Literariness Middlemarch

Middlemarch
Study Guide by Course Hero
ABOUT THE TITLE

What's Inside Middlemarch is the name of the town where the characters
reside.
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1
d In Context
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 3
h Characters .................................................................................................. 4
The Catholic Relief Act and the
k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 8
Reform Act of 1832
c Chapter Summaries .............................................................................. 14
Middlemarch is set against the backdrop of political reform
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 46
(1829–32). With the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829,
l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 49 Catholics in England got back some of their rights, including
the right to be elected to Parliament. The Catholics had a long
m Themes ........................................................................................................ 51 history of persecution in England, beginning when King Henry
VIII withdrew from the Catholic Church in 1534 and set up the
e Suggested Reading .............................................................................. 52
Church of England in opposition to the Roman Church.
Thereafter, allegiance to Catholicism was suspect or even
treasonous, and people were expected to be loyal to the
j Book Basics
Church of England, synonymous with the state. Catholics had
to practice their religion in secret and could not buy land, hold
office, or inherit property. The Penal Laws imposed fines and
AUTHOR sometimes prison sentences on people who did not attend
George Eliot Anglican (Church of England) services.
YEARS PUBLISHED The Roman Catholic Relief Act was championed by the Whigs
1871–72 and decried by the Tories. The Tory Party was associated with
the Church of England and was the party of the landed gentry,
GENRE
which is why Mr. Brooke's friends do not want him to stand as
Tragedy
a Reform candidate. The Whig party supported electoral
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR reforms, the abolition of slavery, and restoration of the rights of
Middlemarch is narrated from a third-person omniscient point Catholics. The Whig party was also the home of religious
of view. dissenters like Mr. Bulstrode.
TENSE The Whigs took control of Parliament in 1830 and tried to pass
Middlemarch is narrated in the past tense. a Reform Bill, which would have significantly expanded the
Middlemarch Study Guide In Context 2
vote to white male members of the middle class—any man who The Church provided one avenue for moving up in class, which
owned at least 10 pounds worth of property. The bill was is why Mr. Vincy wants Fred to become a clergyman. Fred, Will
intended to address unequal representation in government. At Ladislaw, and the physicians Minchin and Sprague have
the time, large industrial cities such as Birmingham and attended university. Ladislaw, however, is of an indeterminate
Manchester had no representatives in government while class because of his mixed heritage and absence of class
underpopulated rural areas ruled by wealthy landowners had pretensions.
many representatives. For example, one rural county had 44
representatives while the heavily populated city of London had
four. Neither the first nor second Reform Bill passed, but by Religion and the Clergy
1832, reform was accomplished. The Reform Bill of 1832
reassigned government seats and extended the right to vote to Catholics (called Papists) were a minority in England, because
small landowners. These changes benefited the middle class most had moved over to the Anglican Church with King Henry
but did little to extend government participation to the working VIII in the early 1500s. This form of Christianity was similar to
or poor classes. Nonetheless, the Reform Act of 1832 began Roman Catholicism in beliefs and practices, although priests
an era of wider participation in the electoral process. were allowed to marry.
The Evangelical movement was a force that the Anglican

Social Classes Church had to reckon with, and Mr. Tyke is an Evangelical, as
are Bulstrode and his family. Evangelicals emphasized a literal
Middlemarch depicts a wide range of social classes at a time interpretation of the Bible, centrality of the death of Jesus
when these classes were still relatively static. The upper Christ on the cross, and a need to convert others to their way
classes in Middlemarch are the landed gentry, represented by of thinking. Mr. Farebrother and Mr. Casaubon are traditional
Sir James Chettam, who is also a titled baronet, Mr. Brooke, Anglican ministers. Dorothea is not an Evangelical but, rather,
Mr. Casaubon, and Sir Godwin Lydgate. These upper-class she is influenced in her Christianity by the beliefs of the
families lived on estates, large tracts of land with manor Waldenses sect, which aspired to poverty and moral rigor and
houses and agricultural fields that were, for the most part, a return to a simplified form of Christianity.
worked by tenant farmers. The landed gentry made their

Young men of the middle classes sometimes went into the
money by renting land and dwellings (cottages) to tenant
Church to maintain class status or simply to make a living, such
farmers. If the landlord kept up his farms and cottages, then
as Mr. Cadwallader, a priest who would rather be fishing. Fred
the tenants were relatively prosperous. Some prosperous
Vincy is sent to university as the eldest son, while Mr. Vincy's
farmers even owned land. If the owner of the estate was
second son follows his father into the manufacturing business.
stingy, as is Mr. Brooke, then tenant farmers such as the
One problem with the religious vocation was that a clergyman
Dagleys might live in hovels. A good landlord hired a skilled
might get an appointment that did not provide enough income,
manager such as Mr. Garth to manage his estate.
which is the case for Mr. Farebrother at St. Botolph's.
The middle classes in Middlemarch include the Vincys, the Sometimes a priest might lose out on a position because of
Garths, the Bulstrodes, the Farebrothers, and the physician doctrinal differences, as does Mr. Farebrother when the
apothecaries. Within the middle classes were distinctions in chaplaincy is voted on. The landed gentry had the power to
rank based on profession as well as money. For example, Mr. appoint priests to parishes. A parish priest was called a vicar or
Vincy is a manufacturer of a higher class than his wife, who is a a rector. If the priest was in charge of more than one church,
shopkeeper's daughter. Mrs. Vincy does not want to socialize he might have appointed a curate or a deacon to minister to
with the Garths, who have come down in the world. the needs of the congregation.
At the top of the working class were craftsmen and skilled

workers, such as weavers and tanners. Mr. Trumbull, an Allusions and Epigraphs
auctioneer and rental agent, and the landlady Mrs. Dollop, are
also working class, as are tenant farmers. Each chapter in Middlemarch is preceded by an epigraph, a
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.

Middlemarch Study Guide Author Biography 3
short quotation that illustrates an important idea introduced in

the chapter. Understanding these chapter "heralds"—and many a Author Biography
of them are obscure and difficult to understand—is not
necessary for comprehending the novel. Many of them are George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans or Marian
self-explanatory; others are explained in the opening lines of Evans, born in the Midlands of England on November 22, 1819,
the chapter. The author also uses many allusions throughout on an estate of her father's employer. She was the youngest of
the novel, mostly referring to other works of literature or art or five children and the daughter of her father's second wife, who
to political events and English history, such as Don Quixote, died when Eliot was 17.
Rembrandt, and the Protestant Reformation. An authoritative,
annotated version of Middlemarch will explain the meaning of A precocious child, the author was sent to her first boarding
many of the allusions (see Further Reading), which will school at the age of five. In her preteen years, under the
enhance understanding and enjoyment of the story. influence of a charismatic Evangelical teacher, she became
extremely religious. Like the main protagonist in Middlemarch,
she dressed plainly and sought to do good works in the world.
Medical Professions When her mother died she returned home to keep house for
her father. She and her father moved to Coventry, where she
made friends with religious freethinkers and began turning
The state of medical practice in England at the time of the
away from traditional Christian orthodoxy. Upon reading the
novel was fairly horrendous. The most well-respected medical
works of secular Biblical scholars and translating two such
men knew very little about the human body. Physicians were
important works (The Life of Jesus Critically Examined by D.F.
required to attend the Royal College of Physicians after they
Strauss and Essence of Christianity by Ludwig Feuerbach), she
had graduated Oxford or Cambridge. These were the sons of
gave up religion for good.
aristocrats, classically trained, but not medically trained. The
next tier of practitioners were surgeons, who performed
After her father died in 1849, Eliot moved to London to become
physical treatments such as setting bones and blood letting.
a freelance writer. She became subeditor (person who
Surgeons had a five-year apprenticeship and took at least one
prepares text for print) of the Westminster Review, a
course in surgery and one in anatomy. The lowest tier of
prestigious literary journal, and she met George Henry Lewes,
healers, classified with tradesmen, were apothecaries, who
a journalist, critic, and philosopher, who became her common-
were paid for dispensing medicine. However, they could not
law husband in 1854. Lewes suggested that Eliot begin writing
charge people for dispensing medical advice, which was the
fiction and provided her with moral support to become a
province of the physician.
novelist. In addition to essays and criticism, Eliot wrote short
fiction, poetry, and seven novels; Middlemarch is considered
As time passed, some medical men were credentialed as
her masterpiece.
surgeon-apothecaries, also called general practitioners, and
eventually they won the legal right to collect fees for giving
The novel's setting is Coventry and Warwickshire, the places
medical advice. The best medical training was available outside
where George Eliot grew up. Middlemarch originated in two
of England—in Paris and Edinburgh—where doctors were
separate and unfinished works, written in 1869 and 1870.
trained in teaching hospitals and made case notes based on
Lydgate, a gifted young doctor in a country town, was the
observations. The physicians in training were also allowed to
central character in "A Study of Provincial Life." Eliot often
conduct autopsies. Dr. Lydgate, a surgeon-apothecary, has
broke off from writing Lydgate's story to conduct extensive
received the best training that England has to offer, as well as
historical research on the medical profession and scientific
the superior training of Paris and Edinburgh, which is why he is
discoveries for what she envisioned as an examination of the
head-and-shoulders above the other medical men in
middle classes in the Reform era. Toward the end of 1870, she
Middlemarch.
stopped writing this story and began "Miss Brooke," a work
about a religious young woman. It then occurred to her to
combine the two plot threads. When she did, her additions of
the upper classes to the novel gave it even more breadth.

Middlemarch Study Guide Characters 4
Eliot's remarkable grasp of so much background material, outdated thesis.

which allowed her to write expertly about politics, medicine,
philosophy, land management, and many other subjects has led
the critic Liz Maynes-Aminzade to label the narrator of Edward Casaubon
Middlemarch as "omnicompetent" in Maynes-Aminzade's
article "The Omnicompetent Narrator From George Eliot to Edward Casaubon is a middle-aged clergyman who has
Jonathan Franzen" in the Summer 2014 edition of Studies in inherited more money than is rightfully his because his family
the Novel. While critics often focus on the cross-section of disowned his great aunt. He has an estate at Lowick but has
classes in Middlemarch, it is equally important to think about lived alone his entire life. He dreams of attaining immortality by
the number of professions that are covered and written about writing the Key to All Mythologies. This book is supposed to
in such accurate detail. prove that all religious ideas in the world spring from the
religious truths of the Bible. The clergyman marries Dorothea
Middlemarch was both commercially and critically successful,
Brooke, thinking she was sent by Providence to ease and
although the novel was not universally praised by early critics.
comfort him in the last part of his life. When she develops a
Over the years Middlemarch has picked up accolades from a
friendship with his cousin, he becomes very jealous.
number of famous writers. F.R. Leavis, one of the most
important literary critics of the 20th century, included George
Eliot as one of the four great English novelists in The Great
Tradition (2015). More recently, Middlemarch has been praised
Will Ladislaw
by A.S. Byatt and Ignes Sodre in Imagining Characters: Six
Will Ladislaw is second cousin to Edward Casaubon, who is
Conversations About Women Writers (1997) and is even the
educating him to make up for the fact that his family was
subject of a bio-memoir, Middlemarch and Me (The New
disowned. Ladislaw is an intelligent dilettante with talents in
Yorker, February, 14 & 21, 2011) by Rebecca Meade. In their
more than one area. He is also a nonconformist, reluctant to
own time Eliot and her partner Lewes mingled with the literati
settle on any career. After he falls in love with his cousin's wife,
on both sides of the Atlantic, and their home was a meeting
Dorothea, he becomes more focused and begins making a
place for leading intellectuals of the day.
name for himself in Middlemarch as a political writer and
In 1878 Lewes died, and shortly after the author married a speechmaker for reform.
family friend, John Cross. She died on December 22, 1880, at
the age of 61.
Tertius Lydgate
h Characters Tertius Lydgate, a secondary protagonist, is an orphan partially
raised by his aristocratic relatives who put him through school.
Against their preference, he becomes a doctor, and his
intelligence and skill seem to mark him for a great career. He
Dorothea Brooke loves medicine and hopes to be a leader in medical reform as
well as to make a great unifying discovery in the life sciences.
Dorothea is a beautiful and intelligent young woman who Unfortunately, the doctor does not apply his intelligence when
wishes to do some great deed in the world that will benefit dealing with the opposite sex, and he makes a disastrous
humanity. She has a passionate and enthusiastic nature, marriage that leads to his career aspirations being shattered.
expressed by a religious attitude in which she works to
minimize self and seek the good for others. This protagonist
burns with an inner vision of how things ought to be, which Rosamund Vincy Lydgate
often clouds her external vision of how things really are. This
trait leads her to make a disastrous first marriage with Edward Rosamund is accounted by many as the most beautiful and
Casaubon, whom she thinks might be another Locke or Milton, accomplished female in Middlemarch. She means to marry well
but who, in reality, turns out to be a failed author with an and does not want to marry a local boy. This is why she

contrives to marry Tertius Lydgate, an outsider with

aristocratic connections. She doesn't consider his career or
aspirations or that he has very little money. Rather, she is used
to getting her way and assumes he will figure out how to
provide for her and keep her on the social level to which she
has become accustomed. She is a charming and shallow
narcissist with sociopathic tendencies—meaning that she lacks
the ability to love anyone with any depth.
Nicholas Bulstrode
Mr. Bulstrode is a self-righteous Evangelical Christian who
thinks that his mission in life is to convert other people to his
brand of Christianity. He wields a lot of power in Middlemarch
as a banker and philanthropist, believing he does so for the
glory of God, when in fact he is mostly interested in personal
power and influence. The banker has an ugly secret, which is
that early in his career he made money as an employee in a
shady business concern and then married the widow of the
company and hid from her the knowledge that he had found
her relatives, the heirs to her fortune. As a result, he took her
fortune for himself after she died.
Camden Farebrother
Reverend Farebrother is a gifted preacher praised by many for
his goodness and wisdom. He doesn't judge others harshly and
has a deep understanding of human nature and the
temptations that lead people to commit immoral acts. He
himself gambles at cards because he doesn't make enough
money to support his dependents, who include a mother, sister,
and aunt. After he gets a better position, he thinks about
marrying, but the woman he loves, Mary Garth, has already
given her heart to another.

Character Map
Second Cousins
Dorothea Brooke
Ardent idealist; settles
for wifehood
Soulmates Spouses
Will Ladislaw
Edward Casaubon
Rebel and nonconformist;
Friends Failed author and
finds a career and
failed husband
soulmate
Tertius Lydgate
Exceptional doctor; fails
to meet his potential
Friends
Spouses
Rosamund Vincy
Lydgate Partners in Camden Farebrother
Shallow social climber Philanthropy Beloved clergyman
and narcissist
Uncle
Adversaries
Nicholas Bulstrode
Religious hypocrite
and wealthy banker
Main Character
Other Major Character
Minor Character

Full Character List Harriet Vincy

Harriet Vincy Bulstrode is Walter
Vincy's sister and Nicholas
Bulstrode
Bulstrode's wife.
Character Description
Elinor Cadwallader, upper-class by
Elinor birth, is a busybody who married a
Dorothea Brooke (later Dorothea
Cadwallader clergyman, Humphrey Cadwallader,
Brooke Casaubon), the protagonist,
Dorothea Brooke for love.
wants to perform great acts for
humanity.
Humphrey Cadwallader is the
Humphrey
clergyman for the parsonage on Sir
Edward Casaubon is a middle-aged Cadwallader
James Chettam's estate.
Edward clergyman who marries Dorothea
Casaubon and expects to write the Key to All
Mythologies. Celia Brooke Chettam, Dorothea's
Celia Brooke
practical younger sister, marries Sir
Chettam
James Chettam.
Will Ladislaw, Edward Casaubon's
cousin, falls in love with Dorothea
Will Ladislaw
and chooses public life as his Sir James Chettam, Arthur Brooke's
vocation. Sir James
neighbor, courts both of Brooke's
Chettam
nieces and marries Celia.
Tertius Lydgate is an exceptional
doctor whose "spots of Mr. Dagley is a poor cottager who
Tertius Lydgate commonness" stymie his Mr. Dagley
lives on Arthur Brooke's land.
aspirations to be a leader in
medicine.
Mrs. Dollop is a landlady and source
Mrs. Dollop
of gossip and false information.
Rosamund Vincy Lydgate, a social
Rosamund Vincy climber, gets both more and less
Lydgate than she bargained for in marrying Sarah Dunkirk, Will Ladislaw's
Tertius Lydgate. Sarah Dunkirk mother, ran away from her
disreputable family.
Nicholas Bulstrode is an Evangelical

Nicholas banker who hides the dishonest Miss Farebrother is Camden
Miss Farebrother
Bulstrode deeds on which he built his Farebrother's single sister.
success.
Mrs. Farebrother is Camden
Mrs. Farebrother
Camden Farebrother is an Farebrother's mother.
Camden
empathetic clergyman and gifted
Farebrother
preacher.
Joshua Rigg Featherstone is Peter
Joshua Rigg Featherstone's illegitimate child
Mrs. Abel is the housekeeper at Featherstone who inherits all his father's land and
Mrs. Abel Stone Court who helps Nicholas property.
Bulstrode take care of John Raffles.
Peter Featherstone is a rich, sick,
Mr. Bambridge is a less-than- Peter and manipulative widower related to
Mr. Bambridge Featherstone both the Garths and the Vincys by
scrupulous horse trader.
marriage.
Arthur Brooke is a shallow

dilettante who briefly runs as a Mr. Gambit is a surgeon-apothecary
Arthur Brooke Mr. Gambit
Reform candidate. He is Dorothea who specializes in childbirth.
and Celia's uncle.

Middlemarch Study Guide Plot Summary 8
Caleb Garth is a self-taught civil John Raffles is a dissolute alcoholic

engineer who loves his work and and extortionist who helped
Caleb Garth John Raffles
does it well but is a bad Nicholas Bulstrode illegally inherit a
businessman. widow's money.
Mary Garth is the eldest daughter Dr. Sprague is a physician

Dr. Sprague
Mary Garth of Caleb and Mary Garth and a classically educated.
single teacher with few prospects.
Mr. Toller Mr. Toller is a surgeon-apothecary.
Susan Garth is a housewife and
Susan Garth school teacher married to Caleb
Garth. Borthrop Trumbull is an auctioneer
Borthrop Trumbull
and rental agent.
Frank Hawley is a lawyer who

Frank Hawley Mr. Tyke is an Evangelical
dislikes reform and Tertius Lydgate.
clergyman whom Nicholas
Mr. Tyke
Bulstrode chooses as the chaplain
Mr. Horrock is Mr. Bambridge's for the fever hospital.
Mr. Horrock
business partner.
Fred Vincy is the eldest son of

Julia Casaubon Ladislaw is Will Walter Vincy and expects to inherit
Fred Vincy
Ladislaw's grandmother and a fortune. He is in love with Mary
Julia Casaubon
Edward Casaubon's great aunt; she Garth.
Ladislaw
married a Polish musician and was
disowned by her family.
Lucy Vincy is Walter Vincy's wife
Lucy Vincy
and a shopkeeper's daughter.
Captain Lydgate is Tertius
Captain Lydgate
Lydgate's empty-headed cousin.
Walter Vincy is a manufacturer with
Walter Vincy a large family and the mayor of
Sir Godwin Lydgate is Tertius Middlemarch.
Sir Godwin Lydgate's uncle who paid for his
Lydgate nephew's education after he was
orphaned. Mr. Wrench is a surgeon-
Mr. Wrench
apothecary.
Dr. Minchin is a physician classically

Dr. Minchin
educated.
Naumann is a German painter with

k Plot Summary
Naumann whom Will Ladislaw studies in
Rome. Middlemarch is a novel that takes Socrates' admonition that
"the unexamined life is not worth living" very much to heart. A
Henrietta Noble is Mrs. third-person omniscient narrator who is wise, empathetic, and
Henrietta Noble
Farebrother's spinster sister. clear-sighted takes time to comment on the action of the story
and its meaning as well as the characters who propel the
Ned Plymdale unsuccessfully courts action. Dorothea Brooke, the primary protagonist, is an ardent
Ned Plymdale
Rosamund.
and religious young woman who aspires to lead an epic life.
Intelligent as well as beautiful, she has come to live, along with
Selina Plymdale is the wife of a dyer
Selina Plymdale and a good friend of Harriet Vincy her sister Celia, at her uncle's estate in the English town of
Bulstrode; her son is Ned Plymdale. Middlemarch after her parents die. Dorothea is being courted
by a handsome baronet, but she chooses instead a middle-
aged clergyman, Edward Casaubon, because she thinks he has
a great mind and will broaden her intellectual and spiritual

horizons. She wishes to become wise so that she can know profession and engagement to Mary.
what to do in life—what will provide the greatest good. After
she is married, she learns that Casaubon has been compiling Lydgate has set up a fever hospital (an institution for patients
notes for 30 years for a treatise he called the Key to All with serious illnesses such as tuberculosis or typhoid fever)
Mythologies. His thesis is based on outdated ideas and will with help from Mr. Bulstrode, an Evangelical Christian,
never see the light of day. She also becomes friends with his philanthropist, banker, and the paternal uncle of Lydgate's wife.
young cousin, Will Ladislaw, a student who has not yet found Bulstrode wields a lot of power and is resented by many for his
his career. harsh judgments about people's moral character. Ironically,

