Book V, “The Dead Hand”
97 pages, 12 chapters
Chapter 43
Dorothea decides to visit Lydgate to ask information about her husband and encounters Rosamond with Ladislaw, practicing music. He regrets the social gulf between them, and she wonders if she should have encountered him without her husband’s consent. Lydgate returns home and tells his wife that Dorothea may contribute to the fever hospital.
Chapter 44
Lydgate tells Dorothea of his hospital plans, explaining that he and Bulstrode are resented by the other doctors, and she promises to contribute two hundred pounds yearly. Rosamond discusses Dorothea’s visit with her husband, and speaks of his ambition to make worthy discoveries. Casaubon knows she had visited Lydgate to ask about his health (she had been afraid to ask him what they had discussed), but he agrees to her donation, noting only that it might be disproportionately large in relation to other worthy causes (likely true).
Chapter 45
Lydgate doesn’t charge for dispensing medicines, a practice which offends other doctors and potential patients alike. Previously these had charged only for dispensing drugs, encouraging overprescription. He is accused of opposing all medicines and of wishing to conduct experiments on human bodies (perhaps a reference to the practice of autopsy). He gains the respect of some patients through cures, and with Bulstrode’s money establishes a fever hospital, to be managed by a board of five contributor-trustees headed by Bulstrode. Interestingly Garth had earlier done some work for the hospital but had retired from working on it before it was finished.
Farebrother advises Lydgate to steer clear of Bulstrode personally and to refrain from debt. Rosamond expresses her disapproval of the medical profession.
Chapter 46
Ladislaw, driven by circumstances, takes to political journalism and advises Brooke to support the Reform Bill (of 1832) in the Pioneer. Lydgate and Will debate Brooke’s candidacy, and Will defends the Reform Bill and Brooke; Lydgate feels Brooke is too spineless and dislikes the Reform Bill on the grounds that change isn't needed. Lydgate also worries about a bill for furniture which he is unable to pay.
Chapter 47
Will maintains an ideal feeling toward Dorothea, and visits Lowick Church to see her, but she fails to greet him in the usually friendly fashion and seems distressed. He feels deflated and sad.
Chapter 48
Dorothea is grieved that her husband wasn't willing to speak to Ladislaw. Casaubon asks Dorothea to mark passages for his notes for the projected book; she notes the rapidity of his mind once aroused (cmp. the excitement of Featherstone before his death). He asks her to agree to do something he desires, but will not tell her what this is until after she promises. She imagines that this may involve completing his work after his death, a task which repels her. She asks for delay, and when she goes into the garden, presumably to agree, she finds him dead.
Chapter 49
Casaubon's will disinherits Dorothea should she marry Ladislaw, and Sir James vainly urges Mr. Brooke to work toward his departure from the area, since he assumes that all will suspect Dorothea of having given some grounds for suspicion. Brooke declines, however, since Ladislaw has become too genuinely useful for him to agree.
Chapter 50
Dorothea learns of the codicil from Celia, whom she is visiting after the birth of Celia's child. Celia also notes that she had never liked Mr. Casaubon, surely a tactless remark to make to a grieving widow, but Dorothea expresses no resentment. She is shocked at the thought that others have thought that she might marry Will, and returns disillusioned to Lowick to look through Casaubon's papers.
Lydgate is called in regarding the Chettam baby, and since her statements after Casaubon's death seem to indicate that her mind has been troubled by restraint, he tactfully tells Dorothea's relatives that she should be permitted to do as she pleases. To help his friend, Lydgate suggests Farebrother might be a good incumbent rather than Tyke. Dorothea is receptive to this, noting that to her religion should seek a wider good rather than promote specific doctrines such as "imputed righteousness" or the nature of a future Apocalypse, topics favored by Mr. Tyke. (We see that she is basically "Broad Church" in her sympathies, as opposed to orthodoxly Evangelical as is Mr. Tyke, sympathies which would have accorded with Eliot's Positivism.) He also notes that Ladislaw is much liked by Farebrother's aunt and many others in the town.
Chapter 51
Mr. Brooke becomes an ineffective and confused candidate for parliament, while Will tries to avoid knowledge of the political tactics used by his faction to obtain votes. As a wavering parliamentary candidate Mr. Brooke delivers a meandering speech in which he fails to mention the issue at hand, the Reform Bill, and is mocked by his auditors, who mount an effigy of him and pelt him with eggs. He gives up his candidacy and the Pioneer, and tells Will that he is no longer needed. Will hasn't decided what to do next, since he does not wish to leave the area without seeing Dorothea.
