cause unfair class divisions
. The 
different 
levels of wealth can be 
made
 
without each proprietor

s labor. If the problem continues, the 
protection of private property right
s
 
can
 
eventually
 
restrict each individual

s autonomy in freely 
shaping hi
s or her life
,
 
because the possession of the resources of unearned wealth can determine 
                                        
                  
 
64









 
 
 
38
 
 

 
The problem of unearned wealth truly 
threatens
 
the moral ground for the 
liberal economic system.
 
 
Throughout the Victorian period, landed prop
erty was the central issue regarding the 
above problem 
because
 
it was the biggest 
re
source of unearned wealth. 
Some
 
proprietors
 
can 
earn 
substantial profits from their landed property without additional labor
,
 
as long as the value 
of the land increases alo
ng with the improvement of local and national economy. The recipients 
of landed inheritance 
become 
main beneficiari
es,
 
as they receive this unearned privilege on the 
previous owners

 
death without any investment in earning the property.
65
 
In addition, the 
d
ifferent nature of the land from other movable properties makes its status as a private property 
more problematic. In contrast to the movable property produced by people

s labor, thus
,
 
possessed by the creators as a private property, the land already existed before 
being possessed 
by an owner
. In the state of nature, it was the common property of mankind. 
For this reason
, it is 
debatable if people could claim some portion of the land as
 
their own by their occupation. In 
terms of the natural law
,
 
everybody 
is entitled to argue a natural right to 
an equal share of the 
profits from the land. B
ecause of
 
this problematic status, 
the landed property, in particular the 
landed inheritance, const
antly provokes social tensions in the liberal society. It can 
enrich 
only 
a 
few people 
and 
enable them to permanently
 
keep
 
their familial wealth. 
 
                                        
                  
 
65


















































 
 
 
39
 
 
Therefore, English radicals 
suggested drastic solutions to the problem of unearned wealth 
from the landed pro
perty throughout the early 19th century. As the earliest revolutionary, 
Thomas 
Spence
 
launched a radical
 
idea of abolishing 
private property
 
in land
, asking a question, 

is it
 
lawful, reasonable and just,
 
for this people
 
[the owners of land]
 
to sell
 
. . .
 
the whole of their 

66
 
He 
conclud
es
 
that 

every man has
 
an equal property in the land .
 
. .
 
and 
reap
[s]
 
all the benefits from 
their natural rights and privileges possible
.

67
 
Thus, he suggested that every parish manage
s
 
the 
land
 
under its
 
district as a communal property.
 
In his design, the parish cannot have 
the power of 
alienating
 
the land 
forever and 
should equally 
distribute the land
 
to every inhabitant in the 
neighborhood.
 
All inhabitants are only
 
required to pay rent to the parish 

quantity, quality, and con

68
 
 
 
Many 
early
 
English
 
socialist

example, 
C
harles Hall suggests that the state possess all the land in the nation and distribute it 
equally to people based on the number of 
their 
families. I
n his mind
, the extreme inequality of 
wealth is the cause of evil. 
He speculates that t
he communalization of 
land
 
would inevitably 
remove inequality and prevent its negative effects on society. U
nalienable 
fair land 
allotments 
may render 
people
 
perfectly independent of all other men, 
preventing a small group of people 
from exercising any power over others.
69
 
Rober
t 
Owen 
also 
assert
s
 
that 

[t]
he land became 
permanent individual private property through oppression and gross injustice
.

70
 
The easiest way
 
                                        
                  
 
66
















 
67


 
68


 
69











 
70






 
 
 
40
 
 
to correct the error
, he thinks, is for the g

to
 
purchase it from the present 
owners at a fair ma
rket price, and to make it the public proper
ty
 
of each succeeding 
generation.

71
 
Although 
these socialists have 
slight differences in terms of their methodologies, 
they agree on the necessity of
 
abolishing private property in land and 
its equal division to 
all 
social members. These earliest socialists

 
ideas affected many English radical activists and 
constantly agitated the masses for the fair share of the
 
profits from the land 
throughout the first 
half of the 19
th
 
century.
72
 
Facing the growing revolutionary
 
demands
 
from
 
the
 
radical
 
socialists, V
ic
torian liberals 
needed to find
 
an alternative 
approach
 
to the problem of unearned wealth in order to stabilize the 
liberal economy and society.
 
They searched
 
for a solution
 
under the basic principle of the liberal 
economy rather than completely redress
ing
 
the problem.
73
 
P
ossible 
solution
s
 
must 
guarantee
 
individual liberty in managing
 
private property.
 
Because of their compromising stance, 
A. V. 
D
icey points out
, 
the 
British parliament dominated by the liberals did 
not make
 
a significant 
change to English land laws despite a hundred 
legal 
enactments passed from 1830 to 1900.
 
He 
asserts that
 
Victorian liberals

 
search for a middle ground
,
 
between 
the 
feudal 
conservatism
 
and 
                                        
                  
 
71


 
72






























































































 
73





 
 
 
41
 
 
the revolutionary
 
radicalism
,
 
actually stop
p
ed
 
the
 
progress of early radicalism
 
that
 
pursue
d to
 
right
 
completely
 
the problem of unearned wealth.
74
 
Mill

s influential 
approach to the problem 
exempl
ifies
 
how V
ictorian
 
liberals
 
tried to 
make
 
a compromise with the revolutionary 
ideas 
rather than 
finding
 
a fundamental solution. I
n
 
the chapter of private property of 
Principles of Political Economy
, Mill 
admits
 
the problem of 
unearned wealth
, as it 
does not fit in
to
 
the principle of private property. H
e notes that, as an 
example of unearned wealth,
 
the weal
th people earn by inheritance is 

no consequence of th
e 
principle of private property.

75
 
Re
gard
ing
 
landed property, again, he states that the private 
property principle cannot apply to the land because it 

is not the produce of labour

76
 
He accepts 

 
a li
mit to what any one may acquire . . .
 

objectionable
.
77
 
 
Mill
, however,
 
also considers that any extreme regulations on the management of 
unearned wealth could 
destabilize
 
the institution of private property.
 
I
n his mind,
 
the radical 
attempts and suggestions, made by
 
early socialists such as
 
Mr. Owen
 
and
 
his followers
,
 
to 
equally distribute 
unearned wealth only leaves 
negative
 
effects on the society 
by 
removing the 
merits of private 
property
 
right
s
. The instit
ution of private property must be secured to promote 
people

s diverse individualities as well as their faculties.
78
 
Thus, Mill 
claims
 
that
 
the right of 
                                        
                  
 
74














 
75




 
76


 
77


 
78


















































 
 
 
42
 
 
inheritance should be protected as
 

without the power of besto


79
 
On the same basis, he also 
believes 
that 
it is not desirable for the state to have liberty to appropriate the private property 
r
ight in land
 
of its citizens
.
80
 
Facing the 
dilemma
 
of unearned wealth, Mill 
seeks
 
a moderate solution. In 
regarding
 
inheritance as one of the major 
re
sources of unearned wealth, Mill pays attention to the two 
aspects of inheritance, bequest and succession, 
and approaches them
 
separately
 
in a moral sense. 
Alt
hough 
the unearned wealth
 
through inheritance does not fit in
to
 
the principle of private 
property
, he 
tries to develop
 
a solution that
 
does not damage
 

their 
property
.
 

 
property 
owne
rship, as he weighs
 
liberty more than equality. 
In this view, as Ronald Chester observes, 
Mill emphasizes the restriction of
 
the
 
reci
pient

s
 
right
 
to succession
,
 
and the p
rotection of 
t
he 
giver

s
 
right to bequest
:
81
 
 
Were I framing a code of laws according to what seems to me best in itself, without 
regard to existing opinions and sentiments, I should prefer to restrict, not what any one 
might bequeath, but what any one shou
ld be permitted to ac
quire, by 
bequest or 
inheritance
. Each person should have power to dispose by will o
f his or her whole 
property . . .
 
but I see nothing objectionable in fixing a limit to what any one may acquire 
                                        
                  
 
79


 
80




























 
81
































 
 
 
43
 
 
by the mere favour of others, without a
ny exercise of his faculties, and in requiring that if 
he desires any further accession of fortune, he shall work for it.
82
 
 
In the passage
, Mill
 
differentiates
 
the right to receive 
inheritance from 
the right to make 
bequest
,
 
and eventually sets the former 
apart 
from the matter
 
of private property ownership
. 
Mill defines 
that 

the right of inheritance, as distinguished from bequest, doe

83
 
He concludes that the 
restriction of
 

lib
erty and private property ownership, yet, fixing a limitation on 
the right
 
to succession does not 
damage the principle of private 
prope
rty. 
To support his point, 
Mill conceptualizes the right of 
bequest as a natural right
 
to make it unquestionable
, but
 
he deems
 
the right to succession
 
as a 
moral matter. 
In other words, t
he right to succession demands a moral legitimacy for the receiver 
to
 
be socially acknowledged 
of 
their right to inheritance


. 
It leads 
Mill, in a tone of moral admonition, 
to 
stress that heirs should function for 

any further accession of fortu
ne.

        
 
Shaping the
 
right to succession 
as a moral issue, Mill leaves 

individual morality to 
take an important role to solve the problem of unearned wealth.
 
Even though he suggests that a 
limitation on the right to succession be agreeable, Mill
 
again avoids employing 
any
 
extreme 
legal 
regulations to restrict the right.
 


84
 
H
e
 
only 
agrees on 
a minimal restriction such as adding
 
a r
easonable tax
 
on some 
portion of 
the rece
iver

 
inheritance. Therefore, each individual

 
cannot help 
playing a decisive role to determine 
his or her
 
moral right to inheritance
,
 
because 
the intervention 
                                        
                  
 
82





 
83


 
84


 
 
 
44
 
 
of 
forcefu
l laws in this 
process
 
is not desirable
. In measuring 

a certain m
aximum

 
fund for the 
inheritors

 

comfortable independence,

 
which Mill admits as 
their
 
moral entitlement to, each 
individual
 
still e
xercises
 
a determining power 
based
 
on 
his or her
 
moral values.
85
 
 
Furthermore, 
Mill
 
gradually narrows the problem 
of inheritance 
down to the matter of 
cultivating a better individuality. Mill advocates the institution of private property 
because it 
encourage
s
 
people to
 
develop their facult
ies
, consequently, better individualities. In a similar 
sense
, he asserts that 
t
he earning of unearned
 
fo
rtune through 
inheritance 
is undesirable because
 
it 
would reduce the heir

s passion of
 
developing and 
exercis
ing
 
his 
faculties.
86
 
Assuming that
 
the 
unearned fortune
 
can 
negatively 
aff

-
building, moral 
cultivation, 
and 
faculty
-
developing, Mill
 
explains
 
the problem of unearned wealth
 
primarily 
as an individual 
matter rather than a communal one. 
On the same ground for his concern of individuality, Mill
 
highlights
 
the 
negative
 
effects of receiving inheritan
ce on the individual heir 
instead of
 
elaborating 
on 
the issue within the broad communal concern of the unfair distribution of 
unearned wealth. 
 

necessitates
 
his individualized 
moral solution to the 
problem of unearned wealth. 
In contrast to Mill, 
Bentham 
shows a more 
radical view than Mill does because of his different conceptualization of 
the problem as a 
communal matter
. B
entham 
defines
 

equali

 
of the community.
87
 
It leads him to contend that
 

                                        
                  
 
85



















 
86























 
87








 
 
 
45
 
 
testamentary power, in order to prevent too great an accumulation of wealth in the hands of an 

gulating the succession in 
favo

88
 
Differently from Bentham, Mill theorizes individuality to
 
promote a social 
environment
 
that 
incites each individual to 
voluntarily
 
develop 
his or her 
faculty
 
and morality,
 
since
 
it 
better 
motivates
 
individuals
 
and produces the maximal
 
result
. 
For this environment, the acceptable 
solution must
 
protect
 
individual
s

 
l
iberty in 
running their
 
economy.
 
Therefore, Mill disagrees 
with any extreme
 
legal interventions
 
in solving the problem of unearned wealth, 
in particular, in 
limiting 
testamentary power
.
 
Trollope

s 
The Warden
 
develops its main plot within the socio
-
economic context above 
and envisions 

individualized ethical approach to the problem of unearned wealth.
 
As Mill 
attempts to 
provide an alternative moderate solution 
w
i
thout restricting 

private 
property
 
rights
, Mr. Harding

s 
individual 
moral sacrifice of his entitlement to a bequeathed 
income finally 
surfaces
 
at the end of the novel as a peaceful alternative. Mr. Harding

s ethical 
individuality is deeply 
engaged with the mid
-
Victorian liberal political project
 
that Mill 
significantly contributes to
. 

individual sacrifice embodies
 
an acceptable moral solution that
 
serves to
 
suppress the agitation 
c
aused by the unequal distribution of unearned wealth
,
 
without undermining the fundamental 
principle of liberal economy.
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
                                        
                  
 
88














































 
 
 
46
 
 
Mr. Harding thought long and deeply over these things, both before he went to bed, and 
after it, as he lay awake, questioning with
in himself the validity of his claim to the 
income which he enjoyed. It seemed clear at any rate that, however, unfortunate he might 
be at having been placed in such a position, no one could say that he ought either to have 
refused the appointment first, o
r to have rejected the income afterwards. . . . But 
somehow these arguments, though they seemed logical, were not satisfactory.
89
 
As t
he 
above quote describes, 
The Ward
en
 

dilemma by 
focusing
 
on 

whether 
his
 
receiving of the 
income from Hiram

 
is moral. 
Mr. Harding does not stop his questioning to find a 
satisfactory answer for himself, although he knows that no one can legally ask him to refuse the 
inc
ome.
 

 
finally leads him to sacrifice
 
his
 
self
-
interests. 
Through this focus on his endless inner questioning and moral decision, t
he novel
 
spotlights
 
Mr. 
Harding

s disinterested moral autonomy 
that
 
s
olves the social conflict
 
over his income
. 
The 
novel also implies that 
a
 
common good 
can be 
achieved 
only 
through
 
the cultivation of each 
individual

s disinterested morality 
that
 
Mr. Harding
 
embodies.
 

submerge other important 
social 
questions 
that search for a solution to the problem of unearned 
wealth 
in the public sphere
. The novel begins
 
with its criticism 
of
 
the 
ecclesi
astical
 
aristocracy
 
that sustains its social status 
based 
on the
 
customary
 
material support from 
unearned wealth. 
The 

this
 
ecclesiastical
 

 
feudal privilege.
 

the novel ironically 
does not delve into
 
fundamental questions
 
that should be discussed to reform the privilege.
 
It 
                                        
                  
 
89




 
 
 
47
 
 
does not ask
 
if the 
ecclesiastical 
institution

s right to manage 
its 
endowment should be 
untouchable or if the unearned surplus from the landed endowment should be defined as a 
private institutional property under the control of the church. The novel also does not 
inquire
 
if 
Hiram

s will 
should
 
be protected permanently, alt
hough the condition of the endowment he left 
has 
continued to change
 
for generations after his death. Even the reformer, Mr. Bold, 
problematizes 
only 
if the management of the endowment strictly follows the wording of Hiram

s 
will. 
 
Avoiding these crucial q
uestions
 
that Victorian radicals focused on
, the novel attends to 

. I
n
 
this 
context
, Mr. Harding

s specific moral 
characte
r 
deserves further discussion
. His individualized morality, I suggest, can be associat
ed 

h that focuses on the recipient

s
 
moral 
ineligibility for receiving 
unearned fortune rather than the unclear private property status of unearned surplu
s. And, we 

 
culturally promoted morality aims
 
at keeping individuals away 
from pursuing a public or communal solution
.
 

makes
 
it
 
impossible 
to find 
a communal agreement 
that can
 
enhance 
a 
mutual benefit
 
between 
the opposing groups
. In particular, this
 
limited version of
 
morality
 
disables Mr. Harding to 
discuss the essential social question about how to distribute 
unearned 
wealth in the public 
sphere
. 
M

 
enclosed inner moral questioning
 
narrowly guides
 
him to seek a limited minimal 
individual
 
solution
 
because his withdrawal into his interiority reformulates the communal 
problem to an individual matter as Mill does in his searching for a moderate solution to the 

ad 
its readers to conceive 
an individual

s limited moral decision, rather than a collective effort or a 
systematic change, as the 
desirable way 
to solve the problem. 
 
 
 
 
48
 
 
At first, 
Mr. Harding

s moral self
-
reflection looks
 
like
 
a primary process to ponder ove
r 
different opinions 
in order 
to derive a possible solution that can be accepted by the opponents. 
However, Mr. Harding

s intense self
-
r
eflection actually replaces 
exterior public discourse
s
 
with 
his internal conflict. 
At the beginning
 
of the novel
, t
he
 
ma
in issue of the u
nfair distribution of 
unearned surplus
 
quickly draws different interest groups

 
dispute in their search for 
a reasonable 
solution.
90
 
As the issue instantly 
attr
act
s
 
the broad public attention, the novel 
firstly 
shape
s
 
the 
problem as a communal matter that needs negotiation
s
 
to find a desirable solution 
among 
different opinion holders and interest groups. Contrary to the
 

 
beginning, a
s the 
story 
advances, other characters

 
political 
activities 
around
 
the 
issue gr
adually disappear from the 
main plot
. I
nstead, 
as the above quote shows, 

 
interior struggle
 
to
 
make a moral 
decision
 
is foregrounded to solve the conflict. This significant movement from the external arena
 
to 
Mr. Harding

s 
interiority 
makes 
the novel

s main issue lose its public hues as a communal 
matter.  
 
T

 
th
e capability 
of 
legal intervention in finding a justifiable solution
.
91
 
In contrast to 
Mr. Harding

, 
o
ther characters pursue a legal battle
 
to fix
 
the problem. 
Mr. Bold thinks that
 
narrowing the 
income gap between Mr. Harding and the 
bedesmen
 
would 
fulfill
 
the original purpose of 
Hiram

s will.
92
 
Thus, he
 
brings a legal suit against 
Mr. Harding
, trying to investigate what Hiram 
                                        
                  
 
90

































 
91





































 
92




 
 
 
49
 
 
truly proposes with the endowment in his will
. However, 
i
nterestingly, 
the novel does not 
introduce the full wording
 
of Hiram

s will. R
eaders

access to the will
 
is
 
through several 
characters

 
different personal memo
ries and interpre
tations. Even, 
according to
 
the characters 
who
 
have
 
read the will, 
the wording of old Hiram

s will ambiguously articulate
s
 
the 
arrangement
 
of the profit
s
 
from the 
endowment. 
From the beginning, t
he novel questions 
whether
 
Mr. 
Bold 
could enhance the 
bedesmen

s
 
material 
condition through the process of finding a juristic 
solution
. 
 
In addition, Dr. Grantly

s legal consultant Sir Abraham 
adds a negative aspect of
 
legal 
intervention
 
because of his mechanical
 
approach to the conflict
. 
Based on his legal knowledge, 
Sir Abraham 
finds 

.
93
 
He provides 
an easy
, evasive 
way for Mr. 
Harding to defend
 
himself from
 
Mr. 
Bold

s legal attack 
without inquiring 
into 
the abuse of the 
church endowmen
t
. 
Sir Abraham clarifies that 
Mr. 
Harding is only
 
a paid servant who does not 
have
 
responsibility for the 
arrangement
 
of the income. 

Mr. 
Bold 
takes
 
a 
use
less struggle.
 
As
 
Andrew Wright points out,
 

legally construed to favour the claims of the 
benefaction as it is now interpreted and carried out 
by the bishop and his representatives
,

94
 
The novel 
depict
s
 
the possible
 
legal battle between 
Mr. 
Bold and Mr. Harding or Dr. Grantly as a 
fruitless
 
dispute over a point of law that is not able to 
bring 
justice to the problem. 
The law

s depicted 
incapability 
and mechanical understanding of 
the problem
 
lead
 
Mr. Harding

s 
individual 
morality
 
to take a decisive role to
 
draw
 
a desirable conclusion.
 
                                        
                  
 
93


 
94












 
 
 
50
 
 
Therefore, 
t
he novel
 
focuses on illustrating a moral drama of Mr. Harding

s self
-
reflection to
 
arriv
e
 
at 
his final sacrifice of self
-
interests.
 
As Ilana 
Blumberg points out
,
 
The 
Warden
 
follows 
mid
-

 
tendency to
 

resituating it within the individual conscience
.

95
 

technical 
legal advice does not 
give any acceptable answer to 
Mr.
 
Harding
 
regarding 
his
 
moral
 
eligibility for
 
the in
come
. 
Sir 
Abraham says
 
that in
 
a legal sense 


 
as Mr. Bold 
has 
already 
dropped the suit.
96
 
However, 

 
morality does not allow him
 
to receive the 
income anymore. He say

es question it . . . I question it myself.

97
 

-
inquiry indicates that the prob
lem is relocated 
in
to Mr. Harding

s inner space fro
m the external 
public
 
one,
 
as he
 
is highlighted 
to be
 
the only person capable 
to
 
solve
 
the problem.
 
B
ased on his 
self
-
inquiry, he finally decides to 
resign
 
from 
the wardenship and keep
 
only
 
the precentorship 
that
 
was initially assigned to him 
in addition to
 
the former. He thinks that 
he can have a moral 
life by 
living on a small amount of income 
from his 
work 
as a precentor.
98
 
Responding to M
ill

 
call for 

individual 
moral
ity 
to
 
solve
 
the problem of unearned wealth, 
Trollope 
makes 

s inner moral questioning
 
bring
 
up an individual ethical solution
.
 
However, 
Mr. Harding

s
 
laudable m
oral
 
solution
, I suggest, is carefully designed to
 
preclude any
 
chances to 
build a collective 
process
 
to 
adjust different views 
on the fair 
distribution of surplus. Mr. Harding 
resigns from 
the wa
rdenship because he c
annot
 
verify
 
his 
                                        
                  
 
95








 
96




 
97


 
98
 
It is not surprising that
 
many critics 
define
 
Mr. Harding
 
as a Victorian gentleman who can detach 
him
self
 
from his self
-
interest
s
 
and his
 
ecclesiastical
 

s
.
 
In addition to the critics
 
whom
 
I 
mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, 
Best
 
also
 
praise
s
 
Mr. Harding as one of the best products of 
the old church. 

Mr. Harding had indeed never been pressed to wonder or worry about his 

wonde
ring and worrying.
 
See 

,

 
150.
 