Bulstrode is harboring a great secret: he made his first fortune
Ladislaw soon falls in love with Dorothea, although he is by snatching the inheritance of the heirs of his first wife, now
content to worship her from afar. Nonetheless, Casaubon dead. Bulstrode's past catches up with him when John Raffles,
becomes extremely jealous. Dorothea is not aware of an alcoholic and a swindler, comes to town to torment him and
Ladislaw's feelings or the intensity of her husband's dislike for to extort money for keeping quiet about his past. Raffles gets
his cousin. Her life with Casaubon, however, becomes more sick because of his drinking and is taken to Stone Court, a
and more stifling. Casaubon has a bad heart, and after an property Bulstrode recently bought. Bulstrode calls Lydgate in
emotional scene with Dorothea, he has a heart attack. Not long to care for him. Raffles is suffering from alcohol poisoning, and
after, he dies, having left a codicil to his will saying that if when Bulstrode doesn't follow Lydgate's treatment orders, he
Dorothea ever marries Ladislaw, she will lose Casaubon's passively kills the patient. The town soon finds out about
wealth and estate. Bulstrode's disreputable past, and Lydgate is connected to his
disgrace because he took a loan from Bulstrode to avoid
A secondary protagonist in the novel is Tertius Lydgate, a bankruptcy. People think that Lydgate took some kind of bribe,
gifted doctor who comes to Middlemarch hoping to participate although no one can say what it was. Lydgate eventually has to
in medical reform and make an important scientific discovery. leave town with Rosamund and come to terms with the fact
Lydgate is overconfident that he will not get sidetracked on his that he will never fulfill his potential.
way to greatness. His nemesis appears in the guise of the
beautiful and charming narcissist, Rosamund Vincy, who Dorothea and Will Ladislaw try to stay away from each other
marries him to move up the social ladder. Lydgate has no because of Casaubon's codicil, but they cannot help but love
money, but his education was financed by his aristocratic each other. Against the objections of Dorothea's family they
uncle, who still objected to his entering a profession that could end up becoming engaged on the strength of her personal
be described as working class. The doctor gets heavily into fortune. The story ends in one more marriage—between Fred
debt as a result of overspending to set up house and keep his Vincy and Mary Garth.
wife in style. Lydgate also makes enemies of the other medical
men in town who dislike him as much for his arrogance as for The novel tackles big themes, such as the natural yearning
his new ideas, and he ends up losing patients as a result. As toward heroism, the problem of vocation, the limits of free will,
Lydgate's financial situation worsens, he discovers that his the best and worst possibilities of companionship, and the
wife does not really love him and will never be more to him than struggle to become a moral person in an imperfect world. The
an expensive and demanding ornament. narrator concludes that the world no longer makes room for
exceptional persons to live epic lives; nevertheless, those who
Rosamund's brother Fred gets into financial troubles by strive to do so are the unsung heroes of the mundane who "live
gambling. He expects to inherit his uncle Featherstone's faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
money and land, but when the miser dies and leaves his
property to his illegitimate son, Fred is forced to finish
university and face the necessity of becoming a clergyman.
The woman that he loves, Mary Garth, will not marry him if he
takes up a vocation he is clearly not suited for, and she is
waiting for him to become a responsible adult. Mary's father
agrees to take Fred on as an apprentice to learn the business
of land management, which affords Fred the opportunity of a

Plot Diagram
Climax
11
10
12
9
Falling Action
Rising Action 8
13
7
6 14
5
15
4
Resolution
3
2
1
Introduction
9. Raffles comes to town, reveals family secrets.

Introduction
10. Lydgate totters on the edge of bankruptcy.
1. Narrator says epic life not possible in modern times.
Climax
Rising Action 11. Bulstrode passively kills John Raffles.
2. Dorothea rejects Sir James, marries Edward Casaubon.
3. Dorothea learns Casaubon is a failed scholar and writer.

Falling Action
4. Will Ladislaw falls in love with Dorothea.
12. Bulstrode is exposed; Lydgate is under suspicion.
5. Will comes to Middlemarch to work for Mr. Brooke.
13. Dorothea defends Lydgate; Rosamund clarifies mix-up.
6. Fred Vincy does not inherit Featherstone's money.
14. Dorothea and Will determine to defy the codicil.
7. Casaubon dies; leaves codicil separating Dorothea, Will.
8. Dr. Lydgate marries Rosamund Vincy.

Resolution
15. Dorothea and Will marry; Fred and Mary marry.

Timeline of Events
Spring 1829
Dorothea and Celia divide their mother's jewelry on the

six-month anniversary of her death.
Autumn 1829
Dorothea and Casaubon become engaged.
Spring 1830
Lydgate and Rosamund become engaged.
May 1830
Peter Featherstone dies; Will Ladislaw comes back to

Middlemarch.
March 1831
Lydgate is newly married, and he is professionally

ostracized by his fellow medical men.
Spring 1831
Casaubon dies; Dorothea is disinherited if she marries

Ladislaw. Lowick living goes to Farebrother.
June 1831
Dorothea returns home and meets with Ladislaw. Mr.

Garth takes Fred Vincy on as an apprentice.
August 1831
Will meets Raffles and learns more about his mother.

Bulstrode offers Will money, which he refuses.
March/April 1832
Bulstrode loans Lydgate money, then kills Raffles.

Dorothea supports Lydgate.
May 1832
Dorothea and Will become engaged.

Summer 1832
Mary and Fred become engaged.

Middlemarch Study Guide Chapter Summaries 14
Chapter 2
c Chapter Summaries
Two gentlemen come to dinner: Sir James Chettam, a young
baronet of the nearby estate of Freshitt Hall, and Rev. Edward
Prelude and Book 1, Chapters Casaubon, a scholarly clergyman in his late forties. Sir James is
courting Dorothea, whom he admires for her beauty and
1–3 intelligence. He attempts to get her attention at dinner by
offering to send one of his best horses over to ride. She gets
annoyed and refuses his offer, since she is trying to pay
attention to the new guest, Mr. Casaubon, whom she
Summary immediately is attracted to as a learned and distinguished-
looking man "with whom there could be some spiritual
communion."
Prelude
A third-person omniscient narrator introduces two of
Chapter 3
Middlemarch's major themes—the definition of a hero and the
problem of vocation—with a brief recap of the epic life of Saint
Dorothea continues to think of Mr. Casaubon as the ideal
Theresa (Saint Teresa of Avila), the sixteenth-century Spanish
husband and encourages him to come around. He is working
mystic who found her calling in the reform of a religious
on his magnum opus, a book that will prove all mythical
community of nuns. Other such heroines are still being born,
systems in the world (all religions and systems of spiritual
but with "no coherent social faith and order," their ardor falls
thought) are corrupted versions of an original, revealed
like seeds on stony ground. These "cygnets" (baby swans)
tradition reflected in the Bible. While he has filled many
grow and mature "uneasily among the ducklings" and never
volumes with notes, he has yet to condense his thinking into
find "the living stream of fellowship" with like-minded world
one readable treatise. Dorothea imagines herself as his
movers. Such a latter-day Theresa is destined to be "foundress
helpmate, sharing the life of the mind. Meanwhile, Sir James
of nothing."
continues to court her, improving the cottages of the poor on
his estate according to her plans and bringing her a Maltese
puppy, which she refuses but says her sister might like. She
Chapter 1
fears treading on small animals because she is shortsighted.
Dorothea obstinately believes Sir James is interested in Celia,
Dorothea Brooke, the primary protagonist of the story, is a
while Celia understands his intentions but is not sure whether
nineteen-year-old orphan who has recently come to live, along
her sister will turn him down.
with her younger sister Celia, at Tipton Grange, an estate
owned by their uncle, Arthur Brooke. The two girls are
heiresses with 700 pounds apiece. Their sixty-year-old
bachelor uncle is easy-going and leaves his nieces to do as
Analysis
they like. Dorothea is exceptionally beautiful, intelligent, and
The Prelude compares St. Theresa of Avila to Dorothea
passionate about God: "The rural opinion about the new young
Brooke, a parallel threaded throughout the novel. Dorothea has
ladies ... was generally in favor of Celia, as being so amiable
the saint's passion but is prevented from leading an epic life in
and innocent-looking, while Miss Brooke's large eyes seemed,
a world that lacks a communal vision. The fragmented life
like her religion, too unusual and striking." In the opening scene,
created by the Industrial Revolution is reflected in the
Celia asks Dorothea to divide their dead mother's jewelry,
narrator's doubts that it is still possible to "reconcile self-
which their uncle handed over six months before. Dorothea
despair with the rapturous consciousness of life beyond self,"
agrees, but she gives most of the ornaments to Celia, keeping
or the sense that there is the possibility of living an epic and
for herself only a ring and bracelet of emeralds. She justifies
reformed life. The new world contains a multiplicity of views; in
her attraction to the gems by thinking they remind her of
such an environment it may not be possible to carry out a
mystic religious joy—their colors like "fragments of heaven."

grand plan or be a world changer. Middlemarch takes place letter.

during a period of great change and upheaval (1829–1832) in
England. Against this backdrop of national controversy the
protagonist Dorothea, who is both literally and figuratively Chapter 5
nearsighted, will attempt to live a heroic life.
Dorothea reads Mr. Casaubon's proposal of marriage, which is
George Eliot's omniscient narrator has the persona of a wise focused almost entirely on himself and his needs, as he tells
sage, someone with deep understanding of human nature and Dorothea how she was no doubt sent by Providence to help
a godlike compassion for the flaws and blind spots of him complete his "life's plan." In return he can "at least offer ...
humanity. The narrator has sympathy, rather than an affection hitherto unwasted," since he has never offered it
empathy—she feels for these fictional creatures more than she to anyone else. Dorothea receives this lackluster proposal with
feels with them. This narrative stance elevates the narrator as great emotion and gratitude and immediately answers yes. She
well as the reader above the action and sustains the illusion should perhaps have been "teaching Mr. Casaubon to ask if he
that readers are watching a grand panorama of human life. were good enough for her" rather than vice-versa, the narrator
states. Although Celia has begun to surmise that her sister
The narrator of Middlemarch sometimes represents the public feels more than scholarly interest in Rev. Casaubon, she is still
but sometimes uses an ironic tone when judging public opinion. shocked and appalled by the news but tells her sister she
While the narrator may think that Dorothea's extreme religious hopes she will be happy.
fervor will get her into trouble (and it does), she still has
tremendous sympathy for Dorothea's aspirations.
Chapter 6
Book 1, Chapters 4–6 Mrs. Cadwallader, a woman of upper-class birth who married a
clergyman, pays a visit to Tipton Grange. Although she is an
outspoken busybody, she is well-liked. She scolds Mr. Brooke
about his liberal political leanings, warning him that he will
Summary make a fool of himself if he attempts to run for office. She also
reminds him that it is his duty to stand up for his class interest.
Mr. Brooke tells her that Dorothea will not be marrying Sir
Chapter 4
James—something that she has been trying to engineer since
Mr. Brooke's nieces arrived. He disappears before she can
Dorothea and Celia are coming back from Sir James's estate in
closely question him, but Celia comes in and tells her that
Freshitt, where they have been inspecting the new cottages
Dorothea is engaged to Mr. Casaubon. Mrs. Cadwallader,
being built according to Dorothea's plan. Celia is feeling
vexed and shocked, leaves quickly so that she can break the
courageous and tells her sister point-blank that Sir James is in
news to Sir James. When she does, she also says that Celia is
love with her and everyone is talking about it. Dorothea is
very fond of him and that he should begin courting her. Sir
thunderstruck and becomes angry and upset. At home her
James is upset by the news but resolves to make the best of it.
uncle, just back from seeing Mr. Casaubon at Lowick, reveals
that the minister has asked permission to propose marriage.
She is delighted by the news, and her mood changes. Mr.
Brooke brings up the fact that Sir James also wishes to marry
Analysis
her, but she immediately responds in the negative. Brooke is
In these chapters Dorothea, both too humble and too proud,
not opposed to Mr. Casaubon on the grounds of wealth or
makes a disastrous choice to turn her back on the sensible and
class, but he has reservations, reminding Dorothea that she
charming baronet Sir James, to pursue an idealistic marriage
has strong opinions. Dorothea responds: "I should wish to have
with an old, lifeless clergyman. She thinks Sir James is too
good reasons for them, and a wise man could help me to see
stupid and shallow to marry and underestimates her sister's
which opinions had the best foundation." In the end Mr. Brooke
intelligence, describing her as "hardly more in need of salvation
says he will not stand in her way and gives her the minister's
than a squirrel." This assessment reveals how little Dorothea

has reflected on the extent to which other people possess a herself."

conscious mind quite as fully developed as her own.
Dorothea hardly sees Edward Casaubon. She overestimates Chapter 8

him because she wants to assist a brilliant man who is writing
an important book. As a result, her extreme gratitude for his Sir James takes his rejection with poise. He continues to call at
narcissistic marriage proposal is misplaced and inappropriate. Tipton Grange and build Dorothea's cottages, and he pays
Dorothea's odd decisions are the result of youth and more attention to Celia. Because of his genuine concern for
inexperience, but also of a refusal to be honest about her Dorothea, he asks Rev. Cadwallader to intervene with Mr.
motivations. Dorothea thinks enough of herself to aspire to Brooke to call off or postpone the marriage. "[H]as he got any
greatness, but she cannot admit her aspirations are not just in heart?" Sir James asks. The reverend responds that Mr.
the service of God or religion, but also are for the satisfaction Brooke is "pulpy," meaning he has no backbone, so it is
of her ego. Although she is unaware of it, she is in bad faith, so unrealistic to expect him to stand up to his niece and her
she is bound to make a bad choice. fiancé.
Dorothea's uncle, Mr. Brooke, doesn't stop the marriage

because he is a shallow and silly individual with no core of Chapter 9
morality or belief. He is a liberal, a stance which will be
developed in subsequent chapters. He is too stingy to improve The Brookes visit Casaubon's unhappy manor house at Lowick.
the conditions of the cottagers on his own land, which is why Dorothea has been invited to make any changes she would
Dorothea is making improvements on Sir James's estate. He like, but she wishes to leave everything as it is and won't even
could easily ask Mr. Casaubon to wait until Dorothea is of age choose a bedroom. Celia intervenes to ensure she gets the
to give her own consent, but he has no stomach for opposition, front bedroom with a bow window looking out on the stately
despite his own reservations. Rather, he consoles himself with lime trees. In this room are some miniature portraits, including
the idea that Mr. Casaubon has property and will likely become ones of Casaubon's mother and Aunt Julia, the disinherited
a bishop. relative who ran away with a Pole. When the Brookes walk out
onto the property, they run into Casaubon's young cousin, Will
Ladislaw. Dorothea immediately notices he resembles the
Book 1, Chapters 7–10 portrait of Aunt Julia. He is sketching outside and when
Dorothea apologizes for having no knowledge to judge secular
art, he thinks she is making fun of him. Later, he laughs out
loud in thinking about her response. Casaubon later describes
Summary Will as a dilettante (person with superficial interest in art or
other areas of knowledge) who does not want to settle in any
profession. He has already paid for his university education in
Chapter 7
Heidelberg and plans to finance Will's trip abroad.
As Casaubon courts Dorothea, he wonders at his own lack of

enthusiasm. At first he thinks Dorothea's deficiencies may
Chapter 10
account for the "moderation of his abandonment," but when he
can discern none, he concludes that "the poets had much
The narrator takes time to glimpse into the minds of the
exaggerated the force of masculine passion." Dorothea asks
principal characters so far. Will is something of a bohemian and
Casaubon if he can teach her enough Latin and Greek to read
has tried various experiments—for example, fasting
aloud to him, and he agrees to teach her to copy the letters,
excessively and smoking opium—all in the service of sparking
which may prove useful. She doesn't ask entirely out of
his genius. He believes he has some great talent which he has
altruism, the narrator tells us: "She had not reached that point
yet to tap. Not surprisingly, he scorns his cousin's lifelong
of renunciation at which she would have been satisfied with
project, since he believes that genius manifests as the power
having a wise husband; she wished, poor child, to be wise
"to make or do." Casaubon is not joyful about his upcoming

wedding, which has left him with "a blankness of sensibility." represent the toils of years preparatory to work not yet
Nevertheless, he is encouraged by Dorothea's "young trust and accomplished." Still, he is willing to "furnish him with moderate
veneration," which help him fend off his self-doubt. Dorothea is supplies" to "test his freedom."
hoping she will better understand his work after they marry.
She wants principles to guide her so that "her life might be Will Ladislaw is first introduced as an artist with a sketchbook.
filled with action at once rational and ardent." His resemblance to Aunt Julia is not only in physical
appearance, but also in temperament. Will clearly has a radical
Dorothea and Casaubon are presented as an engaged couple and rebellious side. He is disposed to think poorly of Dorothea
at a dinner party at the Grange, and the narrator introduces because he doesn't especially like his cousin and can't think of
new characters in attendance: Mr. Vincy, a manufacturer and any reason why a young girl might marry him unless she herself
newly elected mayor; his brother in-law, Mr. Bulstrode, a were deficient. That is why he thinks she is mocking him. Will
banker and strict Evangelical Christian; and Dr. Lydgate, a has a sense of playfulness, evident when he laughs aloud in
young doctor who has bought Mr. Peacock's practice. Lydgate thinking about Mr. Brooke's overblown sense of himself,
is a gentleman, somewhat unusual for a medical man. Also Dorothea's seeming disdain, and the unlikely union of his dour
mentioned at the party is Miss Vincy, the beautiful daughter of cousin with a young, beautiful woman.
the mayor. Shortly after the dinner party takes place, the
Casaubons leave for an extended wedding journey to Rome, The theme of vocation figures prominently in these chapters:
where the minister can study some manuscripts at the Vatican. Dorothea anticipates the world of knowledge opening to her,
Casaubon hopes to more easily complete his magnum opus,
and Will waits for his muse to indicate where his genius lies.
Analysis Meanwhile, Mr. Brooke speaks of missed opportunities and
wasted potential. The conversation between Will and Mr.
Casaubon is revealed as an asexual being—either by nature or Brooke foreshadows the struggles of the principal characters
because he has kept his own company for so long. He himself who are attempting to make their marks on the world.
is surprised that he feels so little for the beautiful and
passionate young woman who is ready to serve him. At the
same time he is gratified by Dorothea's apparent Book 1, Chapters 11–12
submissiveness. Clearly, this marriage is headed for disaster.
Casaubon will soon learn that Dorothea is headstrong and has
needs and desires of her own. Dorothea will learn the reason Summary
he has been struggling to write one book for a number of
years. He is not a bad man but is too self-absorbed and
damaged to provide emotional sustenance to a wife. Can such Chapter 11
a man, who has spent his entire life alone with his books and
his thoughts, satisfy the passion of a nineteen-year-old? The next two chapters are flashbacks, occurring before
Unlikely. Dorothea's engagement. Chapter 11 begins by connecting Dr.
Lydgate to Rosamund Vincy, who enchants him with her grace
The reader learns important family history in Chapter 9.
and beauty. But he doesn't expect to marry for many years.
Casaubon's mother and Ladislaw's grandmother were sisters.
Nonetheless, the narrator comments that "when a man has
Later chapters will reveal that the man Aunt Julia married was
seen the woman whom he would have chosen if he had
a musician. The disowned couple had children, and Will is Aunt
intended to marry speedily, his remaining a bachelor will usually
Julia's grandson and Casaubon's second cousin. Casaubon
depend on her resolution rather than on his."
received the entire family inheritance, which is why he feels
obligated to educate Will. As he discusses with Mr. Brooke Rosamund and Fred Vincy, the eldest children of the
Will's desire to travel, he displays a deep criticism of the manufacturer introduced in the previous chapter, are
younger man, who seems lazy and self-indulgent. Casaubon quarreling amiably. He is recently home after quitting
compares Will's flitting from one interest to another with his university. Rosamund is a beautiful blonde who was the star
own steady application to his "manuscript volumes, which pupil at an academy for ladies. Mrs. Vincy's sister, now