Chapter 52
Mr. Farebrother is delighted to receive the Lowick living, and promises Dorothea he will strive to fulfill his duties honorably. His family are pleased, and his mother suggests that he should marry Mary Garth. By coincidence, perhaps, Fred--newly granted a bachelor's degree by one of the ancient universities--enters with the request that Farebrother should ask Mary his opinion about Fred's becoming a clergyman, since she has previously expressed distaste for this possibility and he doesn't want to do anything which would preclude the possibility of their eventual marriage. This request is presumably justified by the fact that Mary has forbidden him to speak directly to her of marriage and by the fact that both parties respect Farebrother--even so, it creates an awkward scene. Fred himself has no desire to become a clergyman, though he doesn't question the doctrines of Anglicanism; he would rather farm.
Farebrother carries out the request, but first tells her that he has learned that Featherstone's earlier will would not have been valid had the later one been burnt, so she has not in fact harmed Fred's prospects (seems unlikely--if only one will was extant they would have had to use it). When Mary answers that she would not wish to marry Fred were he a clergyman, noting at some length that to her an insincere clergyman was ridiculous, Farebrother persists and asks if her attachment is sufficiently fixed so that she would not wish to marry another. She answers in the affirmative, thus dashing Mr. Farebrother's own quiet hopes. However the reader is expected to respect him for his tact and refusal to criticize Fred or his prospects. One notes that her motives as relayed by the narrator are that she doesn't wish Fred to be disappointed and feels gratitude to him for loving her best, not that she loves him for his own sake.
Chapter 53
Joshua Rigg sells Stone Court with the intention of setting up a money-changing business (we suspect something worse, knowing his antecedents). Mr. Bulstrode buys Stone Court in the hopes of retiring there, but when discussing some improvements with Caleb Garth, he is dismayed at the approach of Raffles, who is unaware that the property has passed to a new owner. The latter greets him familiarly, and mentions several matters from Bulstrode's past, including the existence of a former wife, an illicit business, a lost daughter, a cover-up relating to property, and someone named Sarah. Bulstrode offers Raffles liquor and attempts to persuade him to leave, giving him 200 pounds as a bribe, and spends a restless night worrying about possible future complications. Caleb Garth has heard enough to leave in discomfort, and the reader is interested when Raffles reaches back with difficulty into his memory of Sarah's husband and extracts the name "Ladislaw."
Questions on Book V:
Whose is the “dead hand”? What new developments occupy Book V? What problems confront Lydgate? Dorothea? Ladislaw? Bulstrode?
Chapter 43
What prompts Dorothea’s visit to Lydgate's home, and what unanticipated encounter results? (wishes to leave a message; seems rather forced, since she wishes to ask him about her husband's prognosis, and presumably if he isn't home she could seek him elsewhere or wait until another time, but instead she sends a carriage--shows class system, as well as her urgent concern for her husband)
What does Ladislaw feel has changed his position with regard to Dorothea?
How does Dorothea respond to this encounter? What may be Eliot’s intention in including this detail? (Dorothea enters Middlemarch by herself, as she seldom does; is enabled to meet Rosamond, sees possible complications in her attachment to Will)
What is the effect of the narrator's references to her as "poor Dorothea"?
Chapter 44
How does Dorothea respond to Lydgate’s plan for a new hospital? What would have been the value of two hundred pounds yearly relative to her income?
What is shown by Rosamond’s reaction to Dorothea’s visit? On what grounds does Casaubon agree to his wife’s donation?
Chapter 45
Why does Lydgate object to the practice of physicians charging for the dispensing of medicines? Why are the other doctors and even patients offended at his reforms?
What is the significance of the allusion to the French doctor Francois-Vincent Raspail?
On what grounds does he gain respect in his practice? On what terms is he able to establish a fever hospital? What potential problems or conflicts does this arrangement suggest?
What advice does Farebrother give Lydgate? Will the latter heed it?
What do we learn about Rosamond’s view of the medical profession? How is her view contrasted with that of Lydgate? Dorothea? What is likely the narrator’s opinion of her reactions?
Chapter 46
What motives prompt Will Ladislaw to accept employment as a political journalist? What is revealed about his politics in this chapter? How would readers have been expected to respond to his support for the 1832 Reform Bill?
What are the views of Lydgate and Will about Mr. Brooke’s candidacy?
What personal problem nags at Lydgate?
Chapter 47
How does Will contrive to see Dorothea? Why is she distressed on encountering him?
Chapter 48
What change occurs in Casaubon’s attitude toward his work, and what do you think has caused it? What does he seem to be about to ask his wife to do, and why does he not simply make his request openly? Why does she delay? (feels reluctance as well as anger)
On what grounds does she relent? (feels pity for him) Why do you think that Eliot included this detail? (heroine is commended for subordinating her own preferences, but plot doesn't require that she fulfill her husband's desires) What does Dorothea find when she enters the garden, presumably to assent to his wishes?
Is there any symbolism to the circumstances of Casaubon’s death? Is this scene well presented?
Chapter 49
What do we learn are the conditions of Mr. Casaubon’s will? Would such a provision have been unusual? How is it regarded by those in the Brooke circle?
