The description of Mr. Trumbull's delight and self-importance at having his vital signs recorded for science was comical - "...by learning many new words which seemed suited to the dignity of his secretions" was by far my favorite example.
The description of Casaubon's awareness of his illness and its impact on him was thought-provoking, especially the section containing the following line: "When the commonplace 'We must all die' transforms itself suddenly into the 'I must die-and soon'..." Again, George Eliot is presenting this bitter, selfish man and his underlying motives for my empathetic consideration when I just want to completely dislike him - I'm wondering if that was her goal or if she was just so skilled at developing complex characters.
The whole of Chapter 42 felt like a huge shift in Dorothea's marriage - from (still) striving to earn her husband's love and respect; to despising him; to some sort of caring that is not pity, but not romantic love either. The way Eliot describes the small things that are not small at all is incredible - she must have been such a keen observer of human nature. The description of Casaubon refusing to soften into Dorothea as they walked together and its impact on her feelings felt so relatable to me: "...it is in these acts called trivialities that the seeds of joy are ever wasted..." I'm finding that I really enjoy getting the dual perspective of the narrator and the characters - it makes their behaviors and missteps so much more poignant and heart-warming.
Chris, I do think Eliot wanted Casaubon to be more than the nasty, stick-in-the-mud it would be easy to judge him as (as many other characters in the novel do). My sense, even stronger reading Middlemarch a second time, is that Eliot sympathized with Casaubon's scholarly focus and knew what it would feel like to be passed over or to acknowledge that everything you'd been working toward went nowhere. It's a part of scholarship, the sense of failure and existential loss, that's very hard to pull off in a popular novel. Her narrator's empathy for how he becomes so petty and jealous feels very deeply observed — and it is, for me, one of the best parts of the novel.
I also think that it's not just that Eliot herself sympathize with aspects of Casaubon's situation, but that Middlemarch as a whole is a novel deeply concerned with the importance of sympathy and compassion. The narrator and the story constantly push us to see things from different characters' POV, and to see the common humanity even in unpleasant characters. Notice how many people have commented along the way that they "wanted to hate him," but the narrator pulls them back.
I absolutely agree and I love Eliot for it. She seems to be advocating for digging deeper and striving to understand where people come from, even those people we would assume are unworthy of our interest or compassion. How are we supposed to despise Casaubon when we see him grappling with his own mortality? In a perfect world Dorothea would have found a partner who respects her and Casaubon an older wiser wife who can soothe his fragilities. Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world and we all could use to learn some compassion.
I love this point, Katya. I know that my own appreciation of this novel has a lot to with the way Eliot shows things from different perspectives, something that very much appeals to me as a writer and journalism instructor. I suspect it’s why Middlemarch made such an impact on me when I first read it decades ago.
Haley, I also love these chapters in Middlemarch. With the deepening divide between Dorothea (she finally realizes she's angry!) and Casaubon, our narrator so acutely observes their inner turmoil. That "tiny speck" of self that blots out everything else — oh, yes. And as Chris notes, the scene of them walking together, which closes Book IV, is so relatable and wrenching, with Casaubon saying:
"'Come, my dear, come. You are young, and need not to extend your life by watching.'
"When the kind quiet melancholy of that speech fell on Dorothea's ears, she felt something like the thankfulness that might well up in us if we had narrowly escaped hurting a lamed creature. She put her hand into her husband's, and they went along the broad corridor together."
Wow. This is so full of layers, it took my breath away. I also like the following sentence from Chapter 40 in reference to why Mary Garth is so compelling despite her "plainness":
"A human being in this aged nation of ours is a very wonderful whole, the slow creation of long interchanging influences; and charm is a result of two such wholes, the one loving and the one loved."
There I hear the author herself — Mary Ann Evans writing as George Eliot — who was herself plain but quite compelling and fired up with intellect and sympathy for others. What I love about Eliot's work, discursive as it can get when talking about politics of the time or science, is that she does wind those social details into the lives of all these characters in a provincial town. The discussion of medical prejudices, for instance, was not unlike all the anti-science attitudes expressed now. We still get mired down with small thinking, our tiny-speck selves made to seem bigger when amplified on social media. I doubt George Eliot would have been surprised.