 
 
51
 
 
moral 
eli
gibility
 
for 
the income
. 
He
 
also 
believe
s
 
that the property was set for the
 
comfort of
 
the 
bedesmen
. Mr. Harding clearly s
tates 
his belief
 
a
fter a long 
self
-
reflecti
on;
 


 
I cannot 
help seeing, that the affairs of the hospital are not arranged according to the
 
will of the 
founder
.

99
 
Based on this internal moral conviction
, 
Mr. Harding
 
concludes
 
that
 
he and his 
daughter should not 

live in comfort on money which is truly property of the poor.
 
. . .
 
from 
tomorrow, I shall cease to be the warden of the hospital
.

100
 
As Mr. Harding says
 
that
 

it
 
[my conscience]
 
is awake, I must obey it

 
his 
conscience enables him to acknowledge that he 
is not 
entitled to the proceeds of the property
 
and it 
should be managed
 
for the 
bedesmen

s 
comfort
.
101
 
Despite his internal conviction, Mr. Harding does not take any actions for the 
bedesmen
 
except the resignation.
 

resignation is an easy way out of the problem.
102
 
 
T
he last meeting between Mr. Harding and
 
the 
bedesmen
 
deserves a close analysis. At 
this meeting,
 
even 
Mr. Harding
 
does not express his internal conviction to them
,
 
as
 
he worries 
about 
further commotion
 
by the 
bedesmen
. Instead, Mr. Harding provides them a moderate 
reason for his resignation: 
 

There has been lately some misunderstanding between us. You have thought, I believe, 
that you did not get all that you were entitled to, and that the funds of the hospital have 
not been properly disposed of. As for me, I cannot say what should be the dispo
sition of 
                                        
                  
 
99




 
100


 
101


 
102








































 
 
 
52
 
 
these money, or how they should be managed, and I have therefore thought it best to 

103
 
As I discussed in the previous paragraph, Mr. Harding resigns to follow his inner 
belief that 
the 
affairs of the hospital have been
 
ill
-
arranged 
and 
the 
endowed 
property should be used for the 
bedesmen
. Nevertheless, the passage shows that Mr. Harding refrains from expressing his belief, 
he 
only 
mentions to the 
bedesmen
 
that he 
does not know
 
what should be
 
the 
fair 
disposition of 
the 
endowment. 
One could s
ay that h
is gentlemanly prudence 
d
rive
s
 
him to take the resignation 
as a respectable option
 
for him
. However, 
we should be aware that the basic principle of liberal 
ideology underlies 
Mr. Harding

s gentlemanly morality 
in this passage. The liberal ideology
 
sets 
its fundamental emphasis on the protection of individuals

 
own rules to manage 
their
 
life within 
their demarcated private territory as long as they do not hurt others.
 
On this principle, Mr. 
Harding

s 
limited
 
version of morality dire
cts
 
him to seek a
 
passive evasion from the problem 
rather than externally
 
sharing his 
moral conviction
 
with the 
bedesmen
. 
That is, h
is individualized 
morality does not allow him to intervene in others

 
decision 
making 
process
es
 
or to take any 
collective action
s
 
that could 
cross each other

s own territory.
 
As Blumberg properly notes that 

104
 
                                        
                  
 
103





 
104










































































































 
 
53
 
 

liberal 
ideology.
 
Therefore, Mr. Harding

s indiv
idualized
 
morality prioritizes 
the 
protection of others

 
current rights
 
instead of
 
transforming his 
inner 
moral conviction into action. 
T
his feature
 
distinctively
 
differentiates Mr. Harding

s morality from th
e other two characters

 
concept of 
morality. Dr. Grantly enthusiastically represents 
his party
 
interests, considering it as his moral 
duty. I
n contrast
, Mr. Harding

s morality is truly 

disinterested

 
from his party and class views. 
I
n addition
,
 
more impor
tantly,
 

indifferent

to fix the problem, compared with 
Mr. 
Bold

 
morality
, which
 
employ
s
 
every possible way to improve 
the 
social condition. Mr. Harding

s 
morality is shaped as the 
opposite
 
of the two characters

 
morality
. In particular, 
the novel 
idealizes his morality
, highlighting
 
its indifference as its core feature 
rather 
than its 
disinterestedness. 
Hadley
 
aptly
 
points out that
 
Mr. Harding

s 

disinterest relaxes 
into 
a longed
-
for indifference.

105
 
The below quote illustrates this specific charact
er of his indifferent morality
:
 
I
 
[Mr. Harding]
 
had at one time an idea of keeping only some moderate portion of the 
income; perhaps three hundred a year, and of remitting the remainder to the trustees; but 
it occurred to me, and I think with reason, that 
by so doing I should place my successors 
in an invidious position, and grea
tly damage your patronage.
106
 
In his letter to the bishop, Mr. Harding explains what leads him to take 
his
 
final decision
 
as an 
inevitable choice
. Mr. Harding 
figures
 
out
 
another 
poss
ible 
option, i
nstead of 
resigning from the 
wardenship. He coul
d reduce his income to a moderate level that 
Mr. 
Bold and 
t
he public accept 
as a 
reasonable
 
one. However, he 
is not able to
 
choose this alternative option 
because
,
 
to him
,
 
it
 
                                        
                  
 








 
105








 
106




 
 
 
54
 
 
means to
 

 
encroach
ing
 
upon their own territory
. His successors could 
have different opinions on the disposition o
f the
 
surplus
,
 
believing 
that 
they are entitled to the 
current pay of the wardenship
. 
If he r
educes his income, it could unint
entionally damage their 
interests. Even though Mr.
 
Harding
 
admits the mismanagement of the endowment
, his 
individualized morality requires him to 
respect others

 
different beliefs and decisions.
 
His moral
 
decision
 
should only affect his life.
 
For the same 
reason
, 
Mr. Harding does not want to
 
intervene 
in the 
b

 
right to manage the endowment
. Thus, 
Mr. Harding

s
 
range of activities
 
he can 
allow on his moral values
 
is 
significantly 
limited. 
H
e 
is not able to ask for the readjustment of 
the 
bedesmen

s po
rtion of the 
income
 
and he is not allowed to 
sh
are his moral conviction with 
the
m. The voluntary resi
g
nation is the only remaining 
option
 
for 
Mr. Harding
 
to minimally 
follow his moral conscience
 
in a passive way
.
 
Mr. Harding

s limited morality eventually 
results in leaving the problem of unequal 
distribution in the current status quo without a
ny attempt
 
to change it.
107
 
After explaining the 
reason for his resignation to the 
bedesmen
, Mr. Harding suggests a guiding principle for their 
future affairs
:
 

ntleman will probably take my place here very soon, and I strongly advise you 
to be prepared to receive him in a kindly spirit, and to raise no further question among 
yourselves as to the amount of his income. Were you to succeed in lessening what he has 
t
o receive, you would not increase your own allowance. The surplus would not go to you; 
your wants are adequately provided for, and your position co

108
 
                                        
                  
 
107




































 
108






 
 
 
55
 
 
Mr. Harding advises them 
the current arrangement will not change.
 
It would be bette
r for them to 
be satisfied with the current share than to make further useless struggles to challenge the 
established 
order
. Since his individualized morality restricts his capability in expressing his 
internal conviction in the public arena, 
h
e 
can only c
omment that 
the 
bedesmen


are 
adequately provided for

 
considering their social position.
 
Mr. Harding

s limited version of 
individual morality
, as Hadley points out,
 
shows how the liberal subjects

 
freedom works 
primarily in 

the inward domain of c
onsciousness

 
rather than in 

the liberal public sphere,

 
nor 
in 

process of opinionated exchange among diverse peoples.

109
 

conscience only serves to reinforce the 
b

conservative idea 
on the 
distribution
 
of the 
surplus, 

old men
.

110
 
Mr. Harding

s so
-
called disinterested morality actually does not 
empower
 
him to 
totally 
detach himself from the conservative religious institution

s interests 
because his 
concept 
of 
morality is too 
limited
.
 
Therefore, 
Mr. Harding

s
 
ethical subjectivity 
contributes
 
to 
suppress
ing
 
the risi
ng 
demand
 
for
 
the fair distribution of 
the 
unearned 
surplus.
 
At the beginning
,
 

question is 
how 
to find a justi
fiable 
solution to the problem of unequal
 
distribution of
 
the 
surplus 
between the warden and the 
bedesmen
. 
W
hile Mr. Harding is 
idealized
 
as an ethical
 
figure, 
t
he 
issue of distribution 
fades away from our attention.
 
Without any furthe
r discussion on possible 
ways 
of making a 
fair distribution, the novel ends with Mr. Harding

s
 
moral sacrifice.
 
Mr. 

pport himself, however poorly, 

 
                                        
                  
 
109


































 
110




 
 
 
56
 
 
not to be supporte
d on the charity of any on

eventually
 
suggested as 
model behavior
 
for 
the 
bedesmen
 
and Victorian readers as well 
to 
follow.
111
 
Indeed, 
the novel intends to cultivate the 
distinctive ethical subject that serves to relieve social tensions
 
caused by
 
the
 
material inequalit
y.
 
M
r. Ha
rding
 
embodies this subject by
 
not only 
voluntarily
 
overcoming his self
-
interests and 
pursu
ing
 
a peaceful harmony
, but also refraining himself from
 
taking any collective efforts 
in the 
public arena to secure a social justice
. 
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
Before finishing the 

moral awakening can also be situated in the mid
-

reform of the ecclesiastical institution, the Church of England. As I mentioned earlier, the 
issue 

ts misuse of 
church property
, was 
intertwined with the problem of unearned wealth. 
From 1830 to 1860
,
 
there were many r
adical 
agitations declaring 
the 
church 
property
 
as
 
a 
public property to be
 
disposed 
of 
by the state for the 
public interest
,
 
including non
-
ecclesiastical purposes.
112
 
Like the ambiguous nature of land and 
inheritance as private property, 
in
 
radicals

, 
the 
church property
 
could not be defined as a 
private institutional 
propert
y because it was originally set for the interest of public use. A 
comprising liberal solution to the problem, however, helped the Church of England han
dle
 
the 
long lasting radical challenges. 
As
 
Mill 
ultimately necessitate
s the ethical awakening of 
individ
uals 
to
 
solve the problem of unearned wealth,
 
the
 
British
 
parliament prioritized 
the 
internal 
moral 
reform of the Church
 
of England
 
on its own efforts 
over the external state 
intervention in 
correcting the misuse of the 
church 
property.
113
 
 
                                        
                  
 
111



 
112








 
113









 
 
57
 
 
This liberal 
stance eventually led
 
the gradual withdrawal of radical ideas about 
nationalizing the church property 
in this period.
 
As Brose points out,
 
the
 
conservatives in the 
parliament
 
appropriated the liberal emphasis on the individual and private property ow
nershi
p. 
With this 
appropriation, the Church
 
of England
 
could successfully defe
nd its inalienable right to 
its
 
property as an independent institution from the state
. 
To keep its privileges and avoid rapid 
changes, the institution stressed the internal gradual re
form as a more desirable and effective way 
than the 
reform
 
led
 
by the 
external 
forces
. 
Having 
some internal administrative reforms
 
by itself, 
the institution could hold back the direct state intervention. The institution also could declare that 
it is publi
cly
 
reborn as a moral educator of the people
 
based on
 
its internal reform by itself
.
114
 
In 
this
 
way, 
the mid
-
Victorian 
society

 
focus on the individual liberty 
and
 
the principle of private 
property
 
was 
broadly applied to stem the rise of 
radical approaches 
to
ward
 
the mismanagement 
of 
church property
.
 
 

-
Victorian liberal politics in 
reforming the ecclesiastical institution as well as solving the problem of unearned wealth.
 
Mr. 

final 
moral sacrifice 
contributes to defending the ecclesiastical institution

s interests 
against the radical agitation that claims the drastic reform of the institution by the state 
intervention. Mr. Harding

s 
highlighted mo
ral awakening is deeply engaged
 
with the
 
institution

s 
                                        
                  
 

































 
114






















































































 
 
 
58
 
 
emphasis on the internal 
moral 
reform as a desirable way to solve the problem
. With his self
-
reflected moral awakening, Mr. Harding can be an ideal moral figure for the 
bedesmen
.
 
If the 
problem was solved by a
 
legal external intervention, Mr. Harding
 
wou
ld not have a chance to 
have his
 
moral awakening. 
In
 
a broad sense, it means that when the institution 
is
 
morally reborn 
by its internal forces without the state

s external 
enforcement
, it can better perform its role 
for 
the moral education of people
 
as a 
religious institution.
115
 
Consequently, Mr. Harding

s 
voluntary refusal of 
the unearned wealth
, not by any legal intervention
 
but by his 
moral 
self
-
reflection, 
demonstrates why 

protected
. 
 

embedding in the above historical context leads us again to understand that 
the mid
-
Victorian liberal politics promoted the s
pecific 
individua
l
 
moral 
character. The mid
-
Victorian social focus on the individual and private property aimed 
at
 
reform
ing
 
the ar
i
stocratic 
feudal system grounded
 
on 
inherited unearned wealth
 
circulated along familial bloodlines
.
116
 
However, 
more importantly, 
Victorian liberals
 
had to 
deal with 
extreme communal ideologies 
that 
pursue
d
 
a radical justice 
by fundamentally changing the co
ndition of
 
socio
-
economic 
inequalities. 
Facing the double challenge
, feudalism and radicalism, 
mid
-
Victorian liberals 
valorized
 
the individual
ized
 
moral awakening
 
that
 
Mr. Harding embodies
.
 
This 
specific
 
morality 
not only 
awake
s
 
liberal 
subjects from the 
outdated feudal values, but also mov
e
s them away from 
                                        
                  
 
115
















 
116
 


modern 
reformulation of the soci
al unit 
necessitates the protection
 
of the right to private prop
erty. Mill declares in the following sentence 

[p]

s
 
the material 
ground for
 
each individual

s autonomy
.
 
See 
Principles of Political Economy
, 29.
 
 
 
59
 
 
any communal movements for a fundamental change. 
Indeed, t
he emergence of Victorian ethical 
subjects helped the gradual establishment of 
the 
liberal economy
 
in the Victorian era
. 
 
Mr. Harding

s self
-
cul
tivating morality guid
e
s him to recognize the problem of feudal 
privileges
 
and unearned wealth
 
he 
has 
enjoyed. However, he is also reluctant to participate in 
any communal actions to correct the problem
 
because
 
it could invade other individual entities

 
au
tonomous territorie
s
. His individualized version of morality set
s
 
much value on defending 
others

 
right
s
 
to 
make their own decisions and to protect 
their private property. It
 
is
 
the reason 
Mr. Harding

s moral conduct cannot help being restricted to an alie
nated personal zone in 
his 
search for a solution to 
the social problem. Unlike his seemingly apolitical and gentlemanly 
moral nature, Mr. Harding

s specific moral character was
 
a 
politically 
promoted product,
 
within 
the context of the unearned
-
wealth probl
em
,
 
to
 
secure the
 
institution of 
private property
 
against
 
the 
radical oppo
nents

communal ideology. 

with
 
the issues of land, inherited wealth
,
 
and 
mismanaged 
church endowment

The 
Warden
 
not only employs a crucial mid
-
Victorian socio
-
economic issue to develop its narrative, 
but also suggests a liberal solution to the problem of unearned wealth through its e
nvisioning 
of 
the distinctive ethical subjectivity.
 
 
 
 
 
60
 
 
CHAPTER
 
TWO
 
Not Quantity b
ut 

 
i

Felix Holt
 

Felix Holt
 

, as 

The Warden
 

-
interests
. 
The
 
female 
protagonist Esther is revealed 
to be 
the lawful
 
heiress 
of
 
the Transome estate. 
While she has 
dreamed of an elevation to the aristocratic class, 
she 
finally turns down the chance to inherit the 

e, at first, seems to embody the male 


pivotal mid
-
Victorian socio
-
e
conomic issue of amending inheritance laws, this chapter argues 


s
hifted emphasis from quantity to quality in measuring the desirability of individual actions for 

away from hedonist utilitarianism provided a fundamental pri
nciple that guided the mid
-

roach toward the reform of 


him or her to choose higher mental
 
pleasures that are incommensurably superior to lower sensual 
pleasures. He prioritizes this normative development of character or human progression in 
pursuing the greatest happiness principle over the quantifiable, otherwise material, improvement 
of indi

redistribution of wealth
 
through the restriction of 
testamentary power. With the
 
narrative power 
 
 
61
 
 
of showing literary 

Felix Holt
 
sought t

socio
-
economic belief, which guided the li
beral reform of 
inheritance laws, in mid
-
Victorian 
subjects.
 
Felix Holt
 
begins with the introduction in which a coachman sketches out the dismal 
changes that industrialization has brought into 
old England. In his narration of the most 
conspicuous social changes, as Norman Vance points out, the coachman pays attention to the 
land
-
ownership as well as the rising class conflicts.
117
 


118
 
In the co



119
 

Rail

country, replacing the enviable old memories with anxious new concerns about social 
instability.
120
 
To the coachman, in this time of social upheavals, the traditional land
-
ownership is 


121
 
In his prophetic apprehension about the bleak future of 
                                        
                  
 
117























































































 
118







 
119


 
120


 
121


 
 
 
62
 
 
the country, the coachman presents the undesira
ble transference of the land ownership as a 
metonym for the fading glory of old England. It looks urgent to him to leave the land, the wealth 
of old England, in the 
hands of 

the landed in

 
before 
the beginning of the main story
. 
 

not been a central issue in the previous disc

that contains two plots 
has mainly caused
 
this indifference to the theme. The first plot can be 

town of Tre
by Magna. The plot highlights how a so
-

electioneering provokes class
-
based self
-
interestedness among
 
the uneducated mass. Portraying 

ons if the 
further expansion of the franchise would bring a real benefit to the working class and English 
society as well. In addition to this plot, the novel comprises of another plot that can be named as 

complicated ownership problem of the Transome 


choice regardi
ng her unexpected inheritance. Since the first plot dominates the public sphere 

domestic setting, most critics have attended to the first plot in their discussion o



to the electoral reform.    
 
 
 
63
 
 
Furthermore, in th

, many critics
 
have interpreted that the novel 
pursues a nonpolitical vision deeper than any party
-

suggestion of individual moral and mental cultivation as an ideal pursuit of human progression. 
This dominant approach toward t


-
economic inquiry. 
For 
e
xample, Lenore Horowitz contends 

political ch

-

 
desirable
 

 
122
 

perspective,
 
society to move towa
rd the future,
 
while 
respecting the values in t
he past.
 
In the 
agreement with Horowitz, Bonnie Zimmerman claims
 

[p]
olitical reform 
[as] the manipulation of institutions for the
 
benefit of one class," but rather
 

[as] the gradual progress of the human race as
 

123
 
In a similar sense, 
Stephen Greenfield 

ds disrupted 
by problems.

124
 

                                        
                  
 
122


























 
123






























 
124























































 
 
 
64
 
 
embodies himself
 
as 

the best self

-
interestedness.
125
 
Lastly, 
Michael Lewis 
asserts that although
 

it p


 


real advancement of human civilization.
126
 


to do deliberative free
-
thinking and opinion
-
exchanging
.
127
 

Felix Holt
 
aims at promoting a 
human progressio
n or establishing a harmonious democratic community as 

nonpartisan mental and moral development
.
128
 
 


plot within a contemporary socio
-
economic issue. Surprisingly, eve

                                        
                  
 
125



























































































 
126


































 
127



 
128























































































 
 
 
65
 
 


vision. They only define it as 
a slightl
y different feminine vision from
 


ent 
and self
-
discipline
 
demonstrate how 
to achieve a greater power through 
self
-
development than the attainment of external rights.
 
In her 
moral improvement, 
Esther
 
shows a valuable feminine 
capacity to interpret and communicate 


 
and inspires sympathetic fellow 
feeling in them and for 
them.

129
 
In a similar sense, 
Alison Booth 
contends that Esther

 

social progress relies on some form of fellow
-
feeling and on the sympathy that women are 
conditioned to extend rather than o
n practical measures . . .
 

130
 
As 
another example of the feminist reading of Est

Michelle Weinroth claims that the 

lass terms, but in moral values.

131
 
Esther makes this 
                                        
                  
 
129

























































 
130








































 
131



































































 
 
 
66
 
 
progress possible because her
 

ion

produces
 

132
 
Finally, 
Colene Bentley 
a
ssert
s that 
Esther shows her
 

revamping

re
-
evaluate her circumstances in the context of conflicting opinions

 
that 
is required for citizens to establish a democratic society.
133
 
Not unlike the above crit
ics, 

 
Even the critics who attempt to demonst

political 
vision reflects a specific political ideology 

s
 
inheritance plot in 
political terms. 

associated with the mid
-

the work
ing class, since they worried about
 
losi
ng their political power through the extension. 


134
 
Although Lesjak 
provides 
an insightful 
historical
 
reading of the 
conservative politics
 
implied in the novel
,
 
she 
only attends 
to 
the i
ssue of the electoral reform

and its 
socio
-
economic 
                                        
                  
 
132





 
133





















































 
134
 
See 

Felix Holt

A 
Forum on Fiction 
30, n
o. 1
 
(
1996): 87. 

Evan Horowitz
 
also 
points out 
that the
 

-
Victorian liberals

 

 
shared
 
reaction against the 
second reform bill
. While the radicals believed that the electoral reform would 

development to many radicals looked more 
like social cataclysm to most liber


Victorian Studies 
49, n
o. 1
 
(
20
06): 14.
 

re
adings lead us to understand how a 
historical appr
oach toward the novel in the political context of the time can enrich our discussion of the 
implied politics in the novel
. 
 
 
 
67
 
 
context
. As another example, Ruth Yeazell contends that 
Felix Holt
 
co
ntains a cultural 

anxiety 

 
inheritance or marriage
 

135
 
In other words,
 
Yeazell maintains 
that
 

cial and 
political anxieties . . .
 
contained 

 
and eased 

 

136
 
Like
 
Lesjak, Yeazell 
ignores 
the 

another i
mportant socio
-

inher
itance plot
.   
 
I
n the
 
previous discussions of the novel, 
therefore, 
it is difficult to find a substantial 
reading 
and questioning 

-
economic context.
 