Why does Sir James urge Mr. Brooke to cease his employment of Will? (Do you think his fears are justified? [few could have known of the conditions of the will, nor cared) What causes Mr. Brooke to resist these urgings?
In Eliot's fiction, do testators tend to write wise wills? (usually misguided) What may this indicate about her views on inheritance?
Chapter 50
From whom does Dorothea learn of the circumstances of her husband’s will, and under what conditions? How do others react to the suggestion that Will might have a romantic interest in her, or she in him? What is her response?
What is her reaction to the prospect of completing her husband’s unfinished book? How is the reader's view of Dorothea's obligations affected by a knowledge of the codicil? How does she judge his motivations?
What kindly act does Lydgate perform in order to help Farebrother? What does this suggest about his attitude toward his earlier vote for Tyke as hospital chaplain?
On what grounds does Dorothea make her decision about who should be granted the living at Lowick? What do we learn about her views of religion? In the context of Anglican practices of the time, how might Dorothea's views be described?
Why does Lydgate confide in Dorothea of the betting habits of his friend? Why does Dorothea appoint him to the position anyway?
Chapter 51
What incident prompts the termination of Mr. Brooke’s parliamentary candidacy? What seems to be the narrator’s attitude toward this turn of events? What are the indirect results for Will and for Dorothea?
Chapter 52
What changes are made in Mr. Farebrother's situation and expectations by the new appointment? What are his family's wishes on his behalf? Is this a source of embarrassment to him?
What do you make of the fact that Fred asks Mr. Farebrother to inquire of Mary Garth her opinion about his choice of future occupation? Was an intermediary necessary?
Does Mr. Farebrother pass beyond what he has been requested to do in asking questions?
What possibilities are closed out/left open by Mr. Farebrother's conversation with Mary? To what extent does she convey her interest in Fred? What conditions does she set? On what grounds does she justify her preference?
Are the results unmixedly happy for Mr. Farebrother, Mary, and Fred? (no, Mr. Farebrother is disappointed, Mary realizes she may have hurt his feelings)
Chapter 53
With what motives and expectations has Mr. Bulstrode purchased the Stone Court lands? What ominous circumstance forces him to feel anxiety about the future?
What do we make of Raffles's remarks about Bulstrode's past? What seems to have been hidden? What name does Raffles recall with difficulty, and what might this memory imply in view of the remarks about a grandmother, Sarah and other matters?
With what ominous metaphor does the book end? ("black spot might reappear and become inseparable even from the vision of his hearth," 368)
Is Dorothea's situation altered by the fact that she and Casaubon have not had children?
As the book ends, which thematic and plot elements are left in suspense? Based on the novel’s development thus far, what do you expect to be some likely outcomes? (we expect some revelation relating to Ladislaw and Bulstrode's past)
How are money and morality intertwined, in Eliot’s view?
VI, “The Widow and the Wife"
54. Dorothea wishes to return to Lowick, where she writes a memo to her dead husband refusing to complete his project ("I could not submit my soul to yours."). She wishes to see Will, who visits her to say goodby, and states his intention to study law. Despite emotion on both sides, neither explains his/her situation, and when Sir James Chettam enters, Ladislaw bids her farewell.
55. As Will recedes into the past, he can become a cherished memory, 378; Dorothea sobs over his picture. At Freshitt second marriages are discussed, with Mrs. Cadwallader contributing remarks in support of various remarriages. Dorothea relieves an awkward social situation by assuring her sister and brother-in-law that she will not remarry. Instead, she wishes to found an ideal labor colony, and intends to consult Garth about its execution. [In fact her intentions won't be realized; she will remarry, and she won't found a labor colony.]
Sir James shows more tact than does Celia, but he also doesn't like the thought of a woman's second marriage. Ironically this causes him to sympathize with Dorothea's desire for solitude.
56. Fred intervenes to help as a group of laborers attack surveyors and Caleb Garth, who are preparing for the laying of a railroad. Caleb soothes the workers skillfully, and Fred stays to help. Later he arranges to work for Garth at eighty pounds yearly. Mrs. Garth regrets Mary's presumed loss of Farebrother as a spouse, and Fred's father is disappointed and his mother grieved at the prospect of such a humble connection. The contrast is underscored between Fred's choice of realism and Rosamond's unrealistic, unfounded expectations and Lydgate's mounting debt. (Compare Tom Tulliver's education in The Mill and the Floss, which like Fred's is a mistake and too "gentlemanly" to prepare him for an occupation.)
An interesting feature of this chapter is the use of dialect, 386-87.
57. Mrs. Garth hints to Fred of Farebrother's attachment, and shortly afterwards he anxiously suggests the matter of a possible union to Mary. Mary returns home from the Farebrothers to leave the site of temptation, choosing to preserve her old ties, 400, a decision of which the narrator approves. Perhaps too, the reader reflects, Eliot doesn't approve of marriages between older men and younger women. Mary jokes at Fred's expense, 400; her merriment seems to conceal hostility, 398.
