Middlemarch

1. Middlemarch began as two separate novels: one about Dorothea Brooke and one about Tertius Lydgate. When Eliot decided to combine them into one novel, she gave the novel the title of the town it is set and provided a subtitle "A Study of Provincial Life". What are the implications of referring to the novel as a "study of provincial life" -- what expectations does it raise? What do you think Eliot means by "provincial life" in this context? What examples of "provincial life" can you identify in the novel?

2. In chapter 11, the narrator says "Certainly nothing at present could seem much less important to Lydgate than the turn of Miss Brooke's mind, or to Miss Brooke than the qualities of the woman who had attracted this young surgeon. But anyone watching keenly the stealthy convergence of human lots sees a slow preparation of effects from one life on another which tells like a calculated irony on the indifference of the frozen stare with which we look at our unintroduced neighbor. Destiny stands by sarcastic with our dramatis personae folded in her hand." What do you think the narrator means here? What is she suggesting about the relations between characters? 

3. In Chapter three, Sir James Chettam tries to give Dorothea a Maltese puppy. She rejects it and says "I beleive all the petting that is given them does not make them happy. They are too helpless; their lives are too frail. A weasel or a mouse that gets its own living is more interesting. I like to think that the animals about us have souls something like our own and either carry on their own little affairs or cam be companions to us, like Monk here. Those creatures are parasitic." In response, Sir James tells his servant to take the dog away and the narrator says "The objectionable puppy, whose nose and eyes were equally black and expressive, was thus got rid of since Miss Brooke decided that it had better never have been born." The implication here is that the puppy is killed because no one wants it. Why do you think Eliot includes this scene? What does it tell us about Dorothea's character?

4. In the "Middlemarch and Realism" lecture, characterization is tremendously important in the Realist novel. In Middlemarch, characterization is developed in many ways, both directly and indirectly. On the first page of chapter 2, for example, the narrator tells compares Mr. Casaubon to Sir James Chettam by saying, "He [Casaubon] had the spare form and the pale complexion which became a student, as different as possible from the blooming Englishman of hte red-whiskered type represented by Sir James Chettam."  Casaubon and Chettam are here presented as foils for one another; one of the defining characteristics of Mr. Casaubon, for Dorothea, is that he is the opposite of Sir James Chettam. What other character foils have you identified in the novel? Identify specific examples in your response. 

5. At the beginning of Chapter 21, find Dorothea sobbing on her honeymoon. What is the cause of Dorothea's sorrow? Cite specific example(s). 

6. At the beginning of Chapter 5, the narrator provides us with Casaubon's proposal letter. Her introduction to the letter is very brief--"This was Mr. Casuabon's letter."--suggesting that the letter will speak for itself. The narrator doesn't want to influence our reading of it. Reread the letter carefully. What does the letter tell you about how Casaubon views marriage? (Cite specific language) What does it tell us about Casaubon's character, more generally?