I have read this book before but it was a long time ago so I don't remember much about it. It is a huge book which feels a little daunting, but I love these old classics and the depth of description that makes them the size they are as I always feel like I am getting such a good in-depth story and that the author has dedicated so much time and love to their novel. Grab your copy and let’s read it together!
I have read this book before but it was a long time ago so I don’t remember much about it. It is a huge book which feels a little daunting, but I love these old classics and the depth of description that makes them the size they are as I always feel like I am getting such a good in-depth story and that the author has dedicated so much time and love to their novel. Grab your copy and let’s read it together!
In the late 1820s/early 1830s, Dorothea Brooke is in her early 20s and has lived for the last year (after finishing her education abroad) at Tipton Grange in the village of Tipton in Loamshire, with her younger sister, Celia, and their 60 year old uncle, Mr Brooke, who has taken care of them since their parents died when Dorothea was aged about 12. Dorothea is very handsome but has not yet been proposed to, due to being perceived as possessing a strong character with high expectations of herself and others. Tee hee, already I love the writing in this book and the dry humor, the wording is just sublime and I can see I’m going to be constantly jotting down beautiful and humorous phrases (it could take me a long time to read this book!)! I love the descriptions of these three characters, with Dorothea described as having an ‘insistence on regulating life according to notions which might cause a wary man to hesitate before he made her an offer’, and her uncle being described as a man who ‘would act with benevolent intentions…(but) would spend as little money as possible in carrying them out’. Dorothea (who I presume will be one of the main characters of the novel) is an interesting person with her denying herself anything she considers she would enjoy, such as jewellery and fine dresses and horse-riding, which seems rather a sad existence, bless her, though she obviously gains satisfaction from the reward (now and presumably, she hopes, in later life) of denying herself these things, but it strikes me that she could be quite a difficult and intense character to get along with as I imagine you would feel (even if she doesn’t imply this) as if you’re failing by comparison if you do allow yourself these little pleasures. I feel a little sorry for her sister Celia, bless her, though she seems to deal with Dorothea in quite a balanced manner and is obviously recognised as having much more common-sense. I did chuckle at Dorothea viewing her ideal husband as someone ‘whose odd habits it would have been glorious piety to endure’, giving the example of ‘John Milton when his blindness had come on’, tee hee, that did make me laugh! Dorothea does seem kind-hearted and empathetic though, wanting to be of age so she can use her money to benefit local people and she has begun an infant school in the village and enjoys drawing plans of cottages to improve the living standards for the tenants on her uncle’s land. I also chuckled at the description of the village of Tipton where ‘sane people did what their neighbours did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them’! I already adore this author and her writing!
Sir James Chettam of Freshitt Hall greatly admires Dorothea, and he comes to dinner one evening at the Brookes’ house along with Reverend Edward Casaubon, who is aged about 50 and who is writing a book on religious history. Sir James intends to propose marriage to Dorothea and is confident that she will accept him, particularly as he has offered to build the tenants’ cottages on his estate which she has designed. However Dorothea immediately admires Casaubon, and also views Sir James as having ‘few spontaneous ideas’. Tee hee, I loved Dorothea’s view that men such as Sir James ‘might be very useful members of society under good feminine direction’, again, I am just so impressed at the humour in this book, it’s so perfectly placed at just the right moment and yet also done so subtly, and I find myself often looking back on a sentence in order to fully appreciate the humorous quality within it, and also to check that I’ve not missed any of the humour as it’s not overtly humorous but is more gently sarcastically dry and ironic yet also with such a beautiful delicate touch that hints at the characters’ faults and also at their own blindness to what they don’t choose to see. I like as well that the author draws the reader’s attention to her characters’ foibles and little faults as if they are real people, and also the author almost adds herself to the tale when she says something ‘interests me’ and ‘I protest against…’ and ‘I am not sure that…’, as it seems like she is talking directly to us and also that she really knows these people! However, I really like Sir James and feel sad for him that Dorothea is so blind to his good kind intentions, and I fear she will make a mistake and instead marry Casaubon who seems very much a self-centred and dry man and that she will do this in order to fulfil some impossibly high and self-sacrificing ideal that she has set herself, sigh! And I do like Celia too and admired her plain-speaking when she pointed out to oblivious Dorothea how Sir James felt about her, and I was wondering why Celia wasn’t the main character as I feel I’d far more like to follow her life, but I guess Dorothea’s inability to clearly see the world and the people in it and her inability to clearly understand the consequences of her own actions and decisions or to allow for the fact that she makes errors in judgement will mean that inevitably dramas and mistakes are more likely to happen to her. I like the relationship between the sisters though, especially their pet names for each other, ‘Dodo’ and ‘Kitty’, and how they get on so well even though they are so very different, and that Dorothea does listen to Celia and responds to the gentle yet straightforward way in which Celia guides and corrects her, and I wonder if the author has saved Dorothea from being disliked too much by the reader because she listens to Celia’s influence and gentle guidance. It will be fascinating to watch these characters.
Casaubon comes to the house several more times and is encouraged by Dorothea’s interest in him and proposes to her, which delights Dorothea. Neighbours are surprised at the news however, particularly Mrs Cadwallader (the Rector’s wife) and Sir James, but Sir James is encouraged by Mrs Cadwallader to consider Celia as a potential wife instead as she would suit him far more than Dorothea would have. The date for Dorothea and Casaubon’s wedding is set for six weeks’ time, during which time Dorothea suggests learning Latin and Greek so she can then read aloud to Casaubon, and she (with Brooke and Celia) also visits Casaubon’s home, Lowick Manor in Lowick, where she briefly meets Will Ladislaw (Casaubon’s second cousin), though he leaves for Europe a few days later. Oooh, some more wonderful characters are being introduced! I like Mrs Cadwallader immediately with her amusing and cheeky frankness, and her bartering for products from the neighbours using her husband’s sermons as currency, I think there will be plenty of humorous scenes with her! I also like Rector Cadwallader too, he seems like a sensible man, and I like the sound of their marriage together as even though they seem quite different characters, both are fine with these differences and not trying to alter the other. The Rector’s praise of Casaubon, that he looks after his poor relations and pays for the education of Will, shows him in a better light too, to my relief, though I still feel Dorothea will not be happy with him! And more humour again with Will’s view that no effort is needed by yourself to encourage genius, you just wait for a message from the universe! And I also chuckled at Casaubon’s view of ‘the hindrance which courtship occasioned to the progress of his great work’ of writing his book! And even more chuckling (not what I’d initially expected from this book!) at Celia’s criticisms of Casaubon to Dorothea, being unaware that she had accepted his proposal, with her mentioning his noisy soup-eating and habit of blinking before he speaks and commenting that she felt that his mother should have taught him better, tee hee! I like the thought of Sir James with Celia too, that comforts me as they are both so nice and caring and deserve to be happy together.
Mr Vincy is the Major of Middlemarch and lives with his wife and their son Fred and daughter Rosemary. Rich and elderly Uncle Featherstone is also part of the Vincy family through his second marriage, and the Vincys hope he will benefit them in his will but he also has relations from his first marriage who hope the same thing. Featherstone lives at Stone Court, and Mary Garth lives there with him as a paid companion/carer though she is also his niece. The Vincys are also related to the Bulstrode family (Mr Vincy being the brother of Mrs Bulstrode) and Mr Bulstrode has a lot of power in the town being a banker. Dr Lydgate arrives in Middlemarch and is introduced to the local society, and is immediately attracted to Rosamond Vincy, and she to him, but he is determined not to fall in love with her as his focus is on his career. Hmmm, lots of new and interesting characters here, though I’m a little reluctant to leave the Brookes, with Dorothea having just married Casaubon and Sir James beginning to think about Celia as his wife! However, these new characters are interesting also, and I immediately like Mary and the contrasts that she seems to represent, with the contrast of her having to earn her living even though she is related to rich people, the contrast of her being a dependant person but also being very independent-minded, and the contrast between her and Fred (and I see potential in their fondness for each other) as she is earning her living and believes he should too rather than waiting to inherit from Featherstone and expecting to have a life of leisure. She seems honest and sensible and thoughtful and is particular about not indulging in gossip, and yet she also seems fun and I like the way she finds humour in difficult situations and uses this to lift her mood. I don’t particularly like Fred though, but I do very much like his habit of buying books for Mary, that would definitely be the way to my heart! I’m also not liking Rosamond much either (particularly in comparison to Mary, another contrast again!) as she seems quite an artful girl and determined to marry well, although perhaps I shouldn’t be hard on her for this, given that this was presumably one of the few options open to women at that time. I also don’t much like Featherstone, who regularly picks (undeserved) fault with Mary and upsets her by his harshness and who is obviously aware that his money brings him power and uses this power to persuade people (namely Fred) to humiliate themselves and do what he demands, goading and criticising them to their face knowing they won’t retaliate. My first instinct was to view him as a nasty bully, but then I did reflect that he is obviously aware that his relatives are all waiting for him to die so they can inherit his money, so this is bound to make him bitter. And I chuckled at the description of Bulstrode, as ‘to point out other people’s errors was a duty that Mr Bulstrode rarely shrank from’, tee hee, like so many other people in life! Lydgate seems an interesting character too, being keen to bring about reform in the medical profession and vowing to be different from the other doctors by not taking a percentage from the druggists for his prescriptions (I hadn’t realised that this was common practice then!). I’m also quite fascinated by the brief details of his first love affair with an actress in Paris, who was accused of murdering her husband on stage and admitted to Lydgate (after he had helped convince the authorities of her innocence) that she had actually killed him! Wow, I’d quite like another book just dealing with this woman! I am also sensing that his determination of not falling in love with Rosamond will be broken, even though I feel that she is not the right person for him, though I did chuckle at their different views of how their relationship was progressing with her busy planning her future married life (even though they have barely spoken together), while he was deep in books studying and no longer thinking of her once she was out of his sight! I also very much liked the book references from Mary when Fred declared that women never love men who they have known for most of their lives and Mary corrects him by listing several women characters from literature such as Juliet, Ophelia, Brenda Troil with Mordaunt Merton, Minna with Cleveland, Flora MacIvor with Waverley, Olivia and Sophia Primrose and Corinne, I will have to look these characters up and see which novels they are from!
Lydgate goes to visit Farebrother, as he is one of the candidates (along with Tyke) for the hospital chaplain position and therefore who Lydgate would be working closely with. Farebrother lives in the local parsonage of St Botolph’s with his mother and sister and aunt, and Lydgate realises they are clearly quite poor though he still disapproves inwardly of Farebrother playing cards for money. Lydgate gets on well with Farebrother, enjoying their talk together, and is keen to vote for him for the hospital chaplain position, knowing too that Farebrother is already doing the job without pay, but Lydgate is also aware that Bulstrode wants Tyke to be the hospital chaplain and he is cautious of damaging his own career at the hospital (which is funded by Bulstrode) by voting against Bulstrode’s wishes, so he ends up voting for Tyke. Meanwhile, Dorothea and Casaubon are in Rome for their honeymoon, but Dorothea is unhappy at what she feels is her inability to fully appreciate the beauty and history of Rome because she is daunted by its vastness and drama, and is also unhappy because marriage is not living up to her expectations as she’d hoped to share in the excitement of Rome with her husband but as he has seen it many times before he isn’t interested in seeing it again and prefers to concentrate on his work, and he also shows her no tenderness and displays no interest in her feelings or thoughts or experiences and doesn’t share his feelings or thoughts with her and won’t let her help him in his work. Oh dear, poor Dorothea! I am not surprised and yet I feel greatly for her and my heart quite bleeds for her, it makes me so sad to see her spirits withering without any encouragement from Casaubon, though I am blown away yet again by the wonderfully apt and insightful words that the author uses to describe Dorothea’s realisation of Casaubon’s enclosed mind, ‘the large vistas and wide fresh air which she had dreamed of finding in her husband’s mind were replaced by ante-rooms and winding passages which seemed to lead nowhither’, wow, I can’t think of any other author who uses language quite like Eliot! And although I’m frustrated at Casaubon not seeing that just sharing his thoughts with her and listening to her and letting her help him in his work and responding to her affection would make such a difference to her happiness, I suspect he is also probably quite unhappy in the relationship himself with his realisation that his earlier hope of her being ‘an elegant-minded canary bird’ is most definitely not the case, and whilst I smiled ironically at his words about the canary bird they also made me sad as it demonstrates how distanced the two of them are. And oh dear, poor Lydgate too and his agonising between his feelings of friendship with Farebrother and his aspirations for his career, and I wonder if this may be a theme for him throughout the book and he may face similarly difficult choices between career and relationships again. I liked Lydgate a bit more too for the fact he could recognise this weakness in himself, ‘his consciousness told him that if he had been quite free from indirect bias he should have voted for Mr Farebrother’. And I found it interesting to compare and contrast Lydgate’s and Farebrother’s characters here, with Lydgate being highly moral and yet with little life experience to test those morals (ie, he disapproves of Farebrother playing cards for money, but as the author points out he has had no experience himself of having to count the pennies so he is judging Farebrother without attempting to understand why he acts as he does), and Farebrother being in charge of guiding his congregations’ morals but sometimes quite morally lax himself (or at least, this is Lydgate’s view of his morals due to him playing cards with money). I really warmed to Farebrother though, he seems such a kind gentle man and to be aware of his own faults and the faults of the world and yet not be bitter about these, and he is determined to make the best of the life he has been dealt and to find enjoyment in that life, and I also admired him telling Lydgate that he wouldn’t be offended if Lydgate voted with Bulstrode and pointing out that Lydgate doesn’t want to make an enemy of the man who could greatly benefit his career. Bless him, I wonder how many other people would have selflessly said that. I think he could be a good guide to Lydgate and encourage him to be more realistic in his views. And it also occurs to me that Lydgate and Dorothea are quite startlingly similar with their high moral expectations for themselves and for others, particularly with her feelings of failure by not being able to appreciate all she sees in Rome, bless her, and his feelings of failure by voting in his own interests (and the mischievous part of me wonders if they would have been a better match for each other, than Rosamond and Casaubon, presuming Lydgate and Rosamond are destined to be together!). And, tee hee, the scene at Farebrother’s house is possibly one of my favourite scenes so far, as his female relations really made me chuckle and warmed my heart, with his mother who ‘was evidently accustomed to tell her company what they ought to think, and to regard no subject as quite safe without her steering’, and his aunt who frequently gave ‘a small innocent noise as of a tiny quadruped’ (how amusing the author’s words are!) and who surreptitiously hides bits of food and sugar from her own (already spartan) plate of food so she can later give them as presents to the local poor children, bless her! I hope we have more scenes at the Farebrothers’ house.