58. Rosamond rides with Col. Lydgate and miscarries from fright (horse symbolic). Lydgate tactfully asks her to help him cope with his debts but she remains coldly neutral and self-pitying. Lydgate's resolve sinks under despair, but the memory of Dorothea prevents him from generalizing about womankind, 409. He forbids Rosamond to ask her father for money, and faces her refusal to understand that they must live on his earnings. She wishes to leave home during the inventory of their goods, 412, but is persuaded to stay. Her utter absence of solidarity foretells a bleak future.
Rosamond has quickly "gotten over" the loss of her child, a clear sign of fickleness.
59. Rosamond tells Will of the codicil to Casaubon's will, about which she has learned from Fred. Behind Lydgate's back she has begged both her father and the Quellingham Lydgates for money. Rosamond is afflicted with a dissatisfaction "which in women's minds is continually turning into a trivial jealousy," 415, and is displeased by Ladislaw's indifference to her and her father's refusal to give them money.
60. At an auction, Raffles identifies Will as the son of Sarah Dunkirk (whose mother had been a Ladislaw), and tells him that his mother's parents had been thieves, and that his mother had run away from them in horror and disgust, 583. Will sees this as a blot on his position with respect to Dorothea.
61. The narrator offers retrospection on Bulstrode's marriage; Raffles' visit has become a source of concern, and Bulstrode is anxious not to lose his wife's good opinion. Years before Bulstrode had married Will's grandmother, and had paid Raffles to keep silence when daughter Sarah and grandson Will were found. Bulstrode offfers Will five hundred pounds annually plus an inheritance, which the latter angrily rejects, charging Bulstrode with dishonorable business dealings (as a pawnbroker who received goods without questioning their source), 43. This of course means that Will has lost the wealth which would have enabled him to court Dorothea. However he has gained the stature of someone who at least had access to wealth, but chose honor and truth instead (as had his mother).
Bulstrode's past is still with him, 425. He had wished to be a dissenting minister, but turned to business for practical reasons, and had justified his greed on the grounds that he would use wealth to accomplish God's will.
62. Others remind Dorothea that Ladislaw spends his time with Rosamond. Will explains to Dorothea that he knows of the codicil and must leave her environs. He makes a declaration of love as he leaves--"as if I were not in danger of forgetting everything else"--but it is too late for her to respond. However she feels free to think of him, 438, and turns to sublimation and imagination as modes of expressing love. When she drives by him in her carriage without stopping, 439, tears are on her face, and she feels they have forever parted. He leaves town the next day. The separation between them is chiefly a matter of pride and incomplete explanations, 438. She worries that his words of attachment may apply to Rosamond.
Questions on Book VI:
10 chapters
Who is the widow, and who the wife? What purpose is achieved in emphasizing this contrast?
Chapter 54:
On her return to Lowick after her husband’s death, how does Dorothea indicate her intentions concerning her dead husband’s legacy? How do you interpret her use of writing to communicate with him? What interpretive interjection is made by the narrator? (one might smile at her action--her words are in fact quite resentful)
What issues are not/cannot be raised in her interview with Will? Does this seem plausible to you? (she knows of codicil but he doesn't yet know; she could have mentioned her unhappiness at its existence, which would have informed him and perhaps led to more mutual understanding)
Chapter 55:
What plans does Dorothea make for her life after her husband’s death?
Why does her assurance that she won’t remarry relieve Cecilia and Sir James? (if she has no children their son would inherit Brooke's estate) Will she keep her promise?
Chapter 56:
How are the laborers who attack the surveyors building a railroad presented? What form of language do they speak? Was it common for early and mid-nineteenth-century novels to reproduce dialect speech?
Where do you think Eliot’s sympathies lie? What role does Fred serve in this incident?
What are Caleb Garth’s motives for employing Fred? What salary will he be given, and how do his parents and Mrs. Garth react to the new arrangement?
Does the narrator approve, and if so, how do you know?
Chapter 57:
What role does Mrs. Garth take in her daughter’s potential courtship by Fred and Mr. Farebrother?
How does Fred react to the suggestion that Farebrother might be interested in Mary? What do you make of the scene in which she chides him for jealousy? What motivates her severity? (a bit of ambivalence; desire to be fair to Farebrother as well as Fred)
What prompts Mary to leave the Farebrother household? What attitude is the reader expected to have toward her choice, and how can you tell? (she is right in avoiding complications)
Chapter 58:
What Victorian attitudes toward horseback riding and pregnancy are revealed in the account of Rosamond’s miscarriage? What symbolism may be associated with the termination of her pregnancy? Does the loss greatly grieve her?
What financial and social difficulties do the Lydgates face? What emotional tensions exacerbate their problems? What does Lydgate ask Rosamond to do, and does she comply? (asks her to remain in house while their furniture is being assessed; asks her not to solicit money from others--she reluctantly remains at home for the assessment, but she requests money from her father and his relative)
On what grounds does Lydgate feel grief and fear?