Although the novel reshapes its theme of inheritanc

marriage plot, the theme cannot be separated from the economic aspect of inheritance as one of 

the inheritance is no

lack of attention to the socio
-
economic context of the theme is understandable. Nevertheless, as 

a implies a broad 
socio
-
economic questioning of how to distribute the national wealth that has been monopolized 
by the aristocracy.
137
 

                                        
                  
 
135





































 
136



 
137










































 
 
68
 
 

cuss another egalitarian radical demand for 

involvement with the socio
-
economic issue is just sophisticatedly embedded in a personal 
dilemma. We can even as


-
economic issue than 

lly 
arrives at the problem of the land
-
ownership after sketching out negative effects of 

 

of its theme of
 
inheritance in the
 
context of
 
con
temporary socio
-
economic issues




idealization of moral cultivation capture the mid
-

-
economic 
thought that was utilized as a basic principl
e for the liberal reform of 
inheritance laws. The two 
characters, in particular Esther, show a deliber
ative self
-
reflection on different kinds of pleasures 
and means in maximizing individual happiness and public good. Their self
-
reflection aims at 
counteracting the widely dispersed hedonist utilitarian principle that provoked the radical 
demand for the red
istribution of w
ealth through the reform of 
inheritance laws. Addressing this 
socio
-

                                        
                  
 




































 
 
 
69
 
 
internalization process of alternative moral values to the hedonist utilitarian ones, the novel
 
sophisticatedly displaces the radical thought
s
 
with the compromised liberal one
s
. The rest of this 

s theme of inheritance with 
contemporary
 
debates over the reform 
of 
inheritance laws. Then, I demonstrate how the novel reprodu
ces the mid
-

compromised liberal approach toward the problem of inherited wealth in a more subtle way than 
its outspoken conservative reaction against the electoral reform. 
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
In 1864, West Sussex Gazette published a pamphlet titled 
T
he Land and The Agricultural 
Population
.
138
 
The pa
mphlet was a collection of 

Richard Cobden

 

feudal inheritance laws, entail and primo
geniture. As the introduction of the pamphlet mentions, 
these t

 
to abolish the feudal inheritance laws and to break the 

139
 
It shows 
how much En
glish public were interested in the issue of reforming the feudal inheritance laws in 
the mid
-
Victorian period. However, the public interest was not the only reason their speech 
engendered an intense social debate all over the country. Another, more import
ant, reason was 
that they connected the problem of the feudal inheritance laws with the destitute material 



legal measures.
140
 
Their specific claim refreshed the existing public interest in the reform by 
adding one more reason that the laws should be abolished and by consequently making a new 
                                        
                  
 
138






 
139



 
140




 
 
 
70
 
 
division of opinions even 
amo
ng pro
-
reformers. The
 
letters regarding this specific claim reflect 

reform of the inheritance laws.
 
The pamphlet shows how the classical utilitarian theory framed th
e pro
-

approach to the reform and how much
 
this theory appealed to the
 
public in the mid
-
Victorian
 
era. 
Cobden and Bright, as 
well
-
known classical utilitarians, attempt to justify their demand for the 
abolishment of the feudal inheritance laws on
 
the basis of the utilitarian principle of the greatest 
happiness for the greatest number. They try to persuade the English public to acknowledge the 
necessity of the reform as an essential measure for the happiness of the majority population in 
the agricu
ltural sector. They suggest that the abolishment of the laws would not only subdivide 
English land but also make it more accessible to poor farmers. In their speculation, the reform of 
the laws would eventually fulfill the utilitarian principle by improvin
g the material condition of 
much more English people.
141
 

satisfactions, even though it would bring some hardships to the current land monopolists. In this 
way, they try to establish a moral g
round for their demand for the reform. This classical 
utilitarian background allows them to draw a substantial public attention toward the problem of 
the feudal inheritance laws by l
eading the public to consider
 
that the reform of the laws is not 
only an e
conomic matter but also a moral issue.  
 
The debate in the pamphlet clarifies
 
that this utilitarian framework serves for the pro
-
reformers to effectively defend their view against the conservatives. 
In the pamphlet, one
 
oppone
nt of
 
the reform 

h
e practice of entail, like that of primogeniture, arises out of 
                                        
                  
 
141


















 
 
 
71
 
 
our habits as a community

142
 
He also
 
complains,
 

hat other member of society, or in what 
other country is any class,
 
except avowed mendicants,
 
so largely maintained out of other 

143
 
T
hese conservative opinions are easily rebutted by the pro
-

powerful rhetoric that elaborates how the reform of the laws could pr
oduce much more benefits 
to the 
most members of the community
 

reasoning inevitably sounds outdated with less moral values. We can guess that, for t
his reason, 
this kind of orthodox conservative opinion 
takes place 
in the first half of the pamphlet and 
gradually disap
pear
s
 
as the debate progresses. The utilitarian pursuit of maximizing 
the greatest 

material interests and their happiness plays out as
 
a
 
powerful mo
ral axiom 
for the pro
-
reformers to subdue the conservative voice
.
 
However, a new reaction
ary counterpoint comes up around the middle of the debate that 
shakes the pro
-

          
 
To suppose that a labourer in this country could ever become the possessor of land, and 
cultivate it at a profit, is quite Utopian. Lan
d in this country is a luxury enjoyed only by 
the rich and powerful. . . . but we fear that it can only be brought about in the natural 
course of progression and improvement. No sudden act of the legislature will accomplish 
it.
144
 
An unnamed commentator
 
takes a peculiar positioning between the conservative
s
 
and the 
pro
-
reformer
s
. This commentator basically does not
 
stand with
 

feudal inheritance laws. He states the current situation of the land monopoly in a critical tone 
that 

 
H
e 
implies that the
 
subdivision 
                                        
                  
 
142



 
 
143



 
144



 
 
 
72
 
 
of this luxury to more people 
is desirable
. Nevertheless, 
h
e 
proposes not to take any radical 
legislative actions to accomplish the redistribution of the
 
monopolized luxury to laborers because 
he doubts that the
 
subdivision would 
contribute to 
the utilitarian
 
principle of the 
greatest 
happiness 
at this time
. 
He does not suppose that a labo

al
though he finally poss
ess
es
 
small land. In other words, t
he redistribution of t
he land 
would 
never increas
e the general amount of happiness
 
of the greatest number. 
While
 
it is desirable to 
break the land monopoly, 
only 

 
of progression and improvement

can
 
mak
e 
the reform work for the utilitarian principle
. Other letters also express a similar co
ncern. One 
letter asserts
 


 
before becoming a 
land owner.
145
 
On the same ground,
 
but more importantly, another
 
letter also contends that even 


-
owners.
146
 
Therefore, 
to this c

that the subdivision of English land would promote the total sum of general happiness of English 
society.  
 
The last 
point 
particularly deserves our attention because 
it indicates a shifting moment in 
the mid
-

maximize the general happiness. The classical utilitarians seek the best measure to increase the 
general happiness of the com

capacity. They presume that the subdivision of English land into poor laborers would 
undoubtedly maximize the general happiness in English society. Thus, the pro
-
reform 
commentators in the pamphl
et emphasize that the reform would transform poor agricultural 
                                        
                  
 
145



 
146


 
 
 
73
 
 
laborers into small land owners and, then, this transformation would increase their material 
condition and the national productivity as well. This utilitarian thought also cannot help leading 
t
he pro
-
reformers to ask for more radical legislation of new inheritance laws rather than the mere 
abolishment of the feudal laws to relocate English land in the free
-
market system. 
 
However, the skeptical reasoning of the mental and moral capacity
 
of poor 
laborers
 



l and moral ca
pacity, the maximization of 
the 
general happiness through legislative reforms could never happen. It cannot be assumed that 
the current laborers would increase the productivity of their land and their material condition as 
well. More importan
tly, if poor laborers do not emancipate themselve

will
 
only pursue their selfish bodily pleasures with their improved material condition instead of 

 
English 

the natural course of 

 
any 


tion as a pursuit to fulfill the 

and moral capacity not their material condition. I argue that t


an be associated with this peculiarly positioned reactive socio
-
economic idea against the classical utilitarian theory that drove the 19
th
 
century English radica
l 
movement
. 
 
The notable mid
-

ist 
utilitarianism illustrates the above shifted focus in fulfilling the greatest happiness principle and 
 
 
74
 
 
explains how his divergence weakens the mid
-
Victorian pro
-
reform radical force. In 
Utilitarianism

 

right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse 

147
 



148
 
Therefore, a legal reform should aim at 
promoting happiness or pleasure of the greatest number of individuals to maximize the total 

more re

149
 
More importantly, Mill contends that all kinds of pleasures do not share the same degree of 

are more desirable and 

150
 


merely meet a bodily desire.
151
 
Thus, Mill suggests that quality should be considered as well as 
                                        
                  
 
147









 
148



 
149



 
150



 
151


















































































 
 
 
75
 
 
quantity in choosing appropriate measures to fulfill the utilitarian principle of the greatest 
happiness.
 
 

 
in his 
concern about character
-

utilitarian principle is based on h
is limited understanding of 
complex human nature as a very 

of pleasures and pains, and 
governed in all his conduct partly by the different modifications of self
-

152
 



character
-
building because it would make s
ociety employs legal means that only focus on 


153
 
In contrast to 
Bentham, Mill 

perfection as an end; of desiring, for its own sake, the conformity of his own character to his 

154
 
Mill believes 
that we should be 
more concern
ed
 


-

155
 

that the greatest happiness principle can be ful
filled only in the consideration of quality of 
pleasures. 
 
In this different understanding of human nature from Bentham, Mill declares that the 

utilitarianism, whi
ch is based on the simplified human nature, necessarily prioritizes the 
                                        
                  
 
152











 
153



 
154



 
155



 
 
 
76
 
 

enhancement of the quality of happiness.
156
 

al 
majority itself . . . will the interest coincide, at all times and in all respects, with the interest of 

157
 
Furthermore, if we value quality more than quantity in ranking different kinds of 

rial condition does not guarantee the 
best consequence in maximizing the general happiness. The uneducated majority would only 
seek the lower bodily pleasures. In this assumption, Mill asserts that the law
s should focus on 
promoting the social influence 
of
 
cultivated individuals
 

-
building. 


158
 
This 
individual, therefore, could enjoy a higher quality of pleasure that lasts during his or her whole 
life time. In addition, only the cultivated individuals would support not only his own happiness 
but also that of others by sacrificing their self
-
interests 
for the greater happiness of their 

of society should make provision for keeping up . . . a perpetual and standing Opposition to the 

159
 
                                        
                  
 
156






































































 
157






 
158




 
159






 
 
 
77
 
 
In 
the revised utilitarian principle, 
Mill
 
approach
es
 
toward the reform of the inheritance 
laws in a different way from Bentham. 
Bentham establishes two important principles in 
formulating property laws, security and equality. He also presupposes that 
securit
y
 
should be 
weighed
 
over equality
, when they are in conflict
, because security is 

the foundation of life 
. . .
 

160
 
When security is threatened
, there is no chance to promote 
equality
. However, 
he makes an exception 
in case of 
legislating inheritance laws. Bentham
 
assumes
 
that these two staples, security and equality, can be reconciled
 
in this exceptional case
. 
When property
 
ceases to have an owner
 
by the death of the 
current 
proprietor

the law can 
interfere in its distributio

 
without damaging the security of the property owners
hip
.
161
 
At this 

 
when the law
 

 
in 
certain respects the testamentary power, in order to prevent too 
great an accumulation of
 


[e
s]
 

162
 
Bentham believes that the restriction of
 
testamentary power on the principle of equality would contribute to increasing the total amount 
of the general happiness in the community because it would not conflict with the principle of 
security. 
 

arian approach to the 
legislation of new inheritance laws. 
Instead, he replaces equality with liberty as the most important basic principle for the 
legislation.
163
 

es with any 
                                        
                  
 
160





 
161


 
162



 
163






























































 
 
78
 
 
restrictions on 

 
mind, the abolishment of the feudal inheritance 
laws should not be replaced with any compulsory legal attempts to distribute wealth into more 

only provide imm
ed
iate and bodily satisfactions 

 
the lower
-
level pleasures 

 
to more 
beneficiaries, rather than encouraging them to develop their faculties for the higher pleasures. 
Therefore, new inheritance laws should be legislated in a way to actualize liberty and 
indi
viduality. Mill envisions that, when these principles are prom
oted by the 
new laws, in the 
long
-
run, these laws would also establish a social environment that encoura

character
-
building and faculty
-
development. If we endure this long
-
t


164
 
we can also expect more cultivated heirs 
and heiresses who nobly refuse their inheritance. They would be willing to sacrifice their self
-
interests for the happiness of others, pur
suing the higher pleasures on the exertions of their 
faculties. At that time, the maximal happiness for the greatest number can be realized in terms of 
both quality and quantity of pleasures.
 

ated with the particular mid
-
Victorian socio
-
economic thought that 

 
utilitarianism 

-

 
revised utilitarian thought supports his specific 
political vision of the liberal society that disregards the principle of equality in actualizing social 
justice and human progression. In this vein, he also idealizes a normative subjectivity that 
                                        
                  
 























 
164



 
 
 
79
 
 
contribu
tes to maintaining his liberal ideology.
165
 
His definition of liberty and individuality is not 
an open concept. Individuals should cultivate their moral and mental capacity that enables them 
to prefer the higher mental pleasures to the lower bodily pleasures
. In addition, their moral 
cultivation should lead them to avoid any immediate actions to increase the quantity of happiness 
of the mass public because it does not eventually meet the greatest happiness principle. The 

al actions should be restricted to improving their indirect 
infl

-
building by displaying their exemplary sacrifice of self
-
interests. The rest of the chapter demonstrates how the novel thematizes a reactionary cultural 
force a
gainst the radical demand for the redistribution of wealth. For this purpose, I focus on how 
Esther embodies 

 
and 
limited concept of moral action
 
through 

 
*
 
*
 
*
 
Yet any one whos
e attention was quite awake must have been aware, even on entering, of 
certain things that were incongruous with the general air of sombreness and privation. 
There was a delicate scent of dried rose
-
leaves; the light by which the minister was 
reading was a
 
wax
-
candle in a white earthenware candlestick, and the table on the 
opposite side of the fireplace held a dainty work
-
basket frilled with blue satin.
166
 

presence of a w
ax
-

-
                                        
                  
 
165



















































 
166




 
 
 
80
 
 
candle, the narrator has begun the chapter describing a humble, but, highly spiritual atmosphere 

the general air 


and, more importantly, his highly cultivated spir


cushionless armchair does not disturb his intellectual meditation on the text. The humble material 
condition of the room and hi
s concentration on reading actually display a spiritual aura around 

-


 
The first a

,
 
Felix
,
 


-
candle also provokes the opening talk between Felix and Mr. Lyon that shows the f


-
candle, Mr. Lyon 
needs to explain to Felix that this inconsistent extravagant good is not for him, but it is paid by 

 
Lyon guesses that the presence of the 
wax
-
candle in his room could lead Felix to degrade his spiritual or cultural authority. Mr. Lyon 
attempts to make it clear to Felix that he does not enjoy any pleasures from the wax
-

scent without blaming his 

-
candle in his 
sitting room. Felix immediately responses that he is equally indifferent to this luxurious item. 

t have a 

167
 
To Felix, having
 
a sensual taste itself for 
wax
-
                                        
                  
 
167


 
 
 
81
 
 


 

168
 
What makes us closely attend to this opening scene is that it introduces a particular 

critici
sm of the s
ensual taste for 
wax
-
candle defines the pleasures from an extravagant item as an 

of candle illustrates why he disdains these pleasures. His ethical reasonin
g implies that there are 
two types of pleasures: the higher mental pleasures, the quality of the 
text can produce for its 
reader

s
 

cent can 
bring to its possessor
. Felix pro
blematizes the sources of pleasures in determining the desirability 
of the produced pleasures. In his mind, the quality of higher pleasures from an intellectual 
activity may be incommensurate with the quantity of lower pleasures produced by stimulating a 
b

candle also shapes moral action as a matter of individual choice between the two different types 
of pleasures. It explains why he plans to dedicate his life 

mental capability of preferring the higher pleasures to the lower ones as the most fundamental 
moral task.  
 

the particula
rity of his reasoning. Sujith Kumar points out that in his utilitarian theory Bentham 


169
 
In other words, Benth

utilitarian theory does not problematize the sources of pleasures because he pursues to maximize 
                                        
                  
 
168


 
169











 
 
 
82
 
 
the total amount of pleasures in a community without concerning quality of pleasures. Thus, in 
the classical utilitarian theory, there can be no ground to
 


170
 
If 
an individual can increase the amount of pleasures from having a wax
-
candle than reading a 
book, choosing the former
 
can be a natural and desirable decision for him or her in the classical 
utilitarian theory. 
In opposition 
to the quantifying utilitarian calculation, the novel introduces an 

asures and the 

 

utilitarianism. More importantly, his response to the wa
x
-
candle implies a different approach 
toward the greatest happiness for the greatest number principle. As I mentioned in the previous 
part of this chapter, the classical utilitarian theory establishes its moral ground with its pursuit of 
maximizing the tot
al amount of net pleasures or utility of the greatest number as well as the 
amount of pleasures in each individual. According to this principle, having a wax
-
cand
le can also 
be a problem to 
classical utilitarians. If only a few people can afford to purchas
e a wax
-
candle 
and if some people do not have even a tallow candle in the same community, the money for wax
-
candles should be spent on producing and distributing more tallow candles. In this ethical sense, 
a moral action should 
magnify
 
the total amount of 
pleasures of the community as a whole. The 

the enhancement of the quality of pleasures in individuals over the increase of the quantity of 
pleasures in the 
community. 
 
                                        
                  
 
170



 
 
 
83
 
 

it also disapproves of certain legal measures that are designed to meet the classical utilitarian 

 
explains his opposition to the universal 
suffrage. The expansion of the right to vote to the uneducated working class would empower 
them to increase only the amount of lower pleasures in them.
171
 
Thus, in advance to the electoral 
reform, Felix calls for the
 


novel implies its opposition to any legal reforms that could promote a rapid subdivision of 
wealth
. Improving the material condition of the working class is not an important matter in 

carefully constructed to support this political opposition to the rising rad
ical demand for the 
redistribution of wealth. While the novel does not directly handle this socio
-
economic issue 
unlike it does the issue of the electoral reform, the novel envisions its reactionary politics against 
the radical socio
-
economic thought in a 


 

in
herit the estate in the 
final volume
 
of the novel
. Her dilemma begins with the unex
pected death 
of
 
Tommy Transome, 
the last member of the original Transome family lineage
, during the riot
. 
                                        
                  
 
171
































































 
 
 
 
84
 
 
The Transome estate is devolved on Esther as the only lawful heiress of the Bycliffe family that 
is entailed to take over the estate with the extincti
on of the original Transome lineage. As Esther 
has not known this complicated legal story until the sudden announcement of her entitlement to 
the T
ransome estate, it makes her 
have an intense self
-
reflection of the actual effects of the 
unexpected fortune 
on her life. The below quote exemplarily shows her inner conflict: 
 
[T]his life at Transome Court was not the life of her day
-
dreams: there was dullness 
already in its ease, and in the absence of high demand; . . . She would not have been able 
perhaps to d
efine this impression; but somehow or other by this elevation of fortune it 
seemed that the higher ambition which had begun to spring in her was fore ever nullified. 
All life seemed cheapened.
172
 
When Esther is revealed as the lawful heiress, the Transome fa
mily invites her to stay at the 
Transome court. She has the above inner thought around the end of her stay. This passage 

-
candle. It is 
notable that his attitude has guided her
 
final decision. Esther has day
-


173
 
Her day
-


-

and 

-
firm gravel of h
er garden
-
walks.

174
 
Her sudden inheritance could easily materialize her day
-
dreams by providing he
r with enough luxuries that produce
 
a considerable amount of sensual 
pleasures 
in her 
as she once sought these pleasures from the wax
-

 
stay 
at the Transome court leads her to realize that this kind of sensual pleasures does not last for 

                                        
                  
 
172




 
173


 
174


 
 
 
85
 
 
At the same time, Esther begins to acknowledge that ther
e is another kind of pleasure she can 



175
 
The higher 
pleasures that she begins to feel can outweigh any amount of the 
lower pleasures that she has day
-
dreamed of. Therefore, she chooses the quality
 
of higher 
pleasures
 
instead of the quantity of
 
lower
 
pleasures for her ultimate happiness.
176
 
 


 
readers to conceive her 
inh
eritance as like her wax
-
candle. It serves to displace her inheritance from 
the broa
der public 
questioning of
 
the problem of concentrated wealth. As we ca

thought
 
above
, the 
novel 
portrays
 

pleasures. 
I

 
just 
a moment 
of 
her 
achievement of
 
individual
 
moral a
utonomy
 
while overlooking the contemporary 
socio
-
economic con
text deeply embedded in her dil
em
m
a
. For example, Fred Thomson points 
                                        
                  
 
175


 
176
 

s instead of the lower ones
, 
Elizabeth Starr contends that Eliot intends to s

 

sensibilities ultimately work in the service of humanist re

Esther never gives up her delicate
 
taste, instead, she employs it to carry
 

Starr
 

 

iage 

-


between her aesthetic and moral standards, ra



 
Nineteenth
-
Century Literature 
56, n
o. 1
 
(
2001). In a similar sense,
 
Seung
-
Pon Koo argues th


-

 
resists the 



Refer to 


Felix Holt, the Radical
,

Feminis
t Studies in English Literature 
19
, i
ssue 
1
 
(2011)
: 65
-
66. 

-


and internalizing Feli


decision on her marriage and the inheritance as well.
 
 
 
86
 
 
out 
that 

]quipped with a moral nature . . . has the 
capacity . . .
 
to 
choose right 
actions over wrong

 
by resisting 


177
 

y the exercise of moral choice in 
determinism of character (contrapuntal to the external deterministic 

s her 
individual agency to 
determine
 
her own character and life.
178
 
In a similar sense, Shannon 
McMullen
 
maintains
 
tha


override accidentals and make their own destinies, in defiance of what the
 
law dictates, and 

179
 


and emotional,
 
rather than physical, property.

180
 

proposes to show how individuals can
 
freely build their
 
dignified selfhood 
with their moral 
autonomy 
beyond any material conditions and confinements. 
 