deceased, was married to Peter Featherstone. Vincy's sister is

married to Bulstrode. Featherstone is old, rich, and ill, and the
Analysis
Vincys expect him to leave money to his nephew, Fred. Mary
The narrator introduces two additional plot threads in these
Garth keeps house for Featherstone, who is his niece by his
chapters—the couplings of Rosamund and Tertius Lydgate,
first wife, also deceased. Rosamund is curious about the new
and Fred and Mary Garth. Rosamund is a beautiful social
doctor, Dr. Lydgate, and would like an excuse to see him. Since
climber who wants a solid berth in the middle class. From the
he is attending her uncle, she arranges to accompany Fred to
start she is characterized as charming, accomplished in a
Stone Court the next day.
superficial way, and shallow in her aspirations—the very
opposite of Dorothea. For Lydgate, she is everything a woman
Chapter 12 ought to be. But the doctor has come to Middlemarch to make
his name. Rosamund has her pick of suitors, but she wants an
Featherstone is visited by his sister, Mrs. Waule, who is worried outsider with ambition, not someone who is part of the general
her brother will leave money away from his family. Thus, she public of Middlemarch. Inevitably, this couple will come
repeats gossip about Fred, asserting he is borrowing money to together and marry, as predicted by the narrator at the
gamble at billiards on the expectation of an inheritance. When beginning of Chapter 11.
Fred and Rosamund arrive, Featherstone asks to speak to him
Fred's case is more complicated. As the eldest son of his
alone, and the girls go to Mary's room. Featherstone repeats
father who will not follow Mr. Vincy into business, he has few
the story, and Fred honestly denies it, although he thinks to
respectable career choices. It was quite common for the sons
himself he may have spoken publicly about inheriting
of the middle class to attend university and then take holy
Featherstone's money. Featherstone requires proof,
orders in the Anglican Church, whether or not they had a
specifically a letter from Fred's uncle Bulstrode saying he has
religious calling. While Fred seems somewhat indolent (he gets
not promised to pay his debt with Featherstone's land. Fred
up late, he gambles at billiards, he publicly gossips about a
knows Bulstrode will likely object and that Featherstone is
hypothetical inheritance), he at least had the resolve to refuse
demanding this proof merely to exercise his power. But he
to enter the church, a profession he is unsuited for. Clearly,
feels he has no choice, because he doesn't want to fall out of
Fred is in a quandary. He has been spending too much money,
favor with his miserly uncle.
and now he runs the risk of alienating his father further, along
Meanwhile, the young women are discussing Dr. Lydgate. with his two uncles. What will Fred do if he doesn't become a
Rosamund is disposed to like him because she wants to marry clergyman? That is the most important question Fred will have
a talented outsider with good connections. Both girls are about to grapple with, although it is not currently the question on his
22, but Mary's family is poor, and she is short and plain with mind.
few prospects. Her intelligence and circumstances have made
her shrewd and somewhat bitter about other people's motives.
Rosamund mentions her father is angry that Fred quit school Book 2, Chapters 13–15
and will not take holy orders. Mary takes his part and says he is
not fit to be a clergyman and would be a hypocrite if he
became one. When Featherstone and Fred finish talking, the Summary
women come out, and soon Lydgate arrives for a house call.
Rosamund and Lydgate experience a strong, mutual attraction
when they see each other. As the brother and sister ride home, Chapter 13
Rosamund fantasizes about a life with Lydgate, and Fred
determines that it is best to not go to Bulstrode directly but to In a conference with Lydgate in his office at the bank,
get his father to ask. Bulstrode gives him the superintendence of the new fever
hospital, which will provide care for people with serious
illnesses such as tuberculosis or typhoid fever. The hospital will
now pay a chaplain in attendance, and Bulstrode asks Lydgate
to support his candidate, Mr. Tyke, an Evangelical Christian like

Bulstrode, over Mr. Farebrother. Lydgate doesn't know either revealed to him that she had committed the murder for which
clergyman and says religion is not his business. Their she was acquitted. After this experience Lydgate wrongly
conversation is cut short by the arrival of Mr. Vincy, who invites thinks he is safe from further ill-advised romantic
Lydgate to dinner. Vincy then broaches the subject of the entanglements.
letter requested by Featherstone. Bulstrode initially refuses to
exonerate Fred and scolds Vincy for his lax upbringing of his
son and vanity in presuming to educate him for the Church. Analysis
Vincy accuses his brother-in-law of religious hypocrisy, citing
the fact that he does business with shady characters like Mr. Mr. Bulstrode is a powerful man in Middlemarch, with the ability
Plymdale, who buys dyes that rot silk. He adds that his wife to loan money, fund charitable causes, and confer favors. He
(Vincy's sister) will not appreciate his family disloyalty. At the considers himself a philanthropist and is eager to align himself
end of the conversation, Bulstrode has more or less agreed to with the new doctor who will bring medical reform. As an
write the letter. Evangelical Christian with strict notions of religion, he is in the
habit of imposing his beliefs on others. Thus, he would oust Mr.
Farebrother, the current infirmary chaplain, in favor of Mr.
Chapter 14 Tyke, a fellow Evangelical, once the fever hospital is added.
Since Bulstrode is aligning himself with Lydgate in the temporal
Fred brings Featherstone the letter, and he is satisfied enough arena and choosing him over his colleagues, he expects
to give his nephew 100 pounds. In truth, Fred was hoping for Lydgate to vote with him on the religious appointment when it
more to pay his debts, but he pretends to be grateful. He has comes before the medical board. Lydgate doesn't expect to
actually backed his loan with a signature from Mr. Garth, get involved in such matters and expresses disinterest rather
Mary's father. When the farm bailiff arrives to speak to than give a direct answer.
Featherstone, Fred escapes downstairs to speak to Mary.
They have been good friends since childhood, and Mary is in Bulstrode is a self-righteous fundamentalist who holds that
the habit of teasing and scolding Fred. He is very much in love man is basically sinful. These views inform Bulstrode's
with her and says he could be a better man if he were sure his behavior. He criticizes Vincy, who has a large family to support,
love was returned. Mary refuses reassurance, noting that both for spending money on Fred's expensive education in an
of their families would be against a match. Despite Mary's attempt to raise his social standing. He disapproves of Fred's
discouragement, Fred believes she does care for him. habits (including gambling) and surmises that "in his
recklessness and ignorance" he probably has tried to raise
money on the strength of his future prospects. (In fact, Fred
Chapter 15 owes money and is in the process of trying to raise capital to
pay off a loan.) Bulstrode is even more critical of Farebrother
The narrator pauses in this chapter to provide backstory on because the minister gambles at cards. On his side, Vincy calls
the secondary protagonist, Tertius Lydgate, who was Bulstrode a hypocrite because as a banker he sometimes
orphaned early and educated by his guardians. At the age of finances dishonest tradesmen. The two men must get along,
10, Lydgate already knew his vocation, and as a young man however, since they are brothers-in-law with a duty to keep
(now 27) he received advanced training in Edinburgh and Paris. peace in the family; this is one reason why Bulstrode relents.
Lydgate's twin ambitions are to reform medicine according to
the latest scientific knowledge and engage in research. In the Dr. Lydgate's history demonstrates that he, like Dorothea and
area of research, he hopes to discover the common basis for Casaubon, has great expectations. Like Casaubon, he is also
the structure of all tissue. Lydgate intends to help many looking for a key to unlocking a universal principle—in his case
people, but he is arrogant and a poor judge of women. His the substrata underlying the structure of all tissue. Of course,
"spots of commonness" include judgments in ordinary matters, the author was aware that soon after the action of her novel,
in which he does not use his considerable intellect to penetrate scientists would discover that the cell was the basic unit of life.
his own prejudices. Lydgate's troubles with the opposite sex Thus, she allows Lydgate the possibility of making a
are foreshadowed in a previous infatuation with a beautiful monumental discovery, and his failure to do so is not for lack of
foreign actress, whom he pursued and tried to marry until she intellect. Rather, Lydgate is destined to be thwarted by the

sticking points in his less than perfect character. For example, how difficult it is to act on one's idealism. Before Lydgate
he is completely blind to the fact that an actress he is sexually leaves Farebrother tells him plainly that if he chooses to vote
attracted to has murdered her unfortunate husband. Moreover, with Bulstrode, the doctor should not allow that to come
Lydgate's conceit will get him into trouble. between them because he is in need of Lydgate's friendship.
Book 2, Chapters 16–18 Chapter 18

Over the next weeks the friendship between Lydgate and
Farebrother grows, and Lydgate learns he is a devoted family
Summary man and a gifted preacher. But the doctor is bothered that
Farebrother gambles and wants the chaplaincy for the extra
money. Lydgate has never had to worry about money, since his
Chapter 16 needs have been provided for up until now. In thinking about
the upcoming vote for chaplain, he doesn't want to be
The subject of the chaplaincy is a hot topic of conversation at
Bulstrode's pawn. At the same time he realizes it's in his best
the Vincys when Lydgate comes to dine. He begins to realize
interests to vote with the banker. Moreover, although Tyke is
that Bulstrode rules the town, although he is not without "an
not well liked, he has more time for the extra duties of the
opposition party." The banker's power, which he accumulates
office. On the day of the board meeting, Lydgate arrives late,
"for the glory of God," derives not only from knowing people's
after everyone has voted. The vote is a tie, and it remains for
financial secrets in the course of his profession, but also from
the doctor to break it. When Mr. Wrench says everyone already
providing them with personal loans. Rosamund has the
knows how Lydgate will vote, he gets angry and immediately
opportunity to become further acquainted with the new doctor
writes down "Tyke." Lydgate says to himself that "if he had
during this visit and enchants him with her beauty, manners,
been quite free from indirect bias he should have voted for Mr.
and excellent piano playing. He also meets Mr. Farebrother, a
Farebrother."
handsome clergyman of forty "whose black was very
threadbare;" he has come to play cards. Farebrother is a
naturalist by avocation, and he invites Lydgate over to look at
Analysis
his beetle collection. After Lydgate leaves Rosalind meditates
on Lydgate as a marriage partner who would get her "a little These three chapters develop Lydgate's progress as he is
nearer to that celestial condition on earth in which she would assimilated into Middlemarch's culture and begins to gradually
have nothing to do with vulgar people ... ." lose the independence necessary to be a trailblazer. After
Lydgate leaves the Vincys, he considers the question of love
and marriage with a woman like Miss Vincy, who is polished,
Chapter 17 refined, and seemingly docile. He thinks that these very traits
that would not allow her to bear the hardship of being married
Lydgate visits Farebrother the next day and learns that he
to someone who is married to his profession.
supports his mother, maiden aunt, and an elder sister.
Farebrother's mother brings up the issue of Rev. Tyke, who
Farebrother is something of a foil (contrasting character) to
wants to "push aside my son on pretense of doctrine."
Lydgate. He has more than a decade of additional life
Farebrother says he is zealous and not very learned, ironically
experience and knows that a person is never just an "I"
adding, "and not very wise, I think—because I don't agree with
operating in a vacuum. This is something that Lydgate has yet
him." When the two men look at Farebrother's collections and
to learn. Farebrother is not judgmental, and people from
books on natural history, Lydgate thinks about how the vicar
outside of his parish come to hear his preaching. He is "sweet
spends his winnings at cards. He is surprised by Farebrother's
tempered, ready-witted, frank." Yet, while Lydgate is growing
openness, in which he implies he might not be altogether in the
attached to the vicar, he still thinks of himself as superior.
right vocation. Lydgate speaks with impatience about
"humbug" in the medical field, and Farebrother comments on It doesn't occur to Lydgate that his choice of a wife will affect

what he can do in a career or that, in accepting the help of facile conjectures of ignorant onlookers."
Bulstrode, he naturally will have to compromise his principles.
Lydgate is repulsed by the vicar's "pursuit of small gains" and
never calculates "the ratio between the Vicar's income and his Chapter 21
more or less necessary expenditure." Thus, Lydgate shows an
inability to empathize with people in difficult circumstances. As Ladislaw finds the Casaubon's address and calls to pay his
he himself begins to feel the tightening of constraints inevitably respects. Will perceives that Dorothea has been crying and
imposed by community life, he lies about his own motives and immediately feels loathing for his cousin. Will jokes about how,
ability to keep himself above the fray. when they first met, he thought she was trying to insult him.
The conversation gradually shifts to Casaubon's work, and Will
informs her that he is "groping around in the woods with a
Book 2, Chapters 19–22 pocket-compass" where German historians "have made good
roads." This news clearly pains her deeply, and Will now
perceives that Dorothea is neither "coldly clever" nor "indirectly
satirical," but rather "adorably simple and full of feeling ... an
Summary angel beguiled." When Casaubon returns he invites Will for
dinner the next evening. After he leaves, Dorothea apologizes
for upsetting Casaubon in the morning, and he accepts her
Chapter 19 apology. He is secretly annoyed that she has seen Ladislaw
alone but refrains from saying something in the light of their
Will Ladislaw and his German artist friend Naumann, with
reconciliation.
whom he is studying painting, see Dorothea in the Vatican
museum. Will is surprised to see her, since he didn't know the
Casaubons had come to Rome for their honeymoon. Naumann Chapter 22
wants to paint Dorothea, "a sort of Christian
Antigone—sensuous force controlled by spiritual passion," and Will comes to dinner and goes out of his way to be pleasant
encourages his friend to contrive an introduction. and agreeable to his cousin. As a result, Casaubon curtails his
work to spend his last few days in Rome sightseeing. Will
introduces the idea of their going to the studios of working
Chapter 20 painters and is thus able to bring them to Naumann. Will and
Naumann begin explaining the iconography of their paintings,
When Dorothea comes home from the museum, she cries
and Dorothea feels a little less in the dark. Naumann first asks
bitterly in her desolation. She finds no enjoyment in the Eternal
to sketch Casaubon's head for a study of St. Thomas Aquinas,
City. Dorothea does not have the education to understand the
and Casaubon agrees. He then asks to sketch Dorothea as
art and history that assault her from every direction. At the
Santa Clara. Will begins to be sorry he has brought the couple
same time her attempts at physical affection are repulsed by
to the studio, torn between "the inclination to fall at the Saint's
Casaubon. She tries "showering kisses on the hard pate of her
feet and kiss her robe, and the temptation to knock Naumann
bald doll," but Casaubon responds by "indicating ... by politely
down while he was adjusting her arm."
reaching a chair for her that he regarded these manifestations
as rather crude and startling." The young dilettante comes to see Dorothea the next day
when he knows Casaubon will not be home. She asks more
To make matters worse, the couple has had their first
about her husband's work, and Will tells her that Casaubon is
argument when Dorothea, in a desperate bid to connect,
wasting his time "crawling a little way after men of the last
insistently asks Casaubon when he will begin to extract
century ... and correcting their mistakes." Dorothea becomes
information from his many volumes, so that she may help him
indignant that Will can speak so lightly of his cousin's failure
to write his book. The minister haughtily answers, "you may rely
and he backtracks, criticizing himself for idling on Casaubon's
upon me for knowing the time and the seasons, adapted to the
money and vowing to go back to England and make his own
different stages of a work which is not to be measured by the
way. Will expresses that he would like to be of service to

Dorothea but fears he will never have the opportunity. She realization is great sympathy and compassion, and for the first
thanks him for his kind words and asks him to not speak again time she begins to see him as he really is. Her first instinct is to
to anyone on the subject of her husband's failed enterprise, protect him from the world, which is why she asks Will not to
and he quickly agrees. When Casaubon returns Dorothea tells mention his own assessment of Casaubon's work to anyone
him that Will plans to make it on his own from now on, since else. She remains unaware, however, that Will has anything
she thinks Casaubon will be pleased to hear it. He responds more than family feeling for her or that Casaubon feels jealous
that, since his duty seems to be at an end, he never wishes to of his young cousin. This ignorance about other people's
speak about Ladislaw again. natures and motives will create additional problems for her as
she negotiates a difficult marriage to a man who has little room
in his heart for a living, breathing spouse.
Analysis
When Ladislaw first met Dorothea in Middlemarch he did not Book 3, Chapters 23–26
really see her, but in Rome he sees both her external and
internal beauty. During their visit in Rome, he comes to realize
she has conceived for herself "some original romance" about
her marriage. Will already dislikes his cousin and feels
Summary
resentment against this condescending benefactor, and now
he is doubly angry that Casaubon has somehow convinced
"this adorable young creature to marry him," which is more
Chapter 23
than he can tolerate now that he has fallen in love with her.
The narrator relates that the Vincys live "in an easy profuse
way," and the elder children are spoiled. Although the Garths
The more time Ladislaw spends with Dorothea, the more he
and Vincys have a long acquaintance, Mr. and Mrs. Vincy keep
wants to separate himself from Casaubon so that he does not
their distance from the lower-class Garths. Fred still has to
have to depend on the man that has become his enemy, a
cover his debt for laming a horse and gambling but has not
metaphorical dragon holding his lady love captive. This is why
asked his father for help because he already owes money for
he decides to stop exploring various vocational paths and
college and has failed his examination. Fred decides to
actually get down to some practical pursuit, now that he wants
sacrifice his horse for the sake of not compromising Mr. Garth
Dorothea to "take more emphatic notice of him ... to be
and heads to the horse fair with two rascals, Mr. Bambridge, to
something more special in her remembrance that he could yet
whom he owes the money, and Mr. Horrock. His companions
believe himself likely to be."
contrive for him to trade his horse plus 30 pounds for what
Both Dorothea and Casaubon have a rude awakening in Rome: looks to be a fine steed that Fred hopes to sell at a profit.
Dorothea learns that her husband is not capable of sharing his
life with her. Further, he has an aversion to physical contact.
Casaubon remains an irreproachable husband until he feels Chapter 24
under attack by Dorothea who, "instead of observing his
Fred's new horse turns out to be a bad bargain with a vicious
abundant pen scratches and amplitude of paper with the
temper and lames itself by catching its leg in a rope in the
uncritical awe of a canary-bird, seemed to present herself as a
stable. Fred has no choice but to turn the remaining 50 pounds
spy watching everything with the malign power of inference."
from Featherstone over to Mr. Garth and tell him that he
When Dorothea shows some impatience for him to begin
cannot pay the rest of the money. When Fred tells the Garths,
extracting passages from his many volumes of copious notes,
he gets his first taste of real remorse for his irresponsibility.
he sees his own self-doubt and criticism made manifest.
Mrs. Garth is a housewife and a teacher, and she takes pupils
Suddenly he is terrified that Dorothea's worship will be
to augment the family income. To cover Fred's debt, Mrs. Garth
replaced with criticism.
must now give her husband the money she has been saving for
Dorothea begins to realize that her husband is an empty shell her son Alfred's apprenticeship and ask Mary for some of her
who is unlikely to complete a great work. Her response to this earnings from keeping house for Featherstone. After Fred

leaves in shame, Mrs. Garth says: "I knew he was extravagant, childhood, and he is almost like a member of the Garth family.
but I did not think that he would be so mean as to hang his Fred mostly keeps his feelings about Mary to himself, since his
risks on his oldest friends, who could the least afford to lose." parents would not approve of the alliance for reasons of class,
The Garths have fallen on hard times because, although Mr. and Mrs. Vincy thinks Mary is too plain for Fred. Mr. Garth is
Garth is highly competent as a builder, surveyor, and agent, he generous with other people to a fault, which is why he is so
is less good at making a profit from other people. poor and why he agrees to guarantee Fred's debt.
Fred is used to taking the easy way out, so instead of

Chapter 25 immediately turning over the 100 pounds he got from
Featherstone to Bambridge, the horse dealer, he tries to turn a
Fred next confesses to Mary, who is more concerned about profit on his mediocre horse, allowing himself to be tricked into
her parents' loss. Fred wants Mary to feel sorry for him, and a bad bargain by his shady friends. Fred's major concern in
she replies that "selfish people always think their own delivering the bad news to the Garths is that he will appear
discomfort of more importance than anything else in the dishonorable. But Fred does realize that he is "robbing two
world." Mary's father comes in the evening to borrow Mary's women of their savings" and is genuinely sorry. His immaturity
money. Mr. Garth, knowing there is something between Fred and selfishness, however, continue to be evident in wanting
and his daughter, warns her that Fred can't be trusted and that Mary to feel sorry for him for both his physical and mental
a woman must suffer her husband's foibles for the rest of her suffering over the incident. He wants reassurances that she
life. She responds that "I will never engage myself to one who loves him, despite the fact that he has yet to prove he is worthy
has no manly independence, and who goes on loitering away of her love and has even shown himself to be a menace to her
his time on the chance that others will provide for him." family. She scolds him for spending money on himself without
knowing how he will pay or thinking about "what others may
lose." The two of them remain friends, but Mary reiterates to
Chapter 26 her father what she has already told Fred in Chapter 14, that
she will not marry a reckless layabout.
Fred becomes very sick and Mr. Wrench, the family physician,
says it's nothing serious and sends medicine. Dr. Lydgate is in Dr. Lydgate does his best to stay on good on good terms with
the neighborhood, and Mrs. Vincy asks him to look in on her Wrench, but the older doctor already doesn't like him because
son who is not getting better. He declares that Fred has he is bringing "flighty, foreign notions, which will not wear" to
typhoid fever and prescribes a different regimen, including bed Middlemarch's medical practice. Like the other medical men,
rest. The Vincy parents are very angry at Wrench for what they he is also angry at Lydgate for what they see as his
perceive as cursory attention to their son, while Wrench is "ungentlemanly attempts to discredit the sale of drugs by his
angry at Lydgate for interfering in his case. Lydgate offers to professional brethren." Now that Lydgate is attending Fred, he
work with Wrench, but he withdraws, and Lydgate becomes is in regular and close proximity to Rosamund, which is likely to
the family's physician. facilitate increasingly friendly relations between them.
Analysis Book 3, Chapters 27–29

