Middlemarch by George Eliot

Title: Middlemarch
Author: George Eliot
Publication: 1871
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: English Midlands, 1829-32

Description: Middlemarch is the story of a country neighborhood, two women who live there, and their marriages. Most prominent is Dorothea Brooke, an intense and idealistic young woman, brought up with her sister Celia by their uncle since they were orphaned some seven years ago. Dorothea yearns to do good with her inheritance and have a purpose in life, and is intrigued by Mr. Causaubon, a learned clergyman who lives near Tipton Grange, Mr. Brooke’s estate. Believing she could help Mr. Causaubon produce a great work from his classical research, she insists on marrying him, although he is more than twice her age and she could have had an amiable baronet, Sir James Chettham, who listened to her ideas for estate management reform.

The ambitious new doctor in town, Tertius Lydgate, also makes an imprudent marriage; he weds Rosamond Vincy, the lovely but heartless daughter of a Middlemarch businessman, who imagines his connections will improve her social standing. As neither has any sense of economy, they are soon in serious debt. A third important relationship involves Rosamond’s brother Fred, a pleasant but feckless young man borrowing on the strength of prospects from a rich uncle, who unexpectedly leaves everything to an illegitimate son. Fred’s best quality is that he has been in love since childhood with plainspoken Mary Garth, not the social equal of Dorothea or Rosamond, but capable of practical speaking and supporting herself as they are not. Mary’s father is a competent estate agent who works for several local men, including Fred’s uncle-in-law, Mr. Bulstrode, a banker who has a dark and secret past. Dorothea is soon disillusioned by her marriage but remains loyal to her husband, although she develops feelings for his younger cousin, Will Ladislaw.

My Impression: Middlemarch is sometimes called the greatest British novel but on my previous attempt I had not made it past the second chapter and gave away my copy years ago. When I saw another on sale for a dollar, I repented and suggested to my book group that we read it over two months. When we met in June to discuss the first four books, we had a great conversation and we will conclude on Wednesday.

Middlemarch is set in the period leading up to the 1832 Reform Act that made changes to the electoral system, expanding which men were allowed to vote and creating new seats in the House of Commons. I suppose Eliot used this setting to show that democracy is approaching (except for women) but I have to admit the political discussions were less interesting than the descriptions of Dorothea’s uncle, deciding to run for parliament in a lackadaisical way, and making a foolish, rambling speech that ends with his being pelted with eggs by his opponent’s henchmen. He is a foolish but goodhearted man who has been a kind guardian to his two nieces.

“And certainly, the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it.”

The men in the story, particularly Causaubon and Lydgate, who believe their wives should obey them unquestioningly, are very uncommunicative, which increases the challenges in their relationships. Causaubon’s affection for his wife evaporates when she innocently asks him if he is ready to start writing the book he has been researching for years: she is eager to assist but he sees her question as exposing him as a failed scholar. He then becomes harsher in his attitude toward her, just as she comes to know his cousin, Mr. Ladislaw, who is much more congenial - and an attentive listener, as well as being impetuous and artistic. Mr. Causaubon becomes jealous of Will’s easy interaction with his wife. Dorothea would have been much better off marrying Sir James Chettam (who married Celia instead) or Lydgate, who is as idealistic as she. Lydgate is so distressed by his wife’s conviction that she is always right and her failure to share his concerns that he stops confiding in her at all.

In contrast to them, Fred Vincy, who loves plain-spoken Mary Garth, listens to her when she says she will not marry a clergyman. She knows Fred is not suited to the position, which he also realizes but might have drifted into it because it was his father’s wish. Instead, because he wants her good opinion, he accepts an offer of employment from Mary’s father, although his father considers that lowering his status and his mother does not want him to marry Mary. Fred and Mary remind me of a Louisa May Alcott’s An Old Fashioned Girl in which the spoiled (but essentially good) young man Tom and his family experience trouble and Tom has to go work out west to earn the wholesome Polly. I liked Mary because she is practical and has no time for carrying on, unlike Dorothea, who seems perpetually overwrought, or Rosamond, who is cold and self-absorbed.

What I did not expect is how amusing Eliot can be in her observations of her characters and all the random inhabitants of Middlemarch, from low to high:

“Sane people did what their neighbors did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them.”

I liked the intersecting stories of the Middlemarch inhabitants, high and low, and how the death of an old miser precipitated disaster for the most sanctimonious character, and I could imagine waiting impatiently for each of the eight sections to be released.  I appreciated Dorothea's desire to make a difference, even though I disagreed with her choices and thought her sister's decisions were better.

Source: Personal copy. About one-third through, I got the audiobook from the library (28 CDs!), narrated by Juliet Stevenson, which was very well done. This is my fifteenth book for The Intrepid Reader’s Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and number five of my 20 Books of Summer.