However, we should be aware that the displacement of Es


-
economic issue. Through this displacement, the novel actually undermines a social conception of 
inheritance as an important publi



n 

181
 
In 
                                        
                  
 
177


















 
178


 
179














 
180



 
181





























 
 
87
 
 
addition to this structural replacement, more importantly, the novel contrives to denounce the 
classical utilitarian principle that is presented as a driving for

ethical reasoning displaces this principle. The below description of the laborers in the riot 

 
There was only evidence that the majority of the crowd wer
e excited with drink, and that 
their action could hardly be calculated on more than those of oxen and pigs congregated 
amidst hootings and pushings. The confused deafening shouts, the incidental fighting, the 
knocking over, pulling and scuffling, seemed to
 
increase every moment.
182
 




control on their endlessly increasing desire for another bodily excitement.
183
 


-

incommensura
bility between the quality of higher pleasures, which one individual can have in 
his or her inner cultivation, and the total quantity of lower pleasures, which the uneducated 
                                        
                  
 





































































 
182






 
183















































 
 
 
88
 
 
majority public enjoy in their uncontrolled bodily excitement. Through this contr
asted 
visualization the novel challenges the classical utilitarian principle by raising a question if the 
increased total amount of lower pleasures in the majority public could eventually bring any 
recognizable benefits to English society as a whole. In th
is juxtaposition of the laborers and 

that the mass public should follow. In this way, the novel justifies its reconceptualization of the 
issue of inheritance
 
as an individual dilemma rather than as a public matter by narrowing the 

community.    
 
This questioning, in turn, encourages readers to deprecate any radi
cal ideas of 
redistributing the 
concentrated wealth to the unpropertied.
184
 

that arouses the riot is on their fair share of the national wealth rather than the voting right. That 
is, the problem of the concentrated wealth un
derlies the apparent political issue of the electoral 
reform as the main cause for the public disorder:  
 


n the world to pickle every 
                                        
                  
 
184







































































 
 
 
89
 
 


185
 

lence, an unknown radical demagogue, pictured as 
a manual laborer, gives a speech to the public in the street that begins to provoke the listening 

working class, wa
nting to send a person who will represent their interests in the parliament. But, 
this radical speaker suggests the electoral reform as one legal measure to solve the fundamental 
socio
-
economic problem of wealth monopoly. His speech begins with the above q
uote by 
directly delving into the broad socio
-
economic issue

 
of wealth monopoly 
shows a different ethical reasoning from the one that Esther shows in her approach toward the 
inheritance. On 
the basis of 
the classical utilitarian prin
ciple, he assumes that the subdivision of 
wealth would improve the material condition of poor people, that is, the happiness of the greatest 
number. Thus, any measures that expedite this subdivision should be defined as moral acts. 
According to the radical
 



r pleasures 
and the lower ones. Unlike Esther, this radical speaker would immediately define her unexpected 
large fortune in political terms as a symbol of inherited English wealth that should be divided 

he higher pleasures eventually displaces this 

 
In addition to the displacement of the radical approach toward the problem of wealth 


                                        
                  
 
185






 
 
 
90
 
 

defines self
-
interest as an essential motivation for all human actions and as a driving force to 
materializ



186
 
Bentham does not deny the potent
ial of sympathy 
and compassion in human interactions. But, he considers even these altruistic feelings as another 
kind of self
-
love.
187
 

efforts to maximize his or her self
-
interests 
would eventually bring forth the general happiness of 
mankind in one simple condition that people do
 
no

illustrates that the greatest happiness principle can never be fulfilled on this supposition and 
simple understa

disinterested moral commitments to others as the best measure for the greatest happiness 

of the 
inheritance laws to
ward the promotion of character
-
building from the redistribution of inherited 
wealth. 
 

of the inheritance with her rejection of the previ

As Harold plans to recover his lost legal claim to the estate by marrying Esther, her possible 
acceptance of the inheritance also means her acceptance of his marriage proposal. Esther rejects 
Harold under the s
ame ethical reasoning that she shows in her 
final decision making process to 
refuse
 


and more 
                                        
                  
 
186







 
187







 
 
 
91
 
 

188
 
Just like her unexpected entitlement to the Transome estate, 

-
dreams of an elevated life. 
However, as she is disillusioned from the life of aristocracy
 
during her stay at the Transome 


189
 
Esther 
finally realizes that the marri
age with Harold would be a choice of the lower pleasures, as the 

taste. 
 

observation of his hedonist utilitarian character. During her stay at the Transome Court, Esther 



190
 
He is obsessed with 
calculating how much quantity of pleasures he can earn from his actions or from the things he 
can grab in his hands. In addition, Esther observe
s that his all actions, even his kindness to 
others, are grounded in his self
-


191
 
He expects a returning 
respect from his unsympat


192
 


 
higher 
                                        
                  
 
188






 
189


 
190




 
191


 
192


 
 
 
92
 
 
ambitions by marrying Harold.
193
 

-
indulgence can never 
enhance the quality of happiness in others except the quantity of his own happiness.
 

makes her 

self
-
interestedness on the public world.
194
 
Harold, as a self
-
announced radical candidate, 

t the economical condition of the 

195
 
In his self
-

measures which the common sens
e of the country, and the increasing self
-
assertion of the 

196
 


ing the
 
general happiness of a
 


197
 
The novel develops the plot to disprove 

-
interested political approach toward the public good by showing 
how his tacit 


198
 
the 

for engendering a great public
 
mischief rather 
than the common
 


readers to witness 

-
interested political views built on hedonist utilitarianism. 
 
                                        
                  
 
193


 
194


 
195


 
196


 
197




 
198


 
 
 
93
 
 
Therefore, the novel dramatizes the reason the legislation of new property laws should 
have its primary 

-
building rather than the 
re
distribution of wealth. 


cultivated moral capacity can eventually promote the greatest happines
s to both the individual 
and the
 
community. In addition to her prioritization of the higher pleasures over the lower 
pleasures, a disinterested sympathy guides
 
Esther to make her final moral decision. Esther 


199
 
She should face the simple fact that if she possesses the estate, the 
Transome family
 
must depart. This disturbance would produce a pain in her mind as well as in 
their life. In her pure sympathy, she decides to leave the estate to the current possessor.
200
 
This 
moral decision, as a result, improves the quality of happiness in her life, as i

something quite new 

 

201
 

means her participation in his higher ambition to promote the welfare of the fellow laborers not 
by improving their material condition but by 
cultivating their moral capacity. The novel pictures 
he
r peaceful moral decision as a
 

decreasing the immediate pains but also by increasing the chances for her and others to pursue 
the hig
her pleasures. The increased chances, in the long run, would contribute to enhancing the 
                                        
                  
 
199


 
200











































































 
201




 
 
 
94
 
 

the novel devalues any legislation of property laws that only focuses
 
on solving the problem of 
concentrated wealth without considering its ef

-
building.   
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
Before concluding
 
the chapter, I need to briefly 
discuss 

different methodology 
from classical
 
utilitarianism in terms of how 
to motivate individuals to consider the happiness of 
oth
ers
. To maximize t
he general happiness of 
community as a whole
, 
it would be desirable to 
encourage
 
people
 
to
 
think that others

 
increased happiness would promote their own happiness 
too
. In his autobi
ography, Mill complains that the utilitarian predece
ssors only attend to external 
mean

 
in their 
simple understanding of human nature.
202
 
Thus, 
classical 
utilitarians always necessi
tate
 
external 

 
best means to 
increase their own happiness
. 
They cannot help clinging to 
legal and institutional regulations. 
How

these 
external 
measure
s
 
can create 
only an artificial tie
 
between 
ourselves

 



 

pleasures and pains as their own.
203
 
Robert Steward points out that Mill believes
 



the agent a stable association between self and other regarding interests
.

204
 
Mill wants to 
                                        
                  
 
202















 
203




 
204



































 
 
 
95
 
 



205
 


Felix Holt
 
can be enriched when we juxtapose the novel with 

utilitarian thought and his co
ncern about normative character
-
building. Catherine 
Gallagher 

 
distinctive 


206
 
According 


to promote his new liberal
 
politics
 
differed from hedonist individualism
.
207
 

ones called for a new duty on t
he mid
-
Victorian intellectuals, like Eliot, who could exert a 


could 
be the best medium for this proje
ct than any other literary mode
s. In its unique revealing of 


conscience. Gallagher observes 
that accepting this new duty
 

Eliot 
a
lso reformulated
 
her realism. She no 
longer tried
 


produce
s
 

of pure value in which w
hat should be comes into being

208
 

Felix Holt
 
clearly shows her 

                                        
                  
 
205




 
206




 
207




























 
208





 
 
 
96
 
 

rnal process 

 

. The theme deeply embodies 
Mil

inheritance 

sanctions on the right to bequest, Mill designs to implant internal moral sanctions in the 

portion of inheritance in 


, while affecting positively 

character
-
building a
nd the ge
neral happiness of 
community as well. At this point, we should note 

speaking, as an acceptance of a small portion of the inheritance, not the total refusal, Eliot
 
proves 

and arranging her private economy for the maximal happiness of herself and others. The mid
-

 
of the inheritance laws embodies 
the complex interplay of political, ethical, social, and economic ideas at that time period. 

employment of internal moral sanctions, Eli
ot successfully produces a subtle reactional cultural 
force that the liberal reform of the inheritance laws needed against the radical demand for the 
redistribution of inherited wealth.
 
 
 
 
 
97
 
 
CHAPTER
 
THREE
 
Morality and Property
:
 

 
of the Reform of Inheritance Laws 
 
in 
The Eustace Diamonds
 
Ant

The Eustace Diamonds
 
thematizes a conflict over an 
inher
itance
, just like his 
The Warden
. While 
The Warden
 
asks a broader qu
estion of how to 
distribute 
unearned surplus pr
oduced by landed inheritance, 
The Eustace Diamonds
 
delves into a 
more specific legal issue regarding the feudal regulations of inheritance. The novel sets its 
central focus on the two feudal laws, primogeniture and entail, which regulated the practice of 
handing down inheritance to the next generations in
 
England throughout the Victorian era. These 


209
 
What makes the novel so 
compelling in relation to this s
pecific legal issue is that it is deeply engaged with 
the 
mid
-

ce laws. In 
accordance with the 

inherit
ance laws must contribute to promoting individual liberty and moral autonomy rather than 
material equality. Thus, the novel also reveals how the mid
-
Victorian social emphasis on 
individual 
morality and character
-
building is intertwine
d with the establishme
nt of 
liberal 
economic system.       
 
                                        
                  
 
209
























 
 
 
98
 
 
The English law overall 
allowed people to
 
have 
testamentary freedom to dispose personal 
pr
operty and some portion of free
-
hold real property to whomever they please
d
 
on their death.
210
 
This legal freedom traces back to t
he Statue of Wills in 1540. 
However, most English nobility 
did not exercise their testamentary power. 
As I mentioned in the introduction, 
they entailed their 
land on 
the 
eldest sons of 
their 
future family generations
. T
he law of primogeniture also enforced
 
all 

, when they die
d
 
intestate, to be devolved on their eldest son
s
 
or 
next heir
-
at
-
law male relatives
.
211
 
The feudal inheritance laws also
 
restrict
ed the
 
testamentary 
power
 
of
 
disposing personal property when it is settled as a family fortune called heirloom. As 

heirlooms were a way for the aristocracy to extend restraints 

 
hereditary nature 
on 
personal property as 
real property.
212
 
In this way, English nobility employed the feudal laws of 
primogeniture and entail to protect their family estate and personal property from the subdivision 
among their children and
 
the possible al
ienation to 
non
-
family members.
 
Thus, Victorian 
reformers attempted to
 
abolish these feudal practices, precisely because doing so 
could weaken 
the power of the 
aristocracy.
213
 
Political tensions and
 
public debates betw
een the 
reformers and 
                                        
                  
 
210














 
211




















 
212












 
213












































































 
 
99
 
 
aristocratic conse
rvatives 
continued
 
over the reform of the inheritance laws in the latter half of 
the 
19
th
 
century. 
Creating a story in
 
this socio
-
economic context, 
Trollope 
responds to the social 
question of 
how to reform the laws.  
 
     
 

 

laws. The story begins with its explanation of how this character, Lizzie, could possess the 

In the 
beginnin
g
, Lizzie becomes widowed because of
 
her newly
-

death. Shortly before his death, Sir Florian tempora
ri
ly withdrew the diamonds necklace
 
from 
the family jeweler, and 
let Lizzie wear the necklace to
 
a dinner party. The problem starts 
when 
he dies of illness without
 
returning it to the family jeweler
,
 
but
 

does not
 
leave 
a will to designate 
how to dispose 
of 
the 
diamonds after his death
. Conseq
uently, 

 
understanding of the family property causes
 
a tension 
with 
the Eustace 
family

 
lawyer
,
 
Mr. Camperdown
,
 
over the ownership of the diamonds. 
Lizzie believes that the 
diamonds necklace should be her own because her husband gifted it to her and she has kept 
it 
after his death, although the necklace has been considered a Eustace family heirloom for almost 
two centuries. 
S
he thinks
 
that 

the diamonds had been given into her hands by her husband 
without any terms as to their surrender, no one could claim them

214
 

y 

.

215
 
Because of her ignorance of the inheritance laws of 
primogeniture and entail that regulate the succession of heirloom, Lizzie
 
believes that 
her 
husband ha
d
 
an exclusive right to transfe
r
 
the diamonds to her upon his death, 
regardless
 
of the 

 
legal
 
status as
 
heirloom. Lizzie insists that any customary and legal regulations of 
                                        
                  
 










 
214








 
215


 
 
 
100
 
 
heirloom are unacceptable as they violate her property
 
ownership
.
 


concept of private property.    
 
     
 
In contrast to Lizzie, Mr. Camperdown represents the conservative hereditary view on 
inheritance.
 
He contends that Sir Florian cannot transfer 
the diamonds
 
necklace
 
to his wife 
because 
it is under the regulation of primogeniture and 
it
 
has been
 
entailed as well. Sir Florian

s 
grandfather purchased the diamonds for his wife on 
their marriage
. The grand
father explic
i
tly 
stated in his will that the diamonds must be defined 

as an heirloom in the family, and had as 
such left them to his eldest son, and to that son

s eldest son

216
 
Therefore
,
 
Mr. Camperdown 
believes that
 
Sir Florian d

 
have the right to
 
endow the diamonds to his wife.
 
To Mr. 
Camperdown, t
he diamonds necklace belongs 

to the Eustaces, just like their estates

217
 
The 
different understandings of inheritance, as one of the most important socio
-
economic issues in 
the time of the novel, clearly
 
categorize Lizzie and Mr. Camperdown into opposing political 
groups. 
 
   
  
 
Therefore, the conflict between the two political views 
that Lizzie and Mr
.
 
Camperdown
 
respectively 
represent
 
has
 
been the central focus to many critics in reading 
The Eustace 
Dia
monds
. For example, McMaster points out that the novel dramatizes the conflict between two 

to keep 
the property
 

 
possess
 
the p
ro
perty based on the principle
 
of individual ownership.
218
 
This reading 
raises a question of
 
how t
he
 

position between the conflicting political views. Does Trollope a

 
                                        
                  
 
216


 
217


 
218







 
 
 
101
 
 
understanding of inheritance or Mr
. 

guiding questions we have to answer in interpreting the novel. However, I argue that we cannot 
fully understand
 

social and cu
ltural anxieties
, which 
the reform
 
movements
 
of t
he feudal inheritan
ce laws engendered, if we only attend
 
to the conflict 
between 
the two political views
. 
 
            
Th

 

simply structuring the story under their opposing 

Lizzie especially reveals its complicated response to the reform of the inheritance laws. Because 

makes an impression
 

inheritance. As the story ends with 
Lizzie

s
 
loss of the diamonds and her social relations as well
, 
it
 
apparently creat
e
s a moral judgment on Lizzie

s deceptiv
e attempts to possess the 
diamonds
.
 

not mean that it upholds the hereditary view on inheritance. The novel actually intends to 
examine the interconnection of individual morality with the 
security of property ownership, 
beyond the simple opposition between the liberal and the conservative views. This explains why 

foregrounding her individualized
 
understanding of the property ownership.   
 
     
 

 
related to the cultural anxieties
 
of a significant change that 
the reform of the feudal inheritance laws would bring to English society. More specifically 

characterization of Lizzie shows the cultural concern of the less qualified 
new participants in sharing the national wealth. The reform of the laws would result in more 
distribution of the national wealth to those who were deprived of their share, since th
e reform 
 
 
102
 
 

woman, represents these new beneficiaries of the reform.
219
 

ineligibility for sharing the wealth, Trollope questions if the
 
reform necessarily brings a good 
result to the new participants and English society as well, even though the necessity of the 
reform is not deniable. Trollope suggests that the reform would not guarantee social benefits 
without the cultivation of the new 


more social members over the enhancement of e

-
building, it would even 
j
eopardize social security as well as the institution of private property ownership.        
 
     
 
In this chapter, I examine how the novel engages the issue of moral cultivation in the 
contemporary socio
-
economic debates on the reform of the feudal inherit
ance laws. Through this 
examination, I will demonstrate how the novel reflects the mid
-

app
roach toward the reform. To 
mid
-
Victorian liberals, the desirable reform of the feudal 
inheritance laws should give priority to the cu


capacity should be the necessary prerequisite to demand his or her share of the national wealth. 
The novel intend
s to convince us why 
this order of priority
 
should be maintained through a story 

 
 
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
                                        
                  
 
219
















 
 
 
103
 
 
It was admitted by all her friends, and also by her enemies

who were in truth the more 
numerous and active body of the two

that Lizzie Greystock had done very well with 
herself. We will tell the story of Lizzie Greystock from the beginning, but we will not
 
dwell over it at great length, as we might do if we loved her.
220
 

The Eustace Diamonds
 
begins its story with the above narration that 
states 
how the main character 
Lizzie was recognized by her friends and enemies. This social 

her. First, she succeeded in marrying a rich eldest son from the noble class, Sir Florian Eustace.
 
With this marriage, Lizzie could raise herself up from her 
destitute con
dition to 
a 
permanent 
economic stability. Second, more importantly, as the novel develops the story on this second 
event, she pertinaciously fought with the Eustace fam
ily lawyer, Mr.
 
Camperdown, for
 
the 
ownership of the diamonds necklace, the Eustace family heirloom. Even though Lizzie finally 
fails to possess the diamonds 
necklace 
as her own, at least, she does not yield it to the Eustace 

he also succeeded in retaining her early gains 
through her marriage with Florian Eustace.
 
    
 
Although the quote tells its readers how successfully Lizzie managed her life, the 

 
Admitting her 
successful life management, the narration implies that Lizzie lost more than what she earned 


main opinion group in this sarcastic 
assessment of her unfavorable character. Thus, the narrator purposefully uses the plural 

                                        
                  
 
220




 
 
 
104
 
 
management. As th
e narrator tell
s the story
 
to 
readers, thi
s narration also instigates 
readers at the 

whole story about Lizzie. This opening narration excludes Lizzie as the only other inside 
and 

between friends and enemies. Indeed, at the beginning, the novel goes beyond the simple 
oppositional political str
ucturing for 
Lizzie

.
 
 
    
 
To categorize Lizzie as the only other from the 
extensive 
social grouping, the novel 


he possession of the 
diamonds. To claim the diamonds necklace as her own, Lizzie repeatedly contends that her 
husband truly and permanently gave it to her as a gift. 
In fact,
 
however,
 
her husband 
wanted 
her
 
to wear the necklace
 
for a special dinner party, 
explicitly expressing to her the diamonds are 
family jewels. H
e also 
mentioned that he wants his future daughter
-
in
-
law to wear the necklace 
following the family tradition as Lizzie did, and plan
n
ed to reset the diamonds in the family 
jeweler

s safe
.
221
 
H
idi
ng
 
his int
ention, she refuses to return the necklace
 
to the Eustace family. 
Her lies continue to avoid Mr. Camperdown

s legal process
 
to retrieve the diamonds 
necklace 
back 
to the family. Lizzie

s lies gradually isolate
 
her from social relation
s
 
and 
makes her 
finally 
lose the diamonds.
 

development of the story.
 
     
 


hey similarly 
read a moral me


hat among all 
                                        
                  
 
221






 
 
 
105
 
 

 

The Eustace Diamonds
 
exhibits the most intense concern with truth and 

222
 

 
world in which liars prosper and truth
-

argues, the novel shows the decline of the traditional British society based on truth and honesty 
because of the invasion of gold diggers.
223
 
As another example, Susan Macdonald notes that two
 


in
creasingly alarming to Trollope 

 
the danger of preferring lies 
and dramatic display to truth or 

224
 
In agreement with Macdonald, Andrew Wright maintains that the novel 

-

225
 
Even though Lizzie finds it a great 
trouble that the diamonds bring to her,
 
she refuses to yield them in place of the satisfaction she 
has by resisting and destroying others.
226
  
 
    
 
In contrast to the above early criticism of the novel, recently, many critics have shown a 
sympathetic reading on Lizzie, based on a feminist approa
ch to the novel. They argue that the 
novel focuses more on problematizing s
ocial problems that produce 
immoral character
s
 
than 
criticizing Lizzie herself. For example, Jane Nardin points out that Lizzie is an example of the 
effects of two social problems t


227
 
Nardin argues that Trollope 
                                        
                  
 
222

















































 
223
 
Ibid., 
136
-
7.  
 
224























 
225





 
226






 
227
















 
 
106
 
 

world.
228
 
Jen Sat

commodity
-

229
 
She defines Lizzie as a victim rather than a 

ering 

230
 
As another example, Zubair Amir 
maintains that for a social climber lies serve as a convenient solution to disrupt preexisting class 



231
 
T

manipulation of truth are 
her 
inevitable choices to raise 
herself up from her low class and cultural status as a woman. 
 
     
 
The above contrasted criticisms provide various int


that the conflict, caused by the different understandings of the ownership of the heirloom, frames 


                                        
                  
 













 
228
 
Ibid., 4
6.
 
 
 
229

























 
230
 
Ibid., 45.
 
231



























































 
 
 
107
 
 
from this important socio
-
economic issue. Any readings of the novel cannot be complete without 
answering how the novel responds to this main issue, with its distinctive characterizati
on of 
Lizzie. It requires us to historicize the novel
, in particular its characterization of Lizzie,
 
in the 
context of the mid
-
Victorian social tensions over the reform of the inheritance laws. Lizzie

understanding of the ownership
 
represents the newly e
merging liberal concept of the exclusive 


Then, the novel relocat
es her outside of the oppositional political structure, as the above opening 
narration shows her friends

 

novel want to tell us about the contemporary socio
-
economic issue with its ironic alie
nation of 

property ownership as immoral? We need a comprehensive analysis to examine the 

atic socio
-
economic 
issue.
 
