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Chapter 38
The Bishop Breakfasts, and the Dean Dies

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Chapter 39
The Lookalofts and the Greenacres

Stubbs the plasterer in the Ullathorne Elysium
This sequence contains one of the more extended classical allusions of Barchester Towers.  Stubbs enters the party at what Trollope calls the "Ullathorne Elysium."  Elysium was the location in the underworld where divinely favored or virtuous people entered after their deaths.  It was a location characterized by bliss and enjoyment.  Having entered into such a heavenly space, Stubbs proceeds to whisper soft nothings into the ear of a young lady.  Trollope refers to her as a forest nymph and a dryad.  The image of the nymph is used by Trollope to show an innocent and playful flirtation.  Before the food is served, (referred to as ambrosia and nectar, the food of the gods) Stubbs is discovered by the rural potentate Mr. Plomacy.  He directs him to exit the gate on the basis that Stubbs is a city dweller.  He is not a resident of the country side and thus not invited to the party.  Mr. Barell, the coachman who should catch anyone sneaking into the party uninvited, is then referred to as a false Cerberus.  Cerberus was the beast under the control of Hades (in this case Mr. Plomacy).  Cerberus guarded the gates into the underworld against the intrusion of the living.  Just when it seems Mr. Plomacy is about to expel Stubbs Mr. Greenacre enters onto the scene.  He is called "the Goddess Mercy" by Trollope.  Much like the ending to a Greek play, the goddess descends to resolve the conflict in this episode of Barchester Towers.  In a humorous fashion Trollope plays with the character of Mr. Greenacre by relating him to a female character from classical mythology.  Such playfulness helps deflate the tension of the story.  The use of so many classical references in this passage adds to the satire.  It can seem as though the events are monumental in scope or earth-shaking with gods and goddesses and multi-headed beasts entering onto the scene.  However, it is merely a minor altercation at a party attended by tenants of the Thorne family.  The participants are humble tenants and journeymen, not great pillars of the universe.  Stubbs is raised to the level of a hero defying the gods, like Heracles, who himself fooled Cerberus, and Mr. Plomacy becomes a ruler of his domain and observer alert to anything which might cast his domain into disorder. The exaggerated treatment of the scene highlights the triviality of the events.
Cassell's Dictionary of Classical Mythology  [TH]

Chapter 40
Ullathorne Sports--Act II

Assistance of Bacchus
Bacchus is the god of wine, whom Mr. Slope has "called in" by drinking in order to make himself bold enough to propose to Eleanor.  [JC]

The wrath of Mr. Slope
"But how shall I sing the divine wrath of Mr. Slope, or how to invoke the tragic muse to describe the rage which swelled the celestial bosom of the bishop's chaplain?"  Here Trollope openly employs a mock-epic style to poke fun at Mr. Slope, who is angry at Eleanor for having boxed him on the ear.  This passage is a clear echo of the opening of an epic.  Compare with the opening lines of the Iliad: "Sing, goddess, the wrath of Achilles..."  [JC]

Modern fiction's low-heeled buskin
Actors in tragedies often wore a type of high-heeled shoe called a buskin (the Greek word is kothurnos); by metonymy, the buskin came to represent the entire genre of tragedy.  Trollope explains his inability to write of Mr. Slope's rage as due to the fact that his vehicle is not as high an art form.  Thus the low-heeled buskin.  [JC]

Agamemnon's veil
Trollope here describes an extant ancient wall painting illustrating Agamemnon veiled in grief at the prospect of the sacrifice of his daughter.  An extended metaphor between the Iphigenia story and Eleanor's crisis involving John Bold is made in The Warden.  See commentary for The Warden Chapter 11  [JC]

Punishing the rebellious winds
This is a reference to an episode in Book 1 of Virgil's Aeneid, in which Juno persuades Aeolus to incite the winds in order to crash Aeneas' ships.  When Neptune realizes what is happening, he becomes very angry with the winds and makes them stop.  [JC]

Pains and punishments of Hades
Mr. Slope is thinking of the less pleasant parts of Hades.  While the underworld does contain Elysium, to which Trollope makes frequent references, it also contains the place where the evil are punished, which is the place to which Mr. Slope would like to send Eleanor after she has so gravely insulted him.  [JC]

Mr. Thorne's laurels
Mr. Slope changes from thinking of underworld punishments to thinking of earthly punishments that he could inflict on Eleanor while alive.  He is so keen on the tactic of preaching a sermon directed at her that he has begun considering the obstacles.  The first of these obstacles is Mr. Thorne's high status, which is represented figuratively through his laurels.  In ancient Rome laurel wreaths were given as prizes to those who excelled in contests, but were also worn by people of note, including members of the government.  [JC]

Fortune favored him
Trollope follows the lead of the ancients by personifying Fortune and making her into an anthropomorphic deity.  [JC]

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