In her frustration and unhappiness, Dorothea snaps at Casaubon, asking if he will ever begin writing his book. He snaps back at her, as this taps into his own fear about if he will ever write his book. Will is also in Rome and spots Dorothea alone at an art gallery when he is there with his friend, Naumann, and Will is confused with his feelings for Dorothea. He later visits her and sees that she has recently been crying and is very intrigued about why she is unhappy. He is charmed by Dorothea’s manner and her honest declaration of her ignorance and lack of understanding of Rome’s beauty, and also charmed by her interest in him and his knowledge, and she likes his good humour and frankness and is grateful for someone to speak to. Will later gains permission from Casaubon to paint Dorothea’s portrait (as well as painting Casaubon’s portrait), thereby allowing him and Dorothea to spend more time together. He also decides to earn his own living and no longer be dependent on the allowance from Casaubon. Ooooh, this author is really astute at the minutiae of relationships, isn’t she, and how when partners aren’t open with each other they can hurt unintentionally by their words. I find the scene of Dorothea and Casaubon snapping at each other very revealing about their relationship so far, and sadly how I fear their relationship will continue too, particularly Dorothea feeling afterwards (when she tried to apologise to him) that the scene was one of those ‘epochs in our experience when some dear expectation dies’. And while I’m desperately sorry for Dorothea, I also now really feel sorry for Casaubon with his low self-esteem about his cherished work and also how this obviously holds back his progress, though how tragic too that he can’t recognise this himself and instead blames Dorothea for how her words have made him feel, seeing her now ‘as a spy watching everything with a malign power of inference’. And again, how tragic that both are seeking encouragement from the other but both are unable to recognise that the other seeks this encouragement, wow, Eliot is so wonderfully skilled at demonstrating the blindness that people have. I do admire Dorothea though for her determination to try and see the positives in her life and reminding herself of aspects of her husband’s character which are admirable such as his monetary support of Will. I am liking Dorothea more, now we are getting to know her better and being allowed more insights into her character. And Will is on the scene, what kind of dynamic is he going to bring to Dorothea and Casaubon’s relationship?! It was so lovely and refreshing to see her briefly feeling light-hearted and amused when chatting with Will, bless her, rather than her usual feelings of being intimidated and restrained when trying to speak with Casaubon, but I do feel torn really regarding Dorothea and Will, I’d love for her to be happy and to be with someone who adores her as she deserves, but I fear she would disapprove of this herself (and obviously, so would society) and torture herself with guilt if she detected in herself any loving feelings for Will, so I worry that spending more time with him, although initially very good for her, would just bring her self-inflicted unhappiness. But then in considering this, I wonder if I am just simplifying Dorothea’s character and what kind of man she would thrive with, as adoration was on offer from Sir James and yet she rejected this. However perhaps after her experience of life with Casaubon (someone she chose as she admired his mind) she would now view differently the value of love. And I was struck by the contrast between Rosamond and Dorothea in their behaviour with men, with Rosamond deliberately flattering Lydgate with praise as she knew this was a good method to use in order to encourage a man to like her, and Dorothea just naturally praising Will as she genuinely felt interest in what he was saying, so both women were acting in similar ways by giving praise but there was no agenda or self-serving intent in Dorothea doing this as there was when Rosamond did it. Omg, there is just soooo much to interpret and ruminate over in every scene in this book, every line has such meaning, Eliot’s writing really is sublime, I am just amazed at how beautifully she expresses things and her skilful perception of character! And Will…I fear he could get hurt in all this, I’m yearning for him to be cautious, but he has fallen hard, hasn’t he, with him wanting to ’embrace her slippers and tell her that he would die for her’! But tee hee, how cutting Will was in his mind about Casaubon, seeing him as an ‘elaborator of small explanations as about as important as the surplus stock of false antiquities kept in a vendor’s back chamber’, so harsh but soooo amusing, I did chuckle at that!
Caleb and Susan Garth (Mary’s parents) used to be higher on the social ladder but Caleb’s building business failed, so they now struggle for money with his current wages as a building designer and surveyor and Susan has to earn money by teaching children, as does Mary by caring for Featherstone. Meanwhile Fred Vincy owes money to a horse-dealer, Bambridge, and the debt was secured by the signature of Caleb, who agreed to this as he has known Fred since he was a child and trusts him thoroughly and didn’t doubt Fred’s promise that he would have the money in time to pay the debt. But Fred doesn’t have the money so the Garths have to use what they’d painstakingly saved for their son’s engineering apprenticeship fee as well as some of Mary’s wages in order to pay the debt. Fred feels terrible and understands for the first time that this will really injure the family and they will struggle as a result of his actions, as well as being aware of how Mary is now disgusted with him. Fred then becomes ill with typhoid fever. Mrs Vincy asks Lydgate to care for him, due to the seriousness of the illness, which offends the local doctor who usually cares for the Vincy family, and he criticises Lydgate behind his back, which adds to the other local doctors’ criticism of Lydgate with his belief that doctors shouldn’t take a percentage from the drugs they administer. With Lydgate frequently at the house, he and Rosamond see lots of each other and begin to flirt together, Lydgate again feeling determined that this will go no further, while Rosamond is busy planning their life together. Hmmm, I was seeing Rosamond as another spoilt and selfish person, like her brother Fred, but I do feel a little worried for her now with her presumptions of Lydgate’s feelings being so different to what they actually are, as I can see her being hurt by his rejection (or perhaps he won’t reject her, I wonder what the author’s plans for them are?). And (if I follow Rosamond’s example and begin planning the future!) I’d initially felt that Lydgate and Rosamond weren’t suited but now I have got to know them a little better, I can see similarities in their characters such as their ambition to achieve the most they can for themselves (though in different ways, he being ambitious regarding his career and she being ambitious in marriage and social standing), and also their willingness to fulfil society’s expectations (with Lydgate voting against Farebrother in order to please the eminent Bulstrode, and with Rosamond aiming to marry Lydgate as she feels this will elevate her position in society). I am also a little apprehensive for Lydgate with the other doctors in the town being so set against him, as they seem powerful men. And I very much like the Garth family and their values, especially Caleb having been determined to pay all the debts he owed when his business failed so no-one else suffered, even though this then made the family poorer. However his lack of business sense worries me a bit, with his tendency to take on jobs for the love and satisfaction that the work gives him but feeling uncomfortable to charge an appropriate fee for his work, and his readiness to trust too (which is obviously usually an admirable quality, but has here put his family into difficulties as Caleb didn’t foresee the consequences if his trust in Fred was later found to be misplaced). I also like Susan’s love and loyalty to her husband, and her busyness and industry, with her often baking pies in the kitchen and sorting laundry whilst teaching lessons to a pupil sitting at the kitchen table, it sounds such a lovely cosy place to be and she sounds such a capable and caring woman. I can see why Mary has such good sound values, as it seems that her parents have lived by these values themselves and have taken the time to instil them in their children. And oh dear, silly foolish Fred to have been so careless and reckless, getting into debt in the first place and then asking Caleb to secure the debt! His and Mary’s relationship is interesting as she has experienced life very differently to him and been brought up very differently too, and I can see her being a very good influence on him and obviously his love for her has allowed him to see how badly he has acted, whereas the indulgence and then admonishment from his father had not worked as effectively as an influence. At the moment though, I am so annoyed at Fred myself that I want him to be punished by Mary and her spurn him forever! I also wonder if the author is showing us here that there are similar characteristics to Caleb and Fred with their carelessness and selfishness and foolishness. It’s hard for me to criticise Caleb, but he has obviously made financial errors in the past with him losing his business (so was this carelessness?) and by not charging the appropriate fee for his work (is this selfishness, as he chooses to take jobs based on the pleasure it gives him rather than thinking of the monetary benefit to his family?) and he secured Fred’s debt (which was clearly foolishness in not being able to judge people’s characters accurately and believing their promises). As I say, it’s hard for me to criticise Caleb, but I think again this is a credit to Eliot’s ability to write characters with such depth that she pushes me to look deeply at her characters and not just take them at face value. I also wonder (while I’m dealing with uncomfortable similarities in characters) if Susan and her daughter Mary are similar too, with them loving men who are foolish and careless and selfish and trying to gently guide them to a better way whilst having to deal stoically with the consequences of their errors in judgement. Wow, what writing! And in amongst all this, I did get excited that Lydgate and Rosamond briefly spoke together about novels (even though Lydgate said he has no time for literature!) and mentioned Sir Walter Scott, as I love Sir Walter Scott’s novels and am gradually working my way through them all.
Casaubon and Dorothea return home to Lowick Manor. Casaubon reflects privately that he was mistaken in how he imagined Dorothea would be as a wife, and is also agonising about his lack of progress on his book. Meanwhile Celia tells Dorothea that she has recently become engaged to Sir James, which pleases Dorothea. Will writes to Casaubon asking if he can visit, and also encloses a letter for Dorothea. Casaubon informs Dorothea of this and also that he intends to refuse Will’s request to visit because it would cause a distraction to his work. Dorothea is offended by his tone and his implication that she might argue for Will’s visit, so she snaps at Casaubon. A short time later Casaubon has a fit, for which Dorothea immediately blames herself. Lydgate is sent for and he suggests that Casaubon reduces his workload and relaxes more, and he speaks privately to Dorothea, warning her that Casaubon could have more fits and that these will shorten his life unless he rests more. Dorothea swiftly removes Will’s letters from Casaubon’s study as she doesn’t want the sight of them to distress him again. She looks at the letters and sees that Will’s letter to her is full of gentle teasing at her enthusiasms, and his letter to Casaubon thanks him for his support but states he will now try to succeed in life on his own without Casaubon’s financial help, and that he will bring the portraits to their house unless they contact him to say this isn’t convenient. She is immediately concerned that Will will just arrive at Lowick Manor as there has been no message sent to him telling him not to come, and she anticipates that this would further distress Casaubon so she asks her uncle to contact Will and cancel his visit and to explain Casaubon’s illness as the reason for this. Brooke does this but instead invites Will to stay with him, thinking he would enjoy Will’s company with Celia due to be soon leaving for her marriage. Oh dear, I feel apprehensive that Casaubon will think that Dorothea engineered Will staying at Brooke’s, as he is obviously feeling jealous of Will and suspecting that Dorothea has feelings for him! And, indeed, I noted with interest Dorothea’s fascination with the portrait at Lowick Manor of Will’s grandmother, is it actually that she feels a kinship with the loneliness she perceives his grandmother must have felt at being disinherited by the family (as Dorothea tells herself), or is it that her frequent contemplation of this lady’s portrait enables Dorothea to feel closer to Will?! And Casaubon’s diagnosis is very very interesting in what this could mean for Dorothea’s future, as if he perseveres in working so hard on his book (as he likely will) then will he die early and then Dorothea could be released and then perhaps have a life with Will (though I feel like I am wishing death on Casaubon, poor man!)? And it’s interesting that Lydgate and Dorothea have now met, it kind of brings some of the threads of the book together, as up to this point it has felt like there were several different stories going on relatively unconnected to each other. And I had to chuckle at the author pointing out that Casaubon had never considered whether he was what Dorothea would have imagined in a husband, because ‘society had never made the preposterous demand that a man should think as much about his own qualifications for making a charming girl happy, as he thinks of hers for making himself happy’, tee hee, again her ironic humour is just delicious! I also loved the line that Brooke’s pen when he was writing to Will ‘was a thinking organ, evolving sentences, especially of a benevolent kind, before the rest of his mind could well overtake them’, how often I find that myself when texting people! And I also chuckled at Celia’s fear that Casaubon’s influence might have changed Dorothea, much like ‘a kind of damp which might in time saturate a neighbouring body’, tee hee! I’m so pleased that Celia and Sir James are going to marry too, bless them, I like both of those characters and feel they will be well-suited to each other. And in amongst all this, I did have to squeal at Brooke suggesting to Dorothea that she reads Smollett’s books to Casaubon, as I have a book of Smollett’s on my shelf waiting to be read as I understood that this was one of Charles Dickens’ favourite authors and I love everything about Dickens!
There are rumours in the town that Lydgate and Rosamond are engaged, so Mrs Bulstrode (Rosamond’s aunt) asks Rosamond about this, who has to admit, to her mortification, that they are not actually engaged. Mrs Bulstrode then warns Lydgate about flirting with girls when he does not intend to marry them and potentially ruining their chances with other men, and due to his annoyance at being criticised and being gossiped about, he then avoids Rosamond, who becomes depressed. They then bump into one another and their awkwardness leads to tears from Rosamond, which leads to him comforting her and then proposing marriage. Meanwhile, Fred recovers from his illness and is then requested by his deteriorating Uncle Featherstone to stay at Stone Court and entertain him. Several other relatives also move into Stone Court, anticipating Featherstone’s death and hoping to convince him of their devotion so he benefits them in his will. Meanwhile Mary is sitting in Featherstone’s room, as usual. He wakes in the night and proceeds to talk about his will. He says that he has written two wills but is now going to burn one of them, and then orders her to retrieve one of the wills from the iron chest in the closet. Mary refuses to fetch this will for him, saying it could lay her open to suspicion. She offers to bring the lawyer to him, or to bring all his relatives into the room to witness him burning the will, and also urges him to take more time to think about this. He refuses all of these options and gets angrier and more frustrated. He then dies later that night. Omg, noooo, so the will that Featherstone wanted to destroy hasn’t been destroyed, eeeek, what could this mean for Fred? Was he wanting to burn a will which benefitted Fred, or wanted to burn a will which didn’t benefit Fred? Or was it someone else he wanted to alter things for? And if there are two wills found then I guess the latest one is the one which will be the legal one, so did he want to burn the earlier one or the later one? I’m tempted to think his earlier will benefitted Fred and his later one was written in anger at Fred with his debts, so I’d like to think that he was trying to do good in the end and wanted to burn the later will written in anger. But, arrrgh, all this is guessing on my part, and all of it is pointless as the will wasn’t burned anyway! And how sad that Featherstone died in anger and whilst being a bully (trying to bully Mary), as indeed he seems to have lived most of his life in anger and being a bully. I did chuckle at Eliot’s description of Featherstone’s fragile goodness, with her words ‘goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy’, tee hee, I love her sarcastically clever words! And poor Mary, she acted in such a sensible way, even though under enormous pressure from Featherstone, and made such good suggestions too, in order to try and obey his demands whilst also protecting herself, but I wonder now if she will torture herself if this means that Fred doesn’t inherit (although perhaps she may feel deep down that not inheriting would make Fred a better man by him then having to apply himself to work?). And another surprise, as against all Lydgate’s plans he is to be married! But I did feel quite sorry for Rosamond with the humiliation of having to admit to her aunt that Lydgate hadn’t actually proposed to her, and then with how sad and depressed and hurt she was when he was avoiding her. I did note too that these latter feelings with Lydgate seemed more genuine than the feelings she had engineered before in order to try and ‘enslave’ Lydgate, so I wonder if she might reflect on this and try to be more genuine and honest in the future, it would be encouraging to believe so and that she will therefore enter into this marriage in a more honest way with him, but we will see. And in amongst all this, there is another literary reference (I love these!), as Mary leaves her book on the kitchen table and it is Sir Walter Scott’s book Anne of Geierstein so I’ll have to look out for that one.