    
 
Several
 


-
economic issue. For example, 


attachment to English noble society of gentlemen and ladies for which the system of the feudal 
inheritance laws provided a material ground.
232
 
To Kendrick,
 
t
he novel contains a pro
-
conservative view regarding its political question
 
of inheritance
. Willi


The Eustace Diamonds


                                        
                  
 
232







 
 
 
108
 
 
conservative advocacy for preserving establishe

233
 
It can be said that the 

the individualized ownership that threat
ens the feudal structure of 
property relation.   
 
     
 
However, 
th
at 
the novel 
does not clearly side with 
Mr. Camperdown
 
respecting his fight 

o confirm 

 
heirloom, Mr. Camperdown asks 
a
 
well
-
known 
legal authority Mr. Dove

. Mr. Camperdown considers, 

[w]
hen Mr Dove 
had once been positive, no man on earth was more positive
.

234
 
U
nlike Mr. Camperdown

s 
expectation, Mr. Dove declares that 
the 
Eustace family cannot claim the d
iamonds as an 
heirloom 
because 
the grandfather, who died long ago, could not devise the will
,
 
designating the 
present ownership of the diamonds.
 
In addition, according to Mr. Dove, only unalterable objects 
can be heirloom, but the diamonds necklace is not.
235
 
Mr. Dove

s legal opinion brings a new 
phase to the conflict between Lizzie and Mr. Camperdown, leading the latter to realize his legal 
misconception of heirloom. Borrowing Mr. Dove

s voice, the novel reveals that Mr. 
Camperdown

s
 
view on heirloom cannot be legally justified. 
Thus, the novel does not allow Mr. 
Camperdown to have the satisfaction of prosecuting Lizzie at the end of the story. Andrew Miller 
                                        
                  
 
233









































 
234




 
235









































 
 
 
109
 
 
points out that Trollope seems to refuse to adjudicate between both character


236
  
 
     
 

 
some
 
critics 
to 
interpret that 
the novel critically envisions 
the establishe
d male
-
centered
 
feudal laws
. For 
example, Dagni Br
edesen argues that Trollope 
intends to problematize the gendered feuda
l legal 
codes that do
 
not allow women to make their own monetary decisions.
 
237
 

lies 
manipulate the male
-
centered authoritativ
e law

tion 
proffered by the family solicitor for the return of the necklace to the estate is just one story, 
which she
 
[Lizzie]
 

238
 
Lizzie attempts to set up competing
 
narratives
 
with her lies
 
against the master legal codes.
 
In a similar sense, Deborah Wynne 
contends that 
The Eustace Diamonds
 
explores how a woman character can undermine the 
gendered feudal laws on property with her skillful lies. The novel demonstrates that the feudal 

-


 
depriving 
them of the rights to own property
.
239
 
Thus, to Wynne, the novel clearly 
shows its antipathy to the feudal inheritance laws that Mr. Camperdown represents, exposing 

 
                                        
                  
 
236
 
Andrew 
Miller, 
Novels 
behind Glass: Commodity Culture and Victorian Narrative
 
(Cambridge: 
Ca
mbridge University Press, 1995),
 
167
-
8. 
 
237































 
238


 
239































 
 
 
110
 
 
     
 
The above fe
minist critics, however, also do not provide a satisfactory answer as to why 

problematizing the gendered legal and social structure. There is no doubt that the novel cri
ticizes 
the male
-
centered feudal inheritance laws as one of the main factors to cause all dis
turbances 
over the ownership of the diamonds. Nevertheless, the novel does not show any favorable 
attitude toward Lizzie herself and her deceptions. Lizzie, as Chr
istoph Lindner points out, does 
not resist the customary and legal restrictions on her possession of the diamonds in order to fight 
against the gendered social structure.
 
240
 


241
 
For this
 
re

possess the diamonds; consequently, Lady Glencora, an influential woman political figure in the 
liberal party, takes back her support for Lizzie after being informed of her deceptions. Indeed, 
Tr

manipulation of the male
-
centered legal codes.
 
      
 
If the novel refuses to take sides between Lizzie and Mr. Camperdown, does Trollope 
take a neutral positio


his main concern is not to show his political ground between these two oppositional 
views. 

                                        
                  
 
240

















































































 
241





 
 
 
111
 
 
blames the feudal laws as one of the primary factors for all unnecessary problems in the story. 

 
I argue, Trollope aims at establishing a 
guiding principle for the reform of the feudal inheritance laws. He agrees that the reform of the 
feudal laws is necessary. However, to achieve social benefits through the reform a desi
rable 
principle should 
keep t
he reform progressing in the right direction. In particular, with his story, 
Trollope requires that the successful reform should bring a favorable environment for the 

llope 

beginning of the novel, although he a

liberal 
understanding of the property 
ownership. 
 
     
 

ern can be historicized in the mid
-

movements, there were nuanced, but significant, discrepancies among the reformers in terms of 
their reasoning of why and for 
what the feudal inheritance laws should be abolished. Politically, 
economically, culturally, and morally based arguments served for them as an ideo
logical 
principle for their ideas of the reform
. Despite having the same purpose, each principle could 
lead t
he reform movements in different directions that provide different answers on how to 
reform the inheritance laws. A more radical stance to the reform emphasized more distribution of 
wealth to decrease the unequal social 
and economic 
condition. R
adical refo
rmers pursued new 

death by restricting their testamentary freedom. On the other hand, this radical approac
h was 
problematic to 
moderate, so
-
called conservative, 
liberals like Trollope who define liberty as their 

 
 
112
 
 

national
 
economy cannot be promoted. Thus, to the moderate liberals, a desirable inheri
tance law 
should strengthen 
absolute testamentary freedom. After exploring the historical context, the rest 

dical principle for the reform 

egative 
consequences that she
 
brings to her community.      
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
We demand just laws of inheritance. The mischievous laws and restrictions of feudal 

of primogeniture is still enforced in the case of landed property left intestate, and
 
the law 
still permits the representatives of large estates to affect posterity through the medium of 
entails, by the same preferential and unjust 
distinction of the eldest born.
242
 
On July 8 in 1848, a weekly newspaper 
The Manchester Times and Gazette
, whic
h was 
well
-
known as a mouthpiece for the Anti
-
Corn
-


imminent danger of revolution the convention engendered, the article c
alls upon the government 
to initiate the reform of current abuses. Otherwise, the article warns that the government will 



article introduces 
Westminster Review


led by 
famous liberal philosophers, such as James Mill and his son J. S. Mill. The draft contains 
twelve dema
nds for the reform of the present state of misgovernments and corruptions. The 
                                        
                  
 
242








 
 
 
113
 
 
twelve demands aims at reforming political, legal, educational, cultural, and material problems to 

 
the people in the 

-



 
and so on. These various demands, prepared by 
the liberal reformers, seem comprehensive enough to mollify chartist radicals during the time of 
social upheaval caused by the continental revolutions in 1848.
 
     
 
Interestingly, the draft includes the above
 
quoted demand regarding the reform of the 
feudal elements of inheritance laws, primogeniture and entail. Even though the demand does not 
sufficiently elaborate why the laws should be reformed, given the effects of primogeniture and 
entail on sustaining th
e feudal ar
istocracy
, it is no wonder why the two feudal legal remnants 
were targeted as one of the crucial social problems. 
P
rimogenitur
e and entail made the title of the 
land and valuable personal properties almost non
-
transferable as they restricted the
 
private
 
ownership
 
of 
family property. In particular, entail defined the
 
current owner of 
fami
ly estate
s
 
as 
a li
fe tenant and the eldest son as
 
heir
 
and
 
tenant in tail. The life tenant could not alienate or cut 
off the entail
ed land
 
without the concurrence
 
of the tenant
 
in tail
 
when
 
they came of age.
243
 
As J. 
S. Mill points out, entails 
very rarely expired because 
heir
s
 


244
 
P
rimogeniture 
and 
entail enabled the noble class to keep their hereditary wealth intact for generations by 
handing down family property only to their eldest sons and preventing them from alienating it.
 
                                        
                  
 
243










 
244





























 
 
 
114
 
 
     
 
Abolishing 
the two laws could substantially weaken the hereditary
 
power of the 
aristocracy. L
and had long been associated with a sp
ecial political importance because
 
only the 
landed proprietors could represent their county in the parliament.
245
 
The removal of the two laws 
could in
crease 
chance
s
 
to tra

s
 
land to the other classes who had substantial 
capital for the purchase. At least, 
the abolition of
 
the two laws could reduce the aristocratic 

ir
 
family 
estate
s
 
among their c
hildren, rather than leaving everything for the eldest sons.
246
 
France was 
already observing the expected effects of the abolition of the feudal inheritance laws and the 
establishment of the equal succession law that forced th
e equal division of inheritance 
to the 
deceased owner

s
 
children. This political calculation led the reformers to add the feudal 
inheritance laws 
on the list of demands for r
eform.
 
     
 
Because of the above political expectations, the abolition of primogeniture and entail 
began to 
emerge as an important socio
-

were significant differences
 

 
in terms of their main purpose of the 
reform and 
their formulation of new inheritance laws
. The two feudal inheritance l
aws were 
designed to enable a few noble hands to possess most English wealth, in particular the land, the 
                                        
                  
 
245
 
Until the second reform bill 
was passed in 1867, to represent a county,
 
a male adult
 
was required to 
have
 
600 pou
nds income a
-
year from only 

proprietor, has always carried with it the not

 

Members of the Cha
rtist Co
-

 
The Northern Star and National Trades' Journal
, 
Issue 447
, June 6, 1846
.  
 
246

























































 
 
 
115
 
 
main resource of wealth at that time. Thus, the working
-
class oriented chartist reformers mainly 
expected that the abolition of the laws would bring m
ore distribution of the national wealth to the 

-
known 

neglected in the dis
cussion of the reform of the inheritance laws.
247
 


large estate, through the abolition of primogeniture and entail, could significantly
 
increase the 

the working classes to possess a parcel of land, converting them from wage slavery to 
independent yeomen. In addition, it could raise the factory
 

of the laws could relocate many factory workers to the country for farming. Then, it would cause 
less labor supply in the factories.
248
 


on ameliorating the unequal economic condition of the working 
classes, as they hoped the working classes could be new proprietors of the national wealth.
249
 
                                        
                  
 
247
































































 
248
















 
249

















































 
 
116
 
 
     
 
More importantly, to the chartist reformers, the abolition of the feudal inheritance laws 
was c

distribution of wealth would bring the improvement of the working
-


y prerequisite for 


France by the Abolition of the Law of Primogen


clearly tends to 
develop mental independence as well as ultimately to create habits of morality and virtue

250
 
As 
another exampl
e, a chartist newspaper article repeats the poin
t that when laborers become 
proprietor
s

251
 


e the 

 
252
 
In 
other words, the chartist reformers believed that the unpropertied masses would enhance their 
autonomy and morality, if a chance to practice the property owne
rship is given to them through 
the reform.  
 
     
 
Therefore, the radical reformers conceived new inheritance laws that could be forceful in 
expediting more distribution of the national wealth to decrease unequal social condition. A just 
                                        
                  
 



















 
250












 
251







 
252


 
 
 
117
 
 
inheritance law sh
ould allow g
overnmental restrictions on 
testamentary freedom. The 
compulsory inheritance law in France might be an ideal model to the radical reformers. After 
abolishing primogeniture and entail, if the government forces the family property to be divided 
i

a great subdivision of the national wealth. It would increase the transferability of the 

 
estate
s
 
into the unpropertied
 
classes for small farming. At least, it could drop the 

freedom was a desirable way of expediting more distribution of the national wealth without 
critically
 
damaging the institution of private property ownership because property actually does 
not belong to anybody upon the death of the current owners.
 
     
 
However, the mid
-
Victorian liberal reformers 
did not share the same ideal
 
with the 
chartist radical ref
ormers
,
 
and could not accept their idea of the compulsory inheritance law. 
In 

the reform
 
of the feudal inheritance laws
 

properl
y taken 
up, not as a revolutionary or chartist notion, but as a step in political economy

253
 
T
he liberal 
reformers
 
claimed that 
new inheritance laws should be devised in accordance with individual 
liberty
 
in managing their property
.
 
Strengthening
 
testamentary freedom can be a more desirable 

 
idea of the 
governmental in
tervention. A
 
compulsory attempt to divide 

some property, but it could bring negative consequences to
 
society rather than 
correct
ing
 
the 
                                        
                  
 
253






































 
 
 
118
 
 
problems of the feudal law
s.
254
 
J. S. Mill 
developed
 
this
 
liberal approach to the reform.
 
In the 
section of 
inheritance laws of his book, 
Principles of Political Economy
, Mill criticizes both the 
feudal laws
 
and the 
compulsory inheritance law
 
in France
. In particular, he argues that the 
French compulsory inheritance law 
achieved
 
its pu
rpose of the subdivision of 


255
 
A
 
compulsory division law would not 
reassign English wealth to 
eligible 
individuals and would not build
 
a favorable environment for
 

-
building.  
 
     
 

 
can better develop his or her
 
mental and mo
ral capacity 
when liberty is prioritized over equality as a primary principle to guide the reform. Mill poi
nts 


256
 


257
 
When 
liberty is not restricted in terms of 

actions and 
private property, 
individuals are
 
fully encouraged to develop 
their 
faculties and autonomy. Then, 


ety.
258
 
To Mill, these abundant mental activities, which the protection of 


259
 
According to his fundamental
 
principle in modernizing English society, Mill cannot accept any signi
ficant legal restrictions on
 
                                        
                  
 
254










































 
255





 
256




 
257


 
258


 
259


 
 
 
119
 
 
testamentary freedom that may critically damage the principle of liberty as well as the institution 
of private property. 
 
     
 


260
 
Those legislations would help to solve the 
problems that the system of liberal economy causes. However, to fu
lfill the purpose of those 

conditions is, universal education; the other, a due limitation of the numbers of the 

261
 
The two 
suggested 
conditions, especially 



intelle
ctual and moral capacity to
 
individual
s
. Instead, moral and mental capacity should be 
developed first by universal education. Then, we can expect 
t
he supposed social benefits that the 
material improvement of the unpropertied bring. Mill also assumes that unconditioned material 
impro
vement would increase the population to a level that the community would not be able to 


city to a certain 
degree in advance.
262
 
 
In the abov
e view, Mill elaborates how the 
compulsory succession law
 
in France
 
would 
negativ

-
building and the national economy as well. Even though the 
law was designed for the subdivisi
on of wealth, it could create in undesirable heirs a legal right 
to inheritance regardless of their moral and intellectual eligibility. Mill thinks that, while the 
                                        
                  
 
260


 
261





 
262



 
 
 
120
 
 
feudal inheritance laws generally make the eldest sons have an improvident character, the 
co
mpulsory division law would bring this negative conseque

-
building. Thus, according to Mill, removing restrictions on the power of bequest would be more 
desirable. The current owners can better dispose their property than the 
inflexible law, 

The law cannot handle effectively diverse issues in 
each family, but only applies a general rule 
to them. T
estamentary freedom 
would also allow
 
property owners 
to 
lead
 
their family members to 
a
 
good order, that is, a socially desirable way of 
life. Individual liberty in will
-
making is the most effective method, which cannot be replaced 
with any legal interventions, in terms of
 

-
building. 
 
In addition to that, 
absolu
te testamentary freedom would produce a good economic result. 
When all sorts of property are under the rules of private property, more eligibl
e individuals 
would achieve 
property by their faculties. Then, they would increase the national productivity.
263
 
How
ever, the compulsory inheritance law would make the government authoritatively interfere 


strate the legal claims of 

264
 


265
 
The government intervention 
should only be permitted in the case of intes
tacy that the owners die without will.
266
 
In this way, 
                                        
                  
 
263
















 
264


 
265



 
266





























 
 
121
 
 
Mill 
calls for the protection of 
testamentary freedom by illustrating its effects on the character 
development, then, again, the effects of the character development on the national economy.
 
     
 
Trollo

The Eustace Diamonds
 

reform of the inheritance laws. At the first sight, the novel seems an interesting story about a 

toms and laws on 
inheritance. But, the novel explicitly contains its concern to the prevalent discontent with the 

traditionally allowed to women to possess, represents t
his discontent. In addition, more 

cultivation in the contemporary social attention toward the feudal inheritance laws, raising the 
question of desirable moral owner
ship. Mixing these all complicated issues together in the story, 
Trollope carefully implies that the reform of the inheritance laws should be enact
ed in a way of 
guaranteeing 
testamentary freedom. To Trollope and the liberal reformers, the desirable 
owners
hip is not automatically developed in the individual without the necessary pre
-
cult
ivation 
of moral capacity. T
estamentary power could not only prom

-
building, but also protect the family wealth and, in a broad sense, the nati
onal wealth by 
empowering the current keepers of wealth to select proper successors. 
 
     
 

converges into the above liberal conclusion of 
protecting testamentary power
. My analysis 
particularly focuses on the second half of the novel. This part of the novel highlights how 
                                        
                  
 



























 
 
 
122
 
 

theft of the diamonds in two burglary attempts. Endin
g the novel with the final loss of the 
diamonds, from Lizzie and the community as well, Trollope implies his suggestion of how to 
prevent this unhappy ending from occurring again, in relation to the liberal reform of the 
inheritance laws.               
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
     
 
When the story 
comes
 
to the climax of the fight between Lizzie and Mr. Camperdown 
over the ownership of the Eustace diamonds, the novel adds an interesting event
 
and twists the 
plot.
 
When Lizzie travel
s
 
to London, she keeps the diamonds with her in an iron box
 
because she 
fe
ars that they
 
might be stolen
 

process
. 
Along
 
her travel, a burglary of the diamonds happens. Interestingly, the thieves ac
tually
 
steal
 
an empty box, as Lizzie kept the diamonds under her pillow. H
iding what truly happened
, 
Lizzie pretends that the thieves ran away with the diamonds. 
At first, Lizzie i
s ashamed to tell 
that she was carrying the empty box. But, she 
has decided 
to keep the secret
 
to make Mr
.
 
Camperdown believe that the diamonds 
were
 
stolen.
267
 
What is more interesting is that, b
efor
e 
the burglary happens
,
 
Lizzie almost won the battle
 
with Mr
.
 
Camperdown as the authori
tative 
jurist Mr. Dove concluded,
 

the Eustace e
state cannot 
claim the jewels as an heirloom.

268
 
The 
first failed burglary 
brings a new phase 
to the story when a
 
resolution
 
was almost made
 
to the 
struggle 
between 
Lizzie and Mr. Camperdown
. 
 
 
     
 


out of the thematic conflict between Lizzie and Mr. Camperdown, as Lizzie hides the diamonds 

                                        
                  
 
267




 
268


 
 
 
123
 
 

ch shows the conflicts between 
the 
characters, into 
the internal conflict of Lizzie. This d
epicts her psychological anxieties
 
in her struggle to keep the 
secret of the diamonds from all other characters. With this change of the setting, the novel 
intends t

dramatizing the contradictory understandings of the ownership of inheritance. But, from the 
middle of the story, the novel delves into the more specific focus on the re
lation between the 
individual and the property as it foregrounds Lizzie and her hidden diamonds, while the conflict 
between Lizzie and Mr. Camperdown withdraws. Bringing these changes to the story, the novel 
begins to examine how the individual constitutes
 
his or her property ownership and, conversely, 
how the property ownership shapes individuality. 
 
     
 
In the case of Lizzie and her hidden diamonds, the novel, more exactly speaking, intends 
to thematize what will happen if an ineligible individual posse
sses a valuable property, in 
particular, the family or national wealth that the Eustace diamonds represent.
269
 
The situation 

question. This situation allows the n

and its negative consequences. For this exploration, the novel pays special attention to 
Lizzie


s
 
and feeling right after the failed 
burglary:     
 
[T]hough she [Lizzie] was awestruck by the danger of her situation, she nevertheless did 
feel some satisfaction in remembering that she and she only held the key of the mystery. 
And then as to those poor t
hieves! . . . As her mind went on making fresh schemes on the 
                                        
                  
 
269
 

The 
Saturday Review
 

here is much not only to amuse, 
but to learn from, in 
The Eustace Diamonds
, if people will accept the conduct of 
most of its actors as a 
warning


The Satu
rday Review 
34
, November 1872, 638. This 

 
 
 
 
124
 
 
subject, a morbid desire of increasing the mystery took possession of her. She was quite 
sure that nobody knew her secret, and that nobody as yet could even guess it. There was 
great danger, but
 
there might be delight and even profit if she could safely dispose of the 
jewels before suspicion against herself should be aroused.
270
 
The quote depicts how Lizzie responds spontaneously to the situation that the failed burglary 

er response actually reveals her interiority that directs her to handle the 
situation poorly. Awestruck by the situation that follows her deception, she quickly recognizes 
the danger she could have at the possible disclosure of her secrecy. But, immediatel
y, she feels 


than to tell the truth. She also expects emotion

have if she successfully keeps the secret of the hidden diamonds. The quote articulates how 

-

rationality that wa
rns her of the peril of keeping the secret; her undisciplined character conjures 
up an immoral desire for the secret possession of the diamonds that were not truly given to her. 

ed to discuss in 

keeping the secret.   
 
     
 

her mind a false concepti



m her 
                                        
                  
 
270




 
 
 
125
 
 
illusion of the absolute ownership over the diamonds. Lizzie remembers that she is the only 

 
create 
a mental 
feeling of the exclusive ownership.
271
 



272
 
Apart from 


273
 
This is a delight t
o Lizzie because it means that no one, including Mr. 
Camperdown, would intrude into the possessive relation between her and the diamonds from 
now on. Lizzie thi
nks that the diamonds now 
have
 
truly become 
her own
 
exclusively
. However, 
Lizzie 
has 
actually di
sembedded the diamonds from social relation.
 
As Jon Stobart points out 
that property cannot exist outside of
 
social relation
,
 
Lizzie
 
has actually damaged her proprietary 
benefits from th
e possession of the diamonds because of
 
her false conception of owners
hip.
274
 
 
     
 

the diamonds 
lose 
their 
intrinsic 
property 
value 
at the moment of her secret hiding. As
 
Lizzie pretends that the diamonds 
were stolen by the burglary, she cannot wear them anymore, she c
annot al
ienate
 
them, and 
cannot 
even give them to others.
 
Her morbid desire for the exclusive ownership of the diamonds, 


ossession finally results in the permanent loss o
f the 
                                        
                  
 
271













































 
272




 
273


 
274
 
Refer to Jon Stobard and Alastair Owens,
 
Urban fortunes: Property and Inheritance in the Town, 
1700
-
1900
 
(Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2000), 16.
 
