Guilty

Guilty

John Everett Millais

Wood engraving by the Dalziels

6¾ x 4¼ inches

Anthony Trollope, Orley Farm, facing, II, 32.

The plot unravels as Lady Mason confesses her guilt to Sir Peregrine. The illustration is a literal representation of directions in the text: ‘She threw herself at his feet and wound her arms around his knees’ (p.32). Such extremis is unusual in Trollope’s writing, compelling the artist to deploy a melodramatic pose which is fundamentally at odds with his focus on an undemonstrative inwardness.

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Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.

[You may use this image, which has been reproduced with permission of Professor Julia Thomas, DMVI, Cardiff University, Wales, UK, without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]