Assignment on Middlemarch

 Name :- Rajdip.P.Gohel

Roll. No:- 27

Paper No:- 6 - The Victorian Literature

Class:- M.A Sem-2

Topic:- Middlemarch

Enrolment No:- 2069108420190017

College:- Smt.S.B.Gardi Department Of English

Email Id:- Grajdip5@gmail.com

Submitted:- Department Of English M.K.University, Bhavnagar

Introduction:-

                       George Eliot is also a novelist who wrote in the 18^th century in England. But unlike Dickens, her characters are more rounded and develop and grow throughout the novel. She presents them from a psychological point of view, and is often regarded as among the earliest modern novelists. Also, in Middlemarch she not only mentions but also writes in the context of contemporary historical developments like the Reform Bill. She is also unique in the fact that her novel is infused not only with a moral vision but also with a deep sense of compassion.

The social background of the novel:-

            Middlemarch is concerned with the time period of about two and a half decades, beginning with the 1920s. So we find feminism in this novel. The period covered is one in which there were many political reforms the most significant of which was the Reform Bill of 1832. Other factors like the increase in the number of factories and the coming of the railways suggest that it was a society undergoing rapid change. Though the landed gentry still commanded the most respect, other professions were gaining prominence, example of doctors, lawyers, traders, etc. It was a very class conscious society, in which those of noble birth were stilt the highest on the social ladder, and where there was a gulf between the town and the country. Man had to function and interact among institutions like the church, marriage, money, politics, and labour. All these had a strong moral thread running through them, and George Eliot has interwoven it with the stories and characters to bring about the best  possible effect.

             Woman occupied an inferior position in society. They were expected to remain in the background and fulfil their domestic duties, and did not have any say in legal or property matters. We symbolise with the real life element that woman are thinks that first we born to study and than they learn that who to cooked for family after that she does marriage and she locked in duties of housewife. In these all things we see female only for home and not other works, so our mindset was describe where are we? In other country there woman’s free for all these things, so our thinking level is in low or we are lived with older people who think like ancient mind. So they were not expected to be intelligent or assertive, but ornamental as well as useful. All these factors give the reader the impression that individual lives were influenced by their personal choices, but also the socio-economic factors prevalent during the time.

George Eliot’s Treatment of her characters

  1. The men characters:-

                       Casaubon is a cold and remote figure, at pains to give an impression of dignity and learning. Celia sees through his pretentiousness and finds him ugly and pompous, but poor deluded Dorothea is taken in by his reserve into thinking that this vain, dry clergyman is an intellectual, a man of letters. He imagines that in Dorothea he has found a suitable wife as she will admire him, and be a wife, hostess and secretary. He can’t understand her jealousy and enthusiasm because he is unemotional and self occupied. Her intelligence and perception that he himself distrusts his ability to complete his work makes him conscious of his failure. His resentment at this realisation makes him retire deeper into his shell and he is a very lonely man. Casaubon’s jealousy towards Ladislaw arises out of his feelings of inadequacy Ladislaw is everything he is not, viz. Young, enthusiastic, and above all unafraid. His will is another example of his jealousy and possessiveness, because he dimly foresees the possibility of Dorothea marrying Ladislaw, and wishes to prevent it even after his death.

                         Unlike Casaubon, Lydgate’s intelligence and learning are genuine. Like Dorothea, he is a person who holds great promise but has to rest content with very ordinary achievements. As a surgeon with excellent training, who hopes to combine medical work with research in physiology, he is undoubtedly above ordinary people in intelligence and work. But he is very conscious of this and it is this consciousness as well as his materialistic tendencies make him a lesser individual. Lydgate’s affair with the French actress, and his marriage to Rosamond indicate that he seems to have a weakness for vain, beautiful woman. But his good nature is genuine as is seen in his relationship with his patients and colleagues. Success, recognition, prestige, are very important to him, but he is not aggressive, hard or tough. In fact, he is swayed by sentiments and also suffers from pangs of conscience example, when he accepts money from Bulstrode. When he falls in love with Rosamond, he does not see through her wiles, and it is only after their marriage that he realises that under her beauty He selfishness and a terrible obstinacy. He forgives Rosamond for her petty scheming and becomes resigned to her egoism and her determination to have her own way. When Lydgate fails to achieve his ambition of being an affluent, renowned surgeon, he is bitterly disillusioned and resorts to dishonesty and he fear of exposure haunts him. It is particularly important for him to present the image of a respectable man of medicine, since a good reputation will help him to further his career by establishing a good practice in elite society.

                Will Ladislaw is the representative of the world outside Middlemarch, and the anti thesis of Casaubon, being unlike him in all possible ways. He is the grandson of a woman who rebelled against the Casaubon values of class and money. His father was a musician, mother an actress, while he is a dilettante and a Redical. He rejects the superficial liberalism of Mr. Brooke and has not yet found his vocation. He sympathizes with Dorothea and regards her marriage to Mr. Casaubon as a horrible sacrifice, and later falls in love with her himself. After all in this novel we find many interaction with many characters theme of marriage was main in this novel, so many characters are suffers by love affairs, so the confusion was that which was true love and which not true. The novel has three lovers and they also confused in this three. Actually man character’s are not lovable in this novel because there’s affairs with other woman.

2. The woman characters:-

      

         George Eliot’s Middlemarch is well acclaimed for her compassionate delineation of character and subtlety of psychological analysis. Dorothea Brooke is a fine instance of this. Little information is given about the environment in which she grows up. She is deprives of the security of a happy family as her parents are dead, and Mr. Brooke, the only substitute for parents, is a tolerant uncle who lets everyone have their way because opposition causes him too much trouble. Dorothea is an idealist, and her idealism is misplaced because she wants to do good and great things in a world of which she is ignorant. She is a misfit in the narrow provincial society where woman were expected to be submissive and accept the role assigned to them without aspiring for more. She has visions of being the partner in the accomplishment of a great work and her misguided notions lead her into committing the grave mistake of marrying Casaubon. Her childlike ideas about marriage and her inability to see the obvious bring about disillusionment and unhappiness to her. She wants to be needed and appreciated by Casaubon, because he is the only person she looks up to she feels that other people are ordinary and mediocre. This wish remains unfulfilled because Casaubon is always aloof and unapproachable, and Dorothea is doomed to a life of loneliness and misery. With the death of Casaubon comes the final blow, the codicil to the will, which is the ultimate insult she has to bear. Her marriage to the quite ordinary Will Ladislaw and willingness to give up Casaubon’s property is clearly an attempt to come out of her loneliness and establish a close relationship with another human being. Giving up her noble ideals of doing good and great things, she settles down to a fife of humdrum domesticity.

       The novel is Middlemarch we find very deep things, with the help of love theme, and what does each other, and their behaviour. In this point we identify the female characters with as a product, as a affairs with others, and marriage problems.

Conclusion:-

               The novel is Middlemarch is based on theme of marriage. Now we see other theory is feminism in this novel, also love birds and affairs with other. In this novel we find clear three lovers and their marriages, but problematic marriage. In the Victorian age we find the theme of marriages in many novel like one is sense and sensibility. In this novel we also find man with working class they all are work in their own profetional.