Admittedly, I adore the titles of each of the books and when “The Dead Hand” came up, I was secretly thrilled and terrified at what I would encounter.  This section did not disappoint me in thrills and terror.

For the thrills – I love that we are getting more information on Fred and Mary.  Fred is a train wreck I can’t help wanting to gawk to see what will happen next.  There is something about his character that I find endearing; maybe his foolishness or his general clueless boy attributes.  He is thoughtless in so many ways and while this section of Middlemarch is really about Dorthea and Edward, the unusual placement of Mary and Fred’s story brings me to anticipate what dead hand will embrace them in chapters to come.  He’s outed to the Vicar his love, who unfortunately also is infatuated with Mary, and places his trust in Farebrother without knowing the pain that he has caused Farebrother.  Fred is one of those that is impetuous with his decisions and does not look too far into the future to see the ramifications.  But creating the thrill of where their relationship may go, I am enjoying the fact that Fred is the perfect foil for Mary.  He is unthinking and rash and this gives him, in my opinion, to be a boy playing in the mud.  Where Mary is just too goody-goody and she needs him to bring levity to her character, I imagine her as a child being prissy but obedient.

The fleshing out of Mr. Bulstrode’s character is a refreshing change and a wonderful foreshadow for the remainder of the novel.  It was a bit of a shock to find Bulstrode’s past slowing being eked out in bits.  His character always carried an undercurrent of “smarmy” but nothing of the magnitude that is found out about his previous marriage or how he came to get his money.  With the tidbit of information from Mr. Raffles and Bulstrode’s desire to get him as far away from Middlemarch as possible only alludes to how bad a person Bulstrode actually is.  I also now want to find or make a Middlemarch family tree because the relationships are starting to get a little convoluted.

Now for the terror – not surprised about the clause in Mr. C’s will, his jealousy was so out of control that I would be more surprised if there wasn’t anything about Will mentioned.  It is not the bit of information about Dorthea’s remarriage that is terror, but what was terrifying is that everyone else knew about it but her.  Even Mrs. Cadwallader knows of the situation of Mr. C’s will and she is quite the busy-body so it would be in good faith to assume that she discussed it with others as well.

What is sad and terrifying is when Dorthea searches her husband’s desk she does not find anything that shows her that he loved her.  I think this is the true terror that happens Middlemarch – the lack of not finding the proof of love when one looks for it.  Dorthea married a man that she placed upon a pedestal, pinning ideas and unrealistic dreams of what her life would be like without even discussing any of it with him.  Because she did this, she missed so many cues about how he was cold and not a person to show a lot of affection.  In the same respect, she also expected to be shown love and adoration; he was just tired of being alone and she would be a great secretary and one of the few women that did not aggravate him. In his own way, I think Casaubon did love Dorthea in a way that he could not show her.  She is very much like his work – allusive, unavailable to the average man, and a mystery – maybe Dorthea was the key to Casuabon, and instead of looking for the mythologies that he studied about, she was the key to his mythology.  Dorthea was definitely his weakness, especially when we find out the lengths he goes to when spurred on by his jealousy.  The defeat she felt on page 494 when she searches his desk for proof that he loved her was heartbreaking.  Although, Dorthea may overlook Mr. C’s motivations behind his weird will.  She is looking for proof of his love and in a way, he leaves her with it written in his will about her remarriage.  So sad in general that these two actually really loved each other, but neither of them could talk to each other.  I wonder if he was too smart that it made his dumb and she blind.

On a lighter note of terror, the strange way Celia dotes on her child is rather creepy.  It’s not as though she is a mother looking at her child doing all the things that most parents do – believe that their child is the brightest and best just because he blinked – but almost that she regards him more like a doll or a puppy.

Vickie Culpepper