The scene between Dorothea and Casaubon also stuck out to me - "wrenching" is a great word here. Her realization that she is angry and subsequent wrestling to overcome that anger make her loving actions from here on out so much more powerful, since she's no longer in it for herself - for the knowledge she can gain and the "good" she can do. But at the same time, it's so sad (wrenching! :)) to see the end of any last hope for a deeper connection between them as spouses, expected as that was.
Speaking of zooming in and out, surely I'm not the only curious cat in the group that expands posted images of annotated pages...and reads them. A gothic morsel: "Very well, Doctor Grave-face,” said Rosy, dimpling, “I will declare in future that I dote on skeletons, and body‑snatchers, and bits of things in phials, and quarrels with everybody, that end in your dying miserably." Wrapped up in dimples and teasing is uncanny and macabre imagery and perhaps the foreshadowing of a terrible quarrel and/or a miserable death? Joke or prophecy?
I have wanted more of the Garths, and here we are in the warmth of their family table. One of the things I noted from this weeks's chapters was touch. Not since Celia touches Dorothea in the first chapter have I paid attention to characters touching each other. Yet here, Mrs. Garth goes to read over Mr. Garth's shoulder, rests her hand on his shoulder and her chin on his head. Farebrother gives impudent sister Letty Garth a pinch and a kiss on the cheek. In the Lydgate's living room Lydgate and Rosy are very affectionate newlyweds. Even after that long, incredibly sad chapter where Casaubon and Dorothea spend an evening each coping with sorrow and loneliness in their separate rooms, she meets him in the hall and takes his hand! Is it the afterglow of spending time with the loving Garth family that has drawn my attention to instances of touch? It does make these characters all seem more fully human to me.
We been told almost nothing about Rigg-Featherstone. Dropping us suddenly into a confrontation between him and a new character, his stepfather Raffles, is as intriguing an introduction to Rigg as when the narrator stepped in to reveal Lydgate's past history to us. Rigg and Raffles then disappear leaving us wondering the significance of this interaction.
After setting up and then dropping several interesting interactions between characters, Eliot once again hits us with a dense wall of words as the Middlemarch hive gossips. As Lydgate's arrogance and "suspicious" medical ways and Ladislaw's reform writing for the Pioneer and habits at odds with Middlemarch customs are discussed and debated, I kept humming "pick a little, talk a little" from The Music Man as I tried to follow the threads.
All I know for sure is that Lydgate and Ladislaw are both potentially headed for trouble. I remembered highlighting earlier that independent thought and action are only possible in the world of Middlemarch if coupled with independent means, and neither of these men possess that. For better or worse, Lydgate does have Rosamond. Apparently for worse at the moment, Ladislaw's worship of Dorothea is keeping him tied to Middlemarch. Is there even a main character in this novel? If so, a case could be made for one of these two men. Is Eliot going to tie all these threads into some climactic event, or is it her point going to be that the connections between these characters are ongoing and much will remain unresolved?
Maryann, your insight about touch and Haley's about optical references really helped me see perspective in action. I think it's fascinating how we all read/interpret in our own way and while I have been cognitively aware of that, this community reading is making it so plain to me. I missed those sensory cues that you both highlighted in my reading and very much enjoy the varied viewpoints that this project provides.
- I am so happy for the Garth family and, while I had hoped that Caleb would bring Mary in as his helper, I like Fred as the next best alternative.
- I am thoroughly suspicious of what hijinks Mr. C. is going to get up to in “hinder[ing] to the utmost the fulfilment of his [Will’s] designs” upon his passing. Talk about foreshadowing…
- I’m beginning to feel a lot of anxiety for Lydgate, between the ill feelings about the hospital, his financial woes and the warnings by Mr. Farebrother to stay out of money trouble. And of course, Rosamund quickly pregnant, which will add more strain to the budget.
-My favorite quote was from Rosamund: ‘I cannot conceive why money should have been referred to. Politics and medicine are sufficiently disagreeable to quarrel upon. You can both of you go on quarreling with all the world and with each other on those two topics.’ 😂
The shift in perspective was something I also noted a lot this time around. I liked how she gives both the big picture, and the small details, their due importance- they both influence each other and should not be ignored; the consequences of which we see in Casaubon, whose vision is blurred by the insecurities he denies in himself. One of my favorite quotes was this; "Having made this lofty comparison I am less uneasy in calling attention to the existence of low people whose interference, however little we may like it, the cause of the world is very much determined." I also appreciated how she writes how if only Casaubon could share his troubles, their power over him would be reduced.