After Featherstone’s funeral, the relatives gather for the reading of the will. They are all surprised by a stranger joining them, a man called Joshua Rigg, and they are all further surprised by the discovery that there are two wills. Mary is very tense, knowing her actions have affected things, and realising now due to where the wills were found that it was the later will which Featherstone wanted to destroy and yet it is this one which will now be legally followed. Mary has told no-one about all this though. The lawyer reads the earlier will first, as he says with it not being destroyed it therefore shows what Featherstone’s original intentions were, and this will gives a substantial amount of money to Fred, and the bulk of land and income from the property as well as the name Featherstone to Rigg. The later will (the one to be legally followed) gives the land and furniture and the name Featherstone to Rigg and states that the income from the property is to be used to build almshouses for elderly men, but gives nothing to Fred or to anyone else. Fred is extremely shocked. Mary tries to comfort him, and he tells her that he has no choice now but to follow a career in the church, even though he doesn’t feel that this would suit him. He also adds that he had intended to use his inheritance to pay her father back the money he had borrowed, and also that he is disappointed that Featherstone left nothing for Mary after she had worked as a companion to him for so long and had to put up with his bullying behaviour. Omg, it was really tense reading that chapter, wondering where the money was going to go, whilst also feeling such pity for Mary with her knowing she had unintentionally influenced this, plus I feel even sorrier for her carrying this burden on her own as she hadn’t told anyone what happened, though I want to step into the book (!) and remind Mary that all this was caused by Featherstone, not her, it was he who wrote that second will, probably in temporary anger at Fred, and then realised when it was too late the danger of what he had done. And who is this Joshua Rigg?! And I’m feeling sorry for Fred now and liking him better for his generosity in thinking of Mary and her family amongst his own distress and shock, and also how he tried so hard to put a brave face on it so as to minimise his mother’s and Mary’s distress, perhaps there is hope for him and I’m tempted to agree with Mary that having to earn his own living will be good for him.
Brooke is impressed with Will and offers him a secretarial post working on a local newspaper he has just bought, which pleases Will as it allows him to justifiably stay in the area and to spend time with Dorothea. When Casaubon is away for a day, Will and Dorothea speak together in the grounds of Lowick Manor (Will having engineered this by beginning a sketch of the grounds), and Dorothea enjoys the novelty of speaking without the restraint or criticism she feels when she talks to Casaubon, and she talks to Will of her ardent wish when young to devote her life to helping an educated man with his work, which gives him an insight into how she came to marry Casaubon. But Casaubon is still suspicious that Dorothea had a hand in enabling Will to be in the area, and he writes to Will saying that Will’s new role with the newspaper reflects badly on his own reputation so Will is no longer welcome at Lowick Manor. Dorothea tries to help the situation by suggesting to Casaubon that he adds Will to his will and gives Will an allowance during his lifetime which would mean that Will then wouldn’t have to work at the newspaper, but she is shocked when Casaubon snaps at her for this idea, him feeling that this confirms that Dorothea constantly criticises him to Will and that Will encourages her to do this, although he never doubts Dorothea’s virtuous behaviour. Meanwhile, Brooke has decided to stand as a parliamentary candidate and is using his newspaper to expound his views, though Sir James and Reverend Callwallader and Mrs Cadwallader try to dissuade him from doing this, however Dorothea uses the opportunity to encourage Brooke to improve the lives of his tenants, saying this would then improve the local view that voters hold of him. Tee hee, well done to Dorothea for managing her uncle so well, I am pleased that she can feel proud of having achieved something which is important to her (improving the lives of local poor people) when day-to-day she is made to feel by Casaubon that she has no use, and I was annoyed at Casaubon telling Dorothea in such a patronising and cutting way (when she made her suggestion about him benefitting Will) by saying that she had ‘assumed a judgement on subjects beyond your scope’, grrrr! I’m also pleased that Will saw her acting in a confident way when she spoke to her uncle, and that he was impressed and proud of her too, though I do still worry about how Will might get hurt with his devotion to Dorothea, even though I couldn’t help but melt at his internal wish that ‘she should know that she had one slave in the world’, awww, bless him, how wonderful to be adored by someone like that, though Dorothea doesn’t know it! And it also warmed my heart how Will and Dorothea chatted so easily with each other, feeling so safe to share their views and thoughts and both clearly benefitting so much from these chats, I do so wish there was some way they could be together, as surely that would be one of life’s ideal relationships with equality in love and confidence and thoughts (although I guess not equality in social class, and with a book of this time I imagine that would be a barrier to this dream of mine). I also feel that I am getting to know Dorothea better from her chats with Will, as she then shows her honest and unguarded self, in contrast to her usual feeling that ‘every energy was arrested by dread’, and so I’m sad that these beneficial chats seemed to have been stopped by Casaubon.
Sir James offers Caleb the position of estate manager for Sir James’ Freshitt estate and for Brooke’s Tipton Grange estate. The family is delighted and relieved, especially as this means that Mary now doesn’t have to move away in pursuit of work. Meanwhile Fred leaves the area in order to finish his degree to become a clergyman. Also, it has been announced that Rigg is actually Featherstone’s secret son, though Rigg has decided to sell Stone Court rather than run it as his father had wished, and Bulstrode is interested in buying it. Rigg’s stepfather, Raffles, turns up at Stone Court begging money from Rigg, and while he is waiting for Rigg he absentmindedly picks up a letter from Rigg’s desk. Oooh, how interesting that Rigg is Featherstone’s secret son, I wish we’d seen the conversations between them when they first learnt of their relationship! And I also felt how right Caleb was when he reflected that Featherstone deliberately chose to hurt Fred by giving Stone Court to Rigg, and yet Rigg now intends to sell this property which Featherstone valued so highly whereas Fred would probably have lived there for life and helped it to flourish. And what an unpleasant man Raffles is, and I anticipate he will feature in the book further as I imagine that the letter that he picked up will be significant and could give him power over Rigg! And yet more characters and potential storylines are being introduced, Eliot certainly gave her readers a thoroughly full and involving read! And I’m so pleased that Caleb now has these estate manager positions and the family will now be comfortable with money, I think the Garth family are my favourites in the book. But what a shame that Fred is going away now that Mary is able to stay at home, as now I’m feeling more forgiving towards Fred, I am now a bit more comfortable with the pair of them getting together and feel more hopeful that Fred may eventually be worthy of the lovely Mary!
Casaubon summons Lydgate, now Lydgate has returned home from his honeymoon with Rosamond, to ask about the type of illness he has (having never asked him before) as he is thinking about stating something in his will to prevent Will from marrying Dorothea and gaining her widow’s inheritance. Lydgate tells him that he has heart disease and warns him that his life expectancy is difficult to predict, that he could die suddenly or he could live comfortably for 15 years if he takes care of himself. After Lydgate leaves, Dorothea approaches Casaubon, suspecting he has received bad news about his health, and she tries to comfort him by drawing her arm through his, but he shuns her, and she then again questions inwardly their relationship and blames him, although later she thinks of how scared and sad he must be feeling after the news about his health from Lydgate so she approaches him again and he then greets her gently and kindly. Dorothea then goes to see Lydgate as she is worried that Casaubon may be experiencing some new symptoms which he has not shared with her, but Lydgate is not home so Dorothea asks to see Rosamond in order to find out when he might be back. However Will is with Rosamond, playing the piano and singing with her. He is mortified to be found by Dorothea in the company of another woman, even though he is friends with both Lydgate and Rosamond, and Dorothea feels uncomfortable seeing him as she doesn’t want to feel obliged to conceal this meeting from Casaubon, and she also feels that it is inappropriate for Will to be alone with Rosamond but then feels guilty that she herself has been alone with Will (although she thought it was acceptable at the time as he is a relative), so she swiftly leaves which convinces Will that she is angry and disappointed in him. She later speaks to Lydgate who reassures her that Casaubon was not reporting any new symptoms, and he also takes the opportunity to interest her in supporting the new hospital and she pledges to give an annual sum. Oh dear, it sounds like Lydgate is struggling to be liked and respected in the area, with him telling Dorothea that the local view of him and the new hospital is negative as he is young and a newcomer and has spoken openly about his readiness to try new ways of working, this must be so frustrating for him. But I’m fascinated again by him and Dorothea meeting, and I liked her for being willing to show her support for him. And it was sad to see her so self-critical and self-doubtful of herself when she saw Will, but I also can’t help wondering if some of her feelings when she saw Will with Rosamond were caused by a slight feeling of jealousy to see him with another woman, and that she was suddenly struck with how important Will’s admiration of her has become, particularly as she only sees disapproval from Casaubon so admiration must be a nice novelty, I remember how she was quite blind to her own feelings and to the feelings of others at the start of the book so I wonder if she still is here too regarding how she feels about Will and he feels about her, and then the sudden realisation of this was therefore a bit of a shock to her. And wow, the earlier scenes between Dorothea and Casaubon were so very very powerful but also so exquisitely written, and I love how Eliot used the arm-holding in such an insightful way to demonstrate their different characters, Dorothea being warm and offering but Casaubon being rigid and cold, and it was really effective how Casaubon pushing Dorothea away allowed her to then view him and judge him from a distance, which she did unfavourably, considering to herself ‘her own and her husband’s solitude, how they walked apart so that she was obliged to survey him. If he had drawn her towards him, she would never have surveyed him’, what sad yet clever words! And my heart really bleeds for her when she asks herself, ‘What have I done, what am I, that he should treat me so? He never knows what is in my mind, he never cares. What is the use of anything I do? He wishes he had never married me’, poor poor girl, sigh, and this seems another epoch moment for Dorothea (such as she had in Rome) where the hurt and damage done marks a point when things have irretrievably altered for her. Wow, it really was so powerful and poignant to read, the author’s words really let us see into Dorothea’s heart, bless her.
Lydgate and Farebrother talk together, as they often do, and Farebrother warns Lydgate about getting too closely tied to Bulstrode, and also about getting into debt, which Lydgate is concerned about himself particularly as Rosamond had told him that she is pregnant. Later, Lydgate speaks to Will about the possible benefits and changes of the Reform Bill, which is going through parliament, and also warns Will about getting too closely tied to Brooke who is still being criticised for not looking after his tenants enough, though Will privately feels that working with Brooke allows him to stay in Middlemarch where Dorothea is. Will thinks a lot about Dorothea, going to church the following day in order to just see her and feeling that he wants to always protect her, but he senses Dorothea’s distress to see him there at church, although this is mainly due to her sensing Casaubon’s anger at seeing him there and also because she is resigning herself to the fact that she and Will are becoming more and more distant. Dorothea thinks about her sister Celia, who has recently given birth, and the contrast between their lives and marriages. Later, Casaubon asks Dorothea if she will promise in the case of his death to follow out his wishes but he doesn’t say what these wishes are, and she is immediately apprehensive, presuming his wish will be that she commits herself to continuing to work on his book for him, so she asks for time to think about it. She lays awake all night worrying about how to reply to him, but decides in the end she probably will agree to his wishes, but her disturbed night causes her to wake late and when she goes into the garden to give him her answer, she finds him dead. Omg, he is dead! I really didn’t see that coming so soon! What will happen now, I wonder? I am obviously very relieved he is gone and can no longer make Dorothea unhappy (though I feel a bit bad for writing those words!), but I sense she will be consumed with guilt again rather than feeling relief. And what about Will, will she now be able to spend time with him and be friendly with him, as surely she will need support from people who care for her, or will she feel obliged to be loyal to Casaubon’s memory and not act in a way that she thinks would have made him unhappy?! And oh dear, I feel so much for Will and how hurt he is through his feelings for Dorothea, and it’s tragic how they are incorrectly interpreting one another’s feelings because they can’t speak together, particularly as they used to be so close and share their thoughts, sigh. And I’m finding it interesting that the different parties in the book are beginning to come together more now, they seem to have less distinct paragraphs between them as their lives begin to merge together a little more, with Lydgate becoming involved in both Dorothea’s life and Will’s life (and the connections Lydgate brings too with Bulstrode and Farebrother), and Dorothea meeting Rosamond and supporting Lydgate’s hospital, I wonder if the lives of all the characters will be far more intertwined by the end. I worry about Lydgate getting into debt though and this affecting his work with the anxiety of debt distracting him from his studies and also giving the other doctors something to criticise him for, but it seems like Rosamond expects to live a certain expensive lifestyle, which again makes me think that they weren’t suited to each other in the first place. And I know from reading the blurb on the back of the book that it was known for its depiction of the political situation at the time and obviously Brooke is going into politics and the Reform Bill has been mentioned, but I’m afraid I know very little about the history of all this so I hope my lack of knowledge won’t affect my understanding and enjoyment of the book. But as a side issue (and to contrast slightly from the shock of Casabaun’s death!), it was heart-warming to learn how happy Celia is, bless her, and her becoming a mother too, how lovely for her!