 
 
126
 
 
diamonds from her and the 
Eustace family as well. 
The second genuine burglary
 
of the diamonds 
happens 
by the same thieves
,
 
the other secret holders.
 
Interestingly, the novel ends with the 
diamonds being sold to a foreign princess by the thieves, rat
her than being recovered by 
police or 

economic loss to her
 
and the Eustace family, and, in a broad sense, to the national wealth as well.   
 
 
     
 

limited to an economic loss. It 
also damages
 
her individual agency before her fin
al loss of the 
diamonds accompanied with the disclosure of her secret to the publi
c. The below quote shows 

 
secret possession of the diamonds significantl
y restrains her
 
autonomy:
 
She thought of the necklace every waking minute, and dreamed of 
it when she slept. She 
could not keep herself from unlocking her desk and looking at it twenty times a day, 
although she knew the peril of such nervous solicitude. If she could only rid herself of it 
altogether, she was sure now that she would do so. She w
ould throw it into the ocean 
fathoms deep, if only she could find herself alone upon the ocean
.
275
 
The 
quote depicts that
 

turns into
 
a
 
nightmare. The secret 
possession of the diamonds keep
s
 
her checking 
on 
the 

 
risking the danger of 
her secret 
being 
revealed 
to others. She cannot rid 
her mind of 
the diamonds
. The obsession persists
 
every waking minute 
and even during the sleep. 
Lizzie is actu
ally possessed by the diamonds, rat
her than possessing 
them

, caused by
 
her secret possession
, shows that the 
property 
ownership 
does not
 
always guarantee or promote all proprietor
s

 
autonomy. 
In essence
, 
Lizzie does not need to hold the secret to own the diamonds. 
As one
 
character says to
 
Lizzie 
                                        
                  
 
275




 
 
 
127
 
 
about the rumor
 

u have stolen your own diamonds,

 
and as people 

undou
bted right to keep the diamonds,

already 
getting 
an 
up
per hand on the fight 
with Mr
.
 
Camperdown ov
er the ownership before the first burglary.
276
 
Nevertheless
, Lizzie
, in 
her misconception of the ownership,
 
thought that the diamonds wou
ld be truly her own through 
her 
secret
 
holding
. 
Thus, t
he reversed ownership 
relation between Lizzie and the diamonds 
signifies how an uncultivat
ed individual could destabilize 
the relation between 
the proprietor 
and 
the property. More importantly
, 
the reversed relation shows how 
she could unsettle the 
ideological ground for the in
stitution of private property as a guarantor for individual autonomy.
 
     
 
Going through all these troubles, Lizzie 
fails to 
avoid an unhappy ending
. Her friend,
 
Lord George
,
 

 
and have brought all your friends into trou
ble, and have got nothing by it.

277
 
Because of her 
uncultivated character,
 
Lizzie
 
loses
 
everything
: her property, reputation, and social relations
.
 
She 
has totally lost her chance to shape a desirable selfhood, ev
en though she procured a substantial 

uncultivated character as the main cause for all the conflicts and her unhappy ending. However, 
as I emphasized at the beginni
ng of this chapter, the novel does not intend to send a simple 

ordering between individual moral autonomy and 
the 
property ownership. To Trollope, the 
property 
ownership does not necessarily guarantee the development of self
-
reliant liberal agency. 
To produce desirable self
-

should be the essential precondition, before they share the delight of th
e property ownership. As 

                                        
                  
 
276


 
277


 
 
 
128
 
 
private property can be secured. Then, private property ownership will bring economic and 
cultural benefits to the individual and the s
ociety as well.              
  
 
     
 
Demonstrating the necessity of the correct ordering, the novel also raises a question of 
how to achieve this ordering, in particular, in relation to the management of inheritance. The 
novel basically implies that the t
raditional legal regulations of inheritance cannot secure this 
ordering and cannot entrust the national wealth to the 
hands of 
proper individuals. 
It cannot be 
denied that Lizzie

 
for the diamonds is the main 
reason 
for her isolation and
 
disgrace. However, the novel
 
also 
negatively depicts Mr
.
 
Camperdown

 
inappropriate legal 
intervention as another 
crucial 
cause
 
f
or the 
gloomy
 
ending
 
of the story
.
 
Even though Mr. Dove 
concluded that the Eustace family cannot legally claim their ownership
 
over the diamonds, Mr. 


drives 
Lizzie 
to
 
lie and deceive in order to 
run away from the traditional legal and customary boundary, 
even though her ownership of the diamonds was getting clearer
.
 
The final loss of the diamonds 
symbolically tells us
 
how the traditional legal regulations engendered the unnecessary conflict 
betwee
n Lizzie and Mr. Camperdown
. 
T
hese
 
regulations 
eventually 
not
 
only damage the family 
and 

 
     
 
The conflict between Lizzie and Mr. Camperdown also exposes the inability of the feudal 
laws to control
 


after acknowledging his misconception of heirloom, explicitly indicates the obsoleteness of t
he 
feudal laws in arranging the family economy:
 
 
 
129
 
 
Up to this moment, though he had been called upon to arrange great dealings in reference 
to widows, he had never as yet heard of a claim made by a widow for paraphernalia. But 
then the widows with whom he had
 
been called upon to deal, had been ladies quite 
content to accept the good things settled upon them by the liberal prudence of their 
friends and husbands

not greedy, blood
-
sucking harpies, such as this Lady Eustace.
278
 
The 
quote implies the weakening power 
of the feudal customary and legal regulations of 
inheritance that were established on the natural law tradition. The feudal inheritance laws, 

them rather than by 
legal enforcement. Even though the feudal inheritance laws forced 

give their property to whomever t
hey want on their death by will
-
making. However, most 
English 
did not exercise their testamentary freedom, leaving their property to be arranged by the 
feudal inheritance laws.
279
 
Thus, the feudal inheritance laws could not be maintained without 

individual 
resistance to the feudal laws could easily make them malfunction. As Ayelet Ben
-
Yishai notes 

long as the communality and customs which it serves are 

280
 

                                        
                  
 
278


 
279













 
280
































































 
 
 
130
 
 
uncustomary individual desire for the Eustace heirloom signifies that English traditional 
communality and customs are being destabilized.
281
 
     
 
As Mr. Camperdown 
acknowledge
s
 
that his profession as a lawyer has been based on 
having experience rather than learning the law
, his legal practice could be maintained on his 

282
 
However, when a problematic client, like Lizzie, 
goes beyond the 
customary legal boundary for her interests, being supported by a never heard 

anage the case in the 
way
 
what he has taken
. Although Mr. Camperdown 
condem
n
s Lizz
i
e 

-


represents 

that portion of mankind who thought that property 
could be managed and protected with

283
 

individualized understanding of inheritance and their desire to maximize mate
rial interests 


inheritance laws in handling these social and cultural 
changes.
 
     
 
The novel

criticize th
e inability of the law itself to manage
 
the
 
family economy. 
As Mr. Dove declared the
 
unclear legal status of the
 
Eustace 
diamonds
 
as 
heirloom, now 

tent of 
disposing of them 
would be 
the most important fact
 
to decide 
the
 
rightful
 
owner
. B
ut
, Sir Florian 
                                        
                  
 
281








































 
282




 
283



 
 
 
131
 
 
just followed the custom of primogeniture without 
leaving
 
a will regarding the disposition of 
the 
diamonds
. 
Lizzie
 
easily takes advantage of this case of intestacy, thinking
, 

[
o]
f the manner in 
which the diamonds had been placed in her hands, no one knew more than she chose to tell

284
 
Although Lizzie

s cunning character is well known
 
to the public
, she is the only pe
rson who
 
holds the true 
answer
 
to
 
whether Sir Florian 
designed 
to 
permanently
 
give the diamonds to her.
 
Ben
-

the intersubjectivity of the determining fact for legal
 
justice. Because of this inter
-
subjective 
character of fact
-

interests.
285
 

-
makin
g insinuates that there is
 
no effective legal intervention 
to prevent i
ndividuals
 
from manipulating
 
the truth, unless an omnipotent surveillant
 
oversees all
 
events in their private area
s
. 
Accordingly, although it is clear to Mr. Camperdown that 

Lizzie 
Eustace had stolen the diamonds, as a pickpocket steals a watch,

 
he canno
t help deploring 
that 

in a country which boasts of its laws, and of the 
execution
 
of its laws .
 
. .
 
there should be no 
means of punishing her

286
 
While d
ramatizing the conflict between Lizzie and Mr. 
Camperdown, 
the novel 
intends to 
show how the law cannot effectively 
intervene
 
in the family 
economy and cannot always secure a justice in the domestic sphere.
 
                                        
                  
 
284


 
285
































































 
286




 
 
 
132
 
 
     
 
Therefore, the novel 

-
making as the only appropriate 
solution to the ineffectuality of the l
egal intervention in preserving a good order in the family 
economy. Mr. Dove points out that:
 

and has lent its aid to romance;
--
but it certainly did not do so to ena
ble the discordant 
heirs of a rich man to settle a simple dirty question of money, which, with ordinary 

287
 
Mr. Dove maintains that the 
feudal 
law of heirloom, which was derived from primogen
iture and 

288
 
The law, belonging to the feudal 


terested more in satisfying thei
r simple 
monetary desire 
than ful
filling the chivalric spirit of
 
their family. When the current owners die 
intestate without le
aving a will, there is no way to control
 


ir death. The current owners should settle all property concerns before their 
death. Mr. Dove believes that will
-

and to protect the family wealth. 
 
     
 
Suggesting 
testamentary power as the onl
y alternative solution to the inefficient legal 

rability of 
absolute 

upon the whole 


289
 

                                        
                  
 
287


 
288


 
289




 
 
 
133
 
 
mind, the unclear ownership status of the Eustace diamonds brought all the unnec
essary 
disturbances to the community. When an individual cannot claim an exclusive ownership over 
his or her property, that property does not bring any economic or cultural benefits to the 
community. The uncle
ar ownership 
not only damages the economic valu
e of property, but also 
jeopardizes social security and 

-
building. 
 
     
 
T
he novel actually in
tends to answer the question of 

 
What is the desirable way of 
reforming the feudal inheritance laws? 

 
by allowing Mr. Dove to cl
ose the story with his final 
comments. 
The just inheritance laws that will replace the feudal laws should not enable other 

The just laws, instead, should 
contr
ibute to strengthening 
testamentary power, thus, 
eventually 
the institutio
n of private property. When 
proprietors can exercise their absolute property 
ownership
 
even
 
on their death, the economic benefits
 
that 
private property ownership
 
bring
 
to 
the community can be ma
intained. More importantly, 
testamentary power also serves for the 
proprietors to control 
the 

290
 
of immoral successors 
after their 
death. Dramatizing the loss and pain that Lizzie brings to herself 
and the community, Trollope 
leads his r
eaders to consider the morally 
ineligible beneficiaries of the reform in legislating new 
inheritance laws.        
 
*
 
*
 
*
 

 






















                                        
                  
 
290


 
 
 
134
 
 
















291












292









293







 

 


































294


                                        
                  
 
291




 
292


 
293



 
294




























 
 
135
 
 






















 

 

























295









296






                                        
                  
 







































































 
295




 
296


 
 
 
136
 
 




297









298






299











 

 
























































                                        
                  
 
297


 
298


 
299




 
 
 
137
 
 

















 
 
 
 
 
138
 
 
CHAPTER
 
FOUR
 
Protection but Not Equal Property Rights: The Sentimental Anxiety about Proprietary 

No Name
 

The Eustace Diamonds

No Name
 
dramatizes a woman 

remnants that contradict the ideal of liberal society in regulating inheritance, Collins delves into 

nomic mar
ginalization under 
patriarchal property laws. The 

-

disadvantaged social status becaus
e the male
-
centered legal codes 

 
primogeniture and coverture 

 
disinherit her. By portray

inheritance, Collins s
eems to suggest the necessity to reform
 
the laws. However, I argue that, as 
the plot d
evelops, the novel reproduces cultural anxieties about the
 
significant change that
 
the 

re, then, to the 
concept of 


-


traditional belief in gender differences. The novel eventually reinforces the mid
-
Victorian 

on providing a moderate protectio
n to women rather than establishing the total equality between 
men and women. In addition, I suggest that the novel reveals how mid
-
Victorian liberal 

hasis on morality and character
-
building results in their ambivalent stance toward 
the indiv
idualist liberal pursuit of equal property rights for women.  
 


th
 
 
 
139
 
 
century. As I
 
introduced in the previous chapter, t
he law of primogeniture enforced all 

s and heirlooms, when they
 
die
d
 
intestate, to be devolved on their eldest 
son
s
 
or male relatives
.
 
Unless fathers set aside some portion of family fortune for their 
daughters, male heirs exclusively inherited the whole family fortune.
 

daughters were doomed to seek a new economic protection from their male relatives or future 
husbands. Furthermore
, the common law doctrine of cove

unlike single women,
 
to have 
property right
s
 
and testamentary freedom.
 
Through their marriage, 

er they possessed it 

absolutely to their husbands. Even if they survived their husbands, their property went to the next 
male heirs.
300
 

he very being or legal existence of the woman is 
suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the 

301
 
Simply put, marriage degraded women to a non
-
existent legal entity. 
 

No Name
 
deals wit
h the Victorian women

through a story of two women characters who are disinherited by the patriarchal property laws. 
The Vanstone daughters, Norah and Magdalen, had a
n ideal domestic 
life under the
ir father Mr. 

 
pat
ernal protection until 
his
 
sudden 
death. For his 
wife and daughters
, 
Mr. Vanstone 
made a will that would divide his fortune into two equal parts, that is, one for his wife and the 
other for his daughters.
 
The problem
 
occurs because 
he made the will
 
prior to
 
the official 
marriage with h
is wife. 

his
 
                                        
                  
 
300

















 
301




 
 
 
140
 
 
official marriage, because it regards children of an unmarried couple as il
legitimates for their
 
family name and fortune.
302
 
M
r. and Mrs. Vans

 
unexpected 
death
s
 
from respectively 
an 
accident and illness also
 
prevent them from making
 
another required will 
for their daughters. 
Because of the absence of an authorized will,
 
a 
legal regulation 
intervene
s
 
in the 
Vanstone 

domestic econom
y
. As they died intestate, the law of primogeniture 
disinherits the 
Vanstone daughters
 

brother, Michael Vanstone, and upon his death, again, to his eldest son, Noel Vanstone
. 
The 
male
-
centered common law of primogeniture has deprived the Vanstone daughters of their right 
to the inheritance, which was originally inten
ded to be theirs by Mr. Vanstone
. 
 

unexpected disinheritance and impending poverty. The novel continues to dramatize how the 

audaciously plans to marry her cousin, Noel, for he refuses to share the in
heritance with her and 
her sister, by disguising herself as someone else. Although her revengeful plan looks unrealistic 

marriage is the only option open
 
to the 
Vanstone daughters for their
 
new economic stability.
303
 
In 
                                        
                  
 
302























































































 
303














 
 
141
 
 
addition, the novel shows that even marriage does not provide an ulti
mate economic security to 
women by
 
leading
 

304
 
Magdalen succeeds to 
marry Noel, b
ut she fails to have the lost inheritance back upon his death. Being informe
d of his 

 
his housekeeper, Noel disinherits his wife and bequeaths all property 

f the story that 
guaranteed 
wives to take 
a half of 

on their death, English common law 

common law doctrine of coverture only protected 

 
the wills of
 
husbands
 



305
 
Many critics claim that t
he novel
 
highlights
 
the w

 
suffering a
s 
the 
author

s
 
literary strategy to demonstrate
 
the need for
 
the reform of the patriarchal le
gal codes
.
 

ine Magdalen leads 
literary 
critics to regard Collins as a radical novel
ist who resists the traditional belief in gender 
differences as well as the patriarchal laws.
306
 
Douglas Maceachen po
ints out that the novel 
successfully drew the 

307
 
Nicola 
                                        
                  
 







 
304
 


 
the means she employs to do so 

 
matrimony 

 
necessarily defe

 


gender inequality in English common law. See 
Wilkie Collins
, 90. 
 
305




 
306
 

th
 
century 
no

conventional 
represen
tation of female characters
 
who share t
he same suffering with Magdalen
. 

Pride and Prejudice
 
accept their disinheritance and do not 
question the authority of male
-
centered legal regulations of inheritance. 
In contrast, Magdalen does not 
passively accept the disinheritance, unlike her old sister, Norah, and Jane 

. 
In
stead, Magdalen passionately attempts to retri

ing aggressive unfeminine 
characteristics.   
 
307
















 
 
 
142
 
 
Shutt asserts that No

uffering represents a wholesale repudiation of the 

308
 
S
hutt also contend
s
 
that Collins empowers Magdalen to redefine the 

 

hinting that more conventional ones like 
her sister Norah were basically 
powerless.

309
 
To Shutt, 

 
also
 
shoul
d 
not be mattered because 
she employs 
these tactics 
to resist the oppres
sive gender structure on 

tain
s that Collins d

objection to the 

310
 


s
 
subversion of the 
conve
ntional literary representation expresses 

th
is
 

311
 
In a 
si
milar sense, Deirdre David claims
 
that Collins

 


indicates his attack o
n the confinement of women
 
by
 


312
 
David believes that 

s
 
sympathy for Ma
gdalen proves his radical 
gender
 
politics.
 
 
However, while I concede that the novel appears to have a 
pro
-
reform 
stance and 
sympathetic tone toward the 
unfortunate heroine,
 
I argue that it ironically suggest
s an ambiguous 
attitude
 
toward 

                                        
                  
 
308








 
 
309

















































 
310







 
311



 
312














































 
 
 
143
 
 
the 
economic emancipation of women. 
Even though the novel develops its main plot on 
Magd

restore 
the inherit
ance, Magdalen
 
ultimately 
fails to 

 
through
 
her
 
unconventional
 
efforts. Instead, her passive sister, 
Norah, who 
accepted her disinheritance and a culturally enforced li
fe for women, finally regains
 
the family fortune
:
 
Norah, whose courage under undeserved calamity, had been the courage of resignation 

 
Norah, who had patiently accepted her hard lot; who, from first to last, had meditated no 
vengeance, and stooped to no d
eceit 

 


Openly and honourably, with love on one side and love on the other, Norah had married 
the man who possessed 
the Combe
-
Raven money.
313
 
The above quote shows that 
the ending
 
of 
No Name
 

feminine 
characteristic 



 
In contrast, the novel 
paints
 

egative words in a moral sense, such as 


next male heir, who inherited 
the family fortune from Noel. Norah is not supposed to share her 

In addition, the 
novel ends with 
another
 
idealized 
marriage
 
of Magdalen with Captain Kirke to
 
save her 
from 
a 
fata
l illness that she suffers from after her miserable failure to recover the inheritance. The novel 
finally submits Magdalen to the pa
triarchal protection through her
 
traditional marriage union. 
Laurence Talairach
-
Vielmas
 
properly claims that 

the closure of
 
the story reass
erts male 
                                        
                  
 
313







 
 
 
144
 
 
supremacy over female transgressiveness.

314
 
The novel eventually creates a disciplinary effect 

oppressed life as a woman under the patria
rchal culture. This disciplinary effect also functions as 
a literary tool to moderate 


ng. Furthermore, it diverts 
readers from their demand for the reform to self
-
control with

contradicts its acclaimed critical pose against the patriarchal property laws and the gender 
differences. For this reason, we shall reexamine the real effects that the unconve
ntional 
representation of Magdalen engenders. 
 
M
any literary
 

ending in a 
defensive manner to uphold
 

s
 
radical positioning. Richard Barickman
 

his
 

s
 
quirkness
 
. . .
 
but h

315
 
According to Barickman
, the 
ambivalent ending is 
designed 
to show 
the
 


316
 

politics is not 
clear at some moments,
 
this critic maintains that the writer 

                                        
                  
 
314
 
See 

No 
Name
,

Victorian Review
 
31, 
n
o. 2
 
(2005): 71.
 
Talairach
-
Vielmas
 


-
construction of her identity in the commercial society makes her enslaved to the market economy rather 
than empowering her. She argu
es that the sensation novels in the mid
-

embedded their 

epended upon the 
market economy

.
 
In the same understanding, 
Nayder also points out that th

 
conclusion 

blunt[s] his
 
[Collins] critique of common law by suggesting that both Magdalen and Norah can be 

 
See 
Wilkie Collins
, 91.
 
315




























 
316


 
 
 
145
 
 

317
 
Similarly
, Lyn Pykett contends that 
the 

to offer a
 
critique of modern marriage customs 
. . .
 


318
 
Pykett believes that the ending 
represents
 
a realistic aspect of
 


f her 
revenge plot and her return to the traditional marriage union
 

anticipate
 
the fate that was to befall the attempts of active and highly strong young women to 

319
 
As another defensive interpretation 
of the 
ending
, 
Lilian 
Nayder 
claims
 

mixed feelings about his agg

320
 
Instead, it intends
 


321
 
To Nayde
r, despite its 
gender
-
oppressive 


322
 
In contrast to the
 
readings of the

disregarded 

 

unconventional character
 
or 
as 

                                        
                  
 
317



 
318




























 
319
































 
320




 
321























 
322




 
 
 
146
 
 

-
reform pose and 
his sympathy for 

-

pro
-
reform pose. The novel begins with a destruction of
 
an ideal home and ends with a 
reconstruction of two other homes through traditional conjugal unions. It puts a central focus on 

of Magdalen are sophisticatedly c
rafted to match with this central focus. In fact, Collins draws 
our attention to what makes the ideal home malfunction and how to rebuild it in order to protect 

provi
ding a vision of new domestic structure and gender roles. 
 
T
o fully understand 

 
this chapter
 
contextualizes
 
the novel with
in mid
-

rising demand for 
the equal property rights between men and women.
 
The process of amending 


reveal

ward the 
unequal 
economic
 
and social
 
condition of
 
women.
 
M
id
-
Victorian liberals
 

necessity to reform the 
patriarchal 
inheritance and property laws that 
unfairly had governed 

. The
 
existing 
laws contradict
ed 
the fundamental liberal
 
p
rinciple for individual freedom
 
and private property right
s
.
 
