ASSIGNMENT
PAPER No. 2
The Victorian Literature
- Dabhi Rita A.
- M. A Sem :- 2
- Roll no. :- 20
- Topic :- Themes of Middlemarch
- email : dabhirita1198@gmail.com
- Enrollment no. :- 2069108420200007
- Submitted :-Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
💠 Why might George Eliot have written about the role of marriage. Consider the role of money. Consider the role of political progress.
💠 About Author :-
Middlemarch, in full title Middlemarch : A study of provincial life, novel by Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 - 22 December 1880) known by her pen name George Eliot. Middlemarch is considered to be George Elliot's masterpiece. The novel was published in eight parts in 1871-72 and also published in Four volumes in 1872 . In the novel Eliot described many issues including the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education etc. The focus, however, is on the thwarted idealism of its two principal characters, Dorothea Brooke and Tertius Lydgate, both of whom marry disastrously. Apart from this novel she wrote manny other notable works like,
- “Middlemarch”
- “Felix Holt”
- “Scenes of Clerical Life”
- “Romola”
- “Adam Bede”
- “Daniel Deronda”
- “The Mill on the Floss”
- “Silas Marner”
💠 Major themes :-
Theme is defined as a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work, which may be stated directly or indirectly. In the Middlemarch we find that George Eliot who described many mejor themes like, the role of money, society of Middlemarch as a web, role of marriage, and political reform etc. So, let's discuss the themes of Middlemarch one by one.
💠 Role Of Money (💸💰💸) :-
Here in the novel we find that both money and the lack of it cause many problems for the characters in Middlemarch. In the novel some characters are obsessed with money , whereas others spurns it. The novel presents a variety of ways in which money issues can have a damaging, even ruinous impact on a person's life. The way in which money has a problematic impact on people's lives is through the greed simulated by the possibility of inheritance. This is best demonstrated by the scene of Mr. Featherstone's funeral , when all his money relatives assemble to hear the reading of his will. This scene brings out the very worst in the assembled characters; rather than focusing on mourning Featherstone or even just maintaining dignity during the reading of the will, they greedily obsess over how much they will inherit from him. This is illustrated by the description of Fred Vincy biting his cheeks to stop himself from smiling when he learns of his inheritance.
Another significant way in which money ruins people’s lives is the concept of “dirty money,” which becomes especially prominent toward the end of the novel. When a desperate Lydgate is forced to the brink of declaring bankruptcy, he accepts a loan offered to him by Bulstrode. It turns out that this money was acquired through deception and theft, and when this fact emerges Lydgate is implicated in the scandal that ensues, making him a pariah in Middlemarch society. In the novel along with Ladislaw, Dorothea and Caleb Garth are other examples of characters who reject greed. Dorothea repeatedly says she hates her wealth, and she eventually chooses to marry Ladislaw even though the stipulation in Casaubon’s will means that doing so will make her lose everything she inherited from her deceased husband.
💠 The society of Middlemarch as a web :-
In the novel we find that Elliot continuously uses the metaphor of a web. A small society of Middlemarch is a metaphor for an intricate web of social relationship. The story in the novel reveals the reciprocal correlation between an individual character and the external society. She intricately weaves together the disparate life experiences of a large cast of characters. Many characters subscribe to a world-view; others want to find a world-view to organize their lives. For example, Lydgate wants to do great things as a doctor/researcher, but his marriage to the very conventional Rosamond and his attempts to go his own way are both failures. One needs allies to buck convention—and a supportive wife. Lydgate's lack of understanding of the web of society and his bad marriage means he ends up selling out his talent for money, something Eliot condemns. All of society suffers when a person can't pursue their talents and ideals. In the Middlemarch we see that Lydgate himself suffers from an empty life as he abandons his youthful hopes. And also in the novel we see that especially in the cases of Dorothea and Lydgate, the web of society traps people so that they can not fully use their gifts.
The absence of a single, triumphant world-view to organize all life is the basic design of Middlemarch. The web of Elliot's Middlemarch (1871-72) reflects this advocacy of communication on many levels. Her vast knowledge of natural and physical science helped to create its structure and imagery, and the novel's network. The novel offers the communications web as an epistemological and moral model, suggesting that the securest knowledge and the finest life are those richest in connections.
💠 Marriage :-
Marriage is one of the major and central themes of the novel Middlemarch . Most of the characters in Middlemarch marry for rather than obligation, yet marriage still appears negative and unromantic. In the Middlemarch we find that two examples are the failed marriage of Dorothea and Lydgate. Dorothea's marriage failed because of her youth and of her disillusions about marrying a much older man.
And on the other side we find that Lydgate's marriage fails because of his irreconcilable personality. Mr. and Mrs. Bulstrod also faces a marital crisis due to his inability to tell her about the past, and Fred Vincy and Mary Girth also face a great deal of hardship in making their union. As none of the marriages reach a perfect fairytale ending. Middlemarch offers a clear critique of the usual portrayal of marriage as romantic and unproblematic.
💠 Political Reform :-
This is another important theme of the novel. Politics and science seem equally to offer the prospect of social improvement to Eliot’s characters. The Catholic Relief Act of 1829 has just been passed, removing the long-standing ban on Roman Catholics becoming Members of Parliament at Westminster. Reform is in the air. The people of Middlemarch continue to debate ‘the Catholic question’, but there are even greater changes on the horizon. Politics possesses Dorothea’s uncle Mr Brooke, who stands as a parliamentary candidate in support of the Reform Bill introduced by the government of Lord Grey, who became Prime Minister in 1830. What was called The Representation of the People Act eventually passed in 1832.
Mr Brooke is on the side of parliamentary reform, a cause suspiciously regarded by many of the burgers of Middlemarch. Brooke is supported by Will Ladislaw, a far more intelligent idealist, who tries to advise him but frets at his incompetence. Brooke is convinced that the times are with him – ‘we shall make a new thing of opinion here’ – but proves a poor advocate of progress (ch. 46).George Eliot’s first readers lived in a post-Reform age and are invited to think that the 1832 Act was overdue and modest in its ambitions. Yet it is entirely characteristic of the novel that enthusiasm for reform is depicted with rueful irony.
💠To concluded :-
A major theme in Middlemarch is Eliot's exploration of the way the web of society is both necessary and restrictive. Eliot argues that we are not simply individuals pursuing our own desires but that what we do impacts the people around us, and their actions, in turn, impact us. Middlemarch is not about a lone hero, or a handful of lone heroes, but about the life of an entire town. For this reason, Eliot subtitled her novel "A Study of Provincial Life."
