Book One of George Eliot’s Middlemarch introduces us to the inhabitants of the town for which the novel is entitled, honing its focus on the young ingénue, Dorothea Brooke. Portrayed as an intellectually religious zealot who is “given to self-mortification,” Dorothea’s marriage prospects are less bleak than one would assume of such a character (14). Although many inhabitants of Middlemarch find Miss Brooke’s spiritual fervor disagreeable and at times off-putting, both Sir James Chettam and the Reverend Edward Casaubon develop romantic interest in the ascetic young maiden. Unfortunately for Miss Brooke, her “childlike ideals of marriage”, paired with her Uncle’s aversion to seek the advice of any “superior woman” eventually contribute to our heroine’s unlikely and ill-matched betrothal to Mr. Casaubon (6).

As a young woman with no mother or “middle-aged lady as guide and companion,” Dorothea’s sole female confidante appears to be her younger sister, Celia (6). This places her at somewhat of a disadvantage as she has no true mentor for whom to turn when faced with matters concerning love and matrimony. Her choice in seeking Mr. Casaubon’s affections seem to highlight Dorothea’s desire for direction and guidance in her growth as a woman. This need leads her to conflate the roles of partner and mentor in which she imagines that “[t]he really delightful marriage must be that where your husband was a sort of father” (6).

Edward Casaubon’s age and academic superiority seem to satisfy Dorothea’s criteria for a suitable husband and life-partner. As someone who desires to affect change in a meaningful way, her position as a woman constricts Miss Brooke’s choices and leaves her few avenues for personal growth. She “struggl[es] in the bands of narrow teaching,” leading her to view Mr. Casaubon as an intellectual savior and someone whose seemingly infinite wisdom will complement and complete her own (24). Dorothea’s compulsion to “learn everything” stems from her own insecurities and the feeling that without complete knowledge she would not “know what to do, when [she] got older” (24).

Sir James Chettam’s brash and sometimes shallow personality may appear to contrast strongly with that of our heroine, but this dissimilarity belies the complementary aspects of the two youths. As a man of action, Chettam’s financial position, along with his desire to please Dorothea, lead him to champion her crusade to renovate the town’s cottages and elevate the living status of the working poor in the community. This project acts as a divining rod for the reader, allowing us to see past Dorothea’s spiritual and intellectual musings straight to her heart’s passion. While Sir James recognizes how much the cottage project energizes Dorothea and adopts it as his own, Mr. Casaubon does “not care about building cottages”, diverting the topic almost as quickly she can introduce it (28).

Again, if Miss Brooke only had a motherly figure with whom she could share her experiences, desires, and misgivings, she might have directed our protagonist to follow her heart and turn a blind eye to Chettam’s superficial mind instead of Casaubon’s withering physique. As someone who clearly understands that “[m]arriage is a state of higher duties,” Dorothea’s ability to withstand some grievances would better serve her in an alliance that could actualize her ambitions rather than elevate her intellect. Her desire to a live a purposeful and spiritual life seems to revolve itself in the renovation of cottage dwellings rather than academic study, but her youthful naiveté prevents her from understanding this and leads her to accept the hand of an ill-suited suitor.

Emily Fleischhauer