📖 "Middlemarch" is written by Mary Ann Evans known by her pen name George Eliot was an English novelist, poet, journalist, tanslator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era.
She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure tbat her works would be taken seriously. Female authors were published under their own names during Eliot's life, but she wanted to escape the stereotype of women writing only lighthearted romances.
"Middlemarch- A study of provincial Life" is first published in eight instalments during 1871-72. The novel is set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch during 1829-32, and it comprises several distinct stories and a large caste of characters.
Meaning of Middlemarch :
Middlemarch is the name of the town where almost every scene of novel takes place. It is a pretty avrage place, as the "middle" part of the name suggests.
It's fictional town, but one that is supposed to be representative of dozens of other towns like it at this point in English history.
Major Characters of Middlemarch :
1) Dorothea Brook
2) Celia Brook
3) Nicholas Bulstrod
4) Harriet Bulstrod
5) Edward Casaubon
6) Sir James Chattom
7) Will Ladislaw
8) Tertius Lydgate
9) Rosamond Vincy
10) Fred Vincy
These are the major characters of the novel.
Plot Overview :
Middlemarch is a story of two sisters. The protagonist is Dorothea Brook and Celia is her sister. Dorothea is highly moral and knowledgable and Celia believes in materialistic life. Here Eliot has presented the tow different classes of people in Victorian age.
One was still in the influence og Classicism and Romanticism and the other believed in the new trends of Victorian age which was about industrial revolution and political and ulpper class. The novel is first started as a short Novella ' Miss Brook ' but later it was published as a novel named ' Middlemarch.'
The subtitle " A study of provincial Life" suggests that it is a life of ordinary people and how they struggle into their life. The main character Dorothea Brook falls in love with an aged scholar Edward Casaubon. But soon she came to know about his disinterested behaviour towards life. He was not having value of women in his life. She again falls in love wih Casaubon's young cousin Will Ladislaw. Here the psychological condirion of Casaubon and Dorothea quite noticable.
Casaubon was scholar and linking Dorothea but was not able to give enough love and respect. Dorothea was in love with Casaubon's intelligence bit was not get respect and freedom and she fall in love with other man.
Celia was in love with Lydgate and she was not able to adjust with him. She was no able to leave her high sophisticated lifestyle. She was frustrated with the marriage because of poverty.
In this case if we imagine that Celia was a wife of Casaubon she would have been happy and if Dorothea was married with Lydgate both would have been lived perfect life. But perfect life os for everyone. They have suffered because of their false assumptions towards person and bigh expectations.
" Middlemarch represents the lives of ordinary people not grand adventures of prince and kings."
Major themes of Novel :
1) Imperfection of Marriage
2) Compassion and Forgiveness
3) Women and Feminity
4) Sprituality
5) Education
6) Reality vs Expectations
Last I want to thank Yesha who is my senior and this story I read and uderstand by her source.
