A BOOK REVIEW ON

MIDDLEMARCH: A STUDY OF PROVINCIAL LIFE

by George Eliot

Submitted to:
DR. VIRGINIA S. MACAHIG
Professor in Arts and Humanities (GEAH)
University of Makati

Submitted by:
Mirabless Sharon B. Valiente
IIB-PSYCH
August 18, 2016

AUTHORS DESCRIPTION
Mary Anne (Mary Ann, Marian) Evans (22 November 1819 22 December 1880),
better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. She was one of
the leading writers of the Victorian era. Her novels, largely set in provincial England, are
well known for their realism and psychological perspicacity. She used a male pen name,
she said, to ensure that her works were taken seriously. Female authors published
freely under their own names, but Eliot wanted to ensure that she was not seen as
merely a writer of romances. An additional factor may have been a desire to shield her
private life from public scrutiny and to prevent scandals attending her relationship with
the married George Henry Lewes.
Summing up the Middlemarch in just a few words, I might say that it's a novel
about social and political reform. But it's also a novel about love and marriage. And
about trying and failing, about second chances. It is, in other words, a huge and wideranging novel.
The length of the novel actually forced Eliot's agent (and long-time lover), George
Henry Lewes, to invent a new way to publish it. For most of the 19th-century, novels
were published in one of two ways either broken into instalments of one or two
chapters to be printed in a magazine (like Charles Dickens's novels), or published in 3volume hardbacks (called triple deckers). But Middlemarch was too big to fit into three
volumes, and publishing it a chapter or two at a time would take forever. So Lewes
arranged to have it printed in eight instalments over the course of sixteen months to get
people hooked on the story, and then to print it altogether in four volumes. This was a
great move by Lewes Middlemarch sold like crazy, and confirmed Eliot's reputation as
the greatest living English novelist.
But why was Middlemarch so popular? Well, it was socially and politically
relevant when it first came out: it was published in 1870-71, just four years after the 2nd
Reform Bill was passed in Parliament. Reform was a big deal in 19th-century England.
Who would get to vote, and who would take care of poor people, and healthcare, and
minimum wages everyone had some pet reform project they wanted to bring before
Parliament. But Eliot didn't want to write a novel about something that had just taken
place, so she set the novel forty years earlier, in 1830 just before the First Reform Bill

was passed. Eliot believed that it takes time to understand historical events it's
impossible to understand all the consequences of something right after it takes place.
It's like how all the best Vietnam War movies were made at least 5-10 years after the
end of the conflict. Forty years, Eliot reasoned, was the perfect amount of distance: it's
long enough that people have gained some perspective on what happened back then,
but it's recent enough that the events are still pretty familiar.
Setting the novel right before the First Reform Bill of 1832 made the novel both
historical and immediate (since reform was still such a hot topic). That contrast of
historical and immediate, and of the universal and the individual experience, is
something that comes up again and again in Middlemarch. Eliot's ability to move
between specific events and general trends makes her characters some of the most
sympathetic in English literature. That's what made her so popular at the time and its
part of why people still love her novels today.

SUMMARY
Dorothea Brooke is a young woman living with her uncle and sister in the smallbut-growing town of Middlemarch, England in around 1830. She's got all the makings of
a Victorian heroine: she's beautiful, intelligent, and generous. But she's also so
idealistic, it's almost laughable. Her main ambition in life is to take on a noble project
so she marries a dried-up old scholar named Casaubon, thinking that helping him in his
research will be the project she's after. Not so much. Dorothea quickly discovers that he
cares more for his own scholarly pursuits than he does for her, but she can't do much
about it (this is in the days before divorce was allowed for anything other than adultery
or physical abuse).
Meanwhile, an idealistic young doctor named Tertius Lydgate moves to
Middlemarch to set up a practice with his new-fangled ideas about medicine and
science. But he encounters a lot of obstacles. First of all, most of the residents of
Middlemarch have lived in the town for their whole lives, and they don't trust
newcomers. Second, they don't trust new ideas, and Lydgate is all about scientific

