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I would give this 10 stars if I could, and the message at the core of the book

"Become who you are…��

An epic tale that spotlights marriage, politics, religion, family, women, wealth, class, and reform, where choosing the right path is not just the poignant message but when tempered into words through deeply drawn characters, heavily weighted themes, and such elegant prose, this has become one of my favourite classic novels.

Middlemarch is the most comprehensive, weighty, and expansive story for its range of themes and characters. However, the power of the story is the way in which it contrasts good versus evil, rich and poor, but most of all I loved the misguided illusions of self-importance that are pitted against the wisdom of the inquisitive, rational, and virtuous mind. So too is this a story where the morally virtuous are pitted against the moral delinquents in a rigid class system - an all too common ‘noble�� failure.

In the end they all ‘become what they are�� !!!! But not all the impoverished are good and the scoundrels rich. George Eliot certainly mixes things up in this, the ultimate ‘Victorian�� character study.

Absolutely brilliant.

The Plot�� This is such a multilayered story I’ve tried to capture the 3 main strands.

Dorothea (Dodo), a wilful, intelligent, and independent 18-year-old girl marries, Edward Casaubon, an elderly nobleman, not for his wealth but for the opportunity it presents for her to expand her mind by helping the scholar in his work. Not long into the marriage, it becomes obvious he craves a companion, not a wife, and certainly not someone who would intrude on his intellectual work, often banishing her from his study.

Although, the match is not encouraged by either Dodo or Will Ladislaw, (Casaubon’s cousin) after observing their interactions with each other, we as readers can only despair at the ‘perfect�� match that is never to be. Not just out of honour but when Casaubon dies, his ‘will�� states that his wife is to be denied his fortune should she marry Ladislaw. It seems he spotted what we did but not Dodo.

Attempting Politics and other means of occupation, Ladislaw makes a few attempts at leaving Middlemarch and building his own fortune but to no avail. I love that these three characters personify the contrasts, in the story, the most particularly in virtue, commitment, reform, principles and kindness.

The ambitious young doctor, Tertius Lydgate, is in a parallel but interconnected story, of love, reform, ambition, and the egotistical folly of keeping up appearances that drives him and his wife Rosamond, into debt. However, in this period of change, the most appealing part of their story is the resistance of the elite to maintain the status quo and frustrate progress and reform, while the industrious and ambitious people like the young Doctor are denied opportunity and wealth for daring to challenge. Even the right to vote.

The third strand is that of Mary and Rosamond’s brother Fred, a scheming, gambling, and selfish young man who has long held expectations of an inheritance from his uncle, that never appears, forcing him to create wealth from other means, which in a nice way is the making of him.

Review and Comments

Oh why did it take me so long to read this?. Especially when I was gifted such a gorgeous Folio edition. It certainly wasn’t the 750 pages. No, I can tell you straight off it was the ‘uninspiring�� title of the book. It just didn’t draw me in.

On reflection I am surprised that the word ‘vanity�� had not made its way into the title. Or indeed ‘reform�� that I noted was mentioned a lot throughout the story, in fact the title gives no indication of the drama, intrigue and superb storytelling that lies within the pages.

Here’s what’s in store...

Marriage and Love. It seemed at one stage Everyone was in love with the wrong person or someone out of reach. Yet there are three marriages (plus a lighter one). Apart from the obvious love interest between Dodo and Ladislaw, the one that I chuckled at was Mary, a working maiden, turning down the son of the wealthy aristocratic, Fred, until he proved himself worthy of her affections and hand in marriage!!!

The Doctor and his wife, also added much to the marriage theme. Both were very flawed and cursed with vanity but also goodness. A couple who loved, miscommunicated, and forgave continuously as they matured individually and as a couple.

As Eliot says of marriage “Some set out, like Crusaders of old, with a glorious equipment of hope and enthusiasm, and get broken by the way, wanting patience with each other and the world."

However, no such failure was the case with a number of our main characters, in others well it is true that some husbands for the sake of peace, learned the value of their ‘wives�� opinion.

Characterisation - It was Dorathea and her story that kept me hooked. Typical of women in those days, she bore her displeasure and loneliness in silence. Yet such was her character that she made her presence felt without effort and never forcibly. Her subtleness, strength of mind, her intelligence and goodness puts her up there with Jane Eyre as one of the my all-time favourite female book heroines.

“Certainly the determining acts of her life were not ideally beautiful. They were the mixed result of young and novel impulse struggling amidst the conditions of an imperfect social state, in which great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion. For there is no creature whose inward being is so strong that it is not greatly determined by what lies outside it."

Although, I confess, I cannot imagine living in a time when women were to be seen and not heard. Branded for the apparent weak minds and sensitive nature. Only it was the men afraid of reform that portrayed them so.

The range of characters like the themes is extensive. We have the Doctor, Politician, Judge, Landowers, the clergy, farmhand, judicial peace keepers, the scholars and scoundrels, painters, musicians, authors, and we even have the women who make a industry of ‘gossip��. And so, the characters traits are endless, but the main accomplishment in this novel unlike many other classic novels is the way in which Eliot portrays good and bad in all classes. Ambition and weakness to be found in all aspects of society as many are challenged in following the right path to ‘become who they are��!!!!

Middlemarch is a book that is bold for the way it inspires feminism and reform.

“A woman who did not want to live in a pretended admission of rules�� women hemmed in by a social life which seemed nothing but a labyrinth of petty courses��. For the feeble minded��

'Middlemarch' is courageous in the way it challenges the accepted norms of society and religion but is also respectful. There is beauty in the storytelling, sincerity in the characters, and artistry in the way the themes have been woven into the story. An epic masterpiece in literature where selfishness is met with kindness, the elitist vanity is tempered by humble serenity from those around them, and where matters of the heart when followed with honesty, passion, and by all standards ‘proper��, make for the most satisfying ending, again not always typical of the authors during this period, as most people do “become what they are��!!!.

A truly outstanding masterpiece.

PS. The book has inspired me to pick up the BBC TV series. I am half way through and it is equally superb. Oh why did I wait !!!