This illustration for Anthony Trollope’s Can You Forgive Her? shows Lady Glencora choosing to gamble, an unrespectable action for a woman of her class. In stepping outside the bounds of femininity, is she reckless or brave? Monstrous or heroic? The novel’s heroine, Alice, stands behind, trying to restrain her. Trollope presents Alice’s steadfast friendship as a difficult act of heroism, one that is ultimately rewarding. The heroism of female characters in a psychological novel like Trollope’s is much harder to picture than some of the other scenes in this section. Can You Forgive Her? was published in monthly installments, the first of which were illustrated by Phiz (Hablot K Browne). However, Miss E Taylor and the Dalziel Brothers took over the commission for the last ten numbers, equating to the second volume; Trollope had been unhappy with Phiz’s illustrations.
Dalziel after Miss E. Taylor, for Anthony Trollope, Can you Forgive Her? (London: Chapman & Hall, 1864-5). Dalziel Archive Vol. XX (1865), British Museum reg. no. 1913,0415.181, print no. 233. By Permission of the Trustees of The British Museum. All Rights Reserved © Sylph Editions, 2016