Dorothea moves in temporarily with Sir James and Celia and the baby, as it is thought that the distraction and change will do her good. Casaubon’s will is revealed to contain a codicil stating that if Dorothea marries Will she would then lose the property. Dorothea is shocked and hurt by this and is also distressed at the feeling of repulsion generated in her towards Casaubon, and she also feels frustrated that she can’t now give Will the property even though she is convinced that he has moral claim to it, as her doing this would just confirm people’s suspicions that Will had greedily schemed to obtain it and this was what drove Casaubon to block him. Lydgate visits Dorothea to see how she is coping and if he can aid her at all with his medical skill, and she shares with him her wish to go to Lowick Manor to check on things, and he agrees to this, privately recognising that she has been controlled and repressed during her married life so perhaps she should have the freedom to act as she wishes now. At Lowick Manor, she searches through all the drawers and paperwork but finds no personal message to her from Casaubon, which hurts her and makes her realise how little he thought of her. She also finds no detailed instructions of what she was to do with his book, although she thinks that she is less keen to follow any instructions now she has seen what a suspicious and secretive man he really was. Eeek, a codicil reminds me of Dickens’ Bleak House and the decades-long hunt for the Jarndyce will with its suspected codicil. But grrrr, how could Casaubon do this?! I was worried at how hurt Dorothea would be when she learnt of how her husband had suspected her and I feared she would also begin questioning her behaviour and looking for instances where he may have judged that she had behaved inappropriately with Will (even though she hadn’t), particularly if local gossip reflected this as well. Though it’s very interesting that her feelings (after the initial shock and hurt) are all about the detriment to Will that this codicil will cause, and also how the codicil seemed to allow her to contemplate for the first time if Will had actually hoped to marry her (and as Celia identified at the beginning of the book, Dorothea is often blind to others’ feelings towards herself, shown again by her surprise that Will may have felt that way about her, bless her), and I did smile when she felt a ‘sudden strange yearning of heart’ when she thought about Will perhaps wanting to marry her, awww! And on a side point, I had to squeal when Celia was talking about the chance of Dorothea marrying Will being as unlikely as her deciding to ‘marry an Italian with white mice’, as was this a reference to Count Fosco in Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, one of my favourite books ever? And I also love how enthralled Celia is with baby Arthur, and also how more confident being a mother has made her, it’s so sweet to see. I was heartened at Sir James’ disgust at Casaubon’s actions, and his belief wholeheartedly in Dorothea’s virtue, but am a little worried at Sir James possibly blaming Will as I fear that if he criticises Will it may make Dorothea feel again that she had done something inappropriate in forming a friendship with Will. And I obviously immediately agreed with Celia telling Dorothea that Casaubon was a spiteful man and that it is a mercy he has died (yes!), but then I remembered Casaubon’s own self-doubts and low self-esteem both about his work and about how Dorothea really felt about him so I did then feel a little sympathy with him and could see how this caused him to act in this way (wrong though it was). Lydgate was lovely with Dorothea too, recognising how she had been repressed in her marriage and realising that being confined (however kindly) to Freshitt Hall is further subduing her free will.
Lydgate takes the chance, when speaking again with Dorothea, to suggest Farebrother for the vacant Lowick Church living, stating what a good man he is. Dorothea is interested in this suggestion and promises to listen to Farebrother preach, and then offers him the position which he delightedly accepts. His mother and aunt and sister are equally as delighted and proud of him, and his aunt hides an extra sugar lump in her bag for the poor children in acknowledgement that they will soon have more money. His sister teases him about him now getting a wife and suggests Mary Garth as they all like her. Meanwhile, Will hasn’t heard the gossip about him regarding Casaubon’s will, but he has been thinking a lot about Dorothea and now feels that she is even more distanced from him with her inherited money and decides therefore to leave Middlemarch in order to succeed elsewhere, hoping that in five years’ time when he has attained success and is closer to her social level he will then return and tell her of his love for her. Meanwhile Brooke is humiliated in his bid to become a politician so decides to step down from this and to travel. Oh, I’d always presumed Mary and Fred would be together and was beginning to be happier with that, but now I would quite like her to be with Farebrother, as I like him so much and I could see them being well-suited. I also loved Farebrother’s aunt squirrelling away her sugar lumps, bless her. And it’s lovely how proud the ladies are of Farebrother, and one of his first thoughts was how their lives will be improved by this good fortune, and indeed I am very delighted he has this position, I had hoped that good things would happen to him. And Will is so sensitive to perceived slights and still makes impetuous decisions, with him determining to leave Middlemarch and then feeling stubbornly that he won’t do so if that is what people expect him to do, it makes me feel that he isn’t just distanced from Dorothea by social class but also by his immaturity!
Fred returns from college having attained his degree. He speaks about still not feeling suited for, or interested in, a career in the church but says that there are no other options for him, and asks Farebrother to speak to Mary (who is helping the family move to Lowick Church) in order to sound out her feelings about him, as if she would consider marrying him then he will go into the church in order to make her happy but if she won’t consider marrying him then he feels he may as well try his luck with some other type of work. Farebrother duly speaks to Mary. He firstly tells her that he knows about the non-burning of Featherstone’s will (as Mary’s father had told Farebrother this in confidence, after she had told her father) and reassures her that her actions then made no difference to the outcome as the first will probably would have been found invalid anyway, and he doesn’t want what he will next say to her to be influenced by her believing that she owes Fred. He then passes on Fred’s message. Mary says firmly that Fred should only ask her to marry him when he has done something worthy with his life, no matter what career this is. Farebrother then asks if she will stay single waiting for Fred to do something worthy or if she would consider another man instead of Fred, and it suddenly occurs to Mary that Farebrother might have feelings for her and she is confused by this. She says firmly that although she cannot promise to marry Fred, she cannot imagine having feelings for another man. Meanwhile, Bulstrode has bought Stone Court from Rigg, and he is having work done there before they move into it. He meets Raffles there, who refers to Bulstrode and himself knowing one another earlier in their lives, though Bulstrode is not pleased to see Raffles and Raffles clearly enjoys his ability to tease him. Raffles alludes to things that Bulstrode did 25 years ago, mentioning that Bulstrode chose not to tell the elderly lady ‘that he’d found her daughter and her grandchild’ and he mentions Bulstrode’s stepdaughter Sarah and her husband Ladislaw. Bulstrode also questions why Raffles returned from America, after his new life there was funded by Bulstrode. Bulstrode agrees to give Raffles the large sum of money he demands on condition he leaves the area, though he fears Raffles will return again for more money. Oooh, what did Bulstrode do in the past that he is so eager to conceal? I thought at first that the ‘old lady’ was Bulstrode’s mother and he had lied to her about how poor his wife was, but I think now it sounds like he married this ‘old lady’ and inherited her money when she died after concealing the existence of her daughter who should have inherited her money, eeek! And I’m puzzled by the name of Ladislaw! I’m guessing this is something to do with Will’s grandmother Julia who married shamefully and was cut off from the family’s money, so was this elderly lady Julia, and Sarah was her daughter, and Will is then Sarah’s son? But if so, then how did Julia have money to leave anyone after she died, as she was excluded from the family due to her marriage, or did her husband then later succeed in life and become rich? Has Will been denied money from his grandmother’s family (Casaubon’s family) due to them disinheriting his grandmother, and also denied money from his grandmother due to Bulstrode taking it? Hmmm, I look forward to finding out more about this! And I doubt that Raffles will be content with this one payment, he will surely come back asking for more, and clearly has successfully blackmailed Bulstrode in the past with his move to America being funded by Bulstrode. I almost feel sorry for Bulstrode with how hard he must have worked to build a respectful life for himself and now he’s facing this all unravelling unless he agrees to be blackmailed by Raffles. I’ve even gone further in my mind and wondered how Bulstrode can end this blackmail by Raffles, surely it would only end by him killing Raffles, but would Bulstrode do that?! And I’m intrigued that it sounds like Bulstrode’s strict religious views, which he frequently preaches to others, are actually his way of paying penance and clearing his conscience of the ‘secret misdeeds’ he did in the past, and I sense if his neighbours discover what he has done then they will enjoy watching his downfall and disgrace after he has lectured to them about virtuous behaviour for so long, oooh, I think this will be interesting! And what an irony that Raffles only learnt about Bulstrode being in the area by absentmindedly taking that letter from Rigg’s desk when he was trying to beg money from Rigg, what a fateful blow for Bulstrode, and it also seems wrong that someone like Raffles should have fate helping him in that way. I am chuckling a little at the coincidences here though, that Featherstone and Bulstrode and Will have all ended up in the same area of England which then meant that Featherstone’s secret son Rigg came to that area and therefore Riggs’ stepfather Raffles came to that area too who has a connection with Bulstrode, plus Will is also in that same area due to being related to Casaubon and there seems to be a connection between Will and Bulstrode as well! But where would wonderful fiction like this be without these coincidences?! And amongst all this drama, omg I really felt for poor Farebrother, how awful to be asked to plead Fred’s case to Mary when he himself wishes to marry Mary! But what a lovely lovely man he is to actually do that! Grrrr, I am feeling more and more that Mary would be far better off with Farebrother though, rather than Fred!
Dorothea goes back to live permanently at Lowick Manor, explaining to Celia that she wishes to get to know the Farebrother family better and to speak to them about what might need doing for the local residents, but she acknowledges privately that she is returning as she is keen to see Will and knows that he often visits the Farebrothers. A few days later, Will comes to see her to say goodbye, explaining that he is going away to build his career as a barrister and in politics, adding that it will be a long time before he returns. He is desperate for Dorothea to show some feelings for him and to say she will miss him or beg him not to go, but he feels unable to declare his feelings to her as he doesn’t want it to seem like he is after her fortune. Dorothea however presumes that Will is going away as he only ever viewed her as a friend and is now embarrassed to be presumed by others (due to Casaubon’s will) to have feelings for her, and she is also preoccupied with guilt that he has to earn his living when she has the money which she feels should have been rightfully his. Therefore neither of them voice their true feelings. Sir James then arrives, so Will swiftly leaves. Dorothea is surprised at the grief and loss she feels after Will has gone, and she keeps the miniature of Will’s grandmother near her and often looks at it as it reminds her of him. Arrrgghh, arrrgghh, arrrgghh, I feel so sad and frustrated that Dorothea and Will both misunderstood each other and held back about their feelings, resulting in them being apart when they could be together! The author’s description of them was so tragic, ‘they were like two creatures slowly turning to marble in each other’s presence, while their hearts were conscious and their eyes were yearning…each was left to conjecture what was in the other’. I was screaming at them in my head whilst reading it, and I’ve never been more annoyed at Sir James for turning up then and effectively driving Will away before one of them could have possibly felt brave enough to say how they felt, wow, that was tense to read! But I must be heartened by the fact that there is still a chunk of the book to go so perhaps they will get together, and also perhaps it would be too early for them to get together now as perhaps both need to develop more, Will to become more mature and learn more life-skills, and Dorothea to become more independent and confident and enjoy being in charge of her own life and also to know her mind a bit more thoroughly, as it was very poignant that the author said of Dorothea that ‘she did not know then that it was Love who had come to her…that it was Love to whom she was sobbing her farewell…she only felt that there was something irrevocably amiss and lost in her lot’, oh Dorothea, she is such a complex and complicated character and makes her own life so complex and complicated! I just hope we do have them together in the end, please please please! And on a side note, I did chuckle at Dorothea’s lessened enthusiasm for her nephew, feeling that baby Arthur ‘is apt to appear monotonous, and the interest of watching him exhaustible’, tee hee!
Caleb now works on Dorothea’s land and on Sir James’ land and on Brooke’s land (Brooke having gone abroad) so is thinking he could do with someone to help him with this increased workload. Fred asks Caleb if he can work for him, also sharing his hope to eventually marry Mary if he can make something of himself. Caleb thinks about this and talks to Susan, who isn’t keen on Fred being helped by Caleb or him hoping to marry their daughter, as she thinks him unreliable and not deserving of another chance, and she had also hoped that Mary would marry Farebrother, and she shares her frustration with Caleb that Fred had inadvertently interfered with this by sending Farebrother as an envoy to Mary to plead for him. However Caleb decides to employ Fred, seeing it as his duty to help him. Fred later speaks to Susan, trying to repair their relationship, but she is very curt with him and blurts out that Farebrother had feelings for Mary and she would have done better with him than Fred, which Susan immediately regrets saying. Fred then feels jealous of Farebrother and sulks with Mary, saying he knows she prefers Farebrother to him, at which she calls him ridiculous and reminds him how kind Farebrother has been to them. Fred tells his parents of his change in career. His father is disappointed but accepts Fred’s decision, but his mother is unhappy at the news as she sees it as increasing the likelihood of him marrying Mary and she had always hoped he could do better. Awww, I do love Caleb and I’m so pleased at how things are improving for him now, I especially liked how he spoke to Fred about the importance of loving your work and having pride in what you do, and the author’s descriptions of Caleb just paint him so accurately as the wonderful man I feel he is, that he ‘knew little of any fear except the fear of hurting others’, and Susan’s view of him as ‘the best and cleverest man I had ever known…our children have a good father’, bless him! And I feel frustrated that both Susan and Mrs Vincy don’t want Fred and Mary to marry, just like me as I want her to marry Farebrother and I genuinely think he would make her happier than Fred would as Fred is quite childish and selfish by comparison to him, and yet I sense the author is intending Fred and Mary to marry, sigh! And one last note on this family, I did squeal that Susan was reading Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe to her children, ‘reading aloud from that beloved writer who has made a chief part in the happiness of many young lives’, oooh, I have actually just begun reading Ivanhoe so I am now even more enthused by it knowing that Susan and Elliot both love it! And it’s very interesting that this is the time of the railways coming, as well as the time of the Reform Bill, the author has certainly set her book in a time of great change both for the country and for her characters.