The amiable but irresponsible Fred Vincy is used to getting
what he wants. His family lives large for their income bracket,
and the children have learned "no standard of economy." Thus
Summary
it is not surprising that Fred gets into trouble with his
expensive sporting habits and gambling. He is reluctant to ask
his father for help because Mr. Vincy is already resentful about
Chapter 27
having to pay college debts that will not bear fruit, since Fred
The narrator begins this chapter with a metaphor that
has failed and has declared he will not become a clergyman.
symbolizes an important theme running through the novel: a
Fred's relationship with Caleb Garth dates back to his

pier glass or any polished surface continually rubbed will have decided that he wants no visits from Will, who is a distraction
hundreds of random scratches, but when the light of a candle to his work. Dorothea is highly offended that he would attribute
is shone on its center, the scratches appear in a concentric to her "a wish for anything that would annoy [him]." She speaks
pattern. Similarly, life's random events and the haphazard or to him in a passionate tone and refuses to read the letters.
unconscious choices that people make appear as a pattern to Soon after he has a heart attack, and Sir James's man goes for
an individual ego, which ascribes a given meaning to their life Dr. Lydgate.
and experience. Since typhoid fever was known to be
contagious, the children are packed off with their governess,
but Rosamund chooses to stay behind, professing concern for Analysis
her mother and brother. She thinks it fateful that Fred's
sickness will bring her and Lydgate into regular and close Initially Lydgate has no intent to flirt with Rosamund, but their
proximity, and she works hard to develop a relationship with somewhat awkward relations blossom into a full-blown
him, since her mother spends most of her time at Fred's flirtation. He believes he is not in any danger because it would
bedside. After Fred gets well Lydgate continues to socialize be foolish for him to marry so early in his career. From the
with Rosamund at the Vincy house. He looks at his flirtation perspective of his ego, he is not leading Rosamund on. She, on
with Rosamund as an innocent diversion, knowing that for the other hand, believes he is falling in love with her. She has
financial and professional reasons he cannot possibly marry, no thought about his professional aspirations or financial
but for Rosamund they are on the cusp of becoming engaged. position. She simply knows that he is of the right class, has the
right manners, and is worthy of her attention. On his part, "he
held it one of the prettiest attitudes of the feminine mind to
Chapter 28 adore a man's pre-eminence without too precise a knowledge
of what it consisted in." But her ignorance about his
The Casaubons return from their wedding journey, and preeminence and aspirations disqualifies her as a suitable wife.
Dorothea's disappointment is beginning to ripen. She feels "the
stifling oppression of that gentlewoman's world, where On her part Dorothea is still trying to learn to be a suitable wife
everything was done for her and none asked for her aid." to Casaubon. Although she has convinced him to allow her to
Dorothea looks upon the miniature of Julia Ladislaw, Will's act as a secretary, this work is nothing like the dream she had
grandmother, with new eyes, as a kind of spirit she can of "wifely devotion which was to strengthen her husband's life
commiserate with in the trials and tribulations of marriage. She, and exalt her own."
too, made a marriage her friends disapproved of, and perhaps
Dorothea is disappointed anew when Casaubon assumes she
she had regrets. Mr. Casaubon has not been feeling well,
desires Will to visit. She is outraged by his implied accusation
suffering palpitations, but he greets Mr. Brooke and Celia, and
that she would put her needs and pleasures before his own. In
the two sisters warmly reunite. Celia tells Dorothea that she is
truth he is jealous of his young cousin. Shortly after her
engaged to Sir James, and her sister is happy to hear the
outburst, Casaubon has a heart attack. No doubt his heart is
news, calling him a "good, honorable man."
weak, but the pressure and expectations of marriage and this
second altercation with Dorothea have likely pushed him over
Chapter 29 the edge.
The narrator provides glimpses into the psyche of Casaubon,

Mr. Casaubon continues to be depressed about the fact that
who hoped to find happiness and family pleasures in marriage.
his union with Dorothea has not created bliss in his life, but
She implies, however, that Casaubon is incapable of being
rather, marriage has become an additional arena in which he
sexual with his wife. He had never been very joyful, the narrator
has the possibility of failing. Although he would rather not have
says. The reader feels sympathy and perhaps empathy for
Dorothea help him with his work, her insistence had earned her
Casaubon, as his own worst enemy, unable to just let go. But
a place by his side, reading to him or copying what he assigns.
on the other hand, the reader feels revulsion for the small-
One morning, while Sir James and Celia are visiting at Lowick,
minded man with the monumental ego, so afraid of criticism
Casaubon gets a letter from Ladislaw, with an enclosed letter
that he never could actually hire a secretary, and so full of his
to Dorothea. He tells her to read it but that he has already

own importance that "his religious faith wavered with his husband comes back with a decidedly negative answer. The
wavering trust in his own authorship." It is hard to like a man in next time she is in company with Lydgate, she broaches the
midlife with so little sympathy or empathy for others that he subject of the danger of a young man showing interest in a
sees his wife merely as one more arena in which he must woman when he has no serious intentions, since such behavior
"acquit himself." Shortsighted Dorothea, initially failing to see could damage her prospects. Lydgate takes a hint and stops
Casaubon, has already developed empathy for the husband visiting the Vincys. After ten days Lydgate is asked by Mrs.
with the failed Key to all Mythologies and will continue to Vincy, who is paying an extended visit to bedridden Mr.
enlarge her sympathetic imagination until the day that he dies. Featherstone with her son Fred, to tell her husband that
The same cannot be said for the minister. Featherstone has taken a turn for the worse. When he delivers
the message Rosamund is home alone, and she is clearly
moved by his visit, but then embarrassed when she realizes
Book 3, Chapters 30–33 he's come on business. At one point her eyes well up, and she
displays real suffering and disappointment. Lydgate's
impetuous side gets the upper hand, and when he asks her
Summary what's wrong she begins to cry. He then embraces her. After
she confesses her feelings, he proposes marriage, later
coming back to ask her father's official permission.
Chapter 30
Casaubon recovers from his heart attack. When Dorothea
Chapter 32
speaks to Lydgate in private, he says that Casaubon could
In Mr. Featherstone's house at Stone Court, a large number of
suddenly die or live fifteen or more years, but only if he avoids
people are coming and going, particularly his blood relatives
"mental agitation of all kinds" and "excessive application."
who are hovering like vultures as he nears death. Featherstone
Lydgate is moved by Dorothea's devotion to her husband. After
has rich and poor blood relations, all of whom expect him to
he leaves, Dorothea reads Will's letter to his cousin, which
leave them money. The scene at Stone Court is both comic
reiterates his intention to make his own way in England. He
and dark, as some of the young men eye Mary, either
asks if he may visit to drop off Naumann's painting of
suspiciously as an interloper, or with interest as a possible
Casaubon as Aquinas, saying he will be leaving Italy shortly.
future heiress. Fred and Mrs. Vincy are in attendance upstairs,
Dorothea asks her uncle to immediately write to him and beg
and Featherstone insists they stay nearby, even as he pushes
him not to come. Mr. Brooke writes to Will, but he invites him to
his blood relations away—particularly brother Solomon and his
come to Tipton Grange instead, thinking he will be good
sister Mrs. Waule. These relatives have no scruples and hound
company now that Celia is getting married. He also imagines
Peter Featherstone, even on his deathbed, that he should not
Will can help him with politics. Unfortunately, he does not
leave his money to strangers—meaning his relatives through
mention the invitation to the Casaubons.
marriage—Fred and Mary.
Chapter 31 Chapter 33
Mrs. Bulstrode is good friends with Mrs. Plymdale, whose son
Mary Garth watches over Featherstone through the night. She
Ned is in love with Rosamund. Mrs. Plymdale is annoyed that
feels disdain for Mrs. Vincy's alarm about leaving her alone with
Ned has been turned down by Rosamund and mentions that
Fred and disgust for the greedy relatives. She worries about
she and Lydgate have been acting as if they are engaged.
Fred because, despite Featherstone's fondness for him, she
Alarmed by this gossip, Mrs. Bulstrode visits her niece to
doesn't think the old man means to leave him any money.
determine how far the romance has progressed. She surmises
Featherstone suddenly summons Mary to his side at 3:00 a.m.,
from her conversation that there is expectation on Rosamund's
commanding her to take his keys to retrieve a will from his iron
side, but no clear proposal. Later she asks Mr. Bulstrode to
chest. He says there are two wills and he means to burn one.
inquire whether Lydgate intends to marry soon, and her
Mary refuses, and he tries to bribe her with money and gold in

the tin box that he keeps nearby. She begs him to wait until One of the themes that runs through the novel is the limits of
morning or to allow her to summon the lawyer. At one point he free will, since a human being is at the mercy of genetics,
asks her to get Fred, but she will do so only if she can also call circumstances, and the wills of other people. Lydgate takes
his nephew Jonah. Featherstone refuses. She says to her Rosamund for a beautiful doll rather than a being with her own
uncle, "I will not let the close of your life soil the beginning of hopes, dreams, and agenda. But when she cries in front of him
mine. I will not touch your iron chest or your will." Featherstone and reveals genuine emotion, she appeals to his heroic side,
finally gives up when he realizes there is no moving Mary, and the part of him that wants to save people, and he sees himself
shortly after he dies. as her savior in proposing marriage.
At Stone Court Fred Vincy has been called to his dying uncle's
Analysis bedside, so he is there not as one of the vultures, but rather as
a concerned participant. Nonetheless, he does expect his
Dorothea insists on learning the truth about her husband's uncle to make him rich, and he has held that hope for some
condition from Lydgate because she wants to ensure that she time—a hope that has guided his decisions up until now. Mary
does everything she can to prolong Casaubon's life. Lydgate is too clear sighted to expect anything from Featherstone. She
wonders about her marriage to Casaubon and is touched by knows the worst side of him, because he is completely at his
her emotion. ease with her, and she surmises that he will attempt to
exercise his power over others even at the end of his life. Mary
Dorothea tells her uncle to write to Ladislaw so that an ill-timed has an unimpeachable character and cannot be bribed into
visit doesn't further upset her husband. Clearly, Will's desire to doing Featherstone's bidding. She knows she is under
deliver the painting is a contrivance to snatch an opportunity to suspicion in the eyes of the relatives, and she is determined to
see Dorothea again. This is something she doesn't realize, but do nothing that can stain her reputation. Featherstone is an
her husband intuits that Ladislaw has an interest in his wife. Mr. immoral man, and she refuses to be drawn into his deathbed
Brooke's inconsideration of others and inability to put himself scheming. She takes responsibility for Fred as well, not giving
in another person's shoes will bring additional problems to his Featherstone the opportunity to do something that could put a
niece, since without thinking he has taken it upon himself to black mark on his reputation.
invite Will to stay with him when Dorothea clearly means to
disinvite him and not have him in the neighborhood.
The Vincys have two dramas playing out in these chapters.

Book 4, Chapters 34–36
First, Mrs. Bulstrode is concerned that her niece may be
putting herself in a compromising position. While Mrs.
Bulstrode is ruled by her husband's Christianity in one part of Summary
her personality, she is a practical materialist in another. She
wants what is best for her niece, and she knows her expensive
habits are not likely to be supported on the salary of a country Chapter 34
doctor, his aristocratic connections notwithstanding. She says
Peter Featherstone's funeral is a major event, since the old
to her niece, "Mr. Ned Plymdale is a nice young man—some
man left details and explicit instructions for a huge sendoff in
might think good-looking; and an only son; and a large business
which his various relatives are required to participate.
of that kind is better than a profession." Rosamund disdains
Featherstone has asked Mr. Cadwallader to officiate, which is
her aunt's suggestion, saying she will never give her heart to
why Mrs. Cadwallader is at Casaubon's estate, along with
Mr. Plymdale.
Celia, Sir James, and Lady Chettam. They watch the funeral
Mrs. Bulstrode then turns to Lydgate to put an end to what procession from the window in the upper room and see a large
appears to be a flirtation with no serious interest on Lydgate's swath of people in every class, from high to low. Mr. Brooke
side. In fact, Lydgate's response to Mrs. Bulstrode's warning arrives and asks Casaubon to join them at the window. He also
seems to confirm his disinclination to marry. So how is it that announces, after Celia spots Ladislaw in the crowd, that he
less than two weeks later Lydgate proposes to Rosamund? invited him to stay at Tipton Grange and that Ladislaw would

like to come up to Lowick to greet him and bring the painting. last will he made, but what has become clear after the old
Dorothea goes pale when she listens to her uncle, because she man's death is how much the promise of his money has
knows that Casaubon objects to his cousin and will think she affected the life of Fred and his family. Fred has not applied
told her uncle to invite him, but she has not opportunity to set himself at college and lives above his means in part because
the record straight. he relied on the promise of an inheritance. Deliberately
withholding information about the existence of Joshua Rigg,
Featherstone has used Fred as a way to torment his own blood
Chapter 35 relatives, since they thought young Vincy was a threat to their
inheritance. Even if he did mean to leave Fred money,
Featherstone's will is read. Present are all the relatives, by Featherstone never meant to leave him his property, which has
blood and marriage, along with a frog-faced stranger named passed to the man that a later chapter will reveal as his
Joshua Rigg, who also attended the funeral. Mr. Standish reads illegitimate son.
the last will he drew up for Featherstone, as well as a later will,
perfectly legal, drawn up by another lawyer. The most recent Chapter 36 revisits the overarching metaphor of the web,
will is the one that will be executed. In the first will which holds society together and connects people—but also
Featherstone leaves small amounts of money to all of his traps them. "Young love-making—that gossamer web! ... The
relatives, 10,000 pounds to Fred, and his land to Mr. Rigg. In web itself is made of spontaneous beliefs and indefinable joys,
the second will, most of the first will is revoked, and the land, yearnings of one life towards another ... And Lydgate fell to
house, and stock is still left to Rigg, who will take the name of spinning that web from his inward self with wonderful rapidity,
Featherstone. Fred is devastated by the will, and Mary can't in spite of experience supposed to be finished off with the
help but think she unwittingly played a role in Fred's fate. drama of Laure." Laure, the murdering actress whom Lydgate
attached himself to and who (fortunately) rejected him, was
supposed to be his object lesson in getting himself entangled
Chapter 36 in a romance that would sidetrack his career plans. But clearly,
Lydgate's well-laid plans have gone awry as he spins a new
With Fred's prospects irrevocably dashed, his father expects
tale of love in Middlemarch, spending his limited stock of cash
him to return to school and pass his exams so he can become
to furnish a house for himself and his bride-to-be. Rosamund
a clergyman. He now wishes to oppose the marriage of
has successfully caught Lydgate up in her plans to move up on
Rosamund and Lydgate, since he can give his daughter no
the social-class ladder, and by the end of this chapter, he
dowry and Lydgate has no money. But he is too intimidated by
agrees to introduce her to his aristocratic relatives during their
Lydgate's class superiority to challenge him directly, and
wedding trip.
Rosamund is skilled in manipulating her parents. Moreover,
Lydgate is fully committed to going forward with the marriage
and gives no thought to the expense he is incurring to set up
house. The couple actually moves the wedding up, and
Rosamund persuades her father to not make a fuss. She also
convinces Lydgate to visit his uncle, Sir Godwin, during their
honeymoon. Summary
Analysis Chapter 37
In Chapter 34 the author takes the opportunity to showcase a Will is in the neighborhood and makes an excuse to visit
wide swath of Middlemarch society during Peter Dorothea by taking his sketchbook to Lowick. When it begins
Featherstone's funeral. The height from which the gentry to rain, Will must take shelter in the house, and he ends up
watch their neighbors symbolizes the distance between them. having a private visit with Dorothea since Casaubon is not
home. He tells her more about his Polish grandfather—Julia
Mary is right in thinking that Featherstone meant to burn the Casaubon's husband—who worked as a teacher. Julia's son

married another renegade—a woman who ran away from her Her uncle is evasive in answering and then is called away to
own family under mysterious circumstances. Will's family was deal with a tenant problem. Will, still residing at the Grange,
poor, but shortly before his death Will's father reached out to now has a chance to tell Dorothea he has been banned from
Casaubon. From that point Casaubon took care of Will and his Casaubon's home. She expresses her regret, along with a stoic
mother (who later died). Dorothea also learns that Will has resignation about her life at Lowick. After Dorothea leaves, Mr.
agreed to become the editor of the Pioneer, the paper her Brooke visits his tenant Dagley about his son's poaching of a
uncle Brooke has purchased for the purpose of promoting the rabbit from the estate. Much to his surprise, the drunken
Reform agenda. He asks for her approval, which she happily tenant insults him, calling his support of reform hypocrisy.
gives, but later thinks her husband will have the opposite Brooke leaves quickly, surprised to be so disliked.
reaction.
When Casaubon returns Dorothea tells him about his cousin's Analysis
plans. The minister wastes no time in writing to Will, saying, in
effect, that he will disown him if he takes the job with Mr. Casaubon has always disliked Will, but now that he is
Brooke. Meanwhile Dorothea begins brooding about how Aunt independent and shows so much interest in Dorothea, the
Julia was unfairly cut off from her inheritance. She believes minister's aversion has turned into hatred. Will balances his
Casaubon's wealth, which will be passed on to her in the event own feelings of aversion toward Casaubon with gratitude; he
of his death, should be split with Will, a rightful heir. When she cannot forget that his cousin has helped him and his mother.
tells Casaubon her thoughts, he becomes very angry. "[T]his is His dislike of Casaubon has grown proportionately with his love
not the first occasion, but it were well that it should be the last, for Dorothea. Will knows there is no chance of an illicit
on which you have assumed a judgment on subjects beyond relationship with her; in fact, he loves her mostly because she
your scope," he says. A shocked Dorothea says nothing in is, for him, the archetype of purity and goodness. He has come
response, afraid of agitating him and endangering his health. back to Middlemarch because Dorothea is there, and he
The next day Will writes back to Casaubon, respectfully telling intends to stay in Middlemarch for the same reason. Moreover,
him that he will do as he likes, as long as it is a "lawful inspired by his love for Dorothea, he now wants to make
occupation." something of himself in the world, and working with Brooke
provides an opportunity to exercise his literary talents.
Chapter 38 After hearing more of Ladislaw's family history, Dorothea is

moved to rid herself of material wealth, which she always feels
Sir James and the Cadwalladers discuss Mr. Brooke's intention as something of a burden. Now she has a good reason—to
to run for office as a Reform candidate. They all are strongly right the wrong that was done to Will's ancestor. Thus, she
against the idea, first, because he would be violating the boldly broaches the subject of Casaubon's fortune, and he
expectations of his class by supporting reform, and, second, angrily tells her, "[i]t is not for you to interfere between me and
because he will make a fool of himself. Brooke is a tight-fisted Mr. Ladislaw, and still less to encourage communications from
landlord who will not make necessary repairs to houses and him to you which constitute a criticism on my procedure." He
farms and allows his tenants to live in squalor. Thus, the believes that Ladislaw means to "defy and annoy him" with his
Trumpet, the rival newspaper to the Pioneer, calls him a presence and "win Dorothea's confidence and sow her mind
hypocrite. When Mr. Brooke arrives at the Cadwalladers, they with disrespect and perhaps aversion." While he doesn't
all attempt to dissuade him without success. suspect his wife of deceit in her conduct with Ladislaw, he
does think she regards Will favorably and is likely to be
influenced by him.
Chapter 39
And indeed, she does like Will and is always happy to see him,
Sir James enlists Dorothea's support to convince Mr. Brooke to especially because she can be herself around him and display
become a better landlord. When she stops at Tipton Grange the full range of her emotion. She is not conscious of feeling
she speaks to her uncle as if it is a foregone conclusion that he any attraction toward him, and for this reason can enjoy an
has decided to hire back Caleb Garth to manage his estate. easy friendship with him. Perhaps she should be more aware of

