Middlemarch by George Eliot

 

Middlemarch

by George Eliot

Middlemarch is a book about the intertwining story lines and relationships of a few families, whose various marriages and employments either lead them to happiness or to ruin. Through the book we get a glimpse of several classes of characters in the late 1820s and early 1830s, but the story is chiefly concerned with Dorothea Brooke and Tertius Lydgate, both idealists in their own way who enter into marriages that are less than ideal.

There is quite a bit of scandal in Middlemarch, chiefly in the exploration of love outside of unhappy marriages and in shady financial swindlings that result in both death and displacement. The book explores the condition of women during this time and how marriages were actually conducted. Something that sets Middelmarch apart is that it doesn't have the requisite happy ending of most books of this time, especially those written by women. There is also a sense of moral ambiguity. This is considered a work of realism, depicting life as it was lived.

Dorothea marries a man she has high regard for who turns out to be everything but what she expected him to be. In his jealousy, he eventually makes it hard for her to be her own person after he dies.

Tertius is a doctor who has plans and high hopes for revolutionizing the way medicine is practiced, but meets with a lot of resistance, and ultimately has to give up his efforts because of another man's evil deeds. He also is in a marriage that is not what he had expected or hoped, with a young woman name Rosamund who is in every way a pampered selfish social climber.

There is a cast of characters that are all memorable, from the lovestruck Fred Vincy and his affable paramour Mary Garth, to the scheming lout Bulstrode, and everyone in between, there parts are interwoven with one another's stories that all comes together in the end in an exciting way. I admit that through some parts of the story I was a little confused, and the sentences (as in most novels of this period) were overly complicated and long. A good chunk of this book could probably have been cut and been the better for it. But it is a good story, with characters dealing with real issues and frustrations. I especially liked the commentary in the Finale that talks about society disbelieving what men and women are capable of outside of their perceived sex roles.

Middlemarch gets 4 stars.