While I don't have a favorite quote this week, I bring you a favorite scene: Will helping old Miss Noble on her little errands; it's one thing to be fond of children, quite another by my standards to go out of one's way to make an old lady comfortable, and I gotta say Will is skyrocketing in my esteem.
I know the narrator wants me to dig deep to find empathy for everyone and while that is a valiant effort I have to say that I got nothing in the well for Casaubon. He is just so pathetic it's really making me feel a bit insane. The more intimate discussions that have happened beyond the narrator telling us how great Dorothea is moving toward how others perceive her was really helpful context. Yes she is seen as deeply beautiful and principled, and we have been told repeatedly she is viewed as a cut above the rest (from Will, Chettam) but Rosy's take is my favorite: "To Rosamund she was one of those country divinities not mixing with Middlemarch mortality, whose slightest marks of manner or appearance were worthy of her study; moreover, Rosamund was not without satisfaction that Mrs. Casaubon should have an opportunity of studying *her*. What is the use of being exquisite if you are not seen by the best judges?" (pg 406) Dorothea just keeps trying to be a good wife and maintain her respectability and utility and would happily live out her days married to Casaubon but he's too busy being bitter and angry that she might remarry when he dies and love someone else (?). The speck in his eye is like a resentful log that he was chosen by someone who believed he would better her and instead he punched way above his weight class by getting her. Instead of being happy that this somehow worked out, he's whining and annoyed when she shows interest. The definition of a self-defeating thought pattern and honestly so obnoxious. Self-awareness is clearly not coming in his case as it would be one thing to state that he's an old man who saw an opportunity to marry a (just barely) woman and make peace with that but instead he's going to passive aggressively make her feel like garbage for being said woman.
Unrelated but I also love the line: "But it is one thing to like defiance, and another to like its consequences." (pg 434)
I was very interested in the juxtaposition of Dorothea & C with Rosy & Lydgate this section. R&L can be honest with each other & playful, while D&C take themselves so seriously it’s like two wrong sides of a magnet when they are together. While D&C seem to represent the status quo/ religiosity, R&L are part of the Reformers mentioned last week. Perhaps there’s something to the idea of holding on too tight to the past/the way things were as negative, and progress as positive
I get most excited when the different narrative threads start coming together, and particular when our characters meet and interact! I was shocked Dorothea and Rosamond hadn't yet met!
I really enjoyed this quote about Ladislaw reflecting on his attraction to Dorothea:
"Will, we know, could not bear the thought of any flaw appearing in his crystal: he was at once exasperated and delighted by the calm freedom with which Dorothea looked at him and spoke to him, and there was something so exquisite in thinking of her just as she was, that he could not long for a change which must somehow change her."
This comes after him considering Casaubon's possibly impending death. Does his love for Dorothea come from the somewhat rebellious nature of their interactions, knowing that Casaubon disapproves? Dorothea will of course be a different person when Casaubon does eventually die - will this take away the spark that Ladislaw sees in her?
Hi all! I am amazed by Eliot's use of numerous resources to keep the reader engaged. She used to be very nosy and questioning our judgment, and now she uses this impressive visual tool to focus our attention at the beginning of chapter 40. You can really feel you are seated at the breakfast table with Garth's family. And she does it again later to describe how Mary Garth stands out from the crowd...I could imagine a ray of light directed to her so we can see Mary in detail. And Mr Casaubon's jealousy! I was laughing alone when he admitted to himself that he was not "unmixedly adorable". And he is so mean! He is not jealous only of Will L; he is annoyed because Dorothea is very smart and she's silently judging him all the time.
My favourite quote, from our beloved Will Ladislaw (he is the best): "When one sees a perfect woman, one never thinks of her attributes - one is conscious of her presence".
The description of Mr. Trumbull's delight and self-importance at having his vital signs recorded for science was comical - "...by learning many new words which seemed suited to the dignity of his secretions" was by far my favorite example.