progress. Lydgate falls in love with Rosamond Vincy, the sister of one his patients, and
marries her.
More unhappiness in marriage! Lydgate discovers that Rosamond is a superficial
and selfish, and Rosamond learns that Lydgate will always be "married" to his work as a
doctor. And then they run out of money because neither of them knows how to stick to a
budget.
These two unhappy couples (the Lydgates and the Casaubons) are connected by
Mr. Casaubon's young cousin, Will Ladislaw. Will is a handsome, young artist with a
sparkling wit. Seriously, he sparkles. Lydgate finds Will to be sympathetic to his ideas
about science and medicine, and since Will is an outsider in Middlemarch, too, they
quickly become friends. Everyone seems to like Will. Especially Dorothea, who finds
that he understands her in a way her husband doesn't. But don't worry Dorothea's
halfway to sainthood, and she's not about to cheat on her husband. The thing about
marrying a much older man, though, is that they pass away and leave you free to
remarry.
But there's a catch: Mr. Casaubon was always jealous of the friendly bond
between his cousin, Will, and his wife. So Mr. Casaubon leaves a codicil in his will
(basically a postscript) saying that Dorothea will lose all the money she's supposed to
inherit from him if she remarries Will Ladislaw. Dorothea hadn't even thought about
marrying Will until she reads the codicil. She thought they were just friends!
After some serious thinking, and some misunderstandings (Dorothea thinks that
Will likes Rosamond), Dorothea and Will decide to get married. They live happily ever
after, despite the fact that they forfeit the large inheritance from dead Mr. Casaubon.
And Rosamond and Lydgate live unhappily ever after or, until Lydgate dies at a
tragically early age, leaving Rosamond free to marry someone who's more willing to
cater to her whims.

ELEMENTS OF FICTION

SETTINGS
MIDDLEMARCH
Middlemarch is the name of the small, fictitious England town where this novel is set.
TIPTON GRANGE
Tipton Grange is the property where Mr. Brooke lives. It is at this home that Celia and
Dorothea live after their parents die.
LOWICK
Lowick is where Casaubon lives and preaches. Dorothea inherits the property when
Casaubon dies, but she chooses to give it up to marry Ladislaw.
FRESHITT HALL
Freshitt Hall is the Chettam residence.
DOROTHEAS BOUDOIR
The room which Celia encourages Dorothea to choose as her boudoir at Lowick is the
same room where Casaubons mother grew up. It is in this room that Dorothea spends
many of her free hours.
EUROPE
Ladislaw plans to travel to Europe.
STONE COURT
Stone Court is the name of Featherstones home. Fred believes he will inherit this
house, but it winds up going to Featherstones illegitimate son.

CHARACTERS (Major and Minor Characters)

DOROTHEA BROOKE - Dorothea is a kind-hearted and honest woman. She longs to
find some way to improve the world. She thinks Casaubon is a great intellectual, but
after she marries him, she quickly discovers that he is not passionate enough to make
her happy. She also learns that she is not as submissive and sacrificing as she had
previously thought. She draws plans for comfortable cottages to replace the ramshackle
buildings on large estates. She helps Lydgate when he suffers for his connections with
Bulstrode. She falls in love with Casaubon's young cousin, Will Ladislaw. She defies
Casaubon's machinations and marries Will even though it means losing her inheritance
as Casaubon's widow.
EDWARD CASAUBON - Edward Casaubon owns a large estate called Lowick. He is a
scholarly clergyman. His lifelong ambition is to write the Key to all Mythologies, but he is
insecure and uncertain about his own abilities. He marries Dorothea because he thinks
she is completely submissive and worshipful. Her stubborn independence frustrates
him, and he mistakenly believes that she is constantly criticizing him. Casaubon is Will
Ladislaw's cousin. His mother's sister was disowned by her family for running away to
marry a man they didn't like. Her own daughter, Will's mother, also ran away to marry.
Casaubon offers financial support to Will because he feels obligated to make amends
for his aunt's disinheritance. He becomes jealous of Will's relationship with Dorothea.
He includes an addendum in his will stating that Dorothea will lose his wealth and
property if she ever marries Will Ladislaw. He dies before finishing his Key.
WILL LADISLAW - Will Ladislaw is the grandson of Casaubon's disinherited aunt.
Bulstrode tries to give him money to atone for hiding his existence from his
grandmother. He refuses the money because he knows it came through thievery. He
worships Dorothea. He doesn't care for money and loves everything that is beautiful.
TERTIUS LYDGATE - Tertius Lydgate is the orphan son of a military man. He chose the
medical profession at a young age, much to the chagrin of his wealthy, titled relatives.
He comes to Middlemarch hoping to test new methods of treatment. He marries