Rosamond’s baby dies when it is born prematurely, thought to be because she secretly went horse-riding when warned not to by Lydgate. She had gone against his advice on this matter because she wished to impress his cousin, Captain Lydgate (the son of Lydgate’s rich uncle Sir Godwin) who was staying with them, as she hoped that this would improve their connection with the family, as she is still aiming to improve their social standing. Lydgate feels himself gradually withdrawing from his wife and confiding in her less, though he still loves her, and she feels hurt and offended at his anger. He tries to speak to her about the debt they are in and his ideas of how they can reduce their spending and also wishes to share with her the shame and misery he feels about this debt, hoping for her sympathy and support and her promise that they can economise together. However, Rosamond is horrified at the news that they are in debt and at the idea of economising, and suggests borrowing money from her father or them moving closer to Lydgate’s rich uncle, Sir Godwin, in order to benefit from his money, which angers Lydgate and he snaps at her. Meanwhile, Raffles is at an auction in Middlemarch at which Will is also present (as Will has not yet left the area) and Raffles hears Will’s surname and recognises it as the name of the husband of the missing daughter from Bulstrode’s past. He tries to speak to Will about this, asking him if his mother’s name was Sarah Dunkirk, saying he knew both her and Will’s father in Boulogne when his father was very ill, also saying he knows the reason why his mother ran away from her family and hinting that it was because she disapproved of her family’s connection with a ‘high style of receiving-house’. But Will scorns him and is angry that he seems to be trying to disparage his mother, though he reflects afterwards that his mother had never told him why she ran away from her family so then wonders if it was indeed because she didn’t approve of some dishonourable way of earning money, and he then considers how Dorothea would disapprove of him even more if she learnt of this. Hmmm, this is interesting and I’m not quite sure what this ‘high style of receiving-house’ is, is it money-lenders perhaps? And it seems like Julia (Will’s grandmother) and her husband got involved in this ‘receiving-house’ and earned substantial money from it but Will’s mother Sarah disapproved of this and ran away, so it’s interesting that both mother (Julia) and daughter (Sarah) ran away from their families! And I did find the auction scene amusing with the auctioneer’s quick sales prattle, saying ‘If I had less of a conscience, I should not wish you to bid high for this lot, I have a longing for it myself’, and when a painting attracts only a low bid he appeals to the status of the town saying ‘suppose it should be discovered hereafter that a gem of art has been amongst us in this town and nobody in Middlemarch awake to it’, and also stating how useful it is to have a sharp object in the house (one of the items for sale) in case someone accidentally hangs himself and that the item would be ‘an appropriate thing for a spare bedroom where there was a four-poster and a guest a little out of his mind’, tee hee, what a big talker! And oh dear, Rosamond and Lydgate seem to be very far apart in what they want from life and from their marriage, she feeling that ‘what she liked to do was to her the right thing and all her cleverness was directed to getting the means of doing it’, and he feeling ‘an amazed sense of his powerlessness over Rosamond…affection did not make her compliant…how far he had travelled from his old dreamland, in which Rosamond Vincy appeared to be that perfect piece of womanhood who would reverence her husband’s mind’, so both of them feeling that they should be the dominant one in the relationship instead of working together and compromising. And as much as I like Lydgate (and slightly dislike Rosamond) I do feel he is as much to blame here as she is, although I guess men at that time were brought up to believe they were dominant over women so perhaps his belief in this is easier to understand. I feel I should therefore actually be applauding Rosamond for striving to be her husband’s equal, and I even wonder if he would actually listen and respect her wish for a voice as I think he is a modern man and is kind-hearted and open to change and does love her, but she goes about it all the wrong way, being sneaky and going behind his back rather than just sharing her ideas openly, and this method then makes him feel undermined and belittled and like he can’t trust her and he then expresses this in anger which then further drives her away from him and confirms her view that he wants to suppress her, arrrgggh, I want to shake them both! And I can see how their differing views over money just creates more disharmony, I want to applaud Lydgate for planning to deal with their debt by economising but Rosamond wants just the opposite and thinks it is better for them to borrow more money as she is desperate not to lower their social standing at all, so again they are so far apart in their solutions to their difficulties, and I felt it was tragic when Lydgate built up his courage to approach her about the debt but then felt ‘she had no more identified herself with him than if they had been creatures of different species and opposing interests’, sigh, they are just so very different and I find it hard to ever imagine them aligned! And yet I do wonder how much of Rosamond’s behaviour is due to her sadness and grief at losing the baby, although I’m surprised that there doesn’t seem to be that much sign of this grief and loss from her but was this just the time they were living in, I wonder, perhaps losing a child was more common then (tragically), but I still feel sure that she must feel this grief and loss and I do feel very sorry for her. I am also beginning to see similarities between Lydgate and Dorothea too, with their sad realisations in the deficiencies of their spouse and how ill-suited they are/were to them. And it is interesting that Lydgate compares Rosamond to Dorothea in his mind too.
Raffles turns up at Bulstrode’s house when Bulstrode isn’t there and talks to his wife Harriet in a very familiar way which makes her uncomfortable, and also makes her apprehensive when he says he is an old friend of her husband’s as this reminds Harriet that she knew little of her husband’s earlier life apart from the fact that he had been married before and made lots of money but had come from a lower social standing than herself, she being a Vincy. Raffles then goes to the bank to see Bulstrode and tells him about seeing Will and then demands more money from him. Bulstrode reflects back on his life, his early beginnings in an orphanage and being educated at a charity school, then getting a job as a clerk in a bank and then rising to higher positions in the bank, then becoming friendly with the very influential local Dunkirk family who made their money from a West End pawnbrokers, and him then becoming involved in this business himself, then Mr Dunkirk dying and Bulstrode marrying Mrs Dunkirk. Bulstrude further reflects on how Mrs Dunkirk, when planning to marry him, was keen to provide for her lost daughter and possible grandchildren so wanted to state as part of the marriage agreement that a provision of her property would go to her daughter, and his own promise to search for the daughter and him subsequently finding her but then feeling strongly that he as a religious and good man could do far more beneficial things with his future wife’s money than a wayward daughter could and that God would surely wish this too, so his concealment of the fact that he had found the daughter and him convincing his future wife that her daughter was dead, resulting in him inheriting all her money when she then died. He also reflects that her money he inherited had been gained from a pawnbroker business, and although he knows he has done nothing illegal he is terrified when he considers the loss of respect his current wife and friends and neighbours would feel for him if they discovered that his money came from a pawnbroker business and also that he effectively stole this money from his stepdaughter. And he also feels helpless against Raffles’ continuing threats and demands, ‘unless providence sent death to hinder him’. Hmmm, so we’ve finally got the full story of how the Dunkirk family earned their money (through a pawnbroking business!) and who is who, and what Bulstrode did and what information Raffles has over him! So Bulstrode married Julia then (becoming her second husband), and her missing daughter (whose existence Bulstrode concealed) was indeed Will’s mother Sarah. All the threads from the past are gradually coming together now, it’s very delicious! And I am feeling a little sorry for Bulstrode too, even though he cheated and schemed and lied to get Will’s mother’s inheritance, as his current wife’s and neighbours’ good opinion of him, and his own good opinion of himself too, is so important to him, and I found very significant the line, ‘the loss of high consideration from his wife as from every one else…would be as the beginning of death to him’. But somehow Eliot manages to write in a way which evokes sympathy for unsympathetic characters such as Casaubon and Bulstrode, I feel annoyed at both of them when the book isn’t infront of me but when I am reading it with the way she describes their anguish along with their stubbornness and selfishness, I end up feeling a twinge of sympathy for them, she is indeed a very clever writer! And I love the line, ‘when we look through the window from a lighted room, the objects we turn our backs on are still before us, instead of the grass and the trees’, what a beautiful way to describe how the past can haunt us, even if we try determinedly not to think of it, and using the example of a lighted window which mirrors the past in its reflection is a really clever analogy. I am surprised though that Bulstrode never recognised Will’s surname of Ladislaw and then realised he was his wife Julia’s grandson, but perhaps Bulstrode never had dealings with Will during his time in Middlemarch. And I also wonder how Raffles knows all this history of the family! I remember he said to Will that he knew Will’s father and mother, but though they would perhaps discuss with Raffles the reason why she (Sarah) had left her family, how would they have known that Bulstrode concealed the existence of Sarah, as even if Sarah had heard of her mother dying I can’t imagine her pursuing any inheritance (and realising Bulstrode cheated her out of this) as she would surely have disapproved of where this money had come from (the pawn-broking business), and how would they learn that Bulstrode had concealed her existence from her mother, for them to then repeat all this to Raffles? But, eeek, Raffles’ death has certainly occurred to Bulstrode as the only way to free himself from that man’s demands, though only at the moment he is thinking only of ‘providence’ stepping in, but will he engineer Raffles’ death, I wonder, though how on earth could he begin to justify this action to himself and to his God?
Bulstrode decides that a way to try and assuage his conscience and hopefully be saved by God would be if he was to offer Will the money that was due to his mother. He therefore speaks to Will, explaining that he was married to Will’s grandmother, though giving no other details of how his grandmother wanted to provide for Will and his mother, and offers Will an annual sum and also states that he will leave money in his will for him. Will instantly suspects this is something to do with Raffles and accuses Bulstrode of knowing that his mother was alive and of concealing this fact, which Bulstrode reluctantly admits, and he also accuses Bulstrode of offering money to him which had been gained from a dishonourable business. Will rejects this ‘ill-gotten’ money, saying his honour is important to him, and that his mother had distanced herself from the stain of the family business so he will distance himself from it also. Bulstrode is completely unprepared for Will’s reaction, and breaks down after Will leaves. Will has not yet left Middlemarch, and then he hears of the codicil in Casaubon’s will and this determines him even more to leave Middlemarch and Dorothea as he feels he couldn’t be the cause of making her penniless by marrying him and he also feels ashamed of how his family earned their money. But he decides to meet with Dorothea one last time before he leaves. When they meet, they are both eager not to alarm the other with their feelings of love and both are full of doubt as to how the other feels, so consequently they both appear far more uncaring to each other than they actually feel, though Will tries to cautiously speak of renounced love but she presumes he is speaking of his feelings for Rosamond so doesn’t respond in the way Will had hoped she would and this confirms to him that she doesn’t care for him. They are interrupted by the footman, so Will abruptly says goodbye. After he has gone however, Dorothea begins to cherish a little hope that perhaps his words meant that it was she who he loved and renounced, not Rosamond. Arrgh, what a scene, ‘the passionate love for her which he forbade himself to utter’! Omg, I was so hopeful that this second meeting between them would be the time they actually declared their love for each other, I was on the edge of my seat throughout it all, and the misunderstandings between them were just maddening! I am beginning to wonder now if Eliot will let them be together, they just seem so far apart both mentally and physically (now he seems determined this time to actually leave Middlemarch) that it’s hard to imagine this ever happening, sigh! And poor Bulstrode too, Will couldn’t have picked a more cutting way to hurt him than by talking about honour, as Bulstrode’s honour is so important to him!
Lydgate tells Rosamond that they must give up their present large house and take a smaller house in the neighbourhood in order to reduce their expenses, but Rosamond is horrified at this idea and feels instead that them leaving the area would be less humiliating, and they argue, both trying to convince the other of their point of view. She then contacts the estate agent who Lydgate has instructed to find them a smaller property, saying they have changed their minds, and she writes to Sir Godwin explaining their money difficulties and asking him for help. Lydgate then discovers that Rosamond had cancelled the instruction to the estate agent, and he despairs what else to do so finally decides to approach his uncle and appeal to him for help. Sir Godwin sends a curt reply to Lydgate, admonishing him for getting his wife to write to him to appeal for money, ‘a roundabout wheedling sort of thing which I should not have credited you with’, and adds that he has no money at present to offer. Lydgate is very angry at Rosamond, and she cries, saying she never dreamt that marriage to him would mean that they would struggle for money, and states how very unhappy she is and that she wishes she’d died along with the baby. Omg, omg, omg, I thought the recent scene with Dorothea and Will was emotionally tough to read, but then there is this equally emotionally tough scene with Lydgate and Rosamond, I feel exhausted! It’s just tragic and awful watching the disintegration of their marriage like this, with Lydgate telling Rosamond that ‘it will be impossible to endure life with you if you will always be acting secretly, acting in opposition to me and hiding your actions…you have always been counteracting me secretly. You delude me with a false assent, and then I am at the mercy of your devices…nothing can be so fatal as a want of openness and confidence between us’, omg, that just sounds so final, I can’t see how they can ever repair the damage from this. Eliot is relentless with the heartbreaking lines, she just knows how to tug at my heartstrings, as Lydgate’s feelings really stick with me and make me want to sob, with him feeling that this is ‘as if a fracture in delicate crystal had begun, and he was afraid of any movement that might make it fatal’, and yet his optimistic wish to make Rosamond see that this ‘is only a narrow swamp that we have to pass in a long journey’, and then his heartbreaking thought that their marriage will likely be him ‘loving without too much care of being loved’, oh, poor poor man, but what beautiful poignant heartbreaking words that Eliot writes, is there any other author like her? Poor Lydgate, with the humiliation of being thought by his uncle to have asked his wife to beg for money, I couldn’t help feeling that he restrained his anger to Rosamond amazingly well considering the provocation, phew, I could almost feel him boiling through the pages of the book as he read his uncle’s letter and I was getting more and more tense at how he would explode! And then Rosamond feeling she was ‘in such entire disgust at her husband that she wished that she had never seen him’ and feeling ‘quite distinct from loving him’, sigh, sigh, sigh! And sigh, I really do try to see things from her point of view and to understand why she acts as she does, as I can imagine that she has no other concept of how life should be as she has been taught that a high social standing and an extravagant lifestyle which displays this are the most important things in life, and also with what little life-lessons and guidance there was given to women like Rosamond at that time then I imagine she would be very naive in how this was to be gained and sustained, and I feel the line that she thought she ‘had always acted for the best, the best naturally being what she best liked’ is such a significant indication of how she was brought up. And she is grieving for her baby, I keep remembering that, and I feel her mentioning how she wishes she had died along with the baby does hint at how this might have affected her. But she just seems so shallow in comparison to Lydgate and she frustrates me unbelievably when she goes behind his back (I wanted to explode at her when she contacted the uncle, never mind Lydgate exploding at her!) and she can’t see that they would be stronger if they pulled together, but instead he is pulling on his own whilst also having to try and remedy her actions of pulling in the opposite direction to him, why can’t she see how she is damaging their relationship by doing this?