The description of Casaubon's awareness of his illness and its impact on him was thought-provoking, especially the section containing the following line: "When the commonplace 'We must all die' transforms itself suddenly into the 'I must die-and soon'..." Again, George Eliot is presenting this bitter, selfish man and his underlying motives for my empathetic consideration when I just want to completely dislike him - I'm wondering if that was her goal or if she was just so skilled at developing complex characters.
The whole of Chapter 42 felt like a huge shift in Dorothea's marriage - from (still) striving to earn her husband's love and respect; to despising him; to some sort of caring that is not pity, but not romantic love either. The way Eliot describes the small things that are not small at all is incredible - she must have been such a keen observer of human nature. The description of Casaubon refusing to soften into Dorothea as they walked together and its impact on her feelings felt so relatable to me: "...it is in these acts called trivialities that the seeds of joy are ever wasted..." I'm finding that I really enjoy getting the dual perspective of the narrator and the characters - it makes their behaviors and missteps so much more poignant and heart-warming.
Chris, I do think Eliot wanted Casaubon to be more than the nasty, stick-in-the-mud it would be easy to judge him as (as many other characters in the novel do). My sense, even stronger reading Middlemarch a second time, is that Eliot sympathized with Casaubon's scholarly focus and knew what it would feel like to be passed over or to acknowledge that everything you'd been working toward went nowhere. It's a part of scholarship, the sense of failure and existential loss, that's very hard to pull off in a popular novel. Her narrator's empathy for how he becomes so petty and jealous feels very deeply observed — and it is, for me, one of the best parts of the novel.
I also think that it's not just that Eliot herself sympathize with aspects of Casaubon's situation, but that Middlemarch as a whole is a novel deeply concerned with the importance of sympathy and compassion. The narrator and the story constantly push us to see things from different characters' POV, and to see the common humanity even in unpleasant characters. Notice how many people have commented along the way that they "wanted to hate him," but the narrator pulls them back.
I absolutely agree and I love Eliot for it. She seems to be advocating for digging deeper and striving to understand where people come from, even those people we would assume are unworthy of our interest or compassion. How are we supposed to despise Casaubon when we see him grappling with his own mortality? In a perfect world Dorothea would have found a partner who respects her and Casaubon an older wiser wife who can soothe his fragilities. Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world and we all could use to learn some compassion.
I love this point, Katya. I know that my own appreciation of this novel has a lot to with the way Eliot shows things from different perspectives, something that very much appeals to me as a writer and journalism instructor. I suspect it’s why Middlemarch made such an impact on me when I first read it decades ago.
Haley, I also love these chapters in Middlemarch. With the deepening divide between Dorothea (she finally realizes she's angry!) and Casaubon, our narrator so acutely observes their inner turmoil. That "tiny speck" of self that blots out everything else — oh, yes. And as Chris notes, the scene of them walking together, which closes Book IV, is so relatable and wrenching, with Casaubon saying:
"'Come, my dear, come. You are young, and need not to extend your life by watching.'
"When the kind quiet melancholy of that speech fell on Dorothea's ears, she felt something like the thankfulness that might well up in us if we had narrowly escaped hurting a lamed creature. She put her hand into her husband's, and they went along the broad corridor together."
Wow. This is so full of layers, it took my breath away. I also like the following sentence from Chapter 40 in reference to why Mary Garth is so compelling despite her "plainness":
"A human being in this aged nation of ours is a very wonderful whole, the slow creation of long interchanging influences; and charm is a result of two such wholes, the one loving and the one loved."
There I hear the author herself — Mary Ann Evans writing as George Eliot — who was herself plain but quite compelling and fired up with intellect and sympathy for others. What I love about Eliot's work, discursive as it can get when talking about politics of the time or science, is that she does wind those social details into the lives of all these characters in a provincial town. The discussion of medical prejudices, for instance, was not unlike all the anti-science attitudes expressed now. We still get mired down with small thinking, our tiny-speck selves made to seem bigger when amplified on social media. I doubt George Eliot would have been surprised.
The scene between Dorothea and Casaubon also stuck out to me - "wrenching" is a great word here. Her realization that she is angry and subsequent wrestling to overcome that anger make her loving actions from here on out so much more powerful, since she's no longer in it for herself - for the knowledge she can gain and the "good" she can do. But at the same time, it's so sad (wrenching! :)) to see the end of any last hope for a deeper connection between them as spouses, expected as that was.