However, at 
the same time, 
liberals were reluctant to abandon
 
the patriarchal 
domestic 
structure 
an
d 
gender 
divisions. 
While 
liberals wanted n
ew laws to provide a reasonable protection for women, they 
did not attempt to actualize the gender equality, for which they had to entirely invalidate the 
traditional gender divisions and th
e existing laws as well. In 

 
 
147
 
 
domestici
ty is a peculiar arena, protected from market principles and state interventions, wher
e 
individuals independently perform
 
a 
moral cultivation and character
-
building. The myth of 

ential part in cons
tituting that
 
ideal 

reform of the 
patriarchal property laws
. 
 

compromise, this
 
c
hapter reexamines the 
unconventional representation of Magdalen that has 

gender equality. I s
uggest that 
the 
unfeminine
 
characterization 
of Magdalen 
evokes reade

reactionary fear of the reform. In her vicious struggles to retrieve the lost family fortune, 
Magdalen shows her capacity of inventing her own identity to be aptly adjusted to the market 

ature, she demonstrates how a 
woman can bear an alienable self that is required to embody the interest
-
driven market 
principles. In other words, she shows her ability to alienate herself for making an interest
-
pursuing contractual relationship. However, th

attention from the critique of the absurdity of established gender differences. Collins
, rather, 

-

marital association
. He does not aim at
 
proving a possible subversion of the gender roles for the 
gender equality. This hints at the reason Magdalen cannot help being converted again to a 
traditional selfless feminine figure at the end of the novel to constitute an idealized
 
marriage 

transgressiveness and his valorization of the 
ideal home eventually 
reproduce the mid
-
Victorian 
 
 
148
 
 

he patriarchal property laws and 
the issue of gender equality.              
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
In August 1870, 
the British parliament passed 
a notable act in the 
history of 
feminist 
movement

 
Act 
represents the
 
first attempt of 
the 
parliament
, dominated by liberals,
 
to 
reform the common law doctrine of coverture that 
did 
not sanction 

 
and economic
 
existence
. It took thirteen years 
to pass the Act
 
since the
 
original
 
bill 
had been 
introduced 
in 1857 to the Commons.
 
The bill 
drew a significant amount of social attention and provoked a debate on the reform of the male
-
centered property laws in the mid
-
Victorian era.
 
323
 
To pass the act, 

Property Committee, a feminist
 
organization led by Lydia Becker and 
Elizabeth Wolstenholme
, 
organized a remarkable campaign. The committee presented 141 petitions with 78,000 signatures 
to the House of Commons and distributed around 35,000 pamphlets in 1868
-
69.
324
 
Lee 
Holcombe notes
 
that
 

the 


325
 
In her words again, i
t 
could be praised as 

the 

326
 
to reshape the 
patriarchal feudal 
property law
s under the liberal ideology for individual freedom and private property rights.  
 
 
                                        
                  
 
323




























 
324
















 
325























 
326



 
 
 
149
 
 
However, 

ct 
of 1870 
as a victory
 
of their struggles
. 
Mary 
Shanley points out 
that
 




327
 
As a matter of fact, the Act of 1870 looks
 
far different from the original 
bill 
initially 
submitted 
in 1857 and 
re
-
submitted
 
in 
1868 to the House of Commons. The origina
l 
bill proposed to give
 
the same property right
s
 
to married women as 
men had. T
he first clause
 
of 
the bill clearly announce
s its 
basic
 
purpose
:
 

I. From and after the passing of this act 
a married 
woman shall be capable of holding, acquiring, alienating, devising, and bequeathing real and 
personal estate, and of suing and being sued, as if she were a 
femme sole

328
 
The
 
original bill 
intended to enable
 
married women to own and control their property, and to exercise 
testamentary freedom as the completion of the full proper
ty rights. In addition, it sought to
 

cons
ent, having them solely responsible for a legal suit. By guaranteeing a comprehensive 
economic independence of married women, the original bill aimed at promoting the equal status 
of married women with their husbands in the household.  
 
  
  
 
Nevertheless, 
the passed A
ct
 
of 1870
 
failed to 
retain 

 
of the 
property rights of
 
married women
 
equal to those of husbands
.
329
 
The select committee by the 
                                        
                  
 
327



























































 
328











 
329



















 
 
150
 
 
House of Lords significantly 
amended 
the bill
.
 
Just like one
 
conservative newspaper article 
praised the
 
amendment, the committee entirely re
-
casted the original
 
bill:
 

About one half of the 
clauses of which it originally consisted have been altogether expun
ged . . .
 
among them are those 
which were at once the most 

330
 
Most importantly, 
the
 
amend
ed bill limited
 
married women

s
 

 
that must be 

,
 

full property 
ri
ght
s
.
331
 
The parliament passed 
a technical law reform rather tha
n solving injustice in 
the 
property re
lation between men and women. The Act focused on resolving 

-
prevailing 
conflict betwee
n the common law and equity . . .
 
[by] superseding of the [co
mmon] law by 

332
 
Despite the common law doctrine of coverture, 
equity had enabled rich people to set aside some fortune as a marriage settlement through an 
                                        
                  
 





















































































 
330














 
331






































































 
332




 
 
 
151
 
 
expensive legal procedure for their daughter

 
separate u
se after 
their marriage
. 
The amended 
A
c
t extended
 
the already established statutory rule
 
by the Courts of Equity to 
married women of 
the poor.
 
This moderate measure shows that, in spite of the ostensible effort to provide legal 
protection to married women in need of property for their livelihood, the parliament was 
ultimately reluctant to endorse the gender equality. It avoided establishing the 
equal property 
rights for women. 
 
Therefore, the 
Act
 
of 1870 did not significantly enhance
 

social status. 

trade or occupation, separately from her 


333
 
It was designed to protect a married woman from an inebriated 

 
for poor working 
women in some
 
extreme c

property. T

keep their property as 
a 

had 
owned befo
re their marriage
.
 
In oth
er 
words, husbands could still confiscate
 

erty upon marriage. T
o have a legal 
protection 
for
 

also 
had to go through
 
a formal legal 
process 

mp duty on their applicati
on for the protection
.
334
 
The 
act still
 


335
 
In addition, the act limitedly allowed 
married w
omen to secure less than
 
£200 for
 
their separate use in terms of personal property or 
                                        
                  
 
333











 
334

















 
335















 
 
 
152
 
 
money that comes to them as an inheritance. Any exceeding amount of the inherited money 
belonged to their husbands. Finally, the act did not grant a married woman a full contractual 
capacity, fo


336
 
 


































337








338































339

 
However, the conservative belief in the physical and emotional weakness of women was 
not the main reactionary force that drove the amendment of 
the original bill. Rather, it was 
a 
cultural anxiety
 
stirred by the bill that the equal property rights could change the assumed nature 
                                        
                  
 
336







 
337




 
338


 
339












 
 
 
153
 
 

340
 
In other words, the arising fear 
of a proprietary woman 
who would hold a strong autonomy in the marriage actually obstructed 

unconventional representation of Magdalen and its dramatization of her revengeful marriag
e plan 
can be explained in terms of this cultural anxiety. The below passage from an article in 
Saturday 
Review
 
shows the shifted cultural concern from the assumed weakness of women, thus, their 
ineligibility for the equal property rights, to the possible 

negative effects on the marriage association: 
 
The various consequences of giving a married woman the rights and liabilities of a 
feme 
sole
 
have perhaps not been fully considered by Mr. Lefevre. . . . Marriage is a partners
hip 
of a very peculiar kind, and it has not yet been ascertained that an indissoluble firm can 
prosper on principles of absolute equality. . . . The proposition that women are equal to 
men . . . would, among other results, convert marriage into an absurdit
y. Disparity is an 
indispensable condition of the closest possible union.
341
 
Quoting 

 
the bill, the above article states that the proposed bill 

vert marriage into an absurdity.

 
In more anxious 
words, the article warns that the bill would
 

entail upon marriage the consequences of high 

342
 

nature to oppose the bill. Instead, it claims th
at a legal reform could bring a dangerous change to 
                                        
                  
 
340



















 
341










 
342


 
 
 
154
 
 
the marriage relation if married women would not be subject to their husbands anymore under 
the changed legal circumstance. It obviously presumes that a legal change would make women 
be capable and powerf
ul as men with the equal property rights. Thus, the article argues that to 


 
prevalent in the mid
-
Victorian period. When
 
the original bill was submitted
 
to the 
Commons in 
1857, 
a newspaper article
 
expresses a similar warning
 
that the bill would 


s and wiv
e
s when wives have a powerful autonomy pursuing their 
self
-
interests in the marriage union
.
343
 
When the bill 
was
 
introduced again around a decade later, 
the same warning occupi
ed 
most newspapers
 
and journals again, claiming
 
that
 

principle is introduced, which subverts the whole 
relation of husband and wife. . . . T
he whole 
tenor of the bill is to 
. . 
. 

344
 

 

marriage association provoked
 
th
e above anxieties
. 
Since the late 18
th
 
century, English radicals 
pursued their egalitarian vision of gender relation based on the idea th
at external circumstances 
are 
more important factor
s
 

 
internal 
nature. I

 
even
 
c
an be alterable with a changed circumstance. Relying on this 


345
 
In 
agreement with th
eir thought, many Victorian feminists contended that women would be capable 
                                        
                  
 
343













 
344















 
345



























 
 
 
155
 
 
for the public roles that men take, since the current dependence of women on men is a culturally 
formed relation.
346
 
Many mid
-
Victorian liberal reformers shared the radical feminists

J. S. 
Mill wa
s
 
the most important figure who represents them
. In his
 
book,
 
The Subjection of Women
, 

individual freedom. The emancipat
ion of women would m
aximize the liberal
 
principle and 
advance the progress of civilization. To support his argument, Mill repeats, throughout the
 
entire 
book, an assertion 



the result of 
forced repression in some direc

347
 
If women have an 
appropriate education and a favorable environment for their entry into the
 
political and business
 
world, they would be equally 
as 
capable as men
 
are
.
348
 
In short, he contends that the traditional 
gender differences and divisi
ons could be alterable with 
necessary
 
changes of external 
circumstances
. 
 
However, unlike the radical feminists who pursued the total subversion of the patriarchal 
social and domestic structure, 
Mill showed an ambivalent attitu
de to making a real change into 

Lesl

 
stopped dead short 

349
 
Despite his radical 
                                        
                  
 
346




























 
347







 
348













 
349















































 
 
156
 
 
approach toward 
the 
unsubstan
tiated
 

ness
, he 
insist
s that 

t does 
not follow that a woman should actually support herself because she should be capable of doing 

350
 
H
e 
does not want to bring any changes 
to th
e
 
gender divisions in the domestic life in order to keep the
 

 
[T]he common arrangement, by which the man earns the income and the wife 
superintends the domestic expenditure, seems to me in general the most suitable division 
of la
bour between the two persons. . . . Like a man when he chooses a profession, so, 
when a woman marries, it may in general be understood that she makes choice of the 
management of a household, and the bringing up of a family, as the first call upon her 
exert
ions, during as many years of her life as may be required for the purpose.
351
 
Mill
 
suggest
s 
that 

ment should be the domestic 
work
 


agreement between men and women. When a woman voluntarily comes into a
 
marriage 
agreement, she has agreed 
to accept the arrange
d domestic works
. 
He thinks that as long as a 
marriage is a voluntary choice for women, the gender divisions in the domestic life
 
do not have a 
conflict with the principle of individual freedom. Because of his amb
ivalent gesture
, the 
conservatives often mentioned Mill in the parliamentary debates, claiming that even Mill would 

352
 
His ir

                                        
                  
 








 
350















 
351







 
352

























 
 
 
157
 
 
arrangement
s
 
was also continuously
 
utiliz
ed 
in newspaper articles opposing the bill. For 
example, one article in 
The Pall Mall Gazette
 

n a healthy condition of society 
the support of the family must be
 
the care of the husband
.

353
 
Another article similarly repeats 

t
 
[marriage] is a voluntary contract between the man and the woman for 
certain well
-
defined purposes, which binds her t
o keep his house for him . . .
 
and that she is to be 
entertaine
d and attired as his companion

354
 
For this reason,
 
Jean Elshtain 

ven 
as he 
[Mill] 
embraces full equality of rights and citizenship for
 
women in the public sphere . . .
 


355
 
Mill only hoped that a legal 
reform could bring an
 
ambiance of conjugal equality
 
to the marriage union
 
b
ased on a bond of 
affection

. 
 
Why does Mill reverse himself in challenging the patriarchal structure of marriage? 

found in his project of the
 
internal character development of
 
liberal subjects. Cultivating self
-
governing moral subjects is 
the most essential pre
-
requisite to achieve his vision of liberal society that guarantees each 
individu

representative politics and minimizes governmental
 

can make a
 
disinterested decision for 
representative politics and be self
-
regulated in the 
unrestrained marke
t world. The domestic sphere inevitably becomes a more and more distinctive 
                                        
                  
 
353










 
354







 
355







































 
 
 
158
 
 

-
cultivated within 
their private spheres pri
or to participating in both 
representative politics and th
e market world. 
 
In particular, the liberal vision conceptualizes the domestic sphere as a counterpart to the 
market world. Individuals are encouraged to freely pursue their maximum self
-
interests in the 
market world through a network of interest
-
driven co
ntractual relationships, since each 


pressures of market principles.
356
 


357
 
In the 

disin
terested or selfless human relationships, internalizing the most important moral characters 
that they ca
nnot develop through 
contractual relationships in the market world. In this sense, Mill 

sympathy, tenderness, and loving 

358
 
 


e distinction justifies an 
assertion that the domestic sphere needs a different operation principle 
from the one for the 
public sphere
 
for its fundamental role to cultivate the
 
internal moral characters
 
of liberal 
subjects
. Thus, Mill does not strictly 
apply the liberal principles
, which
 
constitute the political 
and business arenas
,
 


 
mind of
 
liberal subjects at their private 
                                        
                  
 
356



 
357


 
358




 
 
 
159
 
 
s
phere, the relation between husbands and wives should embody these most important moral 
characters. In other words, the marriage relationship should be made on a selfless dedication to 
each other unlike an interest
-
driven contractual relationship in the ma


 
The great occupation of woman should be to beautify life: to cultivate, for her own sake 
and that of those who surround he
r, all her faculties of mind, soul, and body; all her 
powers of enjoyment, and powers of giving enjoyment; and to diffuse beauty, elegance, 
and grace, everywhere.
 
. . .
 
If she loves, her natural impulse will be to associate her 
existence with him she loves
, and
 
to share his occupations.
359
 
 


of women as an artifici
al product of social ideology, Mill 
idealiz
es
 

great 
occupation
 
in 
marriage which requires that nature. The 
occupa



everywhere. When a woman dedicates and diffuses her every cultivated character to others in her 

nd. This affection overlaps 

individuality and equality. Through the selfless dedication and diffusion, a woman becomes a 
permanently bound entity to her husband 
because her existence is always associated with her 


                                        
                  
 
359







 
 
 
160
 
 




360
 


conservative reactionary forces against the reform. On the one hand, admit
ting the necessity of 
reshaping the property relation between men and women under the liberal principle, the liberals 
suggested that women might be capable as men with a suitable change of circumstances. On the 
other hand, as Martin Pugh contends, 
the mid
-

emphasis on the centrality of family life and the role of women as the civilizing force within the 

361
 
T


selfless nature throug
h which the domestic sphere coul
d function as a private 
locus for the 
moral cultivation of 
liberal subjects. These contradictory views in the mid
-
Victorian 

 
more than any 
previous period. At the same time, it a
lso blasted the cultural anxieties
 
that the equal property 
right
s
 

362
 
The proposed 
                                        
                  
 
360






























































 
361






















 
362




















 
 
161
 
 
property right
s
 
as a change of important legal circums
tances could alter the assumed nature and 
domestic role
s
 
of women, as Mill observes external circumstances 
that could 
manufacture 

 
Therefore,
 
as
 
Ben G

ronically, it was a liberal political 
discourse that to a great e
xtent facilitated the abandonment of a liberal individualist proposal 
giving women equal ri

 
363
 

for the equal property right
s
 
between men and women. Finally, they could not be help agreeing
 
to amend the original bill in the parliament under the 
pressure of the cultural anxieties
.
364
 
The 

s
 
ambivalence 

transgressiveness can be
 
juxtaposed with the mid
-

novel
 
reproduces the cultural anxieties
 

marriage relation.
 
*
 
*
 
*
 
Just like the genre of sensation novels depends on family secret
 
to develop its main plot, 
two domestic secrets in 
No Name
 
take a pivotal role in driving its main story. One secret in the 



unofficial, therefore, not legally sanctioned marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Vanstone to explain why 
their daughters cannot inherit the family fortune. This secret belies the perfect façade of the 
                                        
                  
 
































 
363










 
364
























 
 
 
162
 
 
Vanstone famil


Vanstone was able to legally marry his second wife after having a long illega
l marriage life. The 

was made before his official marriage to his second wife. Thus, the family estate goes to the next 
male heir. 
Collins employs the first dome
stic secret to 
show how the laws that govern the 
transference of property in the family and the institution of marriage as well operate 
inappropriately
. 
T
he law
s
 
of illegitimacy 
and primogeniture mechanically disinherit the 
Vanstone daughters 
against
 
Mr. V

personal
 
ar
rangement of his property
. 
As 
Christine 
Bolus
-

No Name
 
reveals the injustice wrought b
y the machinery of 
institutions,

365
 
t
he disclosure of the first secret 

call
 
for the reform
 
of the laws
.
 
Indeed, the beginning of the story leads its readers to conceive 

-
reform pose against the established legal regulations of the family economy.  
 
However, the illegal marriage life of the Vanstones
 
is not the only secret that the first 
scene of the story reveals. With the disclosure of the first secret, Collins is actually trying to 
emphasize how the ideal marriage union between a man and a woman is built on the most 

t the mechanical legal regulations cannot maintain. Mr. 

secret affair of the 
Vanstones
 

 
Having once resolved to sacrifice her [Mrs. Vanstone] life to the man she loved; having 
quieted her conscience by 
persuading herself that his marriage was a legal mockery, and 
                                        
                  
 
365


























































 
 
 
163
 
 

the one foremost purpose of so living with him.
366
 
In his sympathetic narration, Mr. Pendril emphasizes
 
what motivates Mrs. Vanstone to keep her 
ma
rriage to Mr. Vanstone secret and uses her motivation to defend their unofficial marital union. 

holds a legal validity
, as no love binds Mr. Vanstone and his first wife. In contrast, Mrs. 

humanistic tie between a man and a woman than a legal knot that confines Mr. Vanstone to his 
f
irst wife.
367
 

moral judgments on their unlawful union.
368
 

against the legal regulations of marriage, but also his central concern 
to the constitution of the 


369
 
Collins
 
highlights that the 
                                        
                  
 
366




 
367











































 
368




























 
369






































 
 
 
164
 
 
ideal domestic life, which the Vanstones had be


 
More importantly, with the disclosure of the first secret Collins insinuates that Mrs. 

Van



hat the secret marriage life 

370
 
Mr. 

illegitimacy of their affair. Rather, it leads 
readers to presume that an affectionate marriage union 

selfless nature.  
 

feminine 
virt
ue in planning her marriage with Frank. Magdalen falls in love with her childhood friend 


371
 

 
attractions, with 

372
 


373
 
Frank does not have a respectful and 
financially promising job. He 
is not supposed to 
inher


374
 
However, Mrs. and Mr. Vanstone encourage Magdalen to marry 
                                        
                  
 
370






 
 
371


 
372


 
373


 
374


 
 
 
165
 
 
Frank, promising to leave her a substantial inheritance. Like her mother, Magdalen has resolved 
to sacrifice her whole li

to producing another ideal conjugal union as her mother did with her father. As the laws take 

s 

to 

lost chance to fulfill the sacrificial role of woman.
 
Nevertheless,
 
several critics have interpreted
 
that Collins
 
criticizes 
the Victorian ideal of 
home
 
t

-
Raven. For example
,
 
Sundeep Bisla asserts 
that Collins wants to
 
reveal
 

ideal
 
of home
 
with the 
disclosure of the family
 
secret
 
of the Vanstones
.
375
 
Instead, 
I argue that 
Collins 
reproduces
 
the 
Victorian cultural 
conc
ern that the ideal home could be easily destabilized by the inappropriate 
legal interventions. 
T
he disclosure of th
e first secret intends to debunk
 
the absurdity of the legal 
intervention
s
 
in the 
domestic life
 
rather than 
revealing the artificiality in the Victorian ideal of 
home
. W
hile 
Collins 
demonstrates the necessity of the reform of the existing laws, at the same 
time, he wants to
 
suggest a desirable direction for the reform through his emphasis on
 
the 
dist
inctive basis for the ideal 
marriage 
that should not be touched by
 
another
 
mechanical legal 
regulations. 
To Collins, 
the 
sacrificial nature of woma
n 
is 
something fundamental, or natural, in 
                                        
                  
 
375








































































 
 
 
166
 
 
building 
the ideal domesticity. N
ew laws should not aim at totally
 
altering this whole structure of 

for the reform of the laws 
still endorses 
the traditional 
domestic structure or gender roles. 
T
he
 
existing
 
laws should be reformed 
in accordance with
 
the 

n of the domestic sphere
.
 

introduce principles, such as individual freedom, justice and equality into the operation of the 

 
Considering Coll


-
construction of her new identity in the second scene that focuses on her new 
experience of the market world. After the destruction of a domestic happiness at her home, 
Combe
-
Rav
en, by the laws, unlike her passive sister Nora, Magdalen audaciously enters to the 
market world that she has never experienced. She seeks her own way of life that fits her talent of 
theatrical performance regardless of the oppressive cultural shaping of w

While discarding her old feminine self and her sacrificial marriage plan with Frank that were 
constructed at the peaceful domestic world, Magdalen successfully adjusts to the market world. 

cess through her talented 
th
eatrical 
performance has provoked favorable feminist
 
interpretation
s
 
of the novel.
 
