All posts by juliarogan

My-Life-in-Middlemarch

George Eliot Though Rebecca Mead’s Eyes

You know how you will write in a diary how your life sucks and nothing great will ever happen. You can think you are the most boring person and you’re destined to live the same lives as your parents, because that is what you were told to do. You are never going to be the next Jane Austen, J.K. Rowling or George Elliot for that matter. You are going to be living in a rat infested apartment wishing you had published your boring life to inspire some person half way around the world to not be you. Rebecca Mead may have thought like that. Instead of moping about it she got a decent education and dedicated her life to finding out everything she could about her hero. George Elliot.

After reading both books I see why we had to read this one last. We would have been totally lost had we read it first. We wouldn’t know anything and it would have kind of weird. We wouldn’t have known any of the characters or their relationships with any one. We also wouldn’t have known where Elliot got the idea to write the book. Mead also shows a new side to the book that you can’t really get to know unless you know the history.

Mead showed us how she fell in love with Middlemarch and had to know more about it. She shows us how Elliot took people from normal everyday life that she knew changed their name and maybe gave them a bit more personality and made them more provincial. Elliot wrote a book that turned into eight installments through out her life. Mead also shows us why Middlemarch is “one of the few English novels written for grown-up people,”

Eliot also seemed to make herself the main female character whoever you may think that is in her book. Whether you think it is Rosamond, Celia, Mary, or Dorothea you can probably find a little of George Elliot in some aspect of the female characters in Middlemarch. She also told us where Mary Ann Evans got her pen name that she is best known for. She actually got the name from a married man that she was in love with and who she was living with. She also had to use a male’s name to be taken seriously in a misogynistic world of Victorian England where women were suppose to be supported by a man and just have kids.

Eliot was apparently a forward thinker as shown in Middlemarch and Meade tells us. She apparently lived on her own and supported herself by writing Middlemarch. Eliot also was given an excellent education and seemed to always be reading. That was probably the reason she decided to become an author. She was already an editor and her own editor loved her work and was one of the few people who actually knew who George Eliot really was.

Mead probably felt the book was written for adults, because what kind of teenager even back then, would go through half of the stuff the characters went through. Adults loose their spouses more often than young girls. They get thrown into debt without actually thinking of the consequences. It also takes some maturity to see how greedy some relatives and other people can be. It is hard to see when people show their true colors after a relative dies or is close to death. Mead tells the entire life of George Elliot in a few hundred pages. No every famous person stories has to be long or glamorous just look at what Mead had to say about Eliot.

Julia Rogan

Book-Eight

Be Careful What You Wish For

All good things must come to an end, even if we wish they could go on forever. All season must end to give birth to a new season. All of childhood must end so a person can open a new chapter in their life. School must end, but learning never does. All stories must end not all have happy endings. Middlemarch did end with a few more twists than one would expect in a nineteenth century novel.

It was surprising that even though Rosamond was married, she had a sort of forbidden romantic feelings for Mr. Ladislaw that she thought were reciprocated. She seemed to think that Mr. Ladislaw was going to whisk her away from Middlemarch and her husband. Her hasty marriage and engagement was a really bad idea when she decided to marry Mr. Lydgate. Even when Mr. Lydgate was able to pay off his financial debt by borrowing money from Mr. Bulstrode he had a high social price to pay. The people in town ostracized Mr. Lydgate. It is in bad taste to borrow money even if you will pay it back.

The citizens of Middlemarch feel that Mrs. Bulstrode is trapped in a horrible marriage since they think that Mr. Bulstrode killed John Raffles by disregarding Mr. Lydgate’s advice while Mr. Bulstrode took care of him.

Then there is Dorothea’s problem. She had to go and encourage Rosamond not to leave Middlemarch since Rosamond keeps urging Mr. Lydgate to do so due to the fact she is embarrassed and cannot wait to get out. However Dorothea sees Rosamond and Ladislaw in a compromising position and feels embarrassed and leaves rather hastily. Ladislaw can’t help, but goes after Dorothea and tells her that he has no interest in Rosamond.

In the end even though Dorothea looses all of her land that she actually hates she marries Ladislaw and they decide to live off of her 700 pounds a year and know that they will be happy together. Celia feels like her sister betrayed her since Dorothea told Celia she will never get married again. Dorothea does have a son and since Chettam has decided to cut off contact Celia feels hopeless since she will never know her nephew. She also feels like they should forgive her, but I think Chettam is jealous that she married Casaubon and then married Ladislaw while he had to marry her sister.

Fred finally got to marry Mary. He also eventually got a very profitable business working in land and did not have to go into the church. Mary also wrote a book of children’s stories and was the only one in the whole book who actually got a book published.

Mr. Lydgate ended up having a profitable practice and dying at 50 of diphtheria. Then Rosamond was left with her children and ends up marrying an old rich physician. She never got away from doctors; her second husband also loved all of her children. Unfortunately, Mr. Casaubon never got his dream realized of publishing his out of date book.

Julia Rogan

Book-Seven

You’re So Vain

Since Lydgate is in debt he needs to find a way out of debt without selling anything that he gave to Rosamond. Finally Lydgate thinks he has the perfect idea. Lydgate is going to sell his house with all the furniture and he and Rosamond can live in a smaller house that may not be as nice, but still comfortable. Lydgate refuses to ask for help, because he does not want to be a beggar or have a bad reputation. Lydgate also believes that Rosamond loves him so much they will be fine as long as they are together and she will not mind a smaller house. What Lydgate did not expect was Rosamond’s vanity to try and derail all of Lydgate’s plans.

Rosamond did not want to live in a smaller or sell her beautiful home. So she decides to take matters into her small little delicate hands. The first thing she does is she goes straight to her papa and asks for money. Lydgate specifically told her, “do not ask for money from your father”. Rosamond thinking she is her parents’ favorite child and asks. Mr. Vincy for money. Mr. Vincy tells her to leave and seems to find it funny that the man he did not want Rosamond to marry is in debt and has to find a way out of it, since Rosamond wanted to marry Lydgate thinking she would be set for life. Rosamond also tries to tell Lydgate to ask for a salary for his work at the hospital from Bulstrode. Lydgate’s work at the hospital was meant to be volunteer work. Rosamond also says that Lydgate could dismiss the servants, but makes it sound like she would never want to live in a house where they don’t have servants.

Since that plan failed she goes to Mr. Trumball whom Lydgate had gone to earlier that same day to tell him that their house is not for sale which is a contradiction to what Lydgate had said earlier that day. She also tells Mr. Trumball not to tell Mr. Lydgate of the plan. In Rosamond’s mind she gets to keep her house and Lydgate could find some other way to make some money. She just wants to keep her beautiful house and her furniture. However this causes problems since the debt collectors come to the Lydgate’s house and start seeing what they could make money with. The debt is also no small debt. The Lydgates are 1,000 pounds in debt.

Lydgate becomes so desperate to keep his problems as secret as possible that he goes to the Green Dragon. The Green Dragon is the only club in Middlemarch. It has billiards and you can gamble at billiards and that is exactly what Lydgate does to try and earn some money to pay off his debt. Lydgate is unable to make the amount of money he needed and sees Fred and feels a bit embarrassed.

Fred still does not want to go into the church and is actually enjoying his work with Mr. Garth as a land agent. Mrs. Vincy is actually okay with seeing Mary as a daughter in- law when she sees how well Mary interacts with children at the Vincy Christmas party. There is just one problem. The vicar Mr. Farebrother is also in love with Mary. I don’t think that is really going to go anywhere though. The reason being Mary won’t marry Fred if he goes into the church so why would she marry a vicar.

Julia Rogan

Book-Five

One is The Loneliest Number

Everything that is new is sometimes scary. People also fear what they do not know. Instead of trying to understand everything that a person may be doing we just fear it. People would also freak out and say it is the devil’s work or accuse a woman of being a witch and then she would usually end up drowning or being burned to the stake, even if her remedies worked better than any man’s. Other times we can treasure what is new, but it can also bring us sorrow or jealousy.

That is why everyone was criticizing Mr. Lydgate. They were scared that Lydgate was a better doctor than the other doctors before him. He was better at curing everyone than the current doctors that they had in Middlemarch and he didn’t use any medicine unless he absolutely had to administer some. He could tell the difference between a tumor and a cramp the others could not see the difference. Lydgate knew what he was doing and had become a doctor to help people instead of trying to make money off of the profession. Lydgate had become very famous and a well-loved doctor.

After Mr. Casaubon had died Dorothea had gone into a state of depression. She was a little bit sad, but she was also now all alone in a huge house without a husband. Celia was extremely happy, because she had a baby. Celia and her husband Sir Chettam thought Dorothea might have been happier with them and the baby and that she could find some companionship with her sister and new nephew. Casaubon had made sure that if there was ever anything more than friendship between Ladislaw and Dorothea it would not grow once he died. He had put in his will that if Dorothea ever married Ladislaw he would disinherit Dorothea and she would loose her entire inheritance.

Dorothea would then be left with nothing. Dorothea had never been pregnant. She had been left utterly alone, no husband, no baby, and no possibility of a new life with Ladislaw. She also had not been allowed to look at the will. Everyone had been telling her to relax and just to grieve and let her pain heal on it’s own time. I don’t think Dorothea was that upset over the death of her husband. When their marriage was near the end she seemed to be in a bad mood and was more of a nurse than a wife to Mr. Casaubon. She was not able to find the manuscripts for the book Mr. Casaubon had been writing she had promised him she would publish it for him if anything happened to him before he finished it.

Fred has lost all his money and to avoid telling his father what happens decides to join the church, but it still hesitant since Mary said she would never marry him if he did join the church. Fred asks Mr. Farebrother if he will ask Mary that even though he is joining the church if she will marry him. Mary is still adamant in not marrying Fred after joining the church. There is no other way for Fed to get back the money, but he can only see going into the church as his only option. He doesn’t do so right away since he still wants to marry Mary.

 

Julia Rogan

Book-Six

Til Debt Do We Part

You know how people will have slumps. Maybe their grades are dropping, because the schoolwork is overwhelming. They might start drinking, because they just lost a family member or the person they though they would be with forever. They might have lost their job due to a bad economy and can’t find another one. They were evicted from their apartment, because they failed to pay rent.

Rosamond and Lydgate are in a financial slump. Lydgate was so in love with Rosamond he bought her jewels and anything else she wanted once they were married. They were the picture perfect couple and the only ones who seemed like they were happy.

Then, Lydgate realizes they are broke and doesn’t want to tell Rosamond. Everything that they have is in the possession of the creditors since Lydgate hasn’t paid it off. He refuses to tell Rosamond, because she is pregnant and wants to solve the problem himself since he is the man. Lydgate also starts controlling Rosamond after she becomes pregnant. He tells her she can’t ride a horse. Rosamond doesn’t listen to Lydgate. She goes out riding one day gets thrown off of her horse and looses the baby. After that Lydgate seems to just want to make her feel worse and says, “hey since you lost the baby and are no longer under the stress of pregnancy we are also broke.” Ladislaw has also been living n their rug and Lydgate is always at work so Rosamond might be finding a friendly companionship with Lydgate who is always around.

After Rosamond finds out they are broke she gives him the jewels to sell to make money to pay off the creditors. Lydgate refuses to sell the gifts he gave to Rosamond even though they are in debt. Lydgate will also not allow Rosamond to ask her family for money so Rosamond and Freddy both have money problems. Rosamond isn’t afraid to tell her father, but he won’t give them any money.

Dorothea left her sister and Mr. Chettam’s house probably feeling claustrophobic and not really wanting to intrude. Chettam also seems to still have a thing for Dorothea. When he saw her without her cap he just stared at her. Chettam also constantly says that he cannot stand Ladislaw and that he should stay away form Dorothea. When he hears that Ladislaw is leaving he is also happy about that. He also seems to be trying to get everyone who wants Dorothea to get married to back off.