her husband's jealousy and Ladislaw's feelings, but she is too The reader finds out later that Raffles and Bulstrode have a
focused on fitting herself into a narrower and narrower mode connection that will bring Raffles back to Middlemarch.
of existence as the wife of Casaubon. Her interactions with
Ladislaw are a much needed break in the midst of her wifely
penance, and perhaps it is not in her power to deprive herself Chapter 42
of those moments in which she can exhale and be herself more
fully. Brooding upon the idea that he may not be able to complete
his life's work, Casaubon calls for a conference with Lydgate.
He also broods on the relationship between Dorothea and
Book 4, Chapters 40–42 Ladislaw; if he were to die, Ladislaw would likely convince
Dorothea to marry him. Thus, he determines he must do
something to prevent such a marriage from taking place. When
Lydgate arrives Casaubon asks for an honest assessment of
Summary his condition, and the doctor repeats what he has already told
Dorothea—that he might live several more years. After the
doctor leaves Dorothea surmises what the conversation was
Chapter 40 about and attempts to comfort her husband, but he turns away
from her pity in his egotistical pride. Dorothea gets angrier than
Caleb Garth is asked to take over the management of Mr.
she has ever been, but when her husband speaks kindly to her
Brooke's and Sir James's estates, and the Garth family is
at the end of the day, she is thankful that she "narrowly
overjoyed. This new work will bring significant income, and
escaped hurting a lamed creature. She put her hand into her
Mary will not have to leave home to teach school. Mr.
husband's and they went along the broad corridor together."
Farebrother calls on the Garths to tell them that Fred is going
back to university and is miserable about not being able to pay
the money he owes. Mr. Garth asks the vicar to pass on the
Analysis
news of his change of fortune. The Garths also tell him about
Featherstone's desire to burn the second will but ask him not The Garths' good fortune allows the senior Garths to feel more
to mention it to Fred. After Farebrother takes his leave of the generous toward Fred. Mary sends no word back to Fred but
family, he thinks about his own romantic feelings for Mary but feels badly about his loss of money even though she could not
consoles himself with the idea that he is too poor to marry. have acted differently on the night Featherstone died. The
Caleb tells his wife he could hire Fred and teach him the work Garths ask Mr. Farebrother not to tell Fred about his uncle's
of land management. She thinks such a suggestion would not intention to burn the second will because the pain of knowing
be well received by the Vincys. They both agree he should wait he was meant to have money will be greater than the pain of
to propose this idea to Fred. thinking Featherstone cut him off as an heir. Farebrother
shows himself to be a generous man because he takes Fred's
messages to the Garths, even though he has his suspicions
Chapter 41 that there is more between Mary and Fred than a childhood
friendship. He believes he could not marry Mary anyway, since
Joshua Rigg Featherstone, now living at Stone Court, is visited
he already has three women depending on him and his meager
by his alcoholic stepfather, John Raffles. Raffles wants money,
salary.
supposedly for Rigg's mother. Rigg reminds Raffles of how he
abused him as a child and tells him that he should never set
A shady character is introduced into the story in the person of
foot on his property again. He will not give his mother any
Mr. Raffles, a manipulating and cynical drunk who is Rigg's
money beyond her monthly allowance, since it will only be
stepfather. The narrator hints that he has some connection to
stolen by her immoral husband. Riggs gives Raffles a sovereign
Bulstrode as well as Riggs but doesn't reveal what it is.
and puts brandy in his flask to get rid of him. To steady his
flask in its leather holder, Raffles uses a piece of paper that Dorothea and Casaubon continue to struggle for peace in their
happens to be a letter addressed to Rigg from Mr. Bulstrode. married life. The narrator makes it clear that equally weighing

on Casuabon's mind—along with finishing the Key to All

Chapter 45
Mythologies—is his wife's growing intimacy with Ladislaw. He is
obsessed with their friendship and imagines Ladislaw The opposition to the fever hospital has grown, not only
thwarting him even after he (Casaubon) is dead and buried. because people dislike Bulstrode, but also because the other
When Lydgate delivers the news that Casaubon may have very medical men have joined forces against Lydgate and his
little time left, his prickly pride allows him no comfort from his innovations. The physicians—Minchin and Sprague—object to
wife, whom he believes judges him harshly and puts up with Lydgate's infringing on their territory by expecting to be paid
him as a type of condescension. Dorothea is hurt by his rebuff, for his services. The other surgeon-apothecaries—Toller,
but she has some sense of his inner turmoil. Thus, she forgives Wrench, and Gambit—object to his refusal to dispense drugs
him easily when he relents a little at the end of the day and (and get paid for them), which he considers a conflict of
takes her hand in an effort to connect. interest. As a result no one will work at the new hospital.
Although Lydgate has had success in treating cases, including
some in which his colleagues have fallen short, many people
Book 5, Chapters 43–45 are suspicious of his methods. Lydgate's views are also
troubling to potential patients. At home Rosamund tells
Lydgate that his family thinks he has fallen below them as a
Summary medical man and confides that she doesn't think medicine "is a
nice profession," and he responds, "Don't say that again, dear,
it pains me."
Chapter 43
Dorothea visits Lydgate to ask about her husband's condition. Analysis
She finds Mrs. Lydgate at home with a guest—Ladislaw, who
has recently moved to town and made friends with the couple. Rosamund is pleased to finally meet Dorothea. Ladislaw is less
She feels uncomfortable about meeting Ladislaw again without happy because he somewhat irrationally feels "caught out."
being able to tell her husband. She also wonders about the Moreover, he is sensitive to the fact that Dorothea suddenly
propriety of his being alone with a married woman—and she senses the "unfitness" of their free relations with each other.
begins to think that perhaps she was wrong in the past to see Finding Rosamund alone with Will makes her think that
Ladislaw in Casaubon's absence, even if he is a relative. To perhaps "she ought to have understood ... Mr. Casaubon did
Ladislaw's considerable chagrin, she departs abruptly to find not like his cousin's visits during his own absence." Dorothea
Lydgate at the hospital. When Lydgate gets home Rosamund might be a little jealous as well, having set Will aside in her mind
tells her husband that she thinks Ladislaw "adores" Mrs. as a friend belonging particularly to her. When she gets home
Casaubon. and tells Casaubon about her visit to the doctor, neither are
able to use their shared knowledge of his sickness to draw
closer to one another, because he doesn't trust her and she
Chapter 44 doesn't know how to breach his suit of armor.
Lydgate tells Dorothea that her husband wanted to know the Rosamund takes Will's preference for Dorothea in stride, since
entire truth about his condition. He then takes the opportunity she is still enamored of her husband. However, she is
to ask her for charitable aid for the hospital, which she is glad beginning to feel the downside of his profession, which keeps
to provide from her own money. At home she tells Casaubon him continually preoccupied and is causing him to become
that she's been to see the doctor. Now that he knows she is more unpopular in Middlemarch. Lydgate is pained by his wife's
aware of his condition, he is even more distrustful of her assessment: "To say that you love me without loving the
affection. medical man in me, is the same sort of thing as to say that you
like eating a peach but don't like its flavor."
Lydgate knows much more about the body and disease than
any of his colleagues, especially the physicians. He is also

aware of the recently won legal right of surgeon-apothecaries although the narrator says he does not entertain any dark
to ask for money for their services. He is not opposed to thoughts of taking his cousin's place. Rather, he is content to
prescribing medicine, but only to dispensing it for money, worship his cousin's wife as an ideal. But he feels the pain of
which (he believes) compromises a doctor's ethics. While it is the lack of contact and decides to go to Sunday services at
natural that he will clash with the other doctors of Lowick Church so he can get a glimpse of his idol. Dorothea is
Middlemarch, Lydgate draws an inordinate amount of ire agitated when she sees him; while she acknowledges him,
because of his arrogance and refusal to pay attention to the Casaubon completely ignores him. Will becomes very
customs and niceties of provincial life. He is too ready to give uncomfortable and feels he has made a "wretched blunder" in
his opinion and sacrifice cooperation with others to have his inserting himself where he is not wanted.
own way. But he lives in a community, and his work is among
the people in that community; therefore, he must gain their
trust and approval if he expects to succeed. The reader can Chapter 48
see that his "spots of commonness" are manifesting in his
inability to apply his considerable intellect to social and Dorothea thinks Will's visit to Lowick Church was his attempt
interpersonal problems, and that his failure to do so will lead to to make peace with his cousin, but instead he is "banished
his downfall. further than ever." After dinner they go into the library to work,
and Casaubon tells her they will now begin marking passages
from his voluminous notebooks for inclusion in the Key to All
Book 5, Chapters 46–50 Mythologies. Casaubon expects Dorothea to follow his line of
reasoning and eventually extract the important passages
without his help. But now that he has finally taken her into his
confidence, she finds the work a tedious penance, having lost
Summary all faith in his life's work. Casaubon also asks Dorothea
whether she will carry out his wishes in the case of his death,
although he will not tell her what they are. She begs for a
Chapter 46 reprieve to answer him. Dorothea is terrified that he wants her
to promise to continue his work after he is dead, and, while she
The Reform Bill of 1831 is being debated in Middlemarch, and
feels this to be a prison sentence, she thinks that she cannot
Ladislaw encourages Brooke to wait to run for office because
"smite the stricken soul that entreated hers." She looks for him
now is the time to educate people with political meetings and
in the garden, at the ready to promise, but Casaubon is already
through editorials in the Pioneer. He tells Brooke that he must
dead. Dorothea breaks down, and Lydgate is called in.
take a firm stand on the issues. Clearly, Ladislaw is enjoying
politics and seems to have found his niche. Nonetheless,
Casaubon's bad opinion of him is shared by most of the people Chapter 49
in town, who consider him to be a foreign intruder with radical
ideas. Furthermore, he is something of a "gypsy" who doesn't Sir James is fuming as he speaks to Mr. Brooke. He wishes
respect class boundaries. He is well-received, however, by the there were a way to prevent Dorothea from learning that
Bulstrodes, Farebrother and his family, and the Lydgates. He Casaubon has added a codicil to his will, which says that she
has become good friends with Lydgate, although they disagree will forfeit his fortune if she marries Will Ladislaw. Sir James
about politics and end up arguing about whether Brooke is a calls Casaubon mean and ungentlemanly for perpetrating such
worthy candidate. Will gets defensive, and Lydgate apologizes. an insult on his sister-in-law. He wants Brooke to send
Ladislaw away, but Brooke needs him for the election. Further,
people will think that Dorothea's family have reason to suspect
Chapter 47 her of impropriety if they were to contrive to get Will to leave
town. Sir James suspects that Ladislaw has designs on
Ladislaw suffers some aftereffect from his argument with
Dorothea, which may account for Casaubon's codicil.
Lydgate, thinking that perhaps he is making a fool of himself in
promoting Brooke for office. He is still pining for Dorothea,

inflicting a keen-edged blow on her husband, to do anything

Chapter 50
but submit completely ... Neither law nor the world's opinion
After staying for a time with her sister at Freshitt, Dorothea compelled her to this—only her husband's nature and her own
wishes to return home to peruse Casaubon's papers for any compassion, only the ideal and not the real yoke of marriage."
"expression of his wishes" and also decide on the new rector And indeed she is weak—ready to throw her own life away in
for Lowick parish. Thus, Celia breaks the bad news about the an act of masochism, masquerading as Christian charity,
codicil. Dorothea has a series of epiphanies after receiving this because she is not strong enough to value herself. Dorothea
news. First, she feels repulsion for Casaubon, who has hidden has forgotten her original intention, which was to be a party to
his thoughts from her. Second, she feels a "strange yearning of a great work and to better humanity as a result. She knows
heart towards Ladislaw." Lydgate stops in to check on that the Key is so much dust, certainly unworthy of a great
Dorothea and advises the family to allow her to do what she sacrifice. And Casaubon is also unworthy. True Christian
likes because she has been under too much constraint. charity may not expect reciprocation, but in submitting to her
Although her uncle prefers Mr. Tyke, Lydgate later takes the husband with no return of affection, Dorothea is actually
opportunity to put Farebrother forward as a candidate for feeding his infantile ego—soon to become a hungry
Lowick Church and suggests Dorothea hear him preach. He ghost—thus doing him no service. Fortunately, fate or
also mentions that Ladislaw, a favorite of Farebrother's aunt serendipity is kind enough to save Dorothea from the
Noble, sometimes squires her about town. Dorothea thinks that wretchedness prepared by Casaubon.
Will is "a creature who entered into every one's feelings and
When Dorothea finds out about the codicil, she is finally able to
could take the pressure of their thought instead of urging his
release herself from her prison of guilt and see Casaubon for
own with iron resistance."
what he was—a petty tyrant. It is not surprising that she
suddenly longs for Will, who is finely tuned to her feelings and
has shown her nothing but care and compassion. Further, she
Analysis is keenly aware of how he has been wronged by Casaubon, not
only in the terms of the codicil, but also in his not giving Will a
Finding his place in Middlemarch, Will has grown from a
fair share of his inheritance. And now Dorothea is also
careless student with no focus into a purposeful young man
prevented from sharing that wealth with him because of the
who is ready to take his place in the world. While writing for the
ugliness of the codicil's prohibition; any effort to restore his
Pioneer and making speeches may not be the work he
inheritance would be misconstrued by outsiders. What could
envisioned to express his "genius," these activities are
make a man more attractive than to put him off limits?
satisfying occupations that allow him to exercise his talents as
Casaubon has unwittingly engineered the opposite of his
a writer and speaker. Moreover, working for reform is
intention and practically guaranteed that Dorothea and
something that engages his emotional nature. While he might
Ladislaw will wind up together.
wish for a better candidate than Brooke to stand for reform,
Brooke is the man at hand. As with Lydgate and Bulstrode,
Ladislaw may not like his sponsor personally or agree with all
his views, but he is an instrument to channel change that will
benefit the public good.
Mr. Casaubon is becoming more desperate in his quest for an Summary

earthly immortality. He feels that he is close to the end, which
is why he elevates Dorothea from secretary to collaborator. His
ego has kept Dorothea at a distance, but now he is ready to Chapter 51
train her as his surrogate to finish the Key. However, Casaubon
treats Dorothea as a thing, not a woman, to be used entirely for Ladislaw is upset that Brooke has stopped inviting him to the
his own purposes, which is why he expects her to make a Grange and surmises that he is being viewed with some
promise without knowing its content. suspicion by Dorothea's family. He now realizes more fully how
they are divided and despairs in thinking he cannot show
Dorothea is "too weak, too full of dread at the thought of

interest without being viewed with suspicion, perhaps even by acquaintance from the past. He quickly leaves Bulstrode so he
Dorothea. In his political life Will continues to coach Brooke as can have privacy. Raffles knew Bulstrode some 25 years ago
a candidate. The day before the nomination, Brooke gets and has tracked him down by serendipitously picking up his
nervous before his speech and drinks an extra glass of sherry, letter when he was last at Stone Court. Bulstrode paid off
which has the effect of making him even more rambling than Raffles in the past and even sent him to America. Now he
usual. Meanwhile, his opponents have prepared a public wants more money in exchange for not exposing Bulstrode's
mockery of him in the form of an effigy that they pelt with eggs. wrongdoings. Raffles reminds him that he never told "the old
Brooke leaves the balcony of the White Hart inn in the middle woman that I'd found her daughter and her grandchild,"
of his speech. Will shuts himself in his rooms. He is referring to the widow that Bulstrode married, who later died
embarrassed by Brooke's performance and thinks to quit his and left her fortune to him. It becomes clearer in subsequent
work with him to take up politics elsewhere so he can prove chapters that Bulstrode concealed the existence of the
himself worthy of Dorothea. But he won't leave until he can see woman's heirs after they were found. Bulstrode allows Raffles
her and get some glimmer of hope that they might be united. to stay at Stone Court overnight and then gives him a few
Brooke saves him the trouble of a decision, however, by taking hundred pounds to get out of town, although Raffles will not
the advice of his supporters and retiring on the spot. He tells promise to disappear for good.
Will that he plans to give up the Pioneer, but will be happy to
write him a recommendation to the Whig leader in the House of
Commons. Analysis
In each of these chapters, three people's life circumstances
Chapter 52 change drastically. Ladislaw is resentful because Mr. Brooke
has cut back drastically on his invitations to the Grange. He
Mr. Farebrother and his family are overjoyed about Dorothea's initially thinks about leaving Middlemarch because of Brooke's
decision to give him the living at Lowick, which will increase his political loss and the intuition that he is slipping further into
income considerably. His female relatives now encourage him public contempt as Brooke's "understrapper," even as the
to marry and say they much prefer Mary Garth, who is a good chasm between himself and Dorothea widens. If he can make a
friend and whom Farebrother is in love with. About a week name for himself, he thinks, "if he could only be sure that she
later, Fred asks the minister to speak to Mary on his behalf. He cared for him more than for others; if he could only make her
is recently back in Middlemarch with his bachelor's degree and aware that he stood aloof until he could tell his love without
ready to go into the Church if he must. But he wants to know if lowering himself—then he could go away easily." Brooke, for
he can have any hope of eventually winning Mary and whether his part, no longer needs the services of Ladislaw. No doubt he
she will categorically reject him if he becomes a priest. is anxious to unload the Pioneer as quickly as possible, since
Farebrother obliges him and speaks to Mary with some his foray into politics has cost him much more money than he is
emotion about clearly stating her feelings and preferences, accustomed to spend. Now ready to oblige Sir James, Brooke
and for the first time it crosses Mary's mind that Farebrother suggests he can write to a prominent figure in Parliament on
may be in love with her. She tells him that she has strong Will's behalf, which will effectively get the troublesome gypsy
feelings for Fred that can never be supplanted by another, but out of the neighborhood. Will declines his offer, saying he will
she will not promise to marry him until he proves himself stay in Middlemarch for now. Ladislaw, ever the rebel, is not
worthy. Further, she would never marry him if he becomes a one to easily be scared off, and he will leave town on his
clergyman. Thus, Farebrother puts aside his own hopes. schedule, not according to the desires of Dorothea's friends.
Fortune has smiled on Rev. Farebrother in the form of

Chapter 53 Lydgate's kind intercession with Dorothea. As a clergyman at
Lowick Church, he will have a better house and higher salary.
The narrator relates that Mr. Bulstrode has purchased Stone The family will no longer have to scrimp in their living expenses,
Court from Joshua Rigg. While the banker and Mr. Garth are Farebrother can give up gambling at cards, which he has been
looking over the property one day, they are met by Mr. Raffles, doing solely to supplement his income, and he can even
who drops enough innuendos for Garth to realize he is a shady seriously consider marrying. Not young (about 40), but

handsome and well-loved, he can reasonably expect to court Dorothea says she wants to get to know the new rector (Mr.
Mary Garth. But what providence gives with one hand it takes Farebrother), but in truth she is also longing to see Will.
with the other, coming in the guise of Fred's difficult Ladislaw predictably comes to Lowick to say goodbye to
commission. Being the upstanding clergyman that he is, Dorothea. He plans to study law and will likely not be back for a
Farebrother insists on specific information from Mary, both for long time—not until he makes his mark in the world. Will has not
Fred's sake as well as his own. She is dead-set against Fred's yet heard about the codicil but is bitter about the family's
going into the Church because she knows that a religious prohibition against him. Dorothea agrees that he is right to
vocation is antithetical to young Vincy's nature. The author leave; yet both of them keenly feel the separation, and both
takes the opportunity, in the words she puts in Mary's mouth, hold back saying exactly how they feel. Sir James arrives in the
to criticize the custom of having middle-class people or lower- middle of their conversation and is rude to Will, since he feels
level gentry enter the Church to raise their status. Learning intense revulsion toward him as a potential mate for Dorothea.
that Mary's heart is inextricably linked with Fred's is bitter
medicine for Farebrother, and Mary suddenly realizes it.
Chapter 55
Bulstrode, on the other hand, is poised for a severe reversal of
fortune. He has made a name for himself as a strict In reflecting on some of Will's indignant remarks, Dorothea
Evangelical; moreover, he has a self-righteous streak and assumes he knows about the codicil. Dorothea takes down the
assumes his version of Christianity is superior to all others. miniature of Aunt Julia, now a symbol for Will, "and leaned her
Indeed, Bulstrode accumulates power and uses it, he tells cheek upon it, as if that would soothe the creatures who had
himself, for the glory of God. How does he square his suffered unjust condemnation." The narrator says that she "did
judgments in the light of his own past deeds? While Bulstrode not know then that it was Love who had come to her briefly as
is no doubt a philanthropist, his entire life in Middlemarch is in a dream before awaking." When she returns to Freshitt to
built on a lie, so all the good that he has done is tainted. The visit Celia and her baby, she says she will never marry again.
money that he came to town with he stole from the widow's
heirs—Mrs. Ladislaw and her son. While Bulstrode lives by the
Christian precept that one can atone for one's mistakes, he Chapter 56
fails to see how he falls short of repentance, a necessary
Dorothea has gone over the improvements at Freshitt and
precursor to forgiveness. He has allowed the missing heirs to
Tipton Grange with Mr. Garth, which results in her putting the
stay missing, and has never confessed his deed to anyone.
land management of some of her property, along with
Here is Raffles, carrying with him Bulstrode's sins that have
negotiations with the railroad, into his hands. The railroad will
come home to roost.
be running track through one portion of her property. After
Featherstone's brother Solomon stirs up the farm laborers
Book 6, Chapters 54–57 against the railroad, a gang of them attack some railroad
workers, and Garth and his assistant jump into the fray. Fred
Vincy on horseback happens upon the group and is able to
scatter the hooligans with his horse and whip. After everyone
Summary calms down, Garth asks Fred to help him finish surveying the
land. Fred later asks Caleb if he would be willing to teach him
the business. Caleb agrees on the condition that Fred learn to
Chapter 54 love his work and not feel ashamed of it. Fred also confides
that he loves Mary and has some hope of marrying her. When
Three months after Casaubon's death, and despite the
Mrs. Garth hears of her husband's decision, she is not happy,
protests of the Chettams and Mrs. Cadwallader, Dorothea
since she would much prefer Mr. Farebrother as a son-in-law.
returns to her home for good. Mrs. Cadwallader fears she will
The Vincy parents are also unhappy because their son is
"go mad in that house alone" and wants to find her a suitable
stepping down in social class by becoming a land manager.
second husband. According to the cleric's wife, left to her own
Nevertheless, they resign themselves to his decision.
devices, Mrs. Casaubon is bound to end up with Ladislaw.

