Middlemarch by George Eliot
The best “state of the nation” book ever written in English, Middlemarch examines everyday life in the years leading up to the Reform Act of 1832, a time of significant social transformation. George Eliot explores gender roles and class, self-knowledge and self-delusion, and community and individualism through her portrayal of a Midlands town.
The primary characters of the village are followed by Eliot as they discover, lose, and rediscover their goals and callings in life. Some of the greatest literary figures can be found in the novel through its psychologically rich portraits, including the idealistic but gullible Dorothea Brooke, the attractive and egotistical Rosamund Vincy, the dry scholar Edward Casaubon, the wise and sensible Mary Garth, and the brilliant but arrogant Dr Lydgate. The novel explores practically every topic of interest to modern life, including art, religion, science, politics, the ego, society, and, most importantly, interpersonal relationships. It offers enduring insight into the difficulties and joys of living with people.
Middlemarch by George Eliot
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A huge portrait of a town, its politics, wealth, romances, and lives, Middlemarch is a massive, cat-crushing romance that marks the end of the old guard and the beginning of the industrial revolution. It features great three-dimensional characters. Although at times I thought Eliot’s book was a bit long-winded, it is very exact and completely true.
The reality with which the characters, their problems, and the whole mood of life in this English country town are so lively and true may be the most striking aspects of Middlemarch. The characters are exquisite in their humanity, and the absence of the gimmicks and easily dependable novelistic cliches of the time is both refreshing and true to life.
The novel is a beautiful depiction of a pivotal time in world history when, among other things, alchemy gave way to the scientific method, medicine was treatment rather than drugs, politics was determined by voting and public opinion rather than inheritance, women were freed from the restrictions of love and marriage, industry and new ideas took the place of old money and leisurely lives of waste, and religion started to wane in favour of an enlightened scepticism. The book explores a community in transition as it grows through these significant global changes and comes to comprehend how they affect the existence and minds of so many various types of individuals.
There are many characters in the novel, so it could be easier to keep track of them all than I did if you had a small community tree with their relationships available. Thoughtful consideration was given to each character’s voice and presence, and Eliot made sure that their dialects and speech reflected their backgrounds, education, and cultures. Like the interstitial chapters in Mariner, I believe the number of characters relates to the realism she was aiming for in the book. She is trying to portray reality as a whole and as accurately as she can in the book.