I so respect her strength of principle, but it doesn't make her decision feel any less tragic.
Speaking of zooming in and out, surely I'm not the only curious cat in the group that expands posted images of annotated pages...and reads them. A gothic morsel: "Very well, Doctor Grave-face,” said Rosy, dimpling, “I will declare in future that I dote on skeletons, and body‑snatchers, and bits of things in phials, and quarrels with everybody, that end in your dying miserably." Wrapped up in dimples and teasing is uncanny and macabre imagery and perhaps the foreshadowing of a terrible quarrel and/or a miserable death? Joke or prophecy?
jajaja, I also expand posted images of annotated pages! Good to know I am not the only curious cat in the group ;-)
I have wanted more of the Garths, and here we are in the warmth of their family table. One of the things I noted from this weeks's chapters was touch. Not since Celia touches Dorothea in the first chapter have I paid attention to characters touching each other. Yet here, Mrs. Garth goes to read over Mr. Garth's shoulder, rests her hand on his shoulder and her chin on his head. Farebrother gives impudent sister Letty Garth a pinch and a kiss on the cheek. In the Lydgate's living room Lydgate and Rosy are very affectionate newlyweds. Even after that long, incredibly sad chapter where Casaubon and Dorothea spend an evening each coping with sorrow and loneliness in their separate rooms, she meets him in the hall and takes his hand! Is it the afterglow of spending time with the loving Garth family that has drawn my attention to instances of touch? It does make these characters all seem more fully human to me.
We been told almost nothing about Rigg-Featherstone. Dropping us suddenly into a confrontation between him and a new character, his stepfather Raffles, is as intriguing an introduction to Rigg as when the narrator stepped in to reveal Lydgate's past history to us. Rigg and Raffles then disappear leaving us wondering the significance of this interaction.
After setting up and then dropping several interesting interactions between characters, Eliot once again hits us with a dense wall of words as the Middlemarch hive gossips. As Lydgate's arrogance and "suspicious" medical ways and Ladislaw's reform writing for the Pioneer and habits at odds with Middlemarch customs are discussed and debated, I kept humming "pick a little, talk a little" from The Music Man as I tried to follow the threads.
All I know for sure is that Lydgate and Ladislaw are both potentially headed for trouble. I remembered highlighting earlier that independent thought and action are only possible in the world of Middlemarch if coupled with independent means, and neither of these men possess that. For better or worse, Lydgate does have Rosamond. Apparently for worse at the moment, Ladislaw's worship of Dorothea is keeping him tied to Middlemarch. Is there even a main character in this novel? If so, a case could be made for one of these two men. Is Eliot going to tie all these threads into some climactic event, or is it her point going to be that the connections between these characters are ongoing and much will remain unresolved?
Maryann, your insight about touch and Haley's about optical references really helped me see perspective in action. I think it's fascinating how we all read/interpret in our own way and while I have been cognitively aware of that, this community reading is making it so plain to me. I missed those sensory cues that you both highlighted in my reading and very much enjoy the varied viewpoints that this project provides.
- I am so happy for the Garth family and, while I had hoped that Caleb would bring Mary in as his helper, I like Fred as the next best alternative.
- I am thoroughly suspicious of what hijinks Mr. C. is going to get up to in “hinder[ing] to the utmost the fulfilment of his [Will’s] designs” upon his passing. Talk about foreshadowing…
- I’m beginning to feel a lot of anxiety for Lydgate, between the ill feelings about the hospital, his financial woes and the warnings by Mr. Farebrother to stay out of money trouble. And of course, Rosamund quickly pregnant, which will add more strain to the budget.
-My favorite quote was from Rosamund: ‘I cannot conceive why money should have been referred to. Politics and medicine are sufficiently disagreeable to quarrel upon. You can both of you go on quarreling with all the world and with each other on those two topics.’ 😂
The shift in perspective was something I also noted a lot this time around. I liked how she gives both the big picture, and the small details, their due importance- they both influence each other and should not be ignored; the consequences of which we see in Casaubon, whose vision is blurred by the insecurities he denies in himself. One of my favorite quotes was this; "Having made this lofty comparison I am less uneasy in calling attention to the existence of low people whose interference, however little we may like it, the cause of the world is very much determined." I also appreciated how she writes how if only Casaubon could share his troubles, their power over him would be reduced.
