Middlemarch
| Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life | |
|---|---|
 Title page, first ed., Vol. 1, William Blackwood and Sons, 1871 | |
| Author(s) | (pen name of Marian Evans) |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Series | 1871–72 |
| Genre(s) | Novel Social criticism |
| Publication date | 1874 (first one-vol. ed.) |
| Media type | Print (serial, hardback, and paperback) |
| Pages | 904 (Oxford University Press, USA; 2008 reissue) |
Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, later Marian Evans. It is her seventh novel, begun in 1869 and then put aside during the final illness of Thornton Lewes, the son of her companion George Henry Lewes. During the following year Eliot resumed work, fusing together several stories into a coherent whole, and during 1871–72 the novel appeared in serial form. The first one-volume edition was published in 1874, and attracted large sales.
Subtitled "A Study of Provincial Life," the novel is set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch during the period 1830–32. It has multiple plots with a large cast of characters, and in addition to its distinct though interlocking narratives it pursues a number of underlying themes, including the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism and self-interest, religion and hypocrisy, political reform, and education. The pace is leisurely, the tone is mildly didactic (with an authorial voice that occasionally bursts through the narrative), and the canvas is very broad.
Although it has some comical characters (Mr. Brooke, the "tiny aunt" Miss Noble) and comically named characters (Mrs. Dollop), Middlemarch is a work of realism. Through the voices and opinions of different characters we become aware of various broad issues of the day: the Great Reform Bill, the beginnings of the railways, the death of King George IV and the succession of his brother, the Duke of Clarence (who became King William IV). We learn something of the state of contemporary medical science. We also encounter the deeply reactionary mindset within a settled community facing the prospect of what to many is unwelcome change.
The eight "books" which compose the novel are not autonomous entities, but merely reflect the form of the original serialisation. A short prelude introduces the idea of the latter-day St. Theresa, presaging the character Dorothea; a postscript or "finale" after the eighth book gives the post-novel fates of the main characters.
In general Middlemarch has retained its popularity and status as one of the masterpieces of English fiction, although some reviewers have expressed dissatisfaction at the destiny recorded for Dorothea. In separate centuries, Florence Nightingale and Kate Millet both remarked on the eventual subordination of Dorothea's own dreams to those of her admirer, Ladislaw; however, Virginia Woolf gave the book unstinting praise, describing Middlemarch as "the magnificent book that, with all its imperfections, is one of the few English novels written for grown-up people." Martin Amis and Julian Barnes have cited it as probably the greatest novel in the English language.
Background
On 1 January 1869, George Eliot listed her tasks for the coming year in her journal. The list included "A Novel called Middlemarch," along with a number of poetry and other projects. Her most recent novel, Felix Holt, had been published more than two years earlier and had not sold well. Despite this, the projected new novel was to be set in the same pre–Reform Bill England as Felix Holt, and would again deal with the reform issue, although less centrally.
In its first conception, Middlemarch was a story involving an ambitious doctor, Lydgate, the Vincy family, and Mr. Featherstone. Progress on the novel was slow; by September, only three chapters of the story had been completed. The main reason for this lack of development was the distraction caused by the illness of Lewes’s son Thornie, who was dying slowly of tuberculosis. Following his death on 19 October 1869, all work on the novel stopped. At this point, it is uncertain whether Eliot intended to revive the original project; in November, 1870, more than a year later, she began work on an entirely new story, "Miss Brooke," introducing Dorothea. Exactly when she started to combine this narrative with the earlier Lydgate-Vincy-Featherstone plot is unrecorded, but the process was certainly under way by March 1871.
As the scope of the novel grew, a decision was taken as to the form of its publication. In May, 1871, Lewes asked publisher John Blackwood to bring the novel out in eight parts, at two-monthly intervals from December 1871. Blackwood agreed, and the eight books duly appeared throughout 1872, the last instalments appearing in successive months, November and December 1872.