Rosamond Vincy, whose expensive habits get him into debt. He takes a loan from
Bulstrode and becomes embroiled in Bulstrode's scandal. Dorothea aids him in his
darkest hour. He hopes to find the tissue that is the most basic building block of life.
ROSAMOND VINCY - Rosamond Vincy is the daughter of Walter and Lucy Vincy. She
grows up accustomed to an expensive lifestyle. She marries Lydgate because she
thinks he is rich and because he has titled relatives. She dreams of leaving
Middlemarch and living an exciting, aristocratic lifestyle, but her expensive tastes get
Lydgate deeply into debt.
MARY GARTH - Mary Garth is the daughter of Caleb and Susan Garth. She loves Fred,
but she refuses to marry him if he becomes a clergyman and fails to find a steady
occupation.
FRED VINCY - Fred Vincy is the oldest son of Walter and Lucy Vincy. His father sends
him to college because he wants Fred to become a clergyman, but Fred doesn't want to
work in the Church. He gets himself into debt by gambling. He is accustomed to a lavish
lifestyle. He causes financial difficulty for the Garths because he cannot pay the debt on
which Caleb Garth co-signed his name. He wants to marry Mary Garth, but she won't
have him unless he finds a steady occupation other than the Church. He hopes to
inherit Stone Court from his uncle, Peter Featherstone. These hopes are disappointed,
so he works for Caleb Garth.
CELIA BROOKE - Celia is Dorothea's sister. She marries Sir James Chettam.
SIR JAMES CHETTAM - Sir James Chettam is a baronet. He owns a large estate called
Freshitt. He courts Dorothea, but she chooses to marry Casaubon. He later marries her
sister. He enacts Dorothea's cottage plans on his own estate.
ELINOR CADWALLADER - Elinor Cadwallader is the wife of the Rector at Tipton
Grange, Brooke's estate. She was born to a good family, but she married down and
angered her friends and families. She is a practical woman who is forever trying to play
matchmaker to unmarried young people, including Dorothea, Celia, and Sir James.

HUMPHREY CADWALLADER - Humphrey Cadwallader is the Rector at Tipton Grange,

Brooke's estate. Unlike his wife, he doesn't believe in meddling in other people's affairs.
CALEB GARTH - Caleb Garth is a poor businessman. He earns his living managing
large estates. He co-signs a debt for Fred Vincy. When Fred is unable to pay, Garth's
family suffers. He receives new business, overcomes the loss, and hires Fred Vincy to
work for him. He declines to manage Stone Court for Bulstrode after Raffles reveals
Bulstrode's dark past.
NICHOLAS BULSTRODE - Nicholas Bulstrode is a wealthy Middlemarch banker. He is
married to Walter Vincy's sister. Bulstrode professes to be a deeply religious Evangelical
Protestant, but he has a dark past: he made his fortune as a pawnbroker selling stolen
goods. He married Will Ladislaw's grandmother after her first husband died. Her
daughter had run away years before, and she insisted that Bulstrode find her daughter
before she re-married, because she wanted to leave her wealth to her only surviving
child. Bulstrode located the daughter and her child, Will Ladislaw, but he kept her
existence a secret. He bribed the man he hired to find her, John Raffles, to keep quiet.
John Raffles blackmails him with this information. When Raffles becomes ill, Bulstrode
cares for him. However, he disobeys Lydgate's medical advice, and Raffles dies as a
result. When the scandal about his past and the circumstances of Raffles's death
become known, Bulstrode leaves Middlemarch in shame. He purchases Stone Court
from Joshua Rigg Featherstone.
HARRIET BULSTRODE - Harriet Bulstrode is Walter Vincy's sister. She is a kind,
honest, religious woman. No one in Middlemarch blames her for her husband's
misdeeds. She resolves to stay with her husband even after she learns of his
wrongdoing.
CAMDEN FAREBROTHER - Camden Farebrother is a Vicar, but he doesn't consider
himself to be a very good clergyman, though many people like his sensible sermons. He
becomes fast friends with Lydgate and supports his mother, sister, and aunt on his small
income. He must gamble to make ends meet and to pursue his scientific hobbies. He