While in the depths of despair, Lydgate impulsively joins in with some gambling at a pub. Fred is also there gambling and is shocked to see Lydgate joining in so extricates him with a feeble excuse in order to try and save his pride. Farebrother learns about Fred’s gambling and speaks to him about this, pointing out that it is something which Mary would disapprove of and her father would disapprove too which could jeopardise Fred’s new career with her father. Farebrother admits to Fred that he was tempted not to warn Fred about this in order to improve his own chance with Mary but he resisted this temptation. Fred is very grateful to Farebrother, and resolves to act better in future. Lydgate is disgusted with himself for being desperate enough to consider gambling, and decides to ask Bulstrode for money as he does not receive a wage working at the hospital and yet the hospital work has affected his own surgery practice, even though asking for this galls him as he has always been proud of his independence from Bulstrode. However Bulstrode says he has no money to lend, and adds that he is probably going to step back from his business interests and move away with his wife to live at the coast, due to his health, and that he has asked Dorothea to take over the running and investment in the hospital. Bulstrode has also asked Caleb to manage the house and land at Stone Court for him, so Caleb suggests that Fred could manage this, with Caleb’s supervision. Bulstrode initially isn’t keen on Fred managing Stone Court but thinks that knowing her nephew is benefitting would help his wife adjust to the huge change in their lives. Bulstrode then tells Raffles that he will continue to pay him if Raffles leaves Middlemarch, but that he will not pay him if Raffles stays in Middlemarch and that he is willing to risk Raffles telling the Middlemarch residents about him, and adds that Raffles is to leave the area immediately otherwise he will call the police. Raffles leaves. Wow, I’m impressed at how Bulstrode stands up to Raffle, but it seems so unfair that Bulstrode is being driven away and having to consider starting his life again all due to Raffles’ blackmailing (well, I guess it’s due to the choices Bulstrode made in his earlier life as well, but being blackmailed for these choices does seem an extremely harsh punishment). And awww, well done to Fred for trying to help Lydgate, but poor Lydgate for being driven to that! And poor Farebrother too with his love for Mary and yet seeing her prefer another man, and what a wonderful person he is to then help this rival! And I did like Fred a bit more for appreciating how generous Farebrother has been regarding this (though I still wish Mary would choose Farebrother!).
Caleb speaks to Bulstrode a few days later, saying he had found Raffles extremely ill on the road near Stone Court so he has taken Raffles into Stone Court, and Caleb suggests that Bulstrode call a doctor for him. But Caleb then adds that he can no longer work for Bulstrode so Bulstrode realises that Raffles has told Caleb about his history, though Caleb says he will tell no-one else of this. Lydgate comes to treat Raffles and diagnoses alcohol poisoning. Bulstrode says he will stay at Stone Court and nurse Raffles himself (as he wants to avoid anyone else being able to hear anything that Raffles says), so Lydgate gives him the medical instructions but stresses that on no account must he be given any alcohol, which Lydgate explains is contrary to current medical opinion as most doctors believe that giving alcohol is the best treatment, however Lydgate has read deeply on this subject and is keen to try his method of not giving any alcohol. Raffles deteriorates and is wakeful and restless and raving, seeing imaginary figures and saying someone is after him, and he cannot remember things, though he frequently pleads for brandy. Meanwhile, one of Lydgate’s creditors takes their furniture, and Rosamond informs Lydgate that she is moving back to live with her parents until he can provide a home for her. Oh, poor poor Lydgate, it’s all just falling apart for him, just as things are falling apart for Bulstrode, these are tough passages to read, it’s all getting a bit brutal as these successful powerful men fall! And my heart broke for Lydgate when he sobbed to Rosamond, ‘let us only love one another’ thinking that if they had love then they could see this trial through, but she ‘could not bear to look at him’! And his realisation of his powerlessness to comfort her, that they are too far apart now to be able to find a common ground and his tragic thought that, ‘it was more bearable to do without tenderness for himself than to see that his own tenderness could make no amends for the lack of other things to her’. And poor Bulstrode too, having thought he had escaped Raffles, the man is back and is actually at Stone Court and he is obliged to call in a doctor for him. How he must have wished that Caleb had found Raffles dead rather than just ill, that would have solved all his problems! But oooooh, I wonder if this is going to be too much for Bulstrode to resist, would he be tempted to supposedly accidentally let Raffles consume alcohol, knowing that it would likely kill him and therefore Bulstrode’s problem has disappeared? As he is Raffles sole carer now, that would be possible if he was so tempted! I note that at the moment Bulstrode ‘inwardly declared that he intended to obey orders’ but how long will that last, particularly as he seems to have the recurring thought that ‘he could not but see the death of Raffles, and see in it his own deliverance…Raffles dead was the image that brought release, and indirectly he prayed for that way of release’, so how long will he continue to just pray for it?! But I worry then about the possible consequences of this on Lydgate (if Bulstrode does act as I suspect he may act), as Lydgate is taking a risk in going against current medial opinion with his belief that the avoidance of alcohol benefits the patient so if Raffles dies (through Bulstrode secretly going against Lydgate’s advice and giving Raffles alcohol) then could Lydgate be accused of killing him by mistaken medical advice?! And awww, Caleb was wonderful with how he felt pity for Bulstrode, saying ‘I daresay you repent, you would like to go back and can’t, that must be a bitter thing’, and I respected how he promised he wouldn’t share Bulstrode’s story with anyone else, even though morally he felt that he couldn’t continue to work for him. But surely gossip will get around, people will realise there is a reason why Caleb has refused to work for Bulstrode! Though I am a bit surprised at Caleb believing Raffles’ story, given Raffles’ appearance and character compared with Bulstrode’s appearance and character (even though obviously what Raffles says is the truth), but perhaps the details that Raffles gave to Caleb were so very specific that they couldn’t be doubted. And I guess it is hard on Bulstrode that he can’t right his wrongs, even though he has obviously tried to live a good life since by doing charitable works and being very moral and religious, I guess if his stepdaughter was still alive then he could try to make amends by giving his money to her but she is no longer alive, and of course he tried to make amends in the next best way by offering money to Will but this was refused. He must feel like there is nothing he can do to put his past actions right, no matter how much he regrets those past actions, and I can’t help feeling sorry for him regarding that and how powerless he is, I honestly can’t think what he could do. I guess perhaps telling everyone what he has done and giving away all his money, to charity if Will doesn’t want it, would be the only thing he could do, but that seems huge and it’s still not really benefitting the people he hurt (his first wife and his stepdaughter) so would that fully erase his past actions or would he just make himself miserable and poverty-stricken for nothing (and his wife too), and he has done good work since and helped people. Hmmm, I guess this is where the moral of the situation comes in, but it’s certainly a tough one for me to decide! I wonder what the author thinks Bulstrode can do to make amends, it will be interesting to see!
Bulstrode worries that by refusing to lend Lydgate money he risks making an enemy of him, so he decides to lend Lydgate the money in order to hopefully make Lydgate feel loyal to him just in case Raffles does say anything to Lydgate, and Lydgate is delighted at this. Bulstrode is exhausted so decides not to watch over Raffles that night and asks his housekeeper to do this instead, as he feels reassured that Raffles won’t talk to her as he is now just muttering rather than raving or talking coherently, and Bulstrode relays Lydgate’s instructions about the doses of opium. He suddenly remembers that he hadn’t told the housekeeper when to stop the doses of opium, and gets up to tell her this but then stops and goes to bed. The housekeeper later knocks on his door asking if she can give some brandy to Raffles as this is the usual treatment and he is clearly suffering. There is a long pause, and then Bulstrode hands her the key to the drinks cabinet. In the morning, Bulstrode goes to see Raffles and can immediately tell he isn’t just in a deep sleep but that it is unconsciousness and he will shortly die. He removes the brandy bottle and the opium. Lydgate later arrives and is surprised to see the deterioration in Raffles, and feels uneasy about this but feels he cannot question Bulstrode without causing offence, and he also wonders if his treatment could have been wrong. Omg, omg, omg, that was such a dramatic chapter to read, and Bulstrode has done it, he has killed Raffles, omg, I really wasn’t sure until the end of the chapter if it would actually happen like that or not, phew! Well, I guess Bulstrode can perhaps try and convince himself that he was only guilty of negligence due to exhaustion in not giving his housekeeper the correct instructions, he didn’t actually administer the extra opium or the alcohol himself. But I do have a bad feeling how this will go for both Bulstrode and Lydgate. However, no-one but Caleb knows about the hold Raffles had over Bulstrode, so perhaps he has got away with it, although I suspect he will continue to torture himself with thoughts of what he has done so he hasn’t really got away with it. But I’d feel surprised if the author lets Bulstrode get away with it, and if Bulstrode goes down then I worry that Lydgate will go down with him. But I still can’t help feeling a little sorry for Bulstrode, how he has tortured himself and agonised over this, and there was a line describing his turmoil that really made me feel pity for him, ‘strange piteous conflict in the soul of this unhappy man, who had longed for years to be better than he was’.
Gossip begins in the town when a horse-dealer arrives there who Raffles had spoken to about Bulstrode, and he shares with the locals what Raffles had told him. The gossips then remember that Raffles was staying at Stone Court when he died and that Bulstrode had organised his funeral, and they further remember that Lydgate was the doctor in attendance and his debts have recently been paid by a loan from Bulstrode. During a town meeting about sanitation, Bulstrode addresses the crowd but he is heckled and his honesty challenged, and due to the shock of this he is taken ill whilst on stage, and Lydgate, who is also at the meeting, feels obliged to help him off the stage, though he can hear the whispers from the crowd that this confirms his association with Bulstrode. Lydgate begins to suspect that Bulstrode only lent him the money as a bribe due to his guilty actions and Lydgate desperately wishes he had not accepted the money, but he sees no way to defend himself and even begins to wonder if he would have enquired further into the death of Raffles if Bulstrode had not lent him the money. It is a while before Mrs Bulstrode learns the truth, though she is aware that her friends begin to act differently around her but she is too scared and proud to ask them for details. She eventually goes to her brother, Vincy, who tells her what has happened and promises to support her. She goes home but knows inwardly that she will stand by her husband, and also that this will mean a huge change to their lifestyle so she takes off her fine clothes and jewels and then dresses in simple plain clothes and then goes to him and they cry together. Rosamond also doesn’t hear the gossip and Lydgate doesn’t know how to tell her, but she is eventually told of it by her parents who advise her that she and Lydgate must leave town. Lydgate begins to try and tell her what has happened, expecting her to immediately say that she doesn’t believe him guilty, whereas she expects him to immediately say that he isn’t guilty, so neither end up saying what the other had expected them to say. He is angry and offended and immediately leaves the room, and she returns again to her thoughts about Will and how she wishes he was there to offer her support and comfort. Oh noooo, Bulstrode doesn’t even get a chapter of peace! This is it then, after all the worrying and stress and agonising and eventual action on his part, it has all come to nothing as the story is out anyway. I can’t help feeling sorry for him, I really can’t, just when he thought he was safe and could relax, and it really seems like Eliot has tortured him too as every time he thought he was safe and his hopes began to rise, something else happened, it would almost have been better if this had happened right at the start and his secret became known in the town, as to have hoped so many times that the threat had been averted and then to have his hopes dashed just seems harder on him, poor man! And poor Lydgate too, who genuinely is innocent but whose career and life will surely be blackened by this. It’s just so awful, I almost had my hands over my eyes as I was reading this! And awww, Mrs Bulstrode standing by her man, bless her, what a wonderful wonderful woman, her doing that quite choked me up! And I’m so pleased that Bulstrode has her in his corner when he is so alone and beaten down. But how very brave of her to do that. And I feared that the supporting wife example shown by Mrs Bulstrode would be a stark contrast to how Rosamond would act towards Lydgate when she found out, and sure enough it was, sigh, and yet again there is such a gulf between Lydgate and Rosamond and this is where the misunderstanding grows with their tragic restraint when speaking to each other and them being unable to express how they feel and then being disappointed in the other’s response, as I don’t think Rosamond particularly thought he was guilty, it was just that she expected him to state the words that he wasn’t guilty and was surprised when he didn’t, whereas he felt he didn’t even need to say the words as she should automatically believe in his innocence, and then there was doubt between them again, sigh. And indeed, Lydgate feels that they ‘lived on from day to day with their thoughts still apart…it was as if they were both adrift on one piece of wreck and looked away from each other’, omg, what tragic lines! And there is the hint now that Rosamond is pinning her hopes of happiness on Will’s return, even beginning to think that he would have been a better husband for her than Lydgate, oh dear, this just gets more and more complicated!
Meanwhile, Dorothea feels certain that Lydgate is innocent of what the gossips say against him and she is determined to help him clear his name, so she summons him to Lowick Manor saying she wants to discuss the hospital after Bulstrode has asked her to take over its management. Lydgate tells her that he will likely also be leaving town. She asks if this is due to people not believing in him, and makes it quite clear that she completely believes in him and adds that she feels assured she can reason with others to believe in him also. He is hugely relieved to have someone willing to help and support him, but he shares his fear with Dorothea that having accepted the loan from Bulstrode this perhaps caused him not to act on suspicions he may have had about Raffles’ death, even though he is reticent to accuse Bulstrode of anything suspicious regarding Raffles, and he also admits to her that his own treatment of Raffles was opposite to the approved treatment for that illness. He adds that he will still have to leave town as there is no way to prove to the locals that he didn’t take Bulstrode’s money as a bribe and that Rosamond is determined that they should leave, and adds his fear that Rosamond may think him guilty. Dorothea urges him not to decide anything right now, and suggests that he may be able to build up the locals’ respect again through his good work at the hospital, and she offers to speak to Rosamond to share her own absolute conviction in his innocence and to offer her friendship and support which might then help Rosamond feel more able to stay in the town, which Lydgate gratefully agrees to. When Lydgate has left, she then writes a letter to him begging to be allowed to take over the loan from Bulstrode, saying she has more claim than Bulstrode to the satisfaction of helping him and she puts a cheque inside the letter, planning to take this with her when she visits Rosamond the next day. Awww, Dorothea is so lovely, championing Lydgate and trying to bolster his self-confidence and offering in such a tactful way to speak to Rosamond, which surely must be hard for her to contemplate doing with her being unsure if Will loves Rosamond or not, and her generous plan to offer Lydgate money enabling him to pay back Bulstrode and put some distance between himself and Bulstrode, and yet how poignant too that she can empathise with their marriage difficulties, ‘how well she knew that there might be invisible barriers to speech between husband and wife’. I can’t help feeling a little apprehensive of how Rosamond might show offence at Dorothea’s visit though. And what a contrast this must strike Lydgate as between the two women’s behaviours and surely it must make him wonder again why his own wife can’t seem to trust him as Dorothea can. And Lydgate is such a good man, being honest to Dorothea with his fears that by taking Bulstrode’s money he may not have looked more into Raffles’ death.