Plot outline
Dorothea Brooke is an idealistic, well-to-do young woman, engaged in schemes to help the lot of the local poor. She is seemingly set for a comfortable, idle life as the wife of neighbouring landowner Sir James Chettam, but to the dismay of her sister, Celia (who later marries Chettam), and of her loquacious uncle Mr. Brooke, she marries instead Edward Casaubon, a middle-aged pedantic scholar who, she believes, is engaged on a great work, The Key to All Mythologies. She wishes to find fulfilment through sharing her husband’s intellectual life, but during an unhappy honeymoon in Rome she experiences his coldness towards her ambitions. Slowly she realises that his great project is doomed to failure and her feelings for him descend to pity. She forms a warm friendship with a young cousin of Casaubon’s, Will Ladislaw, but her husband’s antipathy towards him is clear (partly based on his belief that Ladislaw is trying to seduce Dorothea in order to gain access to Casaubon's fortune) and Ladislaw is forbidden to visit. In poor health, Casaubon attempts to extract from Dorothea a promise that, should he die, she will "avoid doing what I should deprecate and apply yourself to do what I desire" — meaning either that she should shun Ladislaw, or, as Dorothea believes, that she will complete The Key to All Mythologies in his place. Before Dorothea can give her reply, Casaubon dies. She then learns that he has added the extraordinary provision to his will that, if she should marry Ladislaw, Dorothea will lose her inheritance from Casaubon.
Themes
Education
The book examines the role of education in the lives of the characters and how such education and study has affected the characters. Rosamond Vincy's finishing school education is a foil to Dorothea Brooke's thirst for purposeful education, which was generally denied women of the era. Rosamond initially admires Lydgate for his exotic education and his intellect. A similar dynamic is present in Dorothea and Casaubon's relationship, with Dorothea revering her new husband's intellect and eloquence. In both cases, however, the young wives' expectations of their husbands' intellects are not reflected in reality.
Despite extreme erudition, Mr. Casaubon is afraid to publish because he believes that he must write a work that is utterly above criticism. In contrast, Lydgate at times arrogantly flaunts his knowledge, making enemies with his fellow physicians. He regards the residents of Middlemarch with a certain amount of contempt stemming from his belief that the townspeople are backwards and uninteresting; however, his education has not included tact and politicking, skills necessary in a small town.
Self-delusion
Most of the central characters of this novel have a habit of building castles in the air and then attempting to live in them. Because they are idealistic, self-absorbed, or otherwise out of touch with reality, they make serious mistakes. These mistakes cause them great unhappiness and eventually their illusions are shattered. Some characters learn from this process and others do not. Those who learn not to build castles in the air generally end up happy, while those who persist in ignoring pragmatism are miserable.
Dorothea, who wants nothing more in life than to do good, rejects a young man who would have been a reasonably good match for her in order to marry the aged scholar Mr. Casaubon. She does this because she likes the idea of being an assistant to him and helping him with his great intellectual pursuits. Unfortunately, she is so much in love with her image of Mr. Casaubon that she fails to notice he isn't actually writing anything. He is supposedly working on a great work that, when completed, will link together and explain all world mythologies; however, he is so obsessed with creating a perfect work of scholarship and so afraid of criticism from his peers, that he never publishes anything. He is not interested in contributing to the discipline for its own sake; rather he uses scholarship to enhance his ego and improve his image. Dorothea, in her youth and enthusiasm, does not recognise this. Later, when she meets people who genuinely do love knowledge for its own sake (Ladislaw and Lydgate come to mind), she cannot help but notice the discrepancy between what she wanted and what she actually chose. Yet this discrepancy does not keep her from marrying a second time, to Ladislaw whom she hardly knows. Based on a few days' acquaintance developed during her honeymoon and a handful of occasional conversations, Dorothea is attracted to Ladislaw, but does not have an opportunity to get to know him. Their mutual love is developed apart from one another.
