Talk:The Eustace Diamonds

Lucinda's subplot

I would like to point out that the Lucinda subplot seems to have been an experiment on Trollope's part about how much innuendo a Victorian writer could employ without being explicit about sex. It is full of omissions, loose ends, and unmotivated behavior, all of which seem to be deliberate on Trollope's part. Lucinda may be an illegitimate daughter rather than a niece (her supposed parents in America play no role in the marriage plans). If so, the mysteriously helpful gentleman who helps the aunt find a husband may be Lucinda's father. Perhaps they are anxious to marry her off before her parentage is discovered (no other reason for the hasty marriage plans is given). The baronet seems determined to marry Lucinda even after they exchange blows; perhaps he is a sadist. Lucinda herself is tomboyish and apparently frightened of sexual contact with any man; to a Victorian that might be code that she is a lesbian. (She is last seen waving a poker from the fireplace; imagine what Freud could make of that) Her nervous breakdown on her wedding day might be real, or it might be faked. Yet aside from one line from Lady Glencora, everybody seems to accept the entire situation at face value. Yes, it's all POV, but I think that was Trollope's point. CharlesTheBold (talk) 13:24, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

In Chapter 36 'Lizzie's guests' there is a description of Lord George de Bruce Carruthers. He has an Irish title and is a man about town with no visible means of income, 'a bitter radical'. 'He was suspected even of republican sentiments, and ignorant young men about London hinted that he was the grand centre of the British Fenians.' The account that follows is a very good fit for Fenian John O'Connor Power as he appears in the Westminster photograph circa 1875.

Lord Fawn had property in Ireland Killaud (Kill Lord) and Killagent (Kill agent). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.97.170.100 (talk) 10:26, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Mr. Emilius

The author of the article states that Mr. Emilius is a "crypto-Jewish clergyman." Though he is successful as a fashionable Christian preacher, several characters (but not the very present and omniscient narrator) refer to him as a Jew, but I do not think this is by any means dispositive. In Victorian England (and well into the twentieth century), calling someone a Jew was dismissive and insulting, a way of saying he is not one of our tribe and never possibly could be. That's as may be, but he does get the girl and all her lovely money. The author might also want to, well, decrypt, what he or she means by "crypto-Jewish." If it means anything, it is as dismissive and insulting as the characterization of him by those in the novel who viscerally don't like him.Josephlestrange (talk) 19:13, 24 July 2016 (UTC)

I too find the expression 'crypto-Jewish' mysterious, to say the least. What does it mean? Snugglepuss (talk) 16:41, 25 September 2021 (UTC)