Chapter 59:
How does Will Ladislaw learn of the codicil to Casaubon’s will? (from Rosamond)
What means has Rosamond used to try to gain money for her husband and herself, and with what result?
How does she respond to rejection? How are we expected to judge these behaviors?
Chapter 60:
What new information about his parentage and ancestry does Will learn, and under what circumstances? (his grandparents had kept a shop for receiving stolen goods) How does he react to the news?
Chapter 61:
On what grounds does Mr. Bulstrode feel anxiety about Raffles’s presence in the locality? What do we learn about Bulstrode’s own past? Unknown to Will, what wrong has he committed against his mother Sarah Dunkirk and himself?
What offer does Bulstrode make to Ladislaw, and what is his response? What effect does this seemingly have on his ability to court Dorothea? Do you think we are expected to approve his decision?
What purpose is served by the introduction of this incident into the plot?
Chapter 62:
What do we learn about Mr. Bulstrode's inner life? What original purpose has he abandoned, and how has he justified his preoccupation with acquiring money?
Does the portrayal of Bulstrode’s motives constitute a critique of religious hypocrisy/any particular variety of Victorian religion?
What reasons are given for Will’s friendship with Rosamond? (they share a love of music) What incident prompts him to declare to Dorothea that he must leave the area, and what confession results?
What is Dorothea's response? What further events cause misunderstanding? Are aspects of their failed communication the result of Victorian social conventions?
Chapter 62 ends volume III of the novel; how has book VI, and especially its ending, prepared the reader for the unraveling in volume IV? What does the reader expect may happen?
What role is played by the narrative voice in this chapter?
How are things shifting? (The Will-Dorothea plot is drawing toward closure as more information is revealed.)
What seem to be the author's/narrator's chief concerns in this book?
--dissection of marital alienation
--unravelling of plot; serious themes of novel are perhaps somewhat mortaged to contrivance.
VII, "The Two Temptations"
9 chapters, 62 pages
What are these two temptations? (Lydgate slowly backed to the wall by debt; Dorothea yearns for Ladislaw (suggestive parts of this second subplot were removed from the original draft). The two plots converge as Dorothea’s help is necessary to save Lydgate. Also Fred is tempted by debt and Bulstrode tempted to murder.
How are these temptations a culmination of what has occurred thus far in the novel?
How have things changed for Lydgate since his entrance into Middlemarch?
What makes a bad marriage? Do we see any good marriages in this novel? (Garths, within limits)
To what degree do you believe the narrator holds Lydgate responsible for Raffles’s death?
What contrasts in character and choice help organize the book?
What changes have occurred in the narrator throughout the book? Do our sympathies progressively shift?
What is the relationship of the subplots, here and throughout the final section of the book? Are these relationships artificial, or do they make allegorical or social sense?
63. Lydgate’s financial and marital difficulties increase, as Rosamond feels no obligation to help with their debts; Lydgate rejects Farebrother’s oblique and tactful offer of financial help.
64. Rosamond intervenes to prevent the rental of their house and secretly solicits money from Lydgate’s relatives; she and Lydgate quarrel, and Lydgate notes that they must adapt to living on an income of less than 400 pounds a year (this is what Farebrother had been paid for his Middlemarch living; a considerable upper-middle class income at the time). Lydgate is forced to adapt to a life lacking common purposes with his wife.
65. Lydgate receives an angry letter from Sir Godwin. He tries to reconcile with his wife, but she is impervious and self-righteous. Lydgate plays billiards for money as Fred and Farebrother have done before him. (Gambling is symbolic—and highly disapproved of--in Eliot’s works.)
66. Fred is startled to see Lydgate gamble for gain, and tries to distract him. In a parallel gesture of help, Farebrother warns Fred against gambling and thereby renounces his hope of winning Mary; Farebrother’s speech is perceived by Fred as noble, and the narrator emphasizes Mary’s good effect on both men.
67. Bulstrode tells Lydgate he can no longer manage the hospital independently; Dorothea may provide funds; Bulstrode rejects Lydgate’s appeal for money and advises him to declare bankruptcy! Eliot is skillful at showing the emotional dramas related to money.
68. Bulstrode tries to get rid of Raffles, who has returned to town, and agrees to lease Stone Court to Fred Vincy if Caleb will manage it. Unfortunately, when Raffles’s behavior causes Caleb to refuse his help, the deal is postponed, and thus his caution in not having mentioned the matter to Fred is validated.
69. Caleb tells Bulstrode that Raffles has returned to Stone Court. Garth refuses the lease as a result of Raffles’s revelations about Bulstrode's past; Raffles is taken ill at Stone Court, and Lydgate attends. Dover’s agent comes to take Lydgate’s household goods for debt. Rosamond desires to leave for her family’s home during these difficulties. Why does Caleb feel the need to separate his affairs from Bulstrode's (cmp. Mary’s attitude toward Featherstone)? The narrator describes Bulstrode’s inner conflict and fear of exposure, 489.