loses in the election for the chaplaincy at the New Hospital. He receives the Lowick
parish after Casaubon's death. Fred Vincy enlists his help in courting Mary Garth. He
himself loves Mary, but he does his duty.
ARTHUR BROOKE - Brooke is Dorothea and Celia's bachelor uncle. He is a bumbling
man who can never stick to an opinion, always wanting to please everyone. He hires
Will Ladislaw to write for his paper, the Pioneer. He runs for a seat in Parliament on the
Reform platform, but he lets his own tenants live in poverty and squalor. The scandal
resulting from his hypocrisy prompts him to improve conditions on his own estate, Tipton
Grange.
WALTER VINCY - Walter Vincy is a modestly well-off businessman in manufacturing.
He is also mayor of Middlemarch. Fred and Rosamond's expensive tastes infuriate him.
He refuses to lend Rosamond and Lydgate money to pay Lydgate's debt. He is Harriet
Bulstrode's brother.
LUCY VINCY - Lucy Vincy is Walter Vincy's wife. She is the daughter of an innkeeper,
much to Rosamond's chagrin. She dotes on her son and doesn't want him to marry
Mary Garth. She is the sister of Featherstone's second wife.
PETER FEATHERSTONE - Peter Featherstone is a wealthy, manipulative old widower.
He owns Stone Court. He married twice, but had no legitimate children. His first wife
was Caleb Garth's sister. His second wife was Lucy Vincy's sister. He hints for years
that he plans to leave his entire estate to Fred Vincy, his nephew by marriage. He even
writes two separate wills. Mary Garth refuses to burn one of them. He leaves his
property to his illegitimate son, Joshua Rigg.
JOHN RAFFLES - John Raffles is an old business partner of Bulstrode. Bulstrode
bribed him to keep the existence of the daughter and grandchild of his first wife secret.
He comes back to blackmail Bulstrode. He is Joshua Rigg Featherstone's stepfather. He
dies at Stone Court because Bulstrode interferes with Lydgate's medical treatment.

MISS NOBLE - Miss Noble is Mrs. Farebrother's sister. She steals small items of food to
give to the poor. She becomes fond of Will Ladislaw.
MRS. FAREBROTHER - Mrs. Farebrother is Camden Farebrother's widowed mother.
She's an elegant and upright older woman with pretty decided opinions, especially on
the subject of the propriety of the game of whist (a card game like bridge or spades) as
a pastime for clergymen and their mothers.
MR. BAMBRIDGE - Bambridge is a Middlemarch horse dealer. Fred Vincy sinks into his
debt; Raffles meets him at a horse-fair and tells him everything about Bulstrode's past.
SIR GODWIN - Sir Godwin is Lydgate's wealthy uncle. After Lydgate's parents died,
Lydgate was raised in part by his uncle Godwin. His family never approved of his choice
of profession because they considered being a doctor to be "lower" than becoming a
soldier, lawyer, or clergyman. Sir Godwin is still Lydgate's favorite uncle, even though he
refuses to lend them money when Rosamond asks for a loan.
CAPTAIN LYDGATE - Captain Lydgate is Tertius Lydgate's foppish cousin. He takes
Rosamond out riding. She suffers a miscarriage as a result of an accident on
horseback.
NAUMANN - Naumann is Will Ladislaw's artist friend in Rome. Naumann paints Mr.
Casaubon as Saint Thomas Aquinas as an excuse to get Dorothea into his studio so
that he can paint her as Santa Clara. He discusses the relative merits of art as opposed
to literature as a medium for artistic representation with Will.
JOSHUA RIGG FEATHERSTONE - Joshua Rigg Featherstone is Peter Featherstone's
illegitimate son. John Raffles is his stepfather. He inherits Stone Court. He sells it to
Bulstrode because he wants to become a moneychanger.
BORTHROP TRUMBULL - Mr. Trumbull is an auctioneer and real estate agent in
Middlemarch. He's kind of a jack-of-all-trades. He holds the Larcher auction and he's