business is a real opportunity for him. Mr. Garth expects Fred

Chapter 57
to have pride in his work and in learning to do it well, and while
Fred stops in to see Mrs. Garth before continuing to Lowick Fred cannot promise to love the work as his mentor does, he is
parsonage to see Mary, who is visiting with the Farebrother more than willing to commit himself to "business," as Garth
women. He is looking for some reassurance from Mrs. Garth calls it, and apply himself.
that she approves of his decision to take up land management
Garth is the epitome of someone who has a successful
and marry her daughter. Mrs. Garth takes the opportunity to
vocation. He is neither rich nor famous, but he loves what he
harshly lecture him. She can't help but tell him that it was hard
does and is a master craftsman. Most important, he knows and
for Mr. Farebrother to be his emissary to Mary, since the
appreciates the value of what he does and how it helps
clergyman is also in love with her daughter. Fred is shocked to
society. He is enthusiastic about taking a young person under
get this piece of news and is suddenly conscious of having a
his wing, especially one attached to his favorite child, and
rival. When he gets to the parsonage, Farebrother gives the
giving him the opportunity to have a vocation too. Mrs. Garth is
young couple an opportunity to be alone. Mary both reassures
less enthusiastic because she sees Fred's flaws more clearly
Fred and scolds him when he asks if she loves him best.
and is not convinced he can overcome his spoiled upbringing
to become a working man. Moreover, she is disappointed that
Mary is losing the opportunity to marry a man that is smarter,
Analysis more refined, and of a higher class than Fred—and, most
important, a man with better character. Fred has a lot of
While Casaubon was alive, there was no danger of Dorothea's
proving to do, and Mrs. Garth will need to be convinced he is
feelings for Will turning into sexual love because she was
redeemable.
entirely loyal to her husband. But now that he is dead, she is no
longer bound. Further, while previously it may not have
occurred to her to think of Ladislaw as a potential mate,
Casaubon's prohibition has put that possibility at the center of
her consciousness. The codicil heaps undeserving disrespect
on Will by indicating that he is a fortune hunter who has been
pursuing Dorothea even before her husband's death. The Summary
imposition of Casaubon's prohibition, her sympathy for
Ladislaw, and his youth and good looks naturally combine to
make him excessively attractive. Chapter 58
While Dorothea does not yet understand that she is in love, Will A pregnant Rosamund is so enamored of her husband's empty-
is very much aware that he has been in love for a long time. headed cousin, Captain Lydgate, who has come for a visit, that
The only way he can hope to win her, he thinks, is to go away she goes riding with him despite her husband's prohibition and
for a long while and make a success of himself and then come loses the baby. Lydgate begins to realize that Rosamund has a
back on a more equal footing. "Other men have managed to "terrible tenacity" and will do what she likes. He has no power
win an honorable position for themselves without family or over her. He privately broods over the fact that he is deep in
money," he tells her. He wants some sign from her, however, debt after 18 months of marriage. This is a result of not being
that she is sorry he is leaving, but before he can get it they are economical either in setting up house or entertaining people as
interrupted by Sir James. While Will has every intention of a married couple. When he finally takes Rosamund into his
leaving, he cannot quite tear himself away, as the reader learns confidence about their worsening financial situation, she
in subsequent chapters. replies, "What can I do, Tertius?" The narrator points out that
the inflection of these words makes all the difference in their
Unlike Ladislaw Fred is on his way to sorting out his love
meaning, and "Rosamund's thin utterance threw into the words
problems. Fred cannot go into the Church and has very few
... as much neutrality as they could hold." Lydgate is sadly
secular avenues of work open to him that are gentlemanly,
disappointed by his wife's response and resignedly explains to
lucrative, and do not require special knowledge. Without
her that his creditors will be coming to make an inventory of
practical skills he is not fit for much, so learning Mr. Garth's

the furniture in case it has to be repossessed; he asks her to house looking for her husband. Bulstrode tells her he is a
check off on a list the things they can do without. Her response "dissolute wretch, whom I helped too much in days gone by."
is they can apply to her father for a loan or leave town. She will Raffles enjoys tormenting Bulstrode as much as he likes
not look at the list and plans to be out of the house when the extorting money, and the banker is able to send him away
creditors come. "Now we have been united, Rosy, you should again temporarily with another small infusion of cash. The
not leave me to myself in the first trouble that has come," her narrator takes the opportunity to provide the details of
husband responds. Thus, she reluctantly agrees to stay home, Bulstrode's previous life and transgressions. What Mrs.
and "an appearance of accord was recovered for the time." But Bulstrode knows is only the bare bones of his story: that he
Lydgate dreads "the inevitable future discussions about previously worked in banking and in business and that his first
expenditure and the necessity for a complete change in their wife, a much older widow, was a London dissenter. He has
way of living." "married up" in becoming part of the Vincy family, and his wife
believes him to be a good and pious man.
Chapter 59 The fuller story began with Bulstrode's early life as an orphan
at a commercial charity school. He became a banker's clerk
News about the codicil is spreading through Middlemarch. and a rising young star in a Calvinist church. Bustrode believed
Fred mentions the codicil to Rosamund, and Lydgate asks her he was intended for something particular and special by God.
not to mention it to Ladislaw. But true to form, she disregards Soon he was recruited away from banking by the richest man
Lydgate and mentions it in a joking manner to Ladislaw, who in the congregation to work for him in the pawnbroker
frequently visits her at home. Will is appalled and leaves business as his confidential accountant. The business was
abruptly after Rosamund won't let the matter drop. She is lucrative, and it was likely that some of the goods traded were
bored and depressed after his departure, thinking that stolen. The wealthy pawnbroker died and left behind a pious
Lydgate's relations have not written to her and that her father widow. She came to "adore" Bulstrode as her "priest" and
has turned down her request for a loan—which her husband enlisted his help in finding her lost family members before she
forbade her to ask for. would marry him. When they were found, Bulstrode bribed
Raffles to keep silent. At times he thought his actions were
"unrighteous," the narrator says, but there was no going back.
Chapter 60 Bulstrode continued to enrich himself through the business
after his first wife died and increased his influence and
A big auction of estate furniture brings various classes of
philanthropy, eventually finding his way to Middlemarch.
people together. Mrs. Bulstrode wants one of the paintings,
and the day before the sale her husband stops to see Will at Before Raffles leaves town again, he informs Bulstrode that
the office of the Pioneer to ask him to bid on the painting. Ladislaw is Sarah Dunkirk's son. Bulstrode believes that divine
Although Will has been training his replacement for weeks, he Providence is calling for some restitution. The banker meets
has yet to leave town. Will purchases the painting at a good with Ladislaw and proposes to give him a significant amount of
price and is spied by Raffles. He has wandered back into money to make up for what he lost. He admits, upon
Middlemarch, latching onto Bambridge, the horse trader. questioning from Will, that he knew about Will's mother's
Raffles approaches Will to confirm that his mother was Sarah existence, and he confirms that the business was disreputable.
Dunkirk, the daughter of Bulstrode's first wife. Ladislaw speaks Ladislaw then disdainfully refuses the money on the grounds
to him roughly and reluctantly, but Raffles is not put off. He that it is tainted. Will feels the money as a stain on his
tells Will that Sarah ran away when she found out her father character, but he also thinks that it would be impossible to ever
engaged in "respectable thieving" as a pawnbroker. Ladislaw tell Dorothea he accepted it. After Will leaves, Bulstrode falls to
abruptly walks away from him and declines to hear more. weeping.
Chapter 61 Chapter 62
Mrs. Bulstrode is a slightly upset when Raffles shows up at her Will is determined to see Dorothea one more time, while Sir

James remains concerned that he's still in the neighborhood. estranged from her husband and now needs the diversion of a
He contrives to have Mrs. Cadwallader tell her about another new man who would be enchanted by her. But she has
rumor swirling around Ladislaw, which is that he is continually misjudged Will and will experience a rude awakening at his
at Lydgate's house, flirting with his wife. Dorothea defends him hands in a subsequent chapter.
but has a moment of doubt, thinking back to how she came
upon him there. Still, she refuses to believe he has committed Raffles's return to Middlemarch brings the revelation of Will's
any impropriety. When they meet again before his departure, pedigree on his mother's side, and while Will cannot be proud
she reassures Will about the codicil: "I am sure no safeguard of his maternal grandfather, he finds comfort in the fact that
was ever needed against you." Her seeming neutral words his mother turned her back on her family's dishonorable
upset him, but he does manage to say "What I care for more income. His chance meeting with Raffles, who has come back
than I can ever care for anything else is absolutely forbidden to mostly to torment Bulstrode, garners Raffles an additional
me ... by my own pride and honor." Again, Dorothea thinks of malicious bonus. Upon recognizing Ladislaw's name as
Rosamund. She asks him to remember her, and when he says, identical to the surname of the man that Sarah Dunkirk
"[a]s if I were not in danger of forgetting everything else," she married, he reveals him to Bulstrode as a kind of unconscious
realizes that he does love her. Thus they part at this romantic nemesis. The author uses Chapter 61 to explore the
impasse. psychology of religious hypocrisy. The author examines the

ways in which people compartmentalize and rationalize to
marry opposing belief systems. Bulstrode is also an exemplar
Analysis of a twisted vocation, in which a desire for power becomes an
end in itself, overshadowing what is good about work and its
The story of Rosamund and Lydgate unfolds as a tragedy of effects in the world. In Middlemarch he continues to
wasted talent and ambition and failed expectations. Lydgate consolidate and wield power and thinks he is doing God's work
has imprisoned himself in a relationship that thwarts him at by foisting his Christianity on other people however he can and
every turn. Rosamund is a narcissist and a near sociopath. She criticizing the morals and behavior of others.
exhibits no love for anyone—not even her husband or her
Nonetheless, the narrator says that Bulstrode is not one of
unborn child. She cares only for outward show and lives to
those "coarse hypocrites" who fools people with pretended
impress others with her looks, her clothes, and her breeding.
beliefs, but rather "a man whose desires had been stronger
She thinks her husband is only her instrument—to provide for
than his theoretic beliefs." He is not without guilt for what he
her so that she can live in the style to which she has become
has done and sees Raffles's reentry into his life as divine
accustomed. She has no trouble lying to him and doing exactly
retribution, but he continues to hope that he can prevent his
the opposite of what he asks her to do. When he reveals their
history from becoming well known and having to face the
financial problems, she withdraws—they are his financial
scorn of the community he has treated with a "holier than thou"
problems. She refuses to help him decide what household
attitude. His desire to make amends—and perhaps keep divine
goods should be returned, and she agrees to stay when the
wrath at bay—is manifested in his attempt to give Will money,
agent comes to assess their property only because she
even though he is not legally bound to do so, since his crimes
doesn't want appear to be shirking her wifely duties. In truth
fall into the moral arena. When Will turns him down he cries
she has no desire to be a true wife or partner, but sees
bitterly because that rectitude from a gentleman—one with no
marriage simply as a new sphere of life in which she can
resources at all—holds up a clear mirror to him reflecting back
continue to play the role of an exquisite doll.
his own sinfulness and hypocrisy.
When she reveals to Will the terms of the codicil and he reacts
At the end of her interaction with Will, Dorothea realizes that
with such emotion and abruptly leaves, she is disappointed.
he does love her, she feels joy in the notion that she could
She is a married woman who has no right to expect anything
"think of him unrestrainedly," and she is happy even while
from Ladislaw, yet she feels jealous that he clearly cares about
losing him. But Dorothea is taking her idealism too far in
Mrs. Casaubon and is offended by the "foul insult to her and to
thinking it will be enough to love Ladislaw in her mind and vice-
me" that is the result of Casaubon's codicil. Rosamund seems
versa. Ladislaw has no choice but to separate himself from her,
to have no ability to actually engage with a man's feelings
mostly because he feels a need to live up to her high standards
except on a very superficial level, which is why she is growing

and not lose standing in her eyes. If Dorothea would have given her to make a sacrifice, and he begins thinking of visiting his
him an opening to court her, no doubt he would have stayed in uncle and perhaps asking for help.
Middlemarch without worrying about his honor. He doesn't
care what other people think about him. Dorothea is not quite
at his level of nonconformity, although she will eventually get Chapter 65
there. At this point in the novel, it is clear that their love story is
not ended but has simply been put on pause. Lydgate receives a letter from his Uncle Godwin that scolds
him for having his wife apply to him for help and also turns him
down flat. Lydgate is mortified and tells her that if she
Book 7, Chapters 63–65 continues to secretly defy him he will not be able to do
anything. He asks her for an apology and a promise to not act
secretly, but she refuses to give any ground. At one point
Rosamund begins to weep, which immediately conquers
Summary Lydgate's anger. He begins to make excuses for her in his
mind, "but it was inevitable that in that excusing mood he
should think of her as if she were an animal of another and
Chapter 63 feebler species. Nevertheless, she had mastered him."
Mr. Farebrother learns from Mr. Toller, one of Lydgate's rivals,

that Lydgate is deeply in debt. He wants to offer Lydgate his
Analysis
support and has the opportunity at a New Year's Day party at
the Vincys. He opens the conversation by reminding Lydgate of These chapters present a bleak view of an unraveling
the good turn he did for him, but this has the opposite of its marriage. Lydgate has carelessly entered into a marriage
intended effect, as Lydgate shrinks from the notion of a quid without thinking much about what it might cost to maintain
pro quo. Moreover, if he speaks to Farebrother it would mean himself and an ornamental wife. He did not foresee that his
mentioning specifics, which might mean he wanted something practice might fall off, and it didn't occur to him how financial
specific, and "at the moment, suicide seemed easier." difficulties could put an end to vocational aspirations. Perhaps
most tragic is how his wife has emotionally abandoned him and
will take no part in repairing their life together.
Chapter 64
It is difficult for the reader to feel sympathy for Rosamund, who
Lydgate needs about 1,000 pounds to free himself "from actual
is a character devoid of a moral center or ability to empathize
embarrassment" and provide him with breathing room to start
with another human being. Rosamund skillfully acts as if she is
over. Secondary to his financial woes is the frustration of
in love with Lydgate during the honeymoon phase. Once life
knowing he is preoccupying himself with petty concerns and
actually begins and obstinacy becomes a dead end, she
neglecting his important work. The doctor continues to attempt
resorts to tears and the evocation of guilt: "It is so very hard to
to enlist his wife's help in cutting back on expenses. Lydgate
be disgraced here among all the people we know, and to live in
has a plan to sell their lease to the recently engaged Ned
such a miserable way. I wish I had died with the baby."
Plymdale and move to a less expensive house. Rosamund
Rosamund will insist on her comfortability, whatever that takes.
suggests he ask his uncle for a loan. After this argument,
If Lydgate has to move, beg for money, and put aside his every
Lydgate thinks, "[s]he will never love me much," which he can
dream and aspiration to keep her in good clothes and a fancy
bear more than the fear that he will stop loving her. Rosamund
house, then so be it. She doesn't care. She views him, not as a
then goes to Mr. Trumbull, the rental agent, and stops him from
person, but a mere function to support her happiness.
letting their house. She also secretly writes to Lydgate's Uncle
Godwin. When Lydgate finds out about the house they have Lydgate elicits much more sympathy from the reader, although
another argument, and Rosamund berates him for deluding her he is hardly blameless. He chooses Rosamund according to his
into a false vision of happiness that would result from marrying narrow view of what a woman is and should be. Before he
him. For his part Lydgate realizes that it will be impossible for marries he thinks the ideal wife will be a charming ornament

reflecting her husband's glory. The reader has more sympathy people to manage. Lydgate finally turns the conversation to his
for him, however, because, unlike Rosamund, he has a heart. own personal difficulties. Bulstrode refuses a loan, but not
He thinks about how their hardship is worse for her because before he says he regretted Lydgate's alliance with the Vincys,
she has no life away from home and "wished to excuse who always had "prodigal habits" and already are indebted to
everything in her if he could," although that necessarily him. He suggests that Lydgate declare bankruptcy.
diminishes her value as a responsible adult.
Chapter 68
Book 7, Chapters 66–68 Raffles returns at Christmas to haunt Bulstrode at his home.
His alcoholism has gotten worse, along with his erratic
behavior. Bulstrode takes care of him through the night and
Summary meditates on his predicament. Early on Christmas morning he
packs Raffles off, telling him that if he chooses to spread
gossip about him he will cut him off financially. He drives
Chapter 66 Raffles out of town and gives him another 100 pounds.
Nonetheless, Bulstrode begins making preparations to leave
As Lydgate waits for the horse trader at the Green Dragon, he
town so that he will not have to deal directly with "the
notices the billiard room. Soon he is playing, becoming more
contempt of his old neighbors." He asks Caleb Garth to find
excited as he wins money and thinks that perhaps gambling is
and manage a tenant at Stone Court. Garth agrees happily and
a good way to raise cash. The game is going in his favor until
proposes Fred, who can also use the property as a training
Mr. Hawley arrives and proves to be a better player. In the
ground. Bulstrode agrees, partly to make up for turning down
meantime, Fred Vincy has come in to observe the play. He has
Lydgate. Garth holds off on telling Fred and Mary until he gets
been to his old haunt five times now but has not yet resumed
a better notion of the state of the premises at Stone Court.
playing. While he has every intention of staying on his new
path, he is thinking at some point that he might put ten pounds
at risk. When he sees Lydgate he feels shock and even
Analysis
embarrassment and manages to get him away from the table
before he loses much money. Mr. Farebrother has called Fred Lydgate's reversal of fortune follows a course in which fate
out of the billiard parlor to have a heart-to-heart talk. seems to chastise him for every prideful presumption that he
Farebrother reminds Fred that he has a rival and can still lose has ever held or voiced. For example, he had been extremely
Mary. "Do you understand me?" he says. "I want you to make critical of Mr. Farebrother's gambling, even though he knew the
the happiness of her life your own." clergyman played to supplement his income. He even thinks of
this "vice" to justify his vote for Mr. Tyke as the hospital
chaplain. Now here he is, playing for small sums, just as he
Chapter 67 looked down on Farebrother for doing. Another irony is that he
has held himself much above Fred Vincy and his ilk, and now he
Lydgate has one final idea for solving his financial problems,
is embarrassing Fred with his behavior. Moreover, Fred is kind
which is to ask Bulstrode for a loan. He gets an opportunity to
enough to save him from himself. Fred also needs saving,
open this humiliating subject when Bulstrode calls him to the
however, and Farebrother steps in to do so, saying it occurred
bank to confer about his current symptoms, caused by mental
to him to watch Fred stumble and fall so that he can get what
strain. Bulstrode mentions he might temporarily withdraw from
he wants. Farebrother is the most moral character in the novel
management of many of his business concerns and leave town
and has the deepest understanding of evil because he is the
for a time. If he does leave Middlemarch, he intends to
most honest with himself.
withdraw his support from the new hospital. Mrs. Casaubon
may be willing to take his place as a benefactor, he says, but
Lydgate's asking Bulstrode for money strips away much of his
more general support for the hospital can be obtained by
remaining self-respect. At the beginning of Lydgate's story, he
merging it with the old hospital and thus bringing in many more
is proud to say that he is independent of Bulstrode, whom he

neither likes nor respects, except as an instrument for medical He puts the patient on bedrest and forbids alcohol, according
reform. Now he seeks to become indebted to him to stave off to a new method of treatment for alcohol poisoning.
his own creditors, and the banker turns him down. If that
weren't bad enough, he matter-of-factly tells him that his pet
project, the fever hospital, will likely have to be joined with the Chapter 70
old infirmary, which means that Lydgate will lose control of
how the new institution operates. Bulstrode was happy enough Bulstrode follows Lydgate's instructions, even when the patient
to support medical reform when it was convenient for him, but calls for liquor, all the while thinking that Providence might
now he has no compunction about leaving Lydgate in the lurch. ordain that he die. He is sorry that he hasn't loaned Lydgate
The doctor ironically says, "I can't be expected to rejoice in it the money, now thinking he does not want the doctor as an
all at once, since one of the first results will be that the other enemy and would even like "to create in him a sense of
medical men will upset or interrupt my methods, if it were only personal obligation." By midday the patient is worse. Lydgate
because they are mine." prescribes moderate doses of opium to be carefully

administered and then stopped, stressing that alcohol and
Bulstrode's own troubles resurface on Christmas Eve in the opium can kill the patient. Before Lydgate leaves Bulstrode
form of a drunk and disorderly Raffles demanding lodging for tells him he's had a change of heart and writes a check for
the night. Bulstrode takes him in, thinking about whether 1,000 pounds. Lydgate is very grateful.
Providence ultimately plans to smite him, with Raffles as its
instrument, or whether it was "the Divine glory that he should Bulstrode keeps watch over Raffles and begins administering
escape dishonor." He most fears being disgraced in front of his the opium. When he gets too tired to stay up, he calls the
neighbors, which is why he is making preparations to leave housekeeper, repeating Lydgate's instructions about the opium
town. Better safe than sorry is his thinking. At the same time, dosing, although he forgets to tell Mrs. Abel that the dosing
he is deferring his final steps of preparation in the hope that stops. When she knocks on his door to ask if she can give the
"something would happen to hinder the worst, and that to spoil patient brandy, Bulstrode hesitates and then gives her the key
his life by a later transplantation might be over-hasty." When to the wine cooler. He also doesn't tell her to stop the opium
Mr. Garth proposes putting Fred at Stone Court, he readily dosing. When Lydgate comes back in the morning, the patient
agrees, since it gives him an easy way to do something for one dies. This surprises him, and he wants to ask if his orders were
of the Vincys now that he has turned down the other (in the followed but doesn't know how to put the question without
form of Lydgate). insulting Bulstrode.
Chapter 71
Several people begin to congregate in the yard of the Green
Dragon to hear Bambridge's story about Bulstrode's
Summary checkered past and Ladislaw's parentage, as told to him by
Raffles. The undertaker adds that Raffles has recently died at
Stone Court, attended by Dr. Lydgate. The story leaps across
Chapter 69 the gossip grapevine. Lawyer Hawley determines that no
action can be taken legally, neither in the case of how
Mr. Garth visits Bulstrode at the bank for two reasons. First, he Bulstrode came by his fortune nor in the particulars of Raffles's
tells him that he has found a sick stranger on the road named death. The next piece of gossip that circulates is about
Raffles, whom he has taken to Stone Court. Second, he gives Lydgate's loan. Hawley puts the facts of Lydgate's treatment
up the job at Stone Court. When Bulstrode questions him, he of Raffles before Toller and Wrench, but they can find nothing
admits that his decision is based on what Raffles has told him. wrong, since Mrs. Abel went ahead and administered what was
He also reassures Bulstrode that he will never repeat any of it. customary—alcohol and opium. Nonetheless, the
Upon arriving at Stone Court, he immediately calls in Lydgate, circumstances of the case put Lydgate in a bad light.
who determines that Raffles's condition is serious but not fatal.

