Middlemarch – Books I-IV
‘…selfish people always think their own discomfort of more importance than anything else in the world: I see enough of that every day.’ – Mary Garth
Mary Garth’s remonstration to Fred Vincy’s plea for clemency and sympathy amidst his failure to repay his debts is noble and telling of her character. And this foreshadows her stolid restraint against the dying Featherstone’s request to alter his will at his deathbed.
I suppose Middlemarch is about the individual. Eliot has created a universe that is equally small and pastoral and yet ubiquitous – every character is shaped by it, and struggles with an internal conflict between himself or herself against the perceptions of the town. Rosamond loves Lydgate, but before marriage is proposed between the two, it feels as if half the town’s population knows it must happen. Thus when Mrs Bulstrode approaches Rosamond about her relations with Lydgate, she feels the weight of her society upon her.
The life of middle-class citizens in the Victorian era is characterized by social rigidity and conformity. Perhaps Eliot is trying to challenge this rigidity by creating a world where we can witness the motives of each character from in and around his or her mind. The third-person omniscient viewpoint is notoriously the most challenging for a writer to use effectively, but when it is performed with alacrity, as Middlemarch, a parallel world is created. I just wish it were narrower.
No comments:
Post a Comment