The image of the ‘fat’ rector sitting on the sofa, with his weight ‘unwittingly’ resting on the sofa, gives a sense of inevitability and reinforces the notion that from the outset, the outcome of the situation was never intentional. Oblivious to what is going on behind her, Mrs. Proudie is ‘trying to be condescending and sociable’ towards the signora by impressing her with her ‘new found status’. However, to Mrs. Proudie’s dismay, the signora seems to be more interested in talking to Mr. Slope, the Bishop’s chaplain, than her, who ‘had no idea of being less thought of than the chaplain’. Trollope uses this situation, combined with his use of language, to effectively exaggerate the difference between the person Mrs. Proudie thinks she is, and the person she actually is. Following this, the incident that this entire extract has been leading up to takes place: ‘when unfortunately the castor of the sofa caught itself in her lace train’. Trollope’s flippant manner in which he signals the arrival of the ‘unfortunate situation’ highlights the insignificance of what has actually happened. However, he juxtaposes this with Mrs. Proudie’s exaggerated reaction, through the list of four: crack, fly open, fall, expose, Trollope almost ridicules the moment. Although a dress has only ripped, the situation becomes incredibly intense, making the audience feel as though something has exploded. The use of the word ‘exposed’ further highlights the differences between Mrs. Proudie’s perception of herself and how others perceive her, as when she is ‘exposed’ of her garniture, she is also stripped of her status, leaving her exposed to everyone in the room as nothing more than herself. Trollope uses alliteration to emphasise the tragic proportions of the event as far as Mrs. Proudie is concerned; ‘a long ruin of rent lace disfigured the carpet’. Trollope’s clever use of language simultaneously ignites sympathy within the reader for Mrs. Proudie and also highlights the bathos of the situation.
Trollope uses exaggerated similes through implying Mrs. Proudie has taken a great deal of time and effort over her appearance; comparable to how long it takes to make granite batteries, which are ‘the work of years’. This idea of ‘dirt and dust and ugly fragments’ both slows down the rhythm, bringing everything to a stand – still, and also places in our mind the metaphorical image of Mrs. Proudie being a granite battery, tragically exploded by a fuse; Bertie. In the following paragraph, Trollope draws in the audience with his use of the second personal pronoun, ‘We know’ and continues to use emotive language. His use of metaphor between Mrs. Proudie and Juno, the Roman goddess of beauty, highlights the pride they share over the importance of beauty, whilst also subtly mocking the situation by describing Juno looking ‘at Paris on Mount Ida’ and contrasting it with Mrs. Proudie having the leg of the sofa pushed ‘into her lace train’. Although the reader does sympathise with Mrs. Proudie, they are also reminded of the insignificance of the event in the grand scheme of things, and that all the ‘fat rector’ really did was ‘push the leg of the sofa into her lace train’.
Bertie consequently gets the blame for this, from both the signora and Mrs. Proudie herself, to which he responds by throwing himself ‘down on one knee before the offended lady’. Trollope’s use of the word ‘doubtless’ when explaining that his intention was to ‘liberate the torn lace from the castor’ shows that it was in fact not his intention to ridicule both her and the situation, as he ‘looked as though he were imploring pardon from a goddess’. Despite being told to ‘unhand it’, he remains on his knees, and although to Mrs. Proudie it would look as though he is still mocking her, the reader is aware of his genuine intentions. Bertie responds by blaming the ‘cursed sofa’, and the reader is immediately reminded of Trollope’s description of the ‘bad arrangement’ of the furniture, and once again the reader feels sympathy towards him, as we are reminded that the outcome of the situation was not his fault and he should not be apologising.
Trollope uses humour as a means of calming the storm through Bertie, who turns to the fat rector and comments ‘after all it was your doing, sir – not mine. But perhaps you are waiting for preferment and so I bore it’ after which there was a ‘laugh against the fat rector’ and ‘thus things got themselves again into order’. This ending is somewhat anti climactic; the whole extract leads up to this ‘explosion’, allowing the reader to assume there would be total uproar following the incident, but it is instead resolved with a simple sentence from Bertie. Throughout, Trollope uses language, alliteration, metaphors, similes and imagery effectively in order to both draw the reader in and highlight that the ‘incident’ is not Bertie’s fault. In addition, he emphasises the insignificance of the event in the grand scheme of things, and that all that was hurt was Mrs. Proudie’s pride.