After one case of cholera surfaces in the town, a town hall accuse him of taking money as a bribe and somehow
meeting is called to determine whether another piece of tampering with the treatment of Raffles. His act of kindness
ground outside of town needs to be secured for a burial in the toward Bulstrode only puts him further under suspicion as their
event of more cases. When Bulstrode gets up to speak, names become inextricably linked. Poor Lydgate, who thought
Hawley asks for his resignation from all public positions unless he could stand head and shoulders above the crowd, had
he can clear his name. Bulstrode protests and accuses his become the victim of a collective character assassination.
accusers of being unchristian men. Bulstrode's minister steps There is beauty in community, as the author shows in this
into the argument and asks him to leave the room. Bulstrode novel, but there is also ugliness, as the mob mentality works to
begins to totter, and Lydgate kindly leads him out of the room tear people apart and cut them down to size.
and takes him home, further linking himself with the fallen
banker. Later, when Dorothea hears the story from her uncle
who was at the meeting, she argues for finding out the truth Book 8, Chapters 72–75
and clearing Lydgate's name.
Summary
Analysis
Bulstrode goes to Stone Court to do his Christian duty toward
the man who has become his nemesis. He both hopes to do
Chapter 72
what is morally right, even as he hopes to contain Raffles. He
Dorothea speaks to her family about what they can do to clear
also hopes that Raffles will conveniently die so that he may be
Lydgate's name. Mr. Farebrother says that he can imagine
saved from disgrace. The acceptable treatment for alcoholism
Lydgate taking a bribe to remain quiet about scandalous facts
or delirium tremens, which are the withdrawal symptoms that
from the past but not for anything worse than that. Dorothea
people in advanced stages of alcoholism experience, is dosing
argues that a man's character speaks for him, to which
the patient with alcohol and opium. But Lydgate is following a
Farebrother replies, "character is not cut in marble ... it is
different treatment protocol he has read about and found to be
something living and changing, and may become diseased as
effective—withholding alcohol and narcotics and giving the
our bodies do." Sir James advises Dorothea to "keep back at
patient very small doses of opium as necessary. Lydgate has
the present, and not volunteer any meddling."
followed this treatment in the past with favorable results. This
is the basis for his instruction to Bulstrode. At that point
Bulstrode is not planning to hasten Raffles's demise. He fears Chapter 73
what he might say in his fitful state, and he also has a
presentiment that it would be to his advantage if Lydgate felt Lydgate feels ready to curse the day he came to Middlemarch.
positively inclined toward him, which is why he gives him the His "honorable ambition" is in tatters, his reputation
money. When Mrs. Abel asks Bulstrode about giving the patient "irrevocably damaged," and his marriage an "unmitigated
brandy, he clearly disobeys Lydgate's orders and deliberately calamity." He begins to think that Bulstrode tampered with his
withholds information about the opium for the purposes of orders. He questions his own judgment, wondering if he would
hastening the patient's death. It is fair to say that Bulstrode have acted differently when he found Raffles dead if he hadn't
committed an act of passive murder. Certainly he can justify to taken the money. Still, Lydgate resolves not to "shrink from
himself that what he allowed Mrs. Abel to do was standard showing his full sense of obligation to Bulstrode." Certainly if
treatment for an alcoholic, but he has enough faith in Lydgate's he could exchange the loan for beggary, rather than be tarred
skill to know that if anyone can save the patient, Lydgate can. with the suspicion of taking a bribe, he would do it. But he still
"would not turn away from this crushed fellow-mortal whose
In Chapter 71 the author portrays how gossip in a small town
aid he had used."
spreads like a cancer and how people revel in the misfortune
of others. The gossip will effectively ruin both Bulstrode and
Lydgate, although Lydgate has done nothing wrong. No matter.
Lydgate feels the force of people's condemnation, as they

Likewise, Mrs. Bulstrode, formerly Harriet Vincy, shows her

Chapter 74
strength of spirit and loyalty. She has been completely
Mrs. Bulstrode knows something is amiss; she visits two of her innocent of knowledge of her husband's dubious past and has
friends and can tell by their ready sympathy and avoidance of taken him at face value—believing him to be a pious Christian
talk about her husband that some great misfortune has and a role model for others. She has become more religious as
occurred. She finally seeks out her brother who tells her the a result of marrying him, although she has never given up her
whole story. When she comes home she goes to her room to worldly outlook. But when he is revealed as thief and a
compose herself. Mrs. Bulstrode removes all her ornaments hypocrite, she proves to be a better Christian than him. She
and changes into a plain black gown. Bulstrode knows she has does not judge him or hold him up to scorn and ridicule, as he
learned the truth and feels himself "perishing slowly in unpitied has done to so many people throughout his life. Rather, she
misery," thinking he will never see affection on his wife's face embraces him with all his flaws and lets him know that she will
again. Instead, she meets him with compassion and stand by him and help him carry his burden of shame. Mrs.
tenderness. Together they cry for his misfortune: "She could Bulstrode's response to her husband's calamity is in stark
not say, 'How much is only slander and false suspicion?' and he juxtaposition to the response of her niece Rosamund. Her
did not say, 'I am innocent.'" husband is actually innocent of wrongdoing, and yet she
neither stands by him nor provides him with any comfort. The
best she can do is to tell him to move out of town. This way she
Chapter 75 will avoid the consequences of his disgrace. In fact she cares
little whether her husband did wrong or not; what matters to
Although Rosamund is relieved that the debt has been taken her is how he has been tried in the court of public opinion
care of, she has nothing to look forward to except an because that affects her.
occasional letter from Ladislaw. She believes that Will secretly
harbors strong feelings for her. When the Lydgates get a letter Rosamund constructs a fantasy romance between herself and
that Will plans to visit, she is overjoyed. Meanwhile, she decides Will Ladislaw because she cannot even imagine that any man
to have a dinner party and invites several people without telling would prefer some other woman over her—such is the high
her husband. He soon gets wind of it and becomes very angry, opinion she has of herself and her power to charm. Her
especially because he surmises that everyone is declining. delusions are indicative of the narrowness of her emotional
Rosamund asks her father what is wrong, and he delivers the register. She does not understand depth of feeling or an
bad news. Rosamund doesn't question her husband, and he attraction that encompasses more than the physical.
finally brings it up, waiting for her to make some avowal that
she believes in him. He imagines together they can face down
the slander and weather the storm. Instead she says to him, Book 8, Chapters 76–79
"Surely now at least you have given up the idea of staying in
Middlemarch. I cannot go on living here. Let us go to London.
Papa, and everyone else says you had better go." Summary
Analysis Chapter 76
No one comes to Lydgate's rescue, and he feels besieged on Dorothea asks Lydgate to Lowick to discuss the management
all sides. He honestly questions himself and his own motives of the fever hospital now that Bulstrode is leaving town. He
with regard to the Raffles affair, thinking he may have done tells her he can no longer manage the hospital either, since he
more to find out about whether his protocol was followed if he must also leave. She then broaches the subject of recent
hadn't taken the money. Lydgate shows himself to be an gossip, saying "You have never done anything vile. You would
honorable man in the crisis of his life. He is not prepared to not do anything dishonorable." He is moved by her avowal and
throw Bulstrode to the wolves of public opinion, and will not try tells her what happened. She promises to spread the truth
to clear himself at the banker's expense. among the people she knows without further compromising

Bulstrode. He also shares a bit of his marital trouble and gladly Ladislaw says nothing of Bulstrode's offer of money, and
gives her permission to speak to his wife. As Lydgate rides Lydgate mentions how Dorothea was the only person to come
away he thinks that Dorothea has "what I never saw in any forward for him. He tells Will he plans to settle in London. Will
woman before—a fountain of friendship towards men," and he feels inexpressibly sad for Lydgate, knowing that he is facing
wonders again whether she has any sexual feelings toward down dwindling hopes of his life and ambition.
Ladislaw. On her side, Dorothea writes a check to Lydgate for
1,000 pounds so that he can repay Bulstrode and determines
to bring it with her when she calls on Rosamund. Analysis
When Lydgate tells Dorothea he is leaving, she seizes the
Chapter 77 opportunity to tell him she thinks well of him, and he is entirely
grateful to finally hear some kind words from a woman. Her
Dorothea has now heard about Ladislaw's connection to softness opens his heart, and he feels relieved to tell her his
Bulstrode's first wife and the ugly things being said about his side of the story when she asks him. Lydgate's interactions
heritage, but it has no effect on her feelings. She talks to with Dorothea are a corrective and an epiphany. For the first
Farebrother about Lydgate, and he is joyful to hear his friend is time he consciously admits that there is another way to be a
blameless. When Dorothea pays her call to Rosamund, the woman that he has both ignored and discounted, and he sees
housemaid inadvertently opens the drawing room door on a the benefit of interacting with a serious-minded person of the
tableau of Rosamund and Will, in which she is teary-eyed and opposite gender. He admires Dorothea's compassion and
he is clasping her hands and speaking to her "in a low-toned generosity and acknowledges that it is something rare, but he
fervor." Dorothea is arrested by the scene, drops off her letter wonders if she can also feel something else for a man—which
to Lydgate, and quickly withdraws. She drives on to Freshitt leads him to thoughts of his friend Ladislaw. Lydgate knows
and the Grange to spread Lydgate's side of the story about that Ladislaw has strong feelings for Dorothea, but he is not
Bulstrode and Raffles. sure if they are reciprocated.
As she has faith in Lydgate's goodness, Dorothea continues to

Chapter 78 believe in Will, despite the nasty gossip that is swirling around
his name. The assurance of his goodness as well as his
Will is appalled by Dorothea's sudden arrival and departure, unrequited love for her has given her strength. No wonder she
knowing how the scene between himself and Rosamund was is bowled over when she witnesses the scene between him
misconstrued. Rosamund is gratified by what happened and and Rosamund. Gossip about Will and Rosamund was brought
thinks she can soothe Ladislaw. Instead, he turns on her to her attention before Ladislaw left town, and here seems to
savagely. When she tells him to go after Dorothea, he says, "Do be proof that he is having an illicit relationship with the doctor's
you think she would turn to look at me, or value any word I ever wife. Dorothea feels scalded, as if all her good feeling has been
uttered to her again as more than a dirty feather? Do you trampled on, and she also feels jealousy. And, of course, she
suppose she would like me any better for sacrificing you?" feels betrayed. Nonetheless, after leaving Lydgate's house she
Rosamund "was almost losing the sense of her identity" under continues to work to clear the doctor's name.
the torrent of Will's words. When Lydgate gets home he finds
his wife ill in bed and assumes that her emotional state has
something to do with Dorothea's visit.
Chapter 79
Summary
Ladislaw has no choice but to call on Lydgate in the evening
without telling him he'd been at his house earlier in the day.
Rosamund remains ill in her room, and Lydgate catches
Ladislaw up on the gossip, including what touches on him.

confess their love for each other, and he renounces her yet
Chapter 80
again, on the grounds of his poverty. "Oh, I cannot bear it—my
Dorothea gives way to her grief, suffering a literal dark night of heart will break," she says. "I don't mind about poverty—I hate
the soul. The next day she resolves to put her own sorrow and my wealth." He embraces her, and she tells him that she has
jealousy aside and follow through on her visit to Rosamund. some money they can live on, a fact of which he was not
She hopes to make a positive difference in the relationship aware.
between husband and wife.
Analysis
Chapter 81
Dorothea suffers with her grief over losing both Will's love and
When Dorothea reaches Lydgate's house Rosamund her shining image of him, but in the morning she goes to
reluctantly receives her. She feels at a distinct disadvantage, Rosamund to finish the task she started. While she initially
thinking Dorothea has come to show off her superior position. meant to speak to her about her husband's innocence, her
Dorothea's manner is exactly the opposite, and she begins by words spill over into an interpretation of what she saw, and she
vindicating Lydgate. She stresses Lydgate's love for warns Rosamund about her affection for another man with a
Rosamund and how he wishes to do whatever is necessary to fullness of heart that comes from her own experience, which
make her happy. She also cautions Rosamund about loving she now sees in a different light. Dorothea is acknowledging
someone other than her husband. Rosamund is overcome by for the first time to herself—and for the sake of
Dorothea's emotion; carried away by the other woman's Rosamund—that Mr. Casaubon did have cause to be jealous
feeling, she tells her that she misread what she saw. "He was after all. Certainly she was not aware of the depth of her
telling me how he loved another woman," she says, "that I feelings for Will when she was married, but perhaps she had
might know he could never love me." She is happy to get the some measure of responsibility in the corrosion of her
confession off her chest so that Ladislaw has nothing to marriage. Rosamund is moved by the fullness of Dorothea's
reproach her with. Dorothea speaks again about Lydgate's love emotion and gets carried away by it. She does not have any
for his wife, and the two women part with a deep true feeling for Ladislaw; he is merely another diversion. In the
understanding between them. presence of Dorothea's overwhelming emotion and her desire
to help Rosamund, she cannot help but set the record straight.
She also feels comforted that Dorothea has not put herself on
Chapter 82 a pedestal, and for the first time, perhaps, she experiences
some commiseration with a fellow being. The force of
Ladislaw admits to himself that his real reason for returning to Rosamund's temporary "conversion" is a testament to
Middlemarch is to see Dorothea again. He is tempted to simply Dorothea's spiritual power, and the author means the reader to
go back to London without seeing the Lydgates again, but he feel it that way.
feels the obligation of his friendship. During his last visit to the
Lydgates, Rosamund has a chance to pass him a note that Ladislaw thinks about running away from the situation that has
says she has told Mrs. Casaubon the truth about what passed been created at Lydgate's house, but he does the manly thing
between them. and returns to the scene of his emotional outburst. He is not
exactly sorry for it, but he feels an obligation to both Lydgate
and Rosamund and hopes to make the best of their ongoing
Chapter 83 relationship. He feels for his friend as he narrates his
diminished prospects, and he feels sad to also think of his own.
Dorothea is visited by Miss Noble, who has been sent as an His visit pays off when Rosamund lets him know that he has
emissary from Ladislaw. "There was nothing that she longed nothing to blame her for.
for at the moment except to see Will," the narrator says. When
they meet again they discuss Ladislaw's parentage, and he When Will and Dorothea are finally able to clear the air and
tells her that he refused money from Bulstrode because he admit openly their mutual feelings, the difficulty of money
was sure she would not think well of him if he did so. They remains an obstacle. Ladislaw doesn't see how he can, in good

conscience, ask Dorothea to share his penury. Certainly he has

Chapter 86
prospects for a political career, but he may suffer some real
deprivation before he establishes himself. This is the basis of Mr. Garth has agreed to Mrs. Bulstrode's proposal, and he
his renunciation. It remains for Dorothea to reassure him that shares the news with Mary and Fred. The couple can now
she doesn't mind a little hardship, and she delivers the good marry sooner since Fred has a home and some prospects.
news to him that she has some money on which they can get
by. Unlike Rosamund, she will not expect Will to compromise
his principles to keep her in fine clothes; rather, she will Finale
support him in the public work he has chosen to do.
The narrator wraps up the story of the principal characters by
revealing how their lives turned out. Fred and Mary achieve a
Book 8, Chapters 84–86 and "solid mutual happiness" and prosper. Lydgate and Rosamund
continue to struggle with each other; Lydgate dies at 50, after
Finale gaining "an excellent practice" among the rich. Nonetheless, he
considers himself to be a failure. Rosamund remarries an
elderly, wealthy physician. Dorothea always feels she could
have done more. She is glad to have married Will Ladislaw,
Summary
however, and "[t]hey are bound to each other by a love
stronger than any impulses which could have marred it."
Dorothea's story is still told in Middlemarch, and those who did
Chapter 84
not know her thought she was foolish to have made two ill-
advised marriages. Others who knew her thought it a shame
The Chettams and Cadwalladers have gathered at Freshitt and
she hadn't done more with her life, but the narrator bitterly
are expecting Mr. Brooke. After they discuss the Reform Bill
comments that it is those others, as society, who thwart the
and everyone is settled, Brooke delivers the news that
ambitions of potential heroines. Still, "the growing good of the
Dorothea plans to marry Ladislaw. There is much
world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts." Moreover, "things
consternation, and Sir James goes so far as to say, "I think that
are not so ill with you and me as they might have been ... owing
Dorothea committed a wrong act in marrying Ladislaw." Mrs.
to the number who lived a faithfully hidden life, and rest in
Cadwallader remarks that "Mr. Casaubon has prepared all this
unvisited tombs."
as beautifully as possible. He made himself disagreeable—or it
pleased God to make him so—and then dared her to contradict
him. It's the way to make any trumpery tempting, to ticket it at a
high price."
Analysis
When Mr. Brooke breaks the news about Dorothea's
Chapter 85 engagement, it comes as no surprise to Mrs. Cadwallader. The
author uses the rector's wife as a kind of public mouthpiece
Bulstrode does not make a full confession to his wife, but he that expresses many of the feelings held by Middlemarch's
feels immense gratitude toward her and asks if there's public. She also represents the prejudice of the upper classes
anything she would like him to do about property in many of her pronouncements and provides comic relief as
arrangements. She asks him to do something for Lydgate, but well with her witticisms. But she is also an astute judge of
he tells her he has returned the money after getting Mrs. character. She herself chose to "marry down" for love, and she
Casaubon's loan. However, he suggests that Fred take over quite expected Dorothea to do the same, especially since Mr.
the management of Stone Court and pay him a share of the Casaubon practically made it an inevitability by forbidding her
profits rather than rent. He asks her to speak to Garth about it. to do so.
Bulstrode never relinquishes his pride, although perhaps he

can be forgiven for not telling his wife the entire truth, since her
love is all he has left in the area of human regard. He cannot

