I have finally finished George Eliot's Middlemarch and I feel kind of melancholy. It is based in England, 1832.The novel creates a web of several characters. There are sisters Dorothea and Celia, and their suitors and eventual husbands as well as Doctor Lydgate and his cold wife Rosamond, and finally the lower class Mary Garth and her two suitors, Fred and Mr. Farebrother. I became attached to all of these characters because Eliot does an incredible job of creating characters that are full of life and who we can empathize with. I was particularly drawn to Dorothea who has the desire to do something truly great but is unable to because she is a woman. Instead she tries to live through her husband, and the elderly and ugly Mr. Casaubon. Casaubon has been spending his whole life working on one project, the Key to all Mythologies. Towards the end of his life he begins to realize that his project is hopeless, which makes him very bitter towards Dorothea who is interested in his project and asks many questions about it. Like many people, Casaubon takes the inquiries as attacks. Will Ladislaw, who is young, rebellious, and romantic, is angry that Casuabon and Dorothea are married. Will and Casaubon are cousins, although Casaubon really acts like more of uncle to Will. Will thinks that Casaubon is sucking the life from Dorothea, and sees that she is brave, courageous, and extremely intelligent. Dorothea becomes very unhappy in her marriage to Casaubon, but won't allow herself to show the anger she feels because it would be going against her wifely duties.
Lydgate is also in an unhappy marriage with Rosamond. Rosamond is beautiful and believes that all men are in love with her, which in some cases is true. She pretty much tricks Lydgate into marrying her and expects him to be wealthy and take her away from Middlemarch. Instead, Lydgate loses all of his money because he dotes on his wife and is trying to start a practice in Middlemarch. Rosamond is demanding and selfish, Lydgate is the first person who has tried to put her in her place. Even though Rosamond has her problems, I still managed to feel some empathy for her. She is just trying to escape a town where she knows everyone and be something better. The overall theme in the relationships of all these characters is unfulfilled ambition. They all have something they desire, but they can never reach the exact version of what they want. I could really relate to this.
Some parts of the book I didn't enjoy as much as others. There were many passages about politics and banking. I know quite a bit about Victorian politics but it was a trial for me to get through these sections. By far my favorite parts of the book were between Dorothea and Will Ladislaw, their relationship fascinated me and was so different from all the other characters in the book because they each had the ability to see past what they selfishly wanted. Middlemarch really even rivals Jane Eyre for me, it is unlike any book I have ever read. If you have the ability to push through an 800 page novel then this is a great one to pick up.
Pub. Date: September 2008 (1872)
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Format: Paperback, 904pp
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