Fred, Fred, Fred…….

I do not know what to say about Fred other than say his name over and over again. In this, I believe that his actions speak so much louder than anything he says. One of the major problems that Fred has is that he’s spoiled to the max. Throughout his life he has always had his family to fall back on, he never had to worry about anything- money wise. His parents worked hard to give him the opportunity to go college and he basically turned around and threw it in their face. He does what he wants without worrying about the consequences and how it may affect the people around him.

Parents: They have worked to give their children the best either education or whatever they want. The fact that he is worried about telling his father about his debt because he will be yell at tells me he knows that he did wrong. Although he knows he is in the wrong he continues again and again. This not the first time that Fred has gotten into debt where he had to turn to his parents to get him out. However, this might be the first time he tried to solve it himself, but it turns and bite him.

Caleb Garth: On one hand I had to laugh at this choice because as we learned from the story Fred is in love with Garth’s daughter Mary. For that reason, I cannot understand why he thought it would be a great idea to go the father of the girl you “love” and ask for money. In Mary’s point of view, I see that as irresponsible, you cannot take care of anyone not even yourself, and you cannot solve the problems you cause. On the other hand, I was highly disappointed with Fred because he had a lot more choices within his circle to ask to co-sign his loan and ask for money. This family is struggling to make ends meet, they worked really hard to save money so that they can afford to send their son to learn a trade. This was an important goal for them, it could have changed a lot for them in terms of money.

Fred selfishness was brought to a whole new level in this book. We realized that he always look out for number one himself. He does not care about the consequences and the cost that his actions may have on others. We can not calculate fully how his selfishness have affected the Garth’s family, it is basically immeasurable and because of that we can not measure their suffering. In this sense Fred is the same as Bulstrode, Bulstrode uses his financial control over Middlemarch for personal gain. Fred uses and manipulates his social network for his personal usage- He used his connection with the Garth’s to pay off his second debt, he got a letter from Bulstrode to prove that he did not take out a loan, which was a lie. He depends and survive off his network to live his life.

Keulesia Webley-Sewell

One of the problems with reading good literature comes when your romanticized version of the past is blown to smithereens. I had a lot of issues with Book 3. The actual reading was easy and the story line was super compelling, but the flaws within every character were reveled and deepened, causing my idyllic notion of what it meant to live in this time period to all but vanish.

We see Fred pawn off his debt on his good friend,  feeling guilty not because he is essentially robbing the Garth family of a sum that is going to cripple the future prospects of their young son, but because he is going to lose the regard of Mary. The family that comes in to watch as Mr. Featherstone dies, not because of any familial loyalty, but because they want to pick clean the carcass of his estate as soon as he stops breathing. No one is as I would expect, no one is the prototypical ‘good guy’ who is willing to do a good thing for the sake of doing a good deed.

No one, that is except the people who are not well off. The Garths are good people, though they have never been and will never be wealthy. Mr. Garth is charitable to a fault, thinking nothing of signing a debt away for a friend. He literally gambles his family’s security and future because of his belief that Fred is a good person who will not default. The harsh truth is that Mr. Garth is easily taken advantage of because of this nature. Fred asks Mr. Garth for his signature because Mr. Garth “was the poorest and kindest” because his pride couldn’t allow himself to be “looked down upon as wanting funds for small debts”.  Fred is in the wrong and so is Mr. Garth.

The one person who acts morally and in a fashion befitting the antiquated ideals of femininity is Mary Garth. And, truth be told, I found her as annoying as the others. She truly is the ideal daughter—loyal, giving, and hardworking. She makes her own living looking after Mr. Featherstone, though he is remarkably rude to her in front of others. She even saves her money, a sign of responsibility. However, she gives it all up to her father when he comes looking for help to cover Fred’s debt. Even when Mr. Featherstone smears her father by (correctly) guessing that he had come for Mary’s earnings, Mary doesn’t correct him, doesn’t tell him that the debt is Fred’s.

When Mr. Featherstone is dying and offers her money to destroy his second will, Mary refuses. Her honor does not allow her to take money freely offered, money that no one would know was missing, money that would help her family recover from the havoc that Fred created. She leaves the money, refuses to abandon her morals for anyone. Aside from ignoring this request, she does everything she can to comfort the man, even seeing to it that he does not die alone. She is the only characters that does not have a dark side.

Her characterization stands in direct contrast to all the well-off people in Middlemarch. Rosemond and Dorothea rush hastily into marriage without a fully formed notion of what it means to be married; Mary refuses Fred because he has “no manly independence”.  Mary provides herself a living while Fred lives on the “chance that others will provide for him”. Mary takes care of Mr. Featherstone in the end, though he was a scrooge in life. It was Mary’s moral superiority in every lauded personality trait that causes everyone else to look worse. Frankly, Mary seems too good for the lot of them, and should, perhaps, consider moving.

– Valerie Harrison

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.

As I read through Book Three this past week, I found myself struck by the marriage proposal scene between Mr. Lydgate and Rosamund Vincy. We have seen a number of potential matches come to fruition throughout the novel, regardless of whether they will end happily or not. The citizens of Middlemarch seem as uneasy about the matches as we as readers have been trained by Eliot to be. With the partnering of Lydgate and Rosamund, we are left wondering at the motives behind their hasty engagement. Eliot sets up the relationship between Lydgate and Rosamund almost as an opposite to that of Dorthea and Casaubon. Whereas the Casaubons appear to have little in common and a lack of affection between them, Lydgate and Rosamund are ill suited not because they lack affection for one another, but because they have not been realistic with how their comfortable lives will change in the face of their newly created relationship. Both of the couples are blind to the challenges which their marriage will face but continue with the partnership for different reasons.

As readers, we have learned of Lydgate’s failed attachment while living abroad in Paris and he has spoken animatedly about his desire to remain single for the time being. Two weeks prior to the engagement scene in Book Three, Mrs. Bulstrode warns Rosamund that by aligning herself with Lydgate, she will not be able to uphold her standard of living as she is “not fit to marry a poor man” (B3, Ch. 31). And yet here we are, observing the two lovers becoming engaged against their own better judgement and the warnings of everyone in town. Eliot creates an interesting conundrum here: instead of siding with the main characters of Lydgate and Rosamund, whose stories we have followed through the last two books, we are instead inclined to trust the wary opinions of the townspeople. Eliot has created an environment within Middlemarch where the reader does not root for love and views every coupling with reservations.

Eliot creates an interesting parallel between the two engagements we have witnessed so far. Mr. Casaubon proposed to Dorthea in a letter, a symbol of his lack of affection and the challenge he will face as a married man. He opens by making reference to their apparent attachment, saying “I am not, I trust, mistaken in the recognition of some deeper correspondence than that of date in the fact that a consciousness of need in my own life had arisen contemporaneously with the possibility of my becoming acquainted with you” (B1, