The second book introduces us to some other characters that are a part of the Middlemarch community, we meet the Vincys, Lydgate and others. In this book, we get to know more about the community of Middlemarch as well as the hierarchy.

 

Starting this book was anticipating reading more about Dorothea and Mr. Casaubon marriage life and if it was everything that Dorothea image. At the end of book one we learned that Mr. Casaubon did not care about Dorothea as much as she thought, all he cared about was his research. In book two we get to see this, all of their honeymoon was spent with Dorothea by herself touring while her husband locked himself up in the library. This image given by Eliot made me feel sorry for Dorothea, which newlywed wife would like to spend her honeymoon virtually by herself. What makes even sadder is that she looks at her husband as though he was a God. With him basically ignoring her, we realized her admiration of him was slowly dimming. The shocker  was Casaubon reaction to his nephew visiting his wife when she was home alone. Casaubon seems jealous for no reason at all, the way it ended in book two with regards to his feelings I thought he did not care about Dorothea, this scene makes me wonder. I question whether he actually care about Dorothea or is it his pride talking.

 

Rosamond vs. Dorothea: Rosamond is an example of a young lady during that time. Young ladies who only care about their marriage and their social standing within society. The right kind of marriage changes their lifestyle and change their social standing. They only care about pushing up their husbands, getting married and having children. Dorothea is an in between of traditional and almost modern, she wants an education that the men at that time receive, yet being a woman puts a limit on her. She wants to understand information about the world and different theories and she wants to help, but at the same time she seems a little ignorant.

 

The character that is a little questionable for me is Lydgate, we do not know a lot of information about him, where he’s from and who is family is. There are rumours, but no one knows if it is true or not. He seems as though he is a very intelligent young man who is working his way up by using any form of connection he can make. At the same time he is trying to keep out of the power struggle that is going on in Middlemarch, but that later gets thrown out the window. He talks about not wanting to get married, but he is sending the opposite signal to Rosamond who is determined to marry someone who is not from Middlemarch. In general, there is some confusion about who he is, his intentions fully to Rosamond and what he really wants because what he says sometimes contradicts his actions an example would be that of voting for Mr.Tyke.    

 

Keulesia Webley-Sewell