Middlemarch Study Guide Quotes 46
bear to lose that. Nonetheless, he is somewhat chastised and content herself with the role allowed her by society: working
wishes to do something for his wife's family, which is how Fred, with Spanish Catholic nuns. The narrator claims that every age
ironically, winds up at Stone Court after all, albeit by a different has its share of Theresas, women with lofty goals for living epic
and more morally uplifting route. lives who are derailed by the traditional roles of wife and
mother. This novel focuses on one such woman: Dorothea
In the Finale the narrator uses her bully pulpit to pronounce Brooke.
final words over the lives of the major characters. Fred is
reformed, through the love of others—Mary and Mr. Garth.
Lydgate learns to bitterly live with his lot, at one point calling
"But any one watching keenly the
Rosamund a basil plant, which he knew could flourish on a
dead man's brains. He does not entirely take responsibility for stealthy convergence of human
his failure, but then, who does? Dorothea has a happy life with
Ladislaw but also feels she has fallen short in not achieving a
lots, sees a slow preparation of
lofty goal. Others agree with her, but the narrator bitterly says, effects from one life on another,
"no one stated exactly what else that was in her power she
ought rather to have done." Women had few arenas to act in which tells like a calculated irony
up until very recently, so it is no wonder that Dorothea finds on the indifference or the frozen
herself stymied. The narrator leaves much of the blame for
failed heroic expectations at the door of society, which has the stare with which we look at our
habit of thwarting individuals wherever it can. Nonetheless, she
unintroduced neighbor. Destiny
ends on a hopeful note, because great souls exist among us
and make an important difference, albeit quietly, in the lives of stands by sarcastic with our
everyday people.
dramatis personae folded in her
hand."
g Quotes
— Narrator, Chapter 11
"Here and there is born a Saint

This remark is made just after Lydgate has met Rosamund for
Theresa, foundress of nothing, the first time. He is reflecting that it will be many years before
he marries, little realizing that within the year he will be
whose loving heart-beats and engaged. It establishes the way in which all lives are
sobs after an unattained goodness connected, like a spider's web, and the consequences that all
people's thoughts and actions have on one another.
tremble off and are dispersed
among hindrances, instead of
"The element of tragedy which lies
centring in some long-
in the very fact of frequency, has
recognizable deed."
not yet wrought itself into the
— Narrator, Prelude coarse emotion of mankind; and
perhaps our frames could hardly
Saint Theresa was a woman who wanted to do great things: to
convert Spanish Muslim Moors to Catholicism. However, her bear much of it. If we had a keen
grand plans were thwarted by the realities of her life: an uncle
vision and feeling of all ordinary
who put a stop to her missionary plans. Saint Theresa had to

would not necessarily line up with her idea about how a

human life, it would be like hearing
marriage romance should unfold.
the grass grow and the squirrel's
heart beat, and we should die of
"The scratches are going
that roar which lies on the other
everywhere impartially and it is
side of silence."
only your candle which produces
— Narrator, Chapter 20 the flattering illusion of a
concentric arrangement."
The narrator makes this comment somewhat ironically. Some
sufferings are small, but they are still tragic to the individual
— Narrator, Chapter 27
who suffers them. If we were to feel everyone's suffering, we
would not be able to bear it because we would be
overwhelmed by our emotions. The metaphor about the The human brain has the tendency to organize unconnected
growing grass and squirrel's heartbeat illustrates that these events and random experiences, like the scratches on the
experiences would also overwhelm us and we would die of the surface of a mirror from repeated polishings, into a series of
roaring sound of pulsating life. Better we should learn slowly meaningful or connected events. The glass reveals hundreds
and in reference to our own experience alone, or we might be of random scratches, but a light at the center makes the
utterly overwhelmed. scratches appear as concentric circles. Likewise, people want
to believe that the random events of their lives are connected
and meaningful.
"It had been easier to her to

imagine how she would devote "For years after Lydgate
herself to Mr. Casaubon, and remembered the impression
become wise and strong in his produced in him by this involuntary
strength and wisdom, than to appeal—this cry from soul to soul,
conceive ... that he had an without other consciousness than
equivalent centre of self, whence their moving with kindred natures
the lights and shadows must in the same embroiled medium, the
always fall with a certain same troublous fitfully illuminated
difference." life."
— Narrator, Chapter 21 — Narrator, Chapter 30
This quotation precedes the comment that people begin life Dorothea has just sobbed out her longing to Lydgate to be of
entirely as egoists and learn over time to consider the thoughts some use to her husband Casaubon during his illness. Lydgate
and feelings of others. The narrator refers to how it was easier is struck by the union of her soul with his, a union that his own
for Dorothea to imagine her fantasy of marriage than to marriage lacks. He sees in her cry what a good person can be,
imagine a different mind with different wants and needs, which even in a bad marriage.

"That by desiring what is perfectly soul, withering it the more by

good, even when we don't quite unloving proximity. She knew,
know what it is and cannot do when she locked her door, that
what we would, we are part of the she should unlock it ready to go
divine power against down to her unhappy husband and
evil—widening the skirts of light espouse his sorrow, and say of his
and making the struggle with guilt, I will mourn and not
darkness narrower." reproach."
— Dorothea Brooke, Chapter 39 — Narrator, Chapter 74
Dorothea is speaking to Will Ladislaw about what thought gives The narrator here is obliquely referring to Rosamund and
her strength, especially when she is feeling lonely and isolated. directly to Mrs. Bulstrode. Unlike Rosamund, her Aunt
She says that this idea sustains her: that her mere desire for Bulstrode is ready to shoulder her husband's burden. In this
what is perfectly good—whether she knows what it is or can case it is disgrace. Sometimes a spouse can stay but make his
get it accomplished—is already a goodness that enlarges or her partner feel even more isolated and alone by
goodness in the world and is a powerful force against withdrawing emotionally, as Rosamund has done with Lydgate.
ignorance and evil. Mrs. Bulstrode is not that type of spouse and is ready to help
her husband carry his sorrow and will feel pity for him but not
condemnation.
"Character is not cut in marble—it
is not something solid and "Men and women make sad
unalterable. It is something living mistakes about their own
and changing, and may become symptoms, taking their vague
diseased as our bodies do." uneasy longings, sometimes for
— Camden Farebrother, Chapter 72 genius, sometimes for religion, and
oftener still for a mighty love."
Dorothea tells Farebrother that Dr. Lydgate's character has
been proven by his actions and should, in and of itself, put an — Narrator, Chapter 75
end to the gossip about his possible wrongdoing. The
clergyman responds that good character is not static and that
The narrator refers to Rosamund, who is bored with life as a
people can change and become bad or do wrong things.
married woman, especially since she's had to cope with
financial difficulties. She begins to think Will Ladislaw would
have made a better husband and that he has feelings for her.
"There is a forsaking which still Later, she tells him that she has feelings for him. The narrator
sits at the same board and lies on comments that often when we don't understand our feelings
we give them the wrong name.
the same couch with the forsaken

Middlemarch Study Guide Symbols 49
"Explain! Tell a man to explain how "But we insignificant people with

he dropped into hell! ... I never had our daily words and acts are
a preference for her, any more preparing the lives of many
than I have a preference for Dorotheas, some of which may
breathing. No other woman exists present a far sadder sacrifice than
by the side of her." that of the Dorothea whose story
we know."
— Will Ladislaw, Chapter 78
— Narrator, Finale
Ladislaw has visited the full force of his wrath on Rosamund
after Dorothea walks in on them and finds them in what could
The shift to the first-person plural "we" draws attention to the
be construed as a compromising position. When Dorothea
fact that readers, as part of society, are responsible for
abruptly leaves and he gets upset, Rosamund sarcastically tells
creating the social expectations that cause Dorothea's
Will to go after Dorothea and explain that he prefers her. This
tragedy. If these social expectations are simply accepted and
is his answer, in which he says loving Dorothea is like
perpetuated, other such tragedies will follow.
breathing.
"Certainly those determining acts l Symbols

of her life were not ideally
beautiful. They were the mixed
Pier Glass
result of young and novel impulse
struggling amidst the conditions of
The pier glass (large mirror) mentioned in Chapter 27 is an
an imperfect social state, in which
important symbol of the way in which an ego organizes
great feelings will often take the unconnected events and random experiences into a coherent
story or likely narrative. A glass or other polished surface may
aspect of error, and great faith the reveal hundreds of random scratches, but when a light is put at
aspect of illusion." the center of it, the scratches appear to be in a pattern of
concentric circles. Similarly, people sometimes believe that
events have arranged themselves for their convenience, or
— Narrator, Finale
they find patterns in their lives to make meaning of what
happens to them: "the scratches are going everywhere
This observation follows the fact that Sir James Chettam impartially and it is only your candle which produces the
thought Dorothea's second marriage has been a mistake, as flattering illusion of a concentric arrangement, its light falling
did the rest of Middlemarch. The narrator answers this with an exclusive optical selection. These things are a parable.
objection by saying that the protagonist's acts were not The scratches are events, and the candle is the egoism of any
perfect, but rather the mixed result of a young person person."
struggling for a perfect good in an imperfect society—one that
doesn't appreciate great feelings or great faith. That imperfect
society calls great feelings wrong and great faith a dream.

Middlemarch Study Guide Symbols 50
Connected with the symmetry of the web metaphor is the

Shortsightedness symmetry the author creates in comparing and contrasting
various characters' paths in life, as they marry and choose
vocations or professions. For example, Dorothea's selflessness
Dorothea is nearsighted and fears stepping on the puppy that and desire to aid her husband in writing his magnum opus are
Sir James brings to her in Chapter 3. She is shortsighted both juxtaposed with Rosamund's dislike of her husband's
literally and figuratively. She doesn't see well beyond her own profession of medicine and her unwillingness to help him when
vision of what the world ought to be like or beyond her ideals, they get into financial trouble. At the same time, her Aunt
which makes her miss obvious and important information about Bulstrode's handling of her husband's moral downfall (in which
other people and situations. Other people in the novel suffer she sticks by her guilty spouse) is contrasted with Rosamund's
from metaphorical shortsightedness or blindness (Casaubon, refusal to stand by Lydgate, even though he is innocent of
Bulstrode), while characters such as Celia and Mrs. wrongdoing. Mr. Bulstrode passively kills his blackmailer, and
Cadwallader, the town gossip, see clearly with less illusion and Lydgate is falsely implicated because he has taken financial
projection. help from Bulstrode. Similarly, Dorothea's desire to be of
service is contrasted with Rosamund's selfishness. Both
Lydgate and Casaubon are searching for a key to unlock a
universal mystery—with Lydgate hoping to find the basis of
Portrait of Julia Casaubon biological life and Casaubon looking for the foundation of all
religious ideas. Mary Garth's ability to shape Fred Vincy's
destiny is juxtaposed with Dorothea's inability to affect
Casaubon and Lydgate's inability to change Rosamund.
The miniature of Julia Casaubon referenced in Chapter 9 is
immediately connected in Dorothea's mind to Will Ladislaw, The happy marriages of Dorothea and Will Ladislaw, and of
since he looks like her. Julia was Will's grandmother who, along Fred and Mary, are juxtaposed with the unhappy marriages of
with her children, was disinherited from the family for marrying Dorothea and Casaubon and Lydgate and Rosamund. The
a poor non-English man, Mr. Ladislaw. Initially, Julia represents compatible couples in the novel are represented by Fred Vincy
for her the difficulties of marriage; Dorothea identifies with and Mary Garth and Susan and Caleb Garth. While the elder
Julia as someone who married against the wishes of her Garths are not wealthy, they live mostly in harmony and
relatives and who paid a price for it. Later, the portrait comes support each other, while easily accepting or overlooking their
to represent the absent Will, with whom she has fallen in love. partners' flaws. While Mary and Fred don't marry until the end
of the novel, and their relationship as a couple is offstage in the
novel's final pages, we are told they lead a happy and
successful life as a couple and can assume that they have
The Web followed in the path of Mary's parents. No one in the novel is
entirely successful in fulfilling a vocation. There are degrees of
success and failure: Casaubon's unwritten key, Lydgate's
A.S. Byatt, one of England's foremost contemporary novelists, success as a prosperous doctor but failure in making a
said in an article in The Guardian titled "Wit and Wisdom" that contribution to medicine, Will Ladislaw's modest career as a
the relationships in the novel "are held together by one of the politician, and Dorothea's success as a wife and mother but
most complicated and brilliantly worked metaphors anywhere failure to reach spiritual heights or to do some great good in
in fiction. It is a metaphor of a web ... It is both a field of force, a the world.
trap like a spiderweb, and a pattern of invisible connecting links
between humans meeting each other's eye." The author uses
the motif of a web in several places in the novel to underline
that people never act in a vacuum, that they are connected to
other people, and that what they do affects the other beings
who make up the same web and vice-versa.

Middlemarch Study Guide Themes 51
Brooke learns when he tries to become a politician.

m Themes
The Definition of a Hero The Quest for and Limits of

Knowledge
In George Eliot's novels, characters who yearn for greatness,
to do something that will leave a mark so that the world will
People with intellectual natures often search for knowledge,
remember them, are frustrated by their own personal failures,
which they feel will improve their lives or help them to better
fate, and society. For women the definition of a hero is even
understand life's meaning. Sometimes the quest for knowledge
more problematic, because women had so few arenas in which
is a search for immortality, in which people expect to make
to act, and the author keenly feels the restrictions placed on
their marks on the world through invention or discovery. This is
the female gender. The novel Middlemarch begins with a story
the case with both Edward Casaubon and Tertius Lydgate.
of a sixteenth-century saint, Theresa (Teresa) of Avila, one of
Both men hope to find a key that will unlock a universal
the greatest heroes of the Christian tradition. Theresa lived an
principle that knits the universe together. Casaubon expects to
epic life, but latter-day Theresas can find no epic life, only
find the Key to All Mythologies, while Lydgate seeks the basis
limited opportunity. Middlemarch can be read as a study of
for all tissue structure. Dorothea hopes to assist Casaubon in
failed heroism. Dorothea begins her grown-up life with a dream
his inquiries, which she initially assumes will make an important
of attaining spiritual transcendence but ends up settling for
contribution to scholarship, but she also wants knowledge for
mediocre "goodness." Rev. Casaubon is writing the Key to All
herself. The novel also demonstrates that human beings are
Mythologies, which he believes will unlock the meaning at the
limited in how much they can know, and the text forces its
core of all religious beliefs, but he never gets past taking notes.
characters and readers to question how to live responsibly
Dr. Lydgate expects to find the basis of all living tissue and
with only partial knowledge.
make a name for himself as a medical reformer, but instead, he
ends up being a doctor to the rich and writing a treatise on
gout. Finally, Will Ladislaw hopes to find some spark of genius
in himself that he can apply to a vocation but must learn to The Limits of Free Will and
settle for having better than average competence in writing
and speaking, which he puts to use for political reform. Moral Agency
The Problem of Vocation How much can a human being affect the course of his or her
life? How much do the winds and currents of environment
affect a person's final destination? How much do other people
influence what a person is able to do in life? How much free
The novel specifically examines the difficulty people face in
will exists when people are at the mercy of their own
finding satisfying work that also brings in sufficient income.
backgrounds, which may work against against their goals and
People are limited in their vocations by sex and class. Women
plans? These are important questions in a exploration of the
can do little besides be wives and mothers, and people's social
limits of free will. Nicholas Bulstrode was damaged by an
status limits their opportunities. For example, Fred Vincy has
impoverished childhood, which may be why he is so greedy for
few opportunities for work as the eldest son of an upwardly
power and influence, despite his desire to be a model Christian.
mobile manufacturer. Further, a vocation that does not earn
Lydgate is tripped up by his false assumptions about women
enough income can limit opportunities to marry, as it does with
and his lack of self-knowledge and understanding. Dorothea is
Mr. Farebrother. People sometimes are well suited to their
bound by her sex and class and by the era into which she was
vocations—as is Caleb Garth, while others are not—as Mr.
born—all of which give her little opportunity to lead an epic life.

Middlemarch Study Guide Suggested Reading 52
However, each person is a moral agent with the capacity for compatibility because Fred is willing to change and Mary is
doing right and wrong and should be held accountable for his willing to wait for him.
or her actions. But it may not always be clear what is right or
wrong in a given context, and people may inadvertently do
wrong and not be responsible for the subsequent damage.
Fred needs a profession, but is it right for him to become a e Suggested Reading
clergyman without a real desire to do so? Should Mary Garth
help Peter Featherstone burn his will? Should Camden Anderson, Amanda, and Harry E. Shaw, eds. A Companion to
Farebrother get out of Fred's way when he won't necessarily George Eliot. Wiley, 2013. Print.
make a better husband and hasn't done anything to prove that
he is worthy of Mary Garth? Was Casaubon obligated to divide Eliot, George. Middlemarch. Introduction and Notes by
his fortune with Will Ladislaw? The novel is full of moral Rosemary Ashton. New York: Penguin, 1994. Print.
dilemmas in which people must discern the greatest good
Goodheart, Eugene. "The Licensed Trespasser: The
among choices that are less than ideal.
Omniscient Narrator in Middlemarch." The Sewanee
Review 107.4 (1999): 555–68. Print.
Marriage and Compatibility Leavis, F. R. The Great Tradition. George Eliot, Henry James,
Joseph Conrad. New York UP, 1964. 39–46. Print.
Mead, Rebecca. My Life in Middlemarch. New York: Broadway,

All too often people choose the wrong marriage partners. In 2014. Print.
some cases they do not seriously consider whether they are
compatible in their goals and outlooks. In other cases they
discover that they are not complementary in their needs and
desires. For example, Dorothea marries Mr. Casaubon because
she believes he has a great mind and she has the desire to do
something great in the world (and, as a woman, the likeliest
path for her is to help a great man). On his part, Casaubon
thinks that God has sent Dorothea to him in the last part of his
life to help him accomplish his great work. Dorothea and
Casaubon do not see each other objectively, but see only the
projections of their respective desires and needs. Similarly,
Lydgate wants an ornamental wife and doesn't consider how
such a woman might thwart his career ambitions, while
Rosamund wants an attractive outsider with aristocratic
connections, never thinking that her intended has his own
agenda about how they will live. On the other hand Mary Garth
sees Fred Vincy very clearly. She knows he has a weak
character because of his upbringing, but she still loves him.
Nonetheless, she refuses to marry him until he reforms himself
and takes up a worthy profession. Fred also sees Mary clearly.
He knows she is not beautiful, but he has loved her since he
was a child, and he cares for her true self and character. He
accepts that he will have to reach a certain bar of
respectability before she will take him as a spouse. In the case
of Mary and Fred, the two have been personally compatible
since childhood, but they work toward a long-lasting

Literariness Middlemarch

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Middlemarch

Study Guide by Course Hero

ABOUT THE TITLE

j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1

The Evangelical movement was a force that the Anglican

worked by tenant farmers. The landed gentry made their

At the top of the working class were craftsmen and skilled

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short quotation that illustrates an important idea introduced in

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Eliot's remarkable grasp of so much background material, outdated thesis.

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contrives to marry Tertius Lydgate, an outsider with

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Other Major Character

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Full Character List Harriet Vincy

Nicholas Bulstrode is an Evangelical

Arthur Brooke is a shallow

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Caleb Garth is a self-​taught civil John Raffles is a dissolute alcoholic

Mary Garth is the eldest daughter Dr. Sprague is a physician

Frank Hawley is a lawyer who

Fred Vincy is the eldest son of

Dr. Minchin is a physician classically

Naumann is a German painter with

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his career. harsh judgments about people's moral character. Ironically,

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9. Raffles comes to town, reveals family secrets.

1. Narrator says epic life not possible in modern times.

Rising Action 11. Bulstrode passively kills John Raffles.

2. Dorothea rejects Sir James, marries Edward Casaubon.

3. Dorothea learns Casaubon is a failed scholar and writer.

8. Dr. Lydgate marries Rosamund Vincy.

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15. Dorothea and Will marry; Fred and Mary marry.

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Dorothea and Celia divide their mother's jewelry on the

Dorothea and Casaubon become engaged.

Lydgate and Rosamund become engaged.

Peter Featherstone dies; Will Ladislaw comes back to

Lydgate is newly married, and he is professionally

Casaubon dies; Dorothea is disinherited if she marries

Dorothea returns home and meets with Ladislaw. Mr.

Will meets Raffles and learns more about his mother.

Bulstrode loans Lydgate money, then kills Raffles.

Dorothea and Will become engaged.

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Mary and Fred become engaged.

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grand plan or be a world changer. Middlemarch takes place letter.

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has reflected on the extent to which other people possess a herself."

Dorothea hardly sees Edward Casaubon. She overestimates Chapter 8

Dorothea's uncle, Mr. Brooke, doesn't stop the marriage

As Casaubon courts Dorothea, he wonders at his own lack of

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deceased, was married to Peter Featherstone. Vincy's sister is

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Book 2, Chapters 16–18 Chapter 18

Caleb Garth is a self-taught civil John Raffles is a dissolute alcoholic