For example, Richard
 

-


376
 
T
he second scene 

-
acting

manipulating rather than merely accepting the hardships shared by all the women of the 

377
 
Similarly, Lyn 
Pykett 
notices that 


 
depiction of the theatricality of 
                                        
                  
 
376





 
377
 
I

two stages: first her observati
ons of other women and the lessons she draws from them about women's 
options, and second, her own parodic 

 
believe that Magdalen act
s 
out
 

-
consciously and with revolutionar

oing through these stages, Magdalen realizes 
that 

 
 
167
 
 

. . .
 
is a vehicle for an exploration of issues of identity and a 
critique o

378
 



 
to suggest that both social and 
gender roles are forms of im

379
 
In agreement with Barickman and 
Pykett, Laurence 
Talairach
-
Vielmas
 
notes that
 

endlessly 
reconstructi

380
 


self
-
representation that patriarchal socie

381
 
However, the above critics
 
overlook 
that Magdalen

market world comes to solidify the
 
Victorian
 
ide
al of domesticity
. It is undeniable that 
Collins 
displays
 
an unconventional representation of a woman
 
character
 
that
 
to some extent 
deconstruct
s
 
the cultural
 
stereotype of gender differences
. It 
may 
have been a s
urprising 
challenge 
to 
the 
con
temporary read

concept
ion
 
of 
the nature of 
women
. Nevertheless,
 
I argue that
 
this 
challenge
 
after all
 
strengthens
 
the 
Victorian ideal of home
 
based on the gender differences
. The 
more radical identity Magdalen achieves, the more
 
effectively
 
it 
emphasizes how the destruction 
of a happy domesticity 
originally engenders the
 
undesirable change

circumstances and her nature
. 
Christine 
Bolus
-
Reichert
 
properly
 

profound moral significance to the id

single, awful fact


382
 

                                        
                  
 

thr

 
Barickman,
 
Corrupt Relation
, 121. 
 
378







 
379



 
380









 
381




 
382






























 
 
168
 
 
readers of the necessity of returning her back to a domestic realm. With the unconventional 
representation of Magda

domestic protection could bring a negative change into the
 
moral nature
 
of women
 
and that this 

-
constructabil
ity 

 

and relation Magdalen as a woman is exposed to because of her homelessness. In the second 
scene, the novel 


-

Mrs. Vanstone, loiters around Combe
-
Raven, to beg some money from Mrs. Vanstone. 
Magdale
n could be kept away from having any meaningful contact with this swindler under the 
domestic protection. Once the domestic protection has gone away, Captain Wragge gets into 
Magd

 

ess. Captain 
Wragge represents the market world, as his all manners and language are filled with business
-
driven interests. He always calculates economic profits he can take from every relation. For 
instance, the novel interestingly narrates Captain Wragge



Wragge instantly tries to find the
 
best way to maximize the profits he can take from Magdalen.
383
 
He develops a relationship with her based on his economic principle that functions the market 

                                        
                  
 














 
383




 
 
 
169
 
 
different kin
d of world and profit
-

sphere. 
 
Under the influence of her relationship with Captain Wragge, Magdalen 
intern
alizes an 
alienable self as a core difference from her selfless woman nature shaped at the home of Combe
-


-
a
cting and her monetary gains. He offers 
his help to her, and Magdalen accepts it by promising to share her gains with him. As Captain 
writes down this acceptance in his account book, their relationship imitates a contractual bound. 
Through her first experi
ence of a contractual relationship, Magdalen embodies a market 
principle, demonstrating the changeability of her selfless woman nature:       
 
Her answer was in the highest degree satisfactory. She would permanently engage herself 
to nobody

least of all to
 
a man who had taken sordid advantage of her position and 
mine. She would be her own mistress, and share the profits with me, while she wanted 
money, and while it suited her to go on. So far so good. But the reason she added next, 
for her flattering pref
er
ence of myself, was less to m

-
seller is not the 
man whom I employ to make ma
n


384
    
 

She would share the p
rofits with Captain as a consequence of the contract. But, her contractual 
relationship with Captain only lasts until it meets her self
-
interests. As Captain concerns, 


385
 
The 
only reason that she chooses Captain as her business partner is that he suits best for her 
temporary self
-
interests, in particular for her future plan of recovering the lost inheritance. Any 
                                        
                  
 
384


 
385


 
 
 
170
 
 
kind of human affect
ion is not involved with 
her contr
actual relationship with Captain. It is a 
totally different kind of relationship from the ties in the domestic sphere. In this contractual 
relationship, she alienates the commodity values from herself, then, trades them with her 
contractual partner only fo
r her self
-

interests because his voluntary entry into the contract means that it also fits in his self
-
interests. 
At this moment, Magdalen abandons the culturally enforced non
-
alienabl
e nature of 
women that 
dominated
 
the domestic world of Combe
-
Raven, and internalizes an alienable s
elf that she needs 
for her
 
existence in the market world.
386
 
What is at stake is that, after transforming Magdalen into an alienable self, the novel 
relocates her back within a domestic arena through her marriage to Noel. Once she has 
accumulated enough funds to implement a plot of recovering the lost inheritance, M
agdalen 

masking her identity and enticing Noel 
to marry 

sphere not for womanly affection but for her 
secret 
ambition inten
ds to show how her 


 
reflection 

 
that changes of external 

particular, through her participation in the
 
market world and her internalization
 
of the market 
                                        
                  
 
386



























































 
 
 
171
 
 
principle. Moreover, Collins
 
implies
 
a 

instrumentalize
 
marriage for her self
-
interests
 

plan
. He does not aim at demonstrating how a woman can bear an alienable self as like a man to 
be capable in the public world. While the first secret of the Vanstones serves for C




 

lan to 
seduce Noel
 
vividly describes how her alienable selfhood makes her 
marriage with Noel possible, in a contrasting way to her sacrificial marriage plan with Frank: 
 
           
 
She was seated before the looking
-
glass, mechanically combing out her hair
, while that 
all
-
important consideration occupied her mind. The agitation of the moment had raised a 
feverish colour in her cheeks, and had brightened the light in her large grey eyes. She was 
conscious of looking her best; . . . After a moment, she faced 
the looking
-
glass once 
more; plunged both hands deep in her hair; and, resting her elbows on the table, looked 


rew back from the glass, shuddering, and 

387
 

s
 
that she has right after the first meeting with 
Noel. After failing to persuade Noel to share the inheritance wi
th her and sister, Magdalen begins 
to develop her plan of marriage to Noel. Her looking at her own reflection on the looking
-
glass 
symbolizes the moment when she brings her new identity in the profit
-
oriented world into the 
domestic sphere. Magdalen has fo
und the fungible value of her sexual beauty at her reflection on 
                                        
                  
 
387




 
 
 
172
 
 
the mirror. Her cheeks are colored and her l
arge grey eyes are brightened because of
 
the agitation 

 
actually calculates a potential value of her sexual beauty. Then, the idea of seducing Noel 


ucing Noel for her self
-
interests. She prices her sexual beauty for the purpose of getting back the inheritance through the 
conjugal union with Noel.
388
 
As she successfully alienated herself to trade her talent of paly
-
acting, she attempts to make another tr
ade in the domestic arena, while keeping her self
-
interests 
in the marriage partnership. 
 



feeling of remorse, Magda
len realizes that her happy 
domestic life and her selfless womanly 
nature fade away. This fallen image from her former self that she maintained at Combe
-
Raven 
repetitiously comes up until her marriage to Noel. In her le
tter to Norah, Magdalen expresses that 


as if the hopes, once so dear to me, had all 

389
 
Before making a final 
decision to marry Noel on a solita


390
 
Then, her feelings 
                                        
                  
 
388








































 
389




 
390


 
 
 
173
 
 
turn into an image of death. The closer the time of marriage comes, the more Magdalen feels 
helpl

391
 
And, finally, she wakes up on 



392
 
The image of 
death in her mind indicates the metaphori
c demise of her former self. Magdal
en has originally 
struggled to reconstruct her 
old domestic life. However, ironically, she has closed a way back to 
the ideal domestic life at Combe
-
Raven. It is not surprising that the image of death is also 
compared with the death of her parents, signify
ing the total destruction of a possibility to return 
to her old domestic life by herself.
393
 

-
interested marriage to Noel means not 
only her final separation from her former self, but also the unexpected total destruction of the 
fundamental fo

 


proach to her
 
marriage union. She plans an 
unconventional marriage radically differe
nt from the one that she dreamed with Frank.
 
Unlike
 
her sacrificial marriage plan with Frank, her relationship with Noel 
only lasts
 
until it meets her 
self
-
interests. She keeps her autonomy in the relationship to achieve her hidden purpose of 
retrieving th

mind, as there are not any affectionate bonds between her and Noel. This implied opposition 

-
Victorian liberal refor

stance toward the nature of women and the traditional concept of marriage union. Like the liberal 

the 
changes of external 
circumstances. However, he does not consider the re
shaping of the male
-
centered domestic 
                                        
                  
 
391


 
392


 
393


 
 
 
174
 
 
structure as a desirable one. The principle of contractual relationship of the m
arket world is not 
applicable to constitute
 
a marriage union. D

 
plan through 
marriage, Collins reinforces the mid
-
Vic

 
about the disastrous 
result that the radical possibility of re
-

marriage union.         
 
Therefore, the novel co
nverts Magdalen again to her former sacrificial self as a 
precondition for her re
-
admission to an ideal domesticity. Magdalen fails to retrieve the lost 
inheritance through her marriage with Noel. But, a final unexpected chance comes up to her to 
earn the 

Noel put the property in a trust conditioning that Mr. George must marry within 6
-
months after 
his death to be his legal heir. Noel worried that Magdalen could entice 
Mr. George again as she 
did him. Norah accidently found the document of trust and brings it to Magdalen. Magdalen 

 
to
 

failure 
to meet the condition nullifies
 
Noel

inheritance and grants eve
rything to her sister Norah, 


it [past l

394
 
It means that she has parted, at 
this time, with her alienable self that destabilized the traditional concept of marriage. In doing so, 
she redeems her original self, the sacrificial non
-
alienable w
omen nature. With this returning, she 

her own ideal union with Kirke.  
 
                                        
                  
 
394


 
 
 
175
 
 

t
he mid
-


laws. The ending leads readers to recover their sympathy with Magdale
n that they had at the 

As 
Christine 
Bolus
-
Reichert 
suggests, the ending drives 



395
 
Thus, Collins returns the inheritance, 
at least, to Norah through her future husband to correct
 
the mistakes made by the inappropriate 
legal interventions
 
in 


to her original woman nature for a happy ending, t
he novel
 
reinforces 
the 

. 

-
alienable and alienable self are carefully crafte
d under 
this gender politics. The implied duality in the ending actually represents the mid
-
Victorian 

and women.
396
 
The necessity of the reform of the male
-
centere
d legal codes is not deniable for 
the reasonable protection of women, but the total overthrow of
 

through
 
the establishment of equal property rights is not acceptable. The novel contributes to
 
                                        
                  
 
395



























 
396
 
Anna Jones points out
 
that
 
C



lity eventually 

is well
-
disciplined and deviant 

 
one who understands and 
accepts literary and social conventions, even as he or she is driven by the affective power of the novel to 
feel at odds with those conv

in relation to the gender politics, 
this ideal reader is 

-
versed in the ideology of separate spheres and the sanctity 
of the domestic sph



No Name,

Novel: A Forum on Fiction 
33, 
n
o. 2
 
(2000): 196
-
7.
 
 
 
176
 
 
producing reactionary cultural anxi
eties
 
that led the significant amendment of the Married 

 
*
 
*
          
*
 
Before finishing the chapter, I would like to discuss an
 
interesting episode
 
of Captain 
Wragge and his wife that is included at the end of the novel. 
In 

 
and her unfeminine characteristics, many critics have used the relation of the Wragges to 

of the Wragges, I need to dem

compromising stance toward the reform of the patriarchal property laws and traditional gender 
relations. 
Captain Wragge met 
Matilda 
when she worked as a waitress in a restaurant. He 
married
 
her
 
becau
se she had some savings and 
an expectation of an inheritance from a distant 
relative. The common law doctrine of coverture enabled Captain to confiscate 
his wife

and earnings through 
their 
marriage. 
In the marriage relation, Mrs. Wragge is a
lso forced to meet
 




at
ionship offers the critics a crucial
 

Talairach
-
Vielmas
 
claims that
 



embodiment of t
he stereotypical Victori
an wife.

397
 
According to this critic, Collins wants to add 


At the same time,
 
Deirdre David contends that Mrs. 
                                        
                  
 
397

























 
 
 
177
 
 
Wragge

s phys
ical irregularity and 
unfitness 
into the
 
domestic role
s
 



398
 
in a different way because Mrs. Wragge 
represents a rebellious feminine
 
self
-
assertion that resist
s
 
and reuses the patriarchal 
nor
malization. 
 
 
However, 
Collins brings Captain and his wife up 
again 
at the end 
with a different tone 
from his previous sarcastic attitude that he shows toward them before their withdrawal in the 


399
 
He has 
actually become a prosperous capitalist by selling a pill for indigestion problems and scouring 

financial success, through a more desirable business
 



400
 

authority, Mrs. Wragge contributes to
 

original fund for his business with the inheritance she finally received from her relative. Her 
gigantic body has been utilized for the advertisement of the pill. Captain engraves her portrait on 
a
ll the wrappers, advertising that his pill led his wife to have her healthy body. While Mrs. 


[a]

401
 

only the capitalist system but 

                                        
                  
 
398


































 
399




 
400


 
401









 
 
 
178
 
 

conversation with Magdalen, also giv
e an impression that their marriage relationship now works 
in a better way than before.
 

 
inclusion of
 
this
 
episode 
at 
the ending additio
nally 
proves
 

 
compromising 
stance 
toward the reform of the patriarchal property laws. 
If Collins onl
y wanted 
to emphasize the absurdity of the existing laws and the necessity of the reform, his 
transformation of these characters and their relationship into an economically and morally better 
shape at the end would look inappropriate. 
P
roviding two differe
nt pictures of their marriage 
relationship, Collins suggest
s
 
that the reform should be a remedy
 
for 
exceptional
 
cases not a 

As one
 
newspaper article claims that 

-
nine cases where husband 
and wife live decently together, the present law is the right 


, 
which 
looks normal
,
 
should be kept away from any legal interventions. 
Collins wants the reform 
to 

402
 
In other words, as another newspaper 
article claims, the reform should target 

scamp, living upon and squandering all the means and earnings of an in

former relation of 
the Wragges
 
represents.
403
 
T
his 
restriction of 

 
goal to the 
specific cases actually provided a reasoning ground for
 
the parliament to amend the original 

libera
l 

to disturb the ninety
-
nine by a law adopted only to the h
undredth, instead of providing . . .
 
a 

404
 
In this logic,
 
the 
parliament remolded the 
bill
 
                                        
                  
 
402







 
403
 


 
Liverpool Mercury etc.
, March 18, 1870.
 
404
 
See the untitled article in 
The Western Mail, 
July 31, 1869.
 
Many other newspapers and journals 
suggested a similar argument at the time. For example, 

he spoliation 
 
 
179
 
 
to
 
focus
 
on
 
protecting the earnings of poor
 
married women from their idle husbands, 

405
 
not the one for the equal 
property rights
 
between men and women.
 
More interestingly, the episode of the Wragges confir


domestic role
s
. As the novel converts Magdalen to a feminine figure for her readmission into a 

riage life is transformed into a seemingly normal shape with 


the publi


the 
domestic and 
the 
public world by introducing a contractual principle into the marriage union. Th
e two different 

long as a husband financially and emotionally maintains his wife and family through his work 



 
and domestic structure that have
 
been 


change the domestic structure, Collins emphasizes that the concept of 

                                        
                  
 

remedy; but u
nder pretext of remedying this special wrong, a new general principle is introduced, which 

 
See
 


The Leisure hour: A Family Journal of I
nstructi
on and 
R
ecreation
, 
Fe
b. 27, 1869,
 
142
.
 
405











 
 
 
180
 
 

mechan

 
 
 
 
 
181
 
 
CONCLUSION
 
Questioning 
literary critics

tend
ency
 
to 
overlook 
mid
-

notable
 
interest in the t
ransition of the ownership over 
inheritance, this dissertation has situated 
this
 
interest in the specific socio
-
economic concern
 
of the time. Then, the dissertation has 
discussed 
their 
distinctive 
literary employment of 
the theme of inheritance in 
relation 
to the
 
mid
-
Victorian 
liberal ideology and politics. My dissertation 
has juxtapo
sed the four well
-
known 
mid
-
Victorian 
novels about inheritance with the contemporary social debates between Victorian liberals and 
radicals on the reform of the customary and legal regulations of inheritance. I have argued that 
these novels reinforced a re
actionary cultural force for the compromised liberal legislation of 

s legal enforcement of the 
redistribution of inherited wealth. 
The n
ovels contributed to inciting cultural anxieties
 
ab
out
 
the 

 
both
 
the institution of private 
property and the established order o
f English society. 
 

 
illuminated how the mid
-
Victorian
 

character
-
building is intrinsically interrelated with their 
defense of 
absolute 
testamentary 
freedom
. The dissertation has also examined how this interrelation 
generates a paradox or limit 
in
 
the
 
liberal ideology and
 
the
 
Victorian concept of
 
individual moral autonomy. 
In doing so, m
y 
dissertation convinces us 
the importance of situating literary works in their contemporary 
political and economic contexts. Althoug
h 
mid
-

theme of inheritance 
mirrors its 

concerns
 
with economy
 
and politics
, the 
socio
-
e
conomic aspects of the 
theme have
 
not been a
 
central issue for literary critics. By juxtaposing the literary theme of 
inheritance 
with the 
process of establishing
 
the compromised inheritance laws, I have 
attempted 
 
 
182
 
 
to address this
 
lack of historical approach toward the theme
 
of inheritance
. My dissertation has 
shown how the dominant political and soci
o
-
economic thoughts 
shaped the not
able mid
-

usage of the theme and their 
conception of the desirable 
transfer
 
of property 
ownership on the
 

. 
   
 
On the basis of historical approach, m
y
 
dissertation also 
intends to provide
 
a new 
reflection on 
our
 

 
habitual accommodation of inherited wealth. 
I
nherited wealth
 
has
 
caused
 
many social commotions
 
in our history since the establishment of liberal society, because it
 
conflicts with the 
principle 
ideal of liberal
ism or capitalism
. 
Toon Vandevelde
, in 
Is 
Inheritance 
Legitimat
e?
, 
exemplarily inquires the
 
problematic
 
legal and 
moral status of inheritance
. He 

based upon a legal fiction . . . the fiction of un
interrupted ownership
.

406
 
W
hen a
 
property owner
 
dies his
 
or her
 
property
 
becomes unowned
, 
nevertheless, 
the right to bequest
 
enables the owner 
to exert the 
ownership 
even 
after his
 
or her
 
death
.
 
Vandevelde
 

everybody has to be rewarded according to his productivity, there is no room left for unearned 
wealth.

407
 

 
the
 
implicit 
va
lues of contemporary capitalism

 
tha

f
-
accumulation based on the 
labor theory of property or appropriation.
408
 
 
                                        
                  
 
406















 
407




 
 
408














 
 
 
183
 
 
Therefore, 
the redistribution of in
herited wealth has been 
suggested 
by ma
ny social 
activists and radical
s 
as an important solution to correct the problem 
of widening economic 
inequality
 
in 
liberal society
.
 
The redistribution
 

the system of liberal economy depends.
409
 
In addition, 
it
 
can 

-
being by
 
significantly
 
promoting
 
equal oppo
rtunities for all members of society.
 
Despite the
 
critical inconsistency
 
of inherited wealth
 
w
ith the liberal ideology and its
 
insecure legal and 
moral status
, the 
i
nheritance laws, protecting 
absolute testamentary power, have 
survived many
 
challenges and protected the familial transition of inherited wealth
. 
My dissertation traces the 
Victorian period to explain what 
has enabled
 
this survival and how 
our cultural accommodation
 
of inherited wealth 
can be
 
still 
valid in this liberal society
. 
I have demonstrated that 
the
 
mid
-

 
prioritization of
 
the internal moral improvement over the external 
material changes 
and 
the 
popular
 

ion of this prioritization 
have 
upheld 
this survival
 
and acc
ommodation
.
 
I hope that this dissertation can contrib
ute to 
awakening our uncritical
 
acceptance of
 
this prioritization 
as an essential humanist value 
through 
many cultural ar
t
ifacts that
 
serve
s to
 
sooth social tensions regarding 
economic inequality
 
and 
social injustices 
produc
ed by the inherent 
inconsistency and 
paradox in liberal ideology. 
 
T
he conclusion of my dissertation
, however,
 
must be advanced provisionally, in the hope 
that further investigation will bring more insight into the attachment o
f mid
-
Victorian popular 
novels toward the establishment of liberal ideology 
and economy. T
he scope of my dissertation 
is narrowly focused on a few well
-
known Victorian novel
s with the theme of inheritance because 
I find
 
that these novels can reflect a larg
er pictur
e of Victorian society. For the same
 
reason, the 

 
the
 
mid
-

 
with the liberal reform of 
                                        
                  
 
409


 
 
 
184
 
 
the feudal 
inheritance laws may leave important questions unanswered. I need to continue this 
project 
by analyzing more Victorian novels o
f inheritance in comparison with
 
other
 
inheritance
 
novels in diffe
rent time periods to prove the 
distinctive involvement 
of Victorian novels 
with the 
contemporary liber
al politics. In additi
on, I wish that the project
 
co
uld 
provide a deeper 
discussion on social aspects of novel as a genre of literature in order to thoroughly answer why 
the dissertation focuses on the novel to make a point about Victorian culture or conflict over 
ideas of wealth, morality, and pol
itics. My
 
future research will
 
offer a
 
tangible evidence 
regarding how Victoria

 
their perception of the contemporary 
politics. 
 
Furthermore, I hope that further investigation can elucidate how the aesthetics of the 
novel genre is li
nked to Victorian liberalism in a holistic understanding of Victorian art
s
. 
Developing this
 
project, I have acknowledged that even economic issues 
are 
often 
stretched 
beyond 
economic realm. 
The l
iberal economic system was 
established in multilayered 
interp
lay
s
 
of political, ethical, ae
sthetic, and economic changes of
 

 
broad
 
social and cultural changes of the time, I cannot fully explain why a specific economic issue that 
literary narratives deal with deserves our attention. 

point in a historical phase of 
the development of 
Victorian liberalism and art
s
. My fu
ture 
research will
 
address how my dissertation traces a crucial change in liberalism itself or 

 
or representations in art
s
 
or a constant problem in mid
-
Victori
an 
politics and art
s
. In this way,
 
I can picture the complex network of aesthetics, politics, morality 
and economy that underlies mid
-

inheritance and their attachment
 
to
 
the liberal politics. With 
further research,
 
I 
can enrich 
this 

overarching argument by explaining 
how our understanding of mid
-
Victorian 
 
 
185
 
 

changes our discussion of Victorian novels.
 
 
 
 
 
186
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
W
ORKS CITED
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
187
 
 
WORKS CITED
 
 
 

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-
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-
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-
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-
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Inherited Wealth
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-
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-

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-
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67. 
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1900 
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-
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