Mr. Garth is also trying to help Fred out of his financial slump. Freddy knows that he will probably have to go into the church, even though he really doesn’t want to. Mr. Garth decides to help Freddy learn how to be a land agent and work for him. Fred actually seems to like the work and is actually learning more about what he should do. His father cuts him off financially though. The reason being Freddy did not do what hi father wanted him to do. Still Freddy seems to like the idea of being independent.

Julia Rogan

Book-Three

Nothing Ever Goes Right

Everyone has those days where nothing goes right. For example you spill juice on your favorite outfit. You get tongue-tied and sound ridiculous while talking to the guy you like. Ever since Fred Vincy took out a loan nothing ever goes right for him. Fred asked for Caleb Garth’s help, to pay back the loan by putting his name on the bill. Fred had also planned to sell his horse, but through some freak accident the horse is lamed and he can’t sell it. Unfortunately, now he has to ask Mary and the other Garths for money, because he is too afraid to face his father.

Fred should just man up and tell his father what happened. It is not like his father will kill him for doing something so stupid without fearing he will be damned to hell himself. On top of everything Mary may not marry him and he is probably going to be hated by the rest of her family forever.

Dorothea also had everything go wrong for her after her wedding day. Now her younger sister Celia is marrying James Chettam whom Dorothea was supposed to marry before she decided to marry Casaubon. Even with that, Dorothea is still trying to make things work with Casaubon. In a heated argument with Dorothea, Casaubon suffers some sort of stroke or heart attack after a huge fight about Ladislaw. When he recovers he finally gives Dorothea something to do. He makes her review his notes and writes everything down exactly to his dictation. Dorothea still seems like she is going to go crazy, if she stays married to Casaubon. She now has second thoughts and seems to be thinking she should have married Chettam.

Dorothea is also getting letters from Ladislaw even when Casaubon would like for them to never have any contact at all.

Dorothea also is probably feeling hated as her husband still barely spends time with her and treats her like she is stupid and should live to serve only him. Even though the setting is the Victorian era Casaubon should have realized Dorothea does want to help him, and believed in him, until she realizes that he can’t read German to save his life and his research is for nothing. He doesn’t even try to learn German so he can be kept up to date on all the new discoveries made on religious matters. The reason being is most of the new papers on religious matters are in German

Lydgate is also called to Casaubon household to see if he can help Casaubon get well after his supposed stroke and was also recommended to them by Rosamond Vincy, Fred’s sister. Rosamond thinks Lydgate is rich and seems to be in love with him and think her future will be set in stone if she marries him. She doesn’t know Lydgate is poor. Even though Lydgate is poor he is a successful physician and seems to try and be a fair physician by not charging ridiculous rates for his assistance and giving actual good medical advice. He was also disinherited and seems to know how to live on his own without money. Rosamond’s family the Vincys, are not that well off either. Rosamond seems like she could be happy with Lydgate as well even though he might not help with her upward mobility in the social ladder. Lydgate is probably the only one who has things going his way so far in the book.

Book-Two

All Decisions Have Consequences

You know that no matter what you do, there is always a consequence. Some of them are good consequences others not so good. For example, you touch a hot stove you get burned. You speak before you think sometimes your filter won’t be turned on and you could say something completely ridiculous. If you help someone of your own free will your karma will come back and you could be rewarded. If you don’t manage your money well you could end up in debt like Freddy.
Freddy thought he would receive a large sum of money in an inheritance. Without hesitation he spent everything he had and also took out a large loan. Thinking that he would have the money through the inheritance, and with a poor back up plan, he found himself in deep debt because his inheritance was revoked. On top of everything he does not want to go into the church so he can marry his childhood sweetheart Mary. Mary does not seem to really love Freddy since if she did love Freddy she would not really mind if Freddy listened to his parents and went into the church. Freddy could also move up in society if he was in the church and they could gain respect from more people since the people of Middlemarch love the church. Since having upper social status is what Freddy’s parents want for all their children.
Dorothea also did not think everything through her marriage to Casaubon. For example, she was in the honeymoon phase throughout her entire courtship. She was blinded by her idea of love and devotion, having spirited debates with her husband. She also thought that she could be an equal to her husband, and be his devoted scholarly helper so he could write his book that was meant to help man kind. In her blind emotions, she did not see how cold her husband was and how miserable her life was going to be. She also skipped the actual honeymoon phase on her real honeymoon since Casaubon was always gone. Dorothea was left alone in their apartment all the time craving companionship and love, while he was off doing his own thing that was meant to help him with his book.
Dorothea had spent her entire life in Middlemarch. What the men in Middlemarch saw while looking at her was probably the little girl she had been her whole life and could not really see how she had grown up. Ladislaw can see that Dorothea is “a charming and adorable creature” to quote him and cannot help, but wonder why she married Casaubon who is old enough to be her father. For some reason Ladislaw keeps visiting Dorothea when Casaubon is not home. It also seems like Ladislaw has no set future in the book. Ladislaw seems to be living his life on Casaubon’s dime. Every time Ladislaw has a new idea or some new fetish Casaubon has to pay for it. Ladislaw and Casaubon seem to constantly be at odds with each other.
Casaubon wants Ladislaw as far away from his wife as physically possible. It does not help the fact that Dorothea likes Ladislaw as a friend. Casaubon also seems to think to highly of himself. For him everything Dorothea wants to do is silly and pointless, while everything he wants to do is for the good of mankind. He also insulted Dorothea’s portrait and thought he himself looked like a god when he saw his portrait. In reality he is just as immature as Ladislaw and will loose his wife if he does not come off of his high horse and try to connect with his wife.

 

Julia Rogan

Book-One

Two Men and One Woman

Two Men One Woman

            Everyone knows the typical 1800’s British novel. Girl usually orphaned and sometimes poor meets rich, arrogant, rude, handsome man. Girl finds some sort of redeeming quality and falls in love with the rude man. Girl and rude man get married. Elliot has a bit of a different idea.

At the beginning of book one Sir James Chettam who is rich, handsome, and can provide for Dorothea Brooke. However Dorothea feels nothing for the man that most Victorian heroines would fall head over heels for. She fell in love with Causabon, because she feels she could have debates and talk with him about more intellectual things with him. Causabon is also equally wealthy however compared to Dorothea he could be her father.

Many people gossip about it and Chettam is hurt by Dorothea’s rejection, but decides to focus on her sister. The sister Celia is more of a stereotypical woman in the novel. She likes Chettam and Chettam is also closer to the girl’s age. Celia also has better taste than Dorothea. Celia wants to live a comfortable life, but she also wants to have a good looking relative and is scared of Causabon due to how old he is.

In most of the books the heroine always ends up with the right man. She always marries the good looking, rich, kind man who at one point that cares for her. Dorothea missed that boat and will probably end up paying for it later. She had to marry the old man that was not good looking. Chettman was a better choice he even gave Dorothea a puppy. The only thing Causabon is going to eventually give Dorothea is misery and boredom and no life. Causabon also seems like he just wants a wife to sit at home all day and take care of him due to his age. Dorothea and Chettam would probably live around the same time and die around the same time.

Dorothea should have also listened to Chettam’s offer. Yes he wasn’t as intelligent in Dorothea’s opinion; Chettam did not look like a cradle robbed with his age. Chettam also likes to listen to Dorothea and listens to her aspirations about improving the cottages, he even put money down to make it happen and Casaubon who is a clergyman and should care about that stuff thought that it was ridiculous and probably thinks Dorothea had no mind since she did not want to change a single thing in his dreary house.

Dorothea also reads too many studies on theology, which could have been the reason she was attracted to Causabon the guy, is a clergyman. She feels he would understand what she was say more than Chettman would understand if she were to have a discussion with Chettman. Chettman also might have been lost if Dorothea were to go off on a rant and she probably felt that Causabon could have followed her rant which no one is really able to follow a rant. I think Dorothea should have picked James Chettam