the one Lydgate goes to when he wants to put his house on the market to pay off his
debts.
MR. DAGLEY - Dagley is one of Brooke's impoverished tenants. His son is caught
poaching on Brooke's lands. He refuses Brooke's request that he chastise his son.
WINIFRED FAREBROTHER - Winifred Farebrother is Camden Farebrother's unmarried
sister.
SUSAN GARTH - Susan Garth is Caleb Garth's wife. She is a former schoolteacher.
SELINA PLYMDALE - Selina Plymdale is a good friend of Harriet Bulstrode. Her son
courts Rosamond Vincy, but he is rejected.
NED PLYMDALE - Ned Plymdale courts Rosamond, but she refuses him.
WALTER TYKE - Walter Tyke is an Evangelical Protestant minister. Bulstrode is a
supporter of his. He wins the election for the chaplaincy at the New Hospital, beating out
Farebrother.
MR. WRENCH - Mr. Wrench is a Middlemarch doctor. He misdiagnoses Fred when
Fred catches typhoid fever. Lydgate treats Fred's illness, and the Vincys fire Mr.
Wrench. Mr. Wrench becomes Lydgate's enemy as a result.

PLOT
Already, the plot of Middlemarch goes against traditional Victorian plots. Usually,
the protagonist gets married at the very end, but here, these two couples are married by
the end of the first volume. Dorothea longs to do great and noble work in the world, but
she can't really explain what that work will entail. She thinks that marriage to a scholar
like Mr. Casaubon will somehow satisfy all of her inexpressible longings. And Lydgate
thinks that marriage to Rosamond will be like a chivalric romance. They're both wrong.

CONFLICTS
Man vs. Man
Dorothea against Mr. Casaubon
- Dorothea discovers that Mr. Casaubon is too tied up in his own little world to pay any
attention to her, and Mr. Casaubon begins to fear that Dorothea doesn't look up to him
enough.
Man vs. Himself
Dorothea against herself
- Dorothea is happy to see Will, but his appearance puts another strain on her marriage
with Mr. Casaubon.
Man vs. Nature
Dorothea against her enemy
-The enemy is associated with winter, darkness, confusion, sterility, moribund life, and
old age, and the hero with spring, dawn, order, fertility, vigour and youth.

CLIMAX
Mr. Casaubon dies and leaves an unfair codicil in his will. The codicil in Mr.
Casaubon's will makes it impossible for Dorothea and Will to see each other without
causing a lot of gossip. The codicil says that if Dorothea remarries Will Ladislaw, she'll
forfeit all the inheritance from Mr. Casaubon. The implication is that she wanted to marry
Will in the first place. Will feels like he can't go anywhere near her without people
whispering about how he's only after her money.

EVALUATION/ COMMENTS
Values:
Spiritual
-Dorotheas ideals of Christian humility and simplicity and service are genuine. But she
is very young.
-George Eliot makes it clear that Dorothea is no saint but rather a morally immature
young woman.
Moral
-Middlemarch is about the process of understanding the experiences and perceptions of
others, and of suffering through self deception and disillusionment, social positioning,
class- consciousness and the ambition for self- improvement with its concomitants,
education and money.
Physical
-Good etiquettes for women. There were rules about what kind of jewelry one should
wear as well as when and where, who to walk with, who to dance with, how and when to
speak to stranger.

Emotional
-Casaubon, an heir whos never struggled for a moment in his life, has grown stale in
mind and emotions.
Cultural
-Exploring the Pre-Victorian 19th century, ambitious in both scope and power, it depicts
the inner workings of a small town on the cusp of vast societal change.
Intellectual
-Casaubon learning proves to be general pedantry, the image of intellectual greatness
that makes Dorothea smitten with him.
Social
*Insights
-Deals with the middle class (owing to its compelling part in the events of the era), the
themes of money, choice of vocation, as well as the Protestant value system
that connects everything together.
*Principles
-The middle class benefited the most from this turn of events and converted economic
success into political power.
-The upper classes were far more likely to inherit a steady business or land which they
would later pass on to their own children.
-The ability to choose their own profession was one of the major advantages of the
middle class.
*Philosophical
-Society is based on merit rather than on one's birth.
-All men with widely different professions, interests and backgrounds have their
common denominator, and it is the possession of unique skills which made them
employable and valuable to the economy of Middlemarch and the fact that none of them
was in possession of land or considerable family wealth.
-The choice of vocation was constricted solely to the middleclass.