Lydgate, the other tragic character in this novel, chooses his wife based more on physical attraction than on a knowledge of her character. He marries the materialistic, self-absorbed Rosamond Vincy who, unbeknownst to Lydgate, has been harbouring her own delusions and misconceptions about who Lydgate is. Once safely married, they each find out exactly how poorly they suit one another. He cannot free himself of Rosamond, yet he is unwilling to set aside his (and her) upper-class pretensions to buy himself the time and resources to conduct the medical research he wants to do. He ignores the basic financial reality of life in Middlemarch, does not dispense prescriptions, and alienates patients by not filling what they believe to be his proper role as a doctor. Eventually he succumbs to Rosamond's desire to leave Middlemarch and turns into the kind of doctor he never really wanted to be, his research permanently abandoned. He becomes financially successful, which appeases Rosamond. After Lydgate dies, Rosamond marries someone better suited to her tastes, who can indulge her materialism and who never asks her to do anything difficult.
Not all the characters in Middlemarch cling to their delusions. Fred Vincy gets a rude awakening when the big inheritance he expects fails to materialise. He sets aside his more frivolous pursuits and goes to work for Mary Garth's father. Mr. Farebrother, who is also in love with Mary, helps to steer Fred away from temptation and keep him on the best course. Mr. Farebrother does this with a great deal of regret, since if Fred were to fail to become a productive, self-sufficient adult Farebrother himself would have his own opportunity to woo and win Mary, whom he wants for himself. Yet, in the end, Fred is rewarded when he proves himself to be a reliable, sensible individual. Mary accepts his hand in marriage.
Rosamond Vincy Lydgate never abandons her delusions about herself and persists in viewing herself as a perpetually wronged princess even though she's scheming and manipulative; yet she does eventually realise that being married to an idealistic doctor is not easy and that marrying into a wealthy family does not guarantee that she and her husband will be rich. She also realises that Lydgate, whom she decided she loved because of his upper-class background and distant origins, is not the meal ticket to which she felt entitled. At the end of the book, after Lydgate's death, Rosamond correctly identifies the attributes most desirable to her in a husband: a fat wallet and an indulgent nature. She obtains such a husband and lives happily ever after.
Characters
Literary significance and reception
Virginia Woolf described Middlemarch as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people." In addition, V. S. Pritchett, in The Living Novel, wrote, "No Victorian novel approaches Middlemarch in its width of reference, its intellectual power, or the imperturbable spaciousness of its narrative... I doubt if any Victorian novelist has as much to teach the modern novelists as George Eliot... No writer has ever represented the ambiguities of moral choice so fully." Critic Jerome Beaty argues that one could read Middlemarch as George Eliot's Reform novel, although political history is represented only "indirectly."
Popular since its first publication, the novel remains a favourite with readers today. In January 2007, a book entitled The Top Ten (edited by J. Peder Zane) listed Middlemarch as number ten in its list The 10 Greatest Books of All Time, based on the ballots of 125 selected writers.
In 1873, the poet Emily Dickinson wrote in a letter to her cousins Louise and Fannie Norcross:
Film, television, and theatrical adaptations
Middlemarch has been adapted for television twice and will be the subject of a forthcoming film.
Notes and references
Bibliography
Further reading
Scholarship
External links
- Middlemarch at Project Gutenberg.
- Middlemarch. Planet PDF. http://www.planetpdf.com/ebookarticle.asp?ContentID=middlemarch_&gid=6147.
- Middlemarch. 19th novels. http://www.19thnovels.com/middlemarch.php.
- (PDF, PDB LIT) Middlemarch. Girle books. http://girlebooks.com/ebook-catalog/george-eliot/middlemarch/.
- Middlemarch. Victorian Web. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/eliot/middlemarch/middlemarchov.html.
- "Middlemarch, a study of provincial life" (first ed.). http://www.archive.org/details/middlemarchstudy01eliouoft, "Middlemarch". http://www.archive.org/details/middlemarchstudy02eliouoft, "Middlemarch". http://www.archive.org/details/middlemarchstudy03eliouoft, "Middlemarch". http://www.archive.org/details/middlemarchstudy04eliouoft.
- Middlemarch study guide and teacher resources. Shmoop. http://www.shmoop.com/intro/literature/george-eliot/middlemarch.html.
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