70. Bulstrode unexpectedly gives Lydgate a thousand pounds; shortly afterwards Raffles dies after Bulstrode has watched the night and refrained from following Lydgate’s best medical advice. The narrator describes this turn of events with deep and constant irony, 490. Bulstrode is the passive accomplice of death in withholding useful information (cmp. Guendolyn in Daniel Deronda; she tries to save her husband’s life, but only after an instant of pause).
71. As a result of Bulstrode's past, as revealed by Mr. Hawley, the scandal spreads rapidly. Bulstrode is publicly denounced and rejected by his council of governors, as the narrator dissects the psychology of a secretive and cowardly man, 503. Lydgate is implicated by having taken the draft of money and by his attendance on the now-dead man. When she hears that others mistrust him, without questioning Dorothea assumes his innocence and desires to see if she can clear him.
Some elements of the Bulstrode and inheritance subplot resemble those of Susan Ferrier's The Inheritance, a novel Eliot would surely have known.
Questions for Book VII, “The Two Temptations”
To what two temptations does the title refer? May there be others as well?
Which of these temptations are a culmination of what has occurred thus far in the novel?
How do the separate subplots begin to converge during this book? Are the relationships between the various subplots meaningful in an allegorical or social sense?
63. What are some increased difficulties in Lydgate’s marital and financial situation? Why does he reject an offer of help from Mr. Farebrother? Are we expected to approve?
64. In what ways does Rosamond intervene to limit their chances of living more frugally? How does she attempt to gain money? Are these attempts honorable by Victorian standards?
65. What results from Rosamond’s letter to Sir Godwin? Why are the Lydgates unable to reconcile?
To what risky activity is Lydgate drawn--and who in the novel had pursued such strategies before? How are we supposed to view his actions?
66. What act does Farebrother perform toward Fred, and at what cost to himself? How does Fred, and the narrator, judge his warning? In turn, how does Fred attempt to help Lydgate?
67. What changes occur in the financing of the fever hospital? What has motivated Bulstrode to withdraw his support?
What response does he give to Lydgate’s appeal for a loan? Are we expected to think this is severe?
68. What means does Bulstrode use for trying to rid himself and the town of Raffles's presence? What prompts his change of plans for Stone Court, and what conditions does he set?
69. What confession does Raffles make on his return to Stone Court, and why does this prompt Caleb’s refusal to work for Bulstrode? How is the reader expected to evaluate his action? What will be the apparent consequences for Fred?
What conjunction of circumstances befalls Lydgate at the time that Raffles falls sick? Where is Rosamond during these difficulties?
What inner conflict does Bulstrode experience over Raffles’s possible revelations?
70. What unexpected event enables Lydgate to pay his debts? What are Bulstrode’s calculations as he watches at the bedside?
On what grounds is Lydgate uneasy about the circumstances surrounding Raffles’s death? Does he do all that he should have in this situation?
For what purpose does Farebrother visit Lydgate? Why does Lydgate feel uncomfortable in admitting the source of his money?
What future plans does Lydgate propose, and what will be his wife’s role in these changes?
71. Does his role in the death of Raffles succeed in preventing Bulstrode’s past from being known? Who in the end is the agent of revealing his past?
What social consequences fall from these revelations? What effect do these have on Bulstrode’s inner consciousness?
What suspicions fall on Lydgate? Who tries to help him, and on what grounds? (Dorothea, who is certain of his innocence)
As this book ends, what plot and thematic elements remain to be resolved in the final volume?
Have we seen any good marriages thus far in this novel? What seems, in the author’s view, most likely to precipitate a bad marriage?
What contrasts in character and choice help organize book VII? What changes have occurred for Lydgate during this book? For Dorothea?
Have our sympathies or attitudes shifted in any way during the course of the book?
Book VIII, “Sunset and Sunrise”
16 chapters, 72 pages; the chapters are much shorter, and read like a series of concluding paragraphs.
Upon whom does the sun set, and on whom does it rise?
Are there parallels between the incidents of this last book and the resolution of The Mill on the Floss?
--return to family harmony; yet Dorothea remains more independent than Maggie. Although like Maggie, Dorothea sacrifices her self-interest, yet permitted to live!
What are some of the more striking contrasts?
--Dorothea is a more active heroine, though more seems to happen to Maggie: Dorothea is at least more able to control her motions and act in accord with her inner goals.
--Maggie dies, Dorothea marries a husband whose life will be distinctive, and with whom she has children.
--In Middlemarch the subplots have their independent power.
--Both good and evil prosper at the end of Middlemarch. The plot of The Mill on the Floss seems more determined, more restricted.
--Issues of sexuality less crucial to Middlemarch; Dorothea is less severely tempted by her passions.