While I don't have a favorite quote this week, I bring you a favorite scene: Will helping old Miss Noble on her little errands; it's one thing to be fond of children, quite another by my standards to go out of one's way to make an old lady comfortable, and I gotta say Will is skyrocketing in my esteem.
I know the narrator wants me to dig deep to find empathy for everyone and while that is a valiant effort I have to say that I got nothing in the well for Casaubon. He is just so pathetic it's really making me feel a bit insane. The more intimate discussions that have happened beyond the narrator telling us how great Dorothea is moving toward how others perceive her was really helpful context. Yes she is seen as deeply beautiful and principled, and we have been told repeatedly she is viewed as a cut above the rest (from Will, Chettam) but Rosy's take is my favorite: "To Rosamund she was one of those country divinities not mixing with Middlemarch mortality, whose slightest marks of manner or appearance were worthy of her study; moreover, Rosamund was not without satisfaction that Mrs. Casaubon should have an opportunity of studying *her*. What is the use of being exquisite if you are not seen by the best judges?" (pg 406) Dorothea just keeps trying to be a good wife and maintain her respectability and utility and would happily live out her days married to Casaubon but he's too busy being bitter and angry that she might remarry when he dies and love someone else (?). The speck in his eye is like a resentful log that he was chosen by someone who believed he would better her and instead he punched way above his weight class by getting her. Instead of being happy that this somehow worked out, he's whining and annoyed when she shows interest. The definition of a self-defeating thought pattern and honestly so obnoxious. Self-awareness is clearly not coming in his case as it would be one thing to state that he's an old man who saw an opportunity to marry a (just barely) woman and make peace with that but instead he's going to passive aggressively make her feel like garbage for being said woman.
Unrelated but I also love the line: "But it is one thing to like defiance, and another to like its consequences." (pg 434)
I was very interested in the juxtaposition of Dorothea & C with Rosy & Lydgate this section. R&L can be honest with each other & playful, while D&C take themselves so seriously it’s like two wrong sides of a magnet when they are together. While D&C seem to represent the status quo/ religiosity, R&L are part of the Reformers mentioned last week. Perhaps there’s something to the idea of holding on too tight to the past/the way things were as negative, and progress as positive
Oh no I'm a chapter behind! I thought we were only reading through chapter 47 last week. :(
I get most excited when the different narrative threads start coming together, and particular when our characters meet and interact! I was shocked Dorothea and Rosamond hadn't yet met!
I really enjoyed this quote about Ladislaw reflecting on his attraction to Dorothea:
"Will, we know, could not bear the thought of any flaw appearing in his crystal: he was at once exasperated and delighted by the calm freedom with which Dorothea looked at him and spoke to him, and there was something so exquisite in thinking of her just as she was, that he could not long for a change which must somehow change her."
This comes after him considering Casaubon's possibly impending death. Does his love for Dorothea come from the somewhat rebellious nature of their interactions, knowing that Casaubon disapproves? Dorothea will of course be a different person when Casaubon does eventually die - will this take away the spark that Ladislaw sees in her?
I was so excited for Rosamund and Dodo to finally meet, but the meeting lasted only a minute and the scene was about Will after all 🥲
Hi all! I am amazed by Eliot's use of numerous resources to keep the reader engaged. She used to be very nosy and questioning our judgment, and now she uses this impressive visual tool to focus our attention at the beginning of chapter 40. You can really feel you are seated at the breakfast table with Garth's family. And she does it again later to describe how Mary Garth stands out from the crowd...I could imagine a ray of light directed to her so we can see Mary in detail. And Mr Casaubon's jealousy! I was laughing alone when he admitted to himself that he was not "unmixedly adorable". And he is so mean! He is not jealous only of Will L; he is annoyed because Dorothea is very smart and she's silently judging him all the time.
My favourite quote, from our beloved Will Ladislaw (he is the best): "When one sees a perfect woman, one never thinks of her attributes - one is conscious of her presence".