Dorothea is filled with thoughts of Will on her journey to see Rosamond, wondering again whether he might actually love her instead of Rosamond, as she had originally presumed. However, when she arrives there she finds Will holding hands with Rosamond, he having returned to the town that day and gone to see Rosamond in order to arrange visiting both the Lydgates that evening. Dorothea is completely shocked to see Will there and in such a compromising position with Rosamond, but manages to say that she has brought a letter for Lydgate and then immediately leaves. Will is distraught at Dorothea seeing him in that situation, which was caused by Rosamond appealing to him to help her in her unhappiness and her taking his hand, particularly as he knows that this must damage Dorothea’s good opinion of him and he also realises that he is unable to explain the situation to Dorothea without putting the blame onto Rosamond which wouldn’t be chivalrous, and he also suspects that Dorothea would not respect him if he did put the blame onto Rosamond, so he vents his anger on Rosamond. She is shocked and deeply hurt by his angry words and at him stating his feelings for Dorothea when she thought he cared for her and had begun to believe that his love could solve all her unhappiness. She is particularly stung by his cutting words regarding Dorothea that ‘no other woman exists by the side of her’, and after he storms out she feels faint and sick and has to be helped to bed by the maid, and then later turns to Lydgate for strength and comfort when he comes home. Will has to go to the Lydgates’ house later that evening as he had arranged to do this and worries about attracting Lydgate’s suspicion if he doesn’t go. It quickly becomes obvious to him that Rosamond has given no hint to Lydgate that he had been at the house earlier that day and what had happened, as Lydgate explains that Rosamond is unable to see him as she is ill in bed. Lydgate tells Will of their recent troubles, not realising that Rosamond had earlier explained all this to Will as well, but Lydgate also mentions how Will’s family was brought into the scandal regarding Bulstrode, and Will is then even more nervous of what Dorothea may think of him after she has learnt about his family history. However, Lydgate also praises Dorothea for being the only person in the town to say that she doesn’t believe the suspicions against him. Meanwhile, Dorothea is exhausted with grief over her love for Will, realising now how much she does love him and also realising that she had always cherished a hope that fate would somehow have brought them together and acknowledging how important her faith and trust in him as a good man was to her, but she ends up feeling angry that he had ever come into her life with his lies. In the morning, however, she feels pity for Will and Rosamond and Lydgate and the complication of their lives, and she determines to see Rosamond to try and help. Omg, that scene as Dorothea was approaching the door of the room when Will and Rosamond were on the other side of the door, it was so dramatic, I almost wanted to cover my eyes whilst reading it! And oh nooooo, I am so upset for Dorothea that this has happened, that her tentative feelings that Will may love her and her slowly beginning to recognise that she loves him, and her loyalty to him in her mind, all ruined and destroyed by seeing him like that with Rosamond, how devastated and hurt and unhappy and disillusioned she is, poor poor Dorothea! What a mess all round, and I am feeling despair at how this could ever be repaired between them and beginning to worry that perhaps Will and Dorothea won’t end up together, arrrgh! I feel desperately sorry for Will too, particularly as he sees no way to explain his innocence to Dorothea, and I feel desperately sorry for Rosamond too who has had her dreams (foolish though they were) torn down around her and trampled on! And when Rosamond laid on her bed ‘as she had done once before on a memorable day of grief’ I presume this was a reference to her lost child and makes me wonder again how much that loss has affected her and her subsequent behaviours. But the only possible good thing to come from this horrible horrible scene (and perhaps I’m clutching at straws here!) is how Rosamond instinctively turns to Lydgate for comfort, hopefully recognising that he loves her as he has never spoken to her in quite such an angry way as Will did and her hopefully then trusting him to support her, and the boost to his self-confidence that her depending on him would give, and maybe this could be the start of a repairing of their relationship? And I’m full of admiration for Dorothea again with the inner strength she manages to find somehow and her determining to feel pity for the difficulties that she imagines Will and Rosamond and Lydgate must face in this love triangle, and her determination to try and help them, wow, I definitely would not be able to be that selfless myself!
Dorothea goes to the Lydgates’ house, and Lydgate thanks her profusely for the cheque, saying he has now sent a cheque to Bulstrode clearing the loan from him. She realises that Lydgate knows nothing of what happened yesterday between Will and Rosamond, and as Lydgate goes out she waits to see Rosamond. Rosamond is reluctant to see Dorothea, presuming that she has come to criticise her for her behaviour with Will and also to gloat that she is Will’s preferred choice, but she feels she cannot refuse to see her now they are beholden to her for money. However, Dorothea immediately speaks to Rosamond of Lydgate’s innocence, saying how she imagines he has found it very difficult to speak about and adding that he only told her about it as she is an indifferent person and she also was very bold and asked him. She says how he regrets not telling Rosamond about the situation, but that this was because he thinks more of her happiness than his own and it hurts him that his misfortunes have hurt Rosamond. She adds that she had asked Lydgate if she might speak to Rosamond because she feels so much for her troubles, and says she hopes that by knowing how well-thought of he is by others this will then give Rosamond courage. Rosamond is very touched by Dorothea’s words and becomes emotional. Dorothea is also trying to suppress her own emotions, and then begins to speak about marriage and the nearness it brings you but also how hard this nearness can be at times, and adds that even if a person loves someone else more than the person they are married to and it might feel very hard to part with that person, it would never bring happiness to either party because it would destroy a marriage and cause pain. Dorothea then becomes overwhelmed with the trial of saying all this in the right way and of trying to suppress her own feelings. Rosamond feels very grateful to Dorothea for her kind tactful words, and though she didn’t intend to share anything she suddenly blurts out that the situation with Will wasn’t as Dorothea thinks it is and that Will was saying to her that he could never love her as he loves Dorothea, and she adds miserably that she knows Will now hates her for being the cause of Dorothea thinking badly of him. Both women are now overwhelmed and struggling with their thoughts and emotions, but Dorothea recognises Rosamond’s generosity in sharing this and she assures her that Lydgate loves her and depends on her for comfort and that better days will come. Lydgate then arrives home and Dorothea leaves. Rosamond gently teases Lydgate but shows him tenderness which he is delighted at, though realising that he will have to always carry her rather than them walking together through life equally. Wow, I think this is one of the most powerful and emotional chapters in literature that I have ever read! What an amazing writer Eliot is! And this chapter partly felt so very powerful because emotional and honest speech between these types of women was usually so restricted due to the rules of etiquette for their social standing so usually topics are just hinted at rather than being directly spoken about and emotions aren’t released (or at least it feels this way in other books of this time that I’ve read), so this really does feel like a remarkable occurrence that we as the readers have witnessed. And wow, I am just full of admiration for lovely Dorothea with how far she has come from the beginning of this book when she seemed to have no idea about people’s feelings, and here she is being incredibly thoughtful and gentle and delicate and empathetic when talking to Rosamond about such difficult subjects and trying to anticipate how Rosamond may feel and phrasing her words accordingly, and even winning Rosamond around, though Rosamond had approached the conversation with Dorothea in a defensive manner. I’m so impressed with how tactfully Dorothea explained how Lydgate had opened up to her when he hadn’t opened up to his wife, so as to avoid Rosamond feeling inadequate or angry that her husband had chosen to speak to another woman rather than her. And all the time this must have been the very last thing Dorothea wanted to speak about (Will’s love for Rosamond, as she imagined it) and yet she still did it, bless her. I think I’ve never liked her as much as I do now, she really is a wonderful human being! I’ve also never liked Rosamond as much as I do now after this scene with Dorothea, when she stopped thinking about herself and was able to feel empathy for Dorothea and wishes to be kind to her and to relieve Dorothea’s distress about Will preferring another woman, and there is no gain to Rosamond for this action, I’m not used to seeing her act when there’s no gain for herself so again I am extremely impressed with Rosamond too! As I said, an extremely powerful scene! But I do feel sadness for Lydgate with the poignancy of his realisation that he will always have to be the strong one in the relationship and carry Rosamond rather than them dealing with things equally together. But then again, this is more than he must have thought possible a few days ago, and at least he is now viewing the marriage and their individual personalities with clear insight. And again, I like Rosamond for being tender to Lydgate and appreciating his worth, and being ‘meek enough to nestle under the old despised shelter’. And all through this my mind was also busy wondering what Dorothea is now thinking, having learnt that Will does love her, eeek!
Will is struggling with his feelings of shock at Lydgate’s money difficulties and shock at Rosamond declaring her feelings to him and shock at what Dorothea must think of him, and in turmoil about how to act regarding any of these. He is keen to support Lydgate in his difficulties but feels dishonest knowing that Lydgate’s wife has feelings for him, and he is also keen to apologise to Rosamond for his overly cruel words said in the heat of the moment but doesn’t want to seem like he is encouraging her hopes. When he goes to Lydgate’s house that evening, Rosamond slips a piece of paper to him when serving him his tea, and when he opens it later (dreading that it will be further details of her feelings for him) he reads that Rosamond has talked to Dorothea and explained the situation to her and that he is to be assured that Dorothea is now ‘not under any mistake about you’ which gives him great relief, although he still worries what Dorothea really thinks of him so he goes to see her. They are both stilted and awkward with each other, maintaining an ‘intolerable durance of formality’, both trying to read what the other is feeling and thinking, both cautious of committing themselves by declaring their feelings. He says he knows that his newly discovered family background wouldn’t have prejudiced her against him, and she says that nothing could have altered her feelings about him apart from learning he wasn’t as good as she believed him to be. He states that he has always been true to her and when he thought she doubted this, that ‘there was nothing to try for, only things to endure’, and she assures him that she doesn’t doubt him any longer. She has been holding her hands clasped together but now reaches out a hand to him, and he raises it to his lips ‘with something like a sob’. They stand silently watching the gathering storm through the window, until a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder makes them automatically seize one another’s hand and dart back from the window. Will then says that he knows it is impossible for them to be together with him being poor and likely to forever be poor, ‘it is impossible for us ever to belong to each other…even if you loved me as well as I love you’. And then ‘it was never known which lips were the first to move towards the other lips, but they kissed tremblingly’, as the rain dashed against the window. Will then angrily says goodbye, adding again that they can never be together due to him being poor, and Dorothea’s heart ‘was full of something that she wanted to say, and yet the words were too difficult’, then she sobs ‘Oh, I cannot bear it, my heart will break…I don’t mind about poverty, I hate my wealth’, declaring that they can live on her own money which she had before she married Casaubon. Omg, omg, omg, omg!!! My heart was beating so fast through that entire scene, I felt I hardly breathed at all! I was hoping against hope that Eliot would be kind to the reader and allow them to be together! Eeek, eeek, eeek, and hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, at last they have spoken about their feelings for each other, phew, phew, phew, I was really beginning to fear that the book would end without this happening and even though I have loved every minute of reading this book and am in such awe of Eliot’s writing, I think I would have struggled to forgive her for not giving us this! But right up to the last minute I still had a doubt if it would happen, in fact, I think I will have to re-read the scene now I know it all works out, as it was so dramatic and my eyes were racing onto the next few sentences in my desperation to see what would happen! But what halting passion between them, I felt I couldn’t bear to omit any of the wonderful lines from that scene, how he takes a cautious step forward in speech and she responds just as cautiously and yet with encouragement, their stilted conversation and gradual halting declaration of their feelings, it was wonderfully done, and the storm was so perfect too reflecting and encouraging the drama inside the house when it builds and breaks and releases its rain at the point that they both build up their courage and finally break through their reserve and release their feelings for each other and kiss, wow, the force and passion of the storm cannot be prevented just as the force and passion of their feelings for each other can’t be prevented! And wow, that line ‘it was never known which lips were the first to move towards the other lips, but they kissed tremblingly’ is now one of my favourite lines in literature ever, swoon swoon swoon, I was almost clapping my hands whilst still trying to hold the book! Eliot has certainly made us wait, but she certainly delivered, bless her! And if I can take a deep breath and return my heart to normal (!), I must also say well done again to Rosamond for writing that note to Will as it must have hurt her pride to do that, but again she wasn’t thinking of herself and was instead thinking of the other person. She has certainly developed in character throughout this book, in fact I guess both of the main women have, Dorothea and Rosamond.
Brooke announces to Celia and Sir James, as well as Sir James’ mother and the Cadwalladers who are also present, that Dorothea intends to marry Will. All are shocked but most try to understand Dorothea’s wish to be happy even though it means she will sacrifice her place in society and her money, but Sir James is very resistant to it and quite angry. Celia goes to see Dorothea, tearful at the thought of how and where they will live, and also that she might not be able to see Dorothea in the future if Sir James continues to be so angry about the situation. Celia asks Dorothea if Will is very fond of her, and is comforted to hear that this is the case and that Dorothea feels the same towards him. Meanwhile Bulstrode and his wife prepare to leave Middlemarch, but though he is grateful for his wife’s support he shrinks from ever telling her, or even putting into words to himself, what happened with Raffles’ death. He also feels guilty at how he has altered her life and situation and brought suffering to her, and he begs that she may request anything from him to make the situation easier for her, so she asks if help can be given to her family and he suggests having Fred manage Stone Court under the guidance of Caleb, and she is pleased at this. Later, Caleb tells Mary of the chance being given to Fred from his Aunt Bulstrode and of how this means that she and Fred could then be married, asking her if this is what she does really want, and she assures him that it is what she wants. Fred then arrives and Mary tells him the news, though jokes and teases him whilst doing so. Hmmm, I realise that I am still not so invested in Mary and Fred’s relationship and not as deeply pleased that they can now be married as I am with Dorothea and Will, I think in my heart I just don’t feel that Fred is good enough for Mary and I still believe that Farebrother would have cherished and loved her more. However, hopefully they will be happy, and it certainly seems like Mary will ensure that there will be laughter in their relationship, with her jokingly saying ‘I should never like scolding anyone else so well’, so that seems healthy for their future. But I wonder what Caleb himself really thinks about if Fred deserves Mary, with the ‘tender gravity in his voice’ and the fact that his voice ‘shook just perceptibly’ when asking her if she really did want to marry Fred. But again, how wonderful a man Caleb is, how I do love him, and I liked that he was one of the final characters that we dealt with in the story, and I liked the telling description of how much he is loved by Mary greeting him with her ‘involuntary smile of loving pleasure’. I do still feel quite sorry for Bulstrode but I am relieved that he has the support of his wife, though I feel it is significant that he can’t even admit to himself yet quite what his part was in Raffles’ death, I think this demonstrates again how he has always followed a false self-built picture of himself and is still following it now, though I can see how this is often easier than facing who you really are. And Mrs Bulstrode has also displayed huge strength, bless her, just as Dorothea and Rosamond have, this really is a book of females pushing themselves to achieve and develop more than they originally thought possible (and what I originally thought was possible of them). And awww, I love the closeness between Dorothea and Celia right to the end, ‘how could anyone understand Dodo so well as Celia did, or love her so tenderly’, bless them, and how much it must have meant to Dorothea to have Celia’s support, bless her.