--In Middlemarch truth is multiple; and accordingly there are multiple plot endings, not just one.
72. When she hears of Lydgate's predicament, Dorothea desires to determine his innocence and help extricate him from calumny. Her friends and relations disagree, especially Sir James and Celia, the latter with cutting deference to her husband: "And of course men know best about everything, except what women know best," 508.
73. Lydgate is wretched at the dimming of his intellectual prospects. He is forced to ask himself, too, whether under other circumstances he would have pressed a further inquiry into the cause of an unanticipated death. Still he refuses to cast public obloquy on Bulstrode, and delays confiding to Rosamond the events which will overwhelm them both.
74. Other women of Middlemarch discuss the fortunes of Harriet and Rosamond; Harriet Bulstrode visits her friends to gain news of whatever events may have affected her husband, but is too fearful to await an explanation, which instead she receives from her brother Mr. Vincy, who offers to stand by her. In the moment of shame her loyaltyto her husband is decided: "with one leap of her heart she was at his side in mournful but unreproaching fellowship with shame and isolation," 517. The narrator gives a trenchant assessment of her understanding of his duplicity, 517.
Bulstrode is anxious lest "he should never see his wife's face with affection in it again," but he does, and they weep together cleansing tears, 518. Yet they cannot discuss the details of his actions. The continuing contrast with Rosamond is underscored.
75. Rosamond refuses to acknowledge Lydgate's actual position, and vainly imagines Ladislaw might have been a better companion, though the narrator tells us it is marriage itself which discontents her. Rosamond is referred to as "the poor thing," and the narrator softens our judgement, but with condescension. Mr. Vincy tells his daughter of the accusations against Lydgate; when she insists they move to London, Lydgate is too bitter to defend his actions to her.
In Ladislaw's letter to Lydgate he mentions that he will be returning to Middlemarch in an attempt to further some plans regarding the forming of colonies; we see that like Dorothea he is interested in plans for creating better living conditions for others.
76. When Lydgate visits Dorothea, he is heartened to learn that she believes he cannot have done anything dishonorable, and gives himself "up, for the first time in his life, to the exquisite sense of leaning entirely on a generous sympathy, without any check of proud reserve," 526, that is, he tells her his situation. Dorothea gives up her plan to found a model industrial village! 527 Sir James and Brooke have counselled against it. The narrator describes Dorothea with such words as "irresistible" and "adorable," 528. She offers to speak to Rosamond to explain the situation to her, as well as to Farebrother. Lydgate thinks she has a "heart large enough for the Virgin Mary"! 530 and she remits a thousand pounds to cover Bulstrode's loan.
77. Dorothea visits Rosamond, but her serene confidence in her mutual affection for Will is tested by the sight of Will holding Rosamond's hands and speaking fervently to her. Dorothea speaks very briefly to leave a letter and departs, feeling the renewed energy of scorn.
Celia is irritated at her absent-mindedness, cattily reproving the spectres of potential "schemes."
78. Stung by his association with Rosamond, Will reproaches Rosamond bitterly, proclaiming his idealizing love for Dorothea. Rosamond is rendered prostrate with disappointment, and is more appreciative of her husband's offices of comfort.
79. Ladislaw visits Lydgate, who tells him his bitter news; Ladislaw is too tactful to mention that by contrast he had rejected Bulstrode's money. But it is a contrast which will render him sufficiently morally unsullied to marry the protagonist. Will dreads the thought that if the Lydgates move to London, he will feel compelled to continue the association.
80. When Dorothea visits the Farebrother household, she is overcome by emotion on hearing affectionate praise of Ladislaw, and hurries home to grieve, admitting, "Oh, I did love him!" 542, weeps and lies on the bare floor, and feels "jealous offended pride," her first clearly self-regarding emotion, 543. She decides to accept her grief and turn to solacing the problems of others, so that "vivid sympathetic experience returned to her now as a power," 544. She symbolically sheds her mourning dress, and resolves to visit Rosamond.
81. Dorothea speaks to Rosamond on Lydgate's behalf, another third party intervention in private life, and Rosamond weeps, feels shock to her world, 549. Dorothea starts to speak of an extra-marital affection, which evokes from Rosamond an explanation that Ladislaw indeed loves Dorothea--a strange courtship by proxy! 500. The conversation between the women emphasizes the novel's motif of the power of compassionate sympathy, 549-550; Rosamond is carried on by an emotion stronger than her own, 550, recognizes Dorothea's goodness, 552, and they embrace. After her departure, Rosamond praises her, and she and Lydgate are more reconciled.
Does it seem in character that Rosamond should have openly solicited Ladislaw's advances? Does it seem natural that she would accept marital advice from a distant acquaintance? That she would have altered her view of things after this encounter?
82. Ladislaw returns to pay a visit to both Lydgates, and after hearing from Rosamond that the latter has told Dorothea of his real intentions, he still remains anxious lest Dorothea feel their association has been tainted.