The Finale chapter details what happened to the characters in later life. Fred and Mary ‘achieved a solid mutual happiness’ and had three sons, with Fred becoming distinguished and well-respected in agricultural circles, sometimes making overly optimistic plans and purchases but mostly being steady and careful and saving enough to become the owner of Stone Court, and Mary publishing a children’s book. Lydgate died early at the age of 50, but he had built up success as a doctor in London and abroad with wealthy patients and he and Rosamond had four children together, with Rosamond respecting him more when he began to earn a good income though she still continued ‘inflexible in her judgement (and) stratagem’ and he was still at times frustrated with her. Rosamond married an elderly rich man after Lydgate died. Will and Dorothea were happy together, he becoming well-respected as a man of speeches encouraging reforms, with Dorothea supporting him and aiding him in this desire to do good. On the arrival of Dorothea and Will’s first child, Celia begged in tears to Sir James to be allowed to see Dorothea, which he agreed to, and Will and Dorothea were then accepted back into the family and regularly visited the Chettams and Brooke, and Brooke left his estate to their eldest son. The book ends by stating how Dorothea always continued doing good works and trying to help those around her. Awww, I am very grateful for the tying up of the characters’ lives, as often a book finishes and you are left wondering how the marriages went on so this feels a real treat to be given this insight, and I love that Eliot recognises this with her saying ‘who can quit young lives after being long in company with them, and not desire to know what befell them in their after-years’, yes indeed, thank you! And I like that it is mostly happy endings all round, phew, however it also still seems very believable, with Fred still making a few mistakes with overly ambitious plans and purchases, but it is also comforting too that these mistakes are less disastrous with Mary’s influence and guidance. And eeek, Mary wrote a children’s book! I am so pleased for her (and so envious!). I am pleased that Lydgate and Rosamond did continue married, but I am very sad that he died early, though pleased he did achieve respect and success in his medical career. And Rosamond, sigh, I guess it’s again keeping with believability that (as with Fred) she wasn’t completely reformed and she did still make mistakes, with her still plotting behind Lydgate’s back, but I guess I should be pleased that she still had a voice and an opinion, even if it may not have been expressed in the best way, and I’m very glad that she had children, bless her. And it seems very fitting that the book ends with Dorothea, bless her, still aiming to do good works, just as she wished to do at the start of the book, and I’m so delighted that she and Will were happy together, even though their lives must have been a struggle at times, particularly when she didn’t have Celia’s comfort (and I’m very grateful that Sir James relented on that in the end!), but she had love eventually which makes me so happy for her!
Wow, what an amazing book! I feel quite bereft now that I’ve finished it, as I was so immersed in the characters and their lives and as Eliot described everything so beautifully she brought it all alive for me, and as it’s such a huge book and took me a long time to read I did feel like their world was part of my life! It’s certainly a beautiful and wonderful old classic, a treasure of a book!
I guess the book could be summarised as detailing a period of time in a group of people’s lives and how they connected and affected each other, and the development of the main characters Dorothea and Lydgate and how their ideals and aims altered throughout the novel as circumstances and the people around them shaped them. But there is so so so so much more to it than just that! I guess the main theme of the book could be marriage and the different types of it, how it can create unhappiness and misery if the partners aren’t equal and don’t respect each other and there’s no trust between them, and how marriage can be entered into for very different reasons, and also how the balance was altered within the marriages due to the circumstances the characters go through. Obviously Dorothea’s first marriage and Lydgate’s marriage were the main ones we lived through with them as a reader, but my favourite marriage and the one which really warmed my heart was Caleb and Susan’s which seemed very equal and genuine and giving and loving, though Celia and Sir James’ marriage seemed successful too with them perhaps seeming slightly unequal in their strengths but this not affecting their happiness together as they didn’t put unrealistic demands of change on each other (compared to how Lydgate and Rosamond did early in their marriage), and I also liked the marriage of the Cadwalleders too which seemed to have a lot of humour as well as love in it, and I imagine that Mary and Fred’s marriage was similar to this with lots of humour and love but I suspect a lot of the work to make their marriage successful would have been due to Mary and less to Fred (oh dear, I still can’t fully celebrate their union, can I, tee hee?!). And then there’s the lovely patience and loyalty and dedication of Dorothea’s eventual marriage to Will, and their willingness to face hardship and difficulties together because they have that love and loyalty to each other. Then there’s the marriage of the Bulstrodes which has him as the more dominant one and his wife Harriet barely featuring that much for most of the novel, but then at the end of the book she stood loyally beside him and supported him in his disgrace and I think her support then enabled him to face things and move forward, and I’d like to think that their marriage became more equal after that point because he no longer had such a high opinion of himself and was more aware and appreciative of her sacrifice for him and how strengthening her support was to him. I’ve found it fascinating to consider the different types of marriage depicted in this book.
And I think there is also the theme of loyalty throughout the book, which obviously runs closely with marriage, and many of my favourite marriages I’ve mentioned above have loyalty in them, but outside of marriage (though eventually to marry) there was Mary’s loyalty to Fred even though he frequently disappointed her with his mistakes, and Will’s loyalty to Dorothea even though he thought there would never be a chance of him marrying her, there was also Lydgate’s loyalty to medicine and its possible advances even though this brought him criticism from his fellow professionals, and there was Brooke’s loyalty to political reform even though he didn’t apply these rights to his own tenants, and there was Dorothea’s loyalty to wanting to do good works even though she didn’t know quite the best way to go about this. This also reminds me of the themes of politics and medical advances of the time throughout the book, and which I wish I knew a little more about (and had more interest in!) so I could have appreciated these aspects better.
This book also made me consider how differently I view things now with modern eyes compared to the time the book was set in, and I was struck with this regarding several of the characters. Mainly Bulstrode and his scandal, as I consistently felt quite sorry for Bulstrode with how he was being punished for an act committed so long ago (concealing his stepdaughter’s existence and inheriting money due to her) and which he had tried to pay penance for throughout his life by always trying to do good and to be good, and I really pitied him for how he tortured himself in his mind about what he’d done. I guess I feel that to learn from your mistakes is of value so I felt that he had done this, but I wonder if the prominence of religion as part of people’s everyday life then and the lessons that religion teaches, particularly that penance is decided by God and the Day of Judgement rather than a person deciding his own penance, caused Eliot to imply that justice hadn’t been done until Bulstrode had been publicly punished. Though perhaps part of this public punishment was Eliot wanting to deflate Bulstrode’s pride, and I guess it could be said that this was for the best in the end as it enabled him to begin another more humble life and appreciate his wife and reassess his values. And obviously I’m conveniently separating out Bulstrode’s crimes here and choosing to forget the fact that he also murdered Raffles (!), by dealing mostly with his original crime of concealing the existence of his first wife’s daughter which meant that he inherited money intended for her, but I guess I feel that he was trying to pay penance for his first crime (the inheritance) by the good works he spent his inheritance on, and while I obviously can’t condone him killing someone (!), Raffles was a horrible man and did a horrible thing by blackmailing Bulstrode and clearly had also been a horrible stepfather to Rigg and a horrible husband to Rigg’s mother (though obviously he didn’t deserve to be murdered!).
And another thing regarding how differently I view things now compared to the time the book was set in, was with Rosamond. I know she was a selfish girl but I kept wondering how much the loss of her baby affected her mood and behaviour and I was surprised that this didn’t seem to be thought of at that time, I guess because mental health was less understood then but also because (tragically) to lose a baby then was quite common but I’m sure that didn’t lessen her pain and the effect it had on her, and on Lydgate too of course. Another aspect of the book which I think I appreciate less with my modern eyes than readers perhaps would have when it was published, was Dorothea descending to a lower social level by marrying Will. I saw this choice as being the obvious one as I was focused on them attaining love and happiness and I was urging them to declare their love and be together and I didn’t view the social level sacrifice as important, but I can imagine Dorothea’s consideration of descending the social level and the consequences of it was enormous and quite revolutionary at the time, both to the readers then and obviously to the characters in the book resulting in Sir James feeling that he and his wife could no longer see Dorothea. And again, I probably view with modern eyes the consequences of an alteration to someone’s financial situation with less importance as the readers did then, as I’m used to a world with a system that supports people of low income (or is supposed to) but at that time there wasn’t this system so if people didn’t have the security of money they faced very difficult times, and I can see that several characters were driven by this fear (and also the fear of losing the social status associated with money) and their actions were dictated by this, and perhaps I didn’t appreciate this as much as readers in the past would. In fact, almost every character really has to face the possible consequences of an alteration to their financial situation and make choices regarding this, though the obvious ones are Lydgate and Rosamond, Bulstrode, Fred, and Caleb and his family, and Dorothea too when she had to consider losing her widow’s inheritance if she chose to be with Will.
But thinking again about Bulstrode’s pride being deflated (as I detailed above), makes me wonder if another theme of the book is the deflating of people’s pride with their high opinions of themselves and their high ideals. Bulstrode certainly fits this category, but so would Brooke with him being humiliated in his politic high opinion of himself, as would Fred with him having a high opinion of himself of being a gentleman expecting to inherit his uncle’s money, and even Dorothea and Lydgate had high ideals which could be said to have given them a somewhat high opinion of themselves and set them on paths that caused them unhappiness. And is this theme then emphasised more with the inclusion of the characters in the book who weren’t full of pride and high opinions of themselves and high ideals, such as Caleb and Farebrother and Mary and Celia, who all seemed to have more stable and contented lives compared to those characters displaying pride.
And although all the characters in the book are fascinating and are wonderfully written in great depth, it does seem to be the females who were the main strong characters, so I admire Eliot for choosing to write like this. The women in the book still (mostly) followed the roles that society at that time dictated they must follow, but I loved seeing how they tweaked these roles so their voices were heard, particularly in their marriages, and also how they used their influence to shape and improve men’s lives too. I’d like to think that this really did go on in that time, though it wasn’t often written about in novels or perhaps discussed openly. Indeed I wonder if this book is regarded as a feminist novel, and also how it was received by the reading public at the time it was published, did it perhaps cause offence if it was seen as promoting the voices and opinions of women (even though I can’t see that there was anything to offend in it myself, but obviously I am looking at it with modern eyes)? I will have to check on trusty Wikipedia!
And though I love mulling over a book after I’ve finished it and thinking about the messages that the author was trying to convey, what mostly stands out for me with this book is the stunningly beautifully descriptive writing and phrasing, it was just an absolute joy to read how Eliot expressed things and I was constantly touched and amazed at the lines she wrote, there was something really on almost every page that I could have copied down (and I know I have copied down a lot, which I’ve quoted here!) but I honestly think there isn’t a writer to touch her! I will definitely read (and re-read) her other books, and I have Silas Marner, and The Mill on the Floss, and Adam Bede already on my bookcase which I read decades ago when I first read Middlemarch but I am now very keen to re-read as I think I will gain so much more from the stories and the writing (and there is an extra incentive to re-read Adam Bede as I recently read that this was one of Charles Dickens’ favourite books!). I also have on my other bookcase waiting to be read (yes, there is a whole bookcase full of books to be read, eeek, I must really try and stop buying more books…!) Eliot’s books of The Lifted Veil, and Brother Jacob, and Daniel Deronda. Oooh, which to pick next?! And for potential re-reads, I did love the mention by Celia of Count Fosco in The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, as I love Collins’ books and am always keen for an excuse to re-read any of them, and I was also reminded of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House book with Casaubon’s codicil in his will and this is another of my favourite books.
Then there are also the books mentioned within this novel which fired me with enthusiasm to purchase and read them, and I am particularly grateful to Mary Garth and Susan Garth for most of these, bless them! Mary was reading Sir Walter Scott’s Anne of Geierstein (I believe also called The Maiden of the Mist), and her mother Susan was reading Scott’s Ivanhoe book, and I am keen to read more of Scott so these two would be good to try. But after doing a bit of googling, there are also other Scott novels that Mary mentioned, as she talked about ‘Brenda Troil with Mordaunt Merton’ and I see these characters are from Scott’s The Pirate book as are ‘Minna with Cleveland’ which she also referenced, and she mentioned ‘Flora MacIvor’ who I see is from Scott’s Waverley novel, and I think Lydgate and Rosamond also discussed Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley novel. And then leaving Scott, Mary also mentioned ‘Olivia and Sophia Primrose’ which my google search informs me are from Oliver Goldsmith’s novel The Vicar of Wakefield. And I must give credit also to Brooke for a book suggestion as he suggested that Dorothea read Thomas Smollett to Casaubon, and this links again to Charles Dickens as I believe he also liked these books which caused me to snap up Smollett’s The Expedition of Humphry Clinker when I saw it in a charity shop. Phew, I really must stop there, I think, as otherwise my bookcase of books waiting to read will be extended into a second bookcase! Another reason why I am so pleased I read this wonderful Middlemarch book, as it has increased my interest and knowledge in other books too, thank you Eliot!