83. Will visits Dorothea and they assure each other of trust and approval, holding hands during a storm while the lightning flashes outside. Finally he refers to money, and after a few platitudes she at last mentions that she can support them on her inheritance of seven hundred pounds annually, and she weeps.
84. Dorothea's family disapproves of her wedding, not surprisingly; Mr. Brooke even offers to Sir James that he can cut off the entail, an offer which fortunately is refused, and Celia reproves her, "you always were wrong," 566. Dorothea says regretfully that she has not carried out her plans--we hope her husband will be more helpful and supportive. Dorothea refuses to recount the narrative of their love, "pinching her sister's chin!" 567. Controlled malice!
85. Before the Bulstrodes leave Middlemarch, Bulstrode asks his wife if she wishes any reparation, and they agree she will invite Garth to manage Stone Court, with Fred as subagent. Of course our hearts rise at the thought that Fred will inherit the land from his aunt (though the Bulstrodes have daughters--not much mentioned).
86. Mary and Fred become engaged, after Caleb inquires of his daughter's preferences, and tells her of Harriet Bulstrode's offer. She teases Fred, feigning bad news, then agrees to marriage--with her usual references to her father and condescension. Still, her pride and independence are what she has. The new arrangements have the merit that her family, through her father, have rendered them possible.
87. finale: qualified acceptance of Dorothea's choice by her family.
The three unions have offspring: Rosamond, four daughters;
Fred and Mary, three sons, each spouse writes a book;
Dorothea and Will, one son, one other child.
Lydgate became a specialist in gout and died at 50. He compares his wife to a basil plant, 575, feasting on his brains, a horrible image, and continued to praise Dorothea throughout his life. After his death, Rosamond remarried a wealthy elderly physician.
Dorothea lives a life of sympathetic emotion rather than decision, 576; others feel she should have had a more independent life, but the narrator is untroubled, 576. No alternatives are permitted, and perhaps attempts would have been too unconventional or complex to portray for a novel of the period. Will, however, is returned to Parliament (where presumably he adopts reformist causes).
Final peroration, 577: What is its tone? In your view, does the narrator herself betray her own protagonist? Can the passage be read as an indirect cry against the anonymity of the lot of women? Of Victorian women in particular?
Many have complained against Ladislaw, who is seen as being too unformed a character to constitute a fit mate for Dorothea. In superficial characteristics Ladislaw was in part modeled on Eliot's own partner, George Henry Lewes. The problem could instead be that the narrator refuses to envision any aspect of Dorothea's concrete future as a wife. She could have been a vigorous participant in the movement to improve primary school education, for example, or regional training schools. And of course she could have devoted her life to women's suffrage, to campaigns for women's higher education and against the Contagious Diseases Act, or she could have followed Octavia Hill in concerning herself with housing for the poor. At the least, her involvement in her husband's political career--or his reformist actions--could have been emphasized.
Lydgate had failed to attain his scientific aims from a lack of moral consistency, and the narrative suggests the need to combine intellectual and moral judgments, as embodied in a successful life, free of the worst compromises. The moral is somewhat gendered, of course; no one expects Dorothea to find a cure for infectious diseases. The novel's closing sections affirm the redemptive power of a childlike view of the moral life, the qualities of a Virgin Mary or St. Theresa, and the value of anonymous and unheralded good actions. The allusion to St. Theresa returns us to the preface, with the sad prediction that a modern day heroine may become a "foundress of nothing."
Important themes in VII and VIII:
1. marriage--loyalty and chastened expectations-Lydgate and Harriet Bulstrode learn to bear their respective yokes (compare Dorothea earlier)
2. power of moral faith: role of women
Dorothea's trust enables Lydgate to reenvision hope; this is related to the Victorian belief in the specifically moral mission of women: Rosamond fails at this mission; Dorothea succeeds. Mary and Dorothea determine the fate of sympathetic male characters through moral faith and charitable action (compare the Victorian advancement of women into social reform careers).
The narrative proceeds through moral voyeurism--we watch others watch Dorothea's goodness (compare imagery of "The Eve of St. Agnes"--Madeleine also a saint). The reader is able to test outcomes against her/his judgments.
3. What are some of the points Eliot attempts to make through her final book? Are these different from those of The Mill on the Floss?
One has to compromise with life, but nobility can accomplish something, if only a little.
4. Is the application of this moral slightly gendered?
5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this narrator? Which aspects of her story does the presence of the narrator cause her to minimize? (Dorothea's stream of consciousness, e. g.)
6. Do you feel the book gathers to a sufficient dramatic ending? What is the sequence in which the plots are resolved? Do you find the endings equally satisfactory? (two rise, two fall, but with some consolation)
7. What is the significance of the narrator's final comments? Do you find them directly related to the theme of the book? Why is the conclusion qualified in tone?
8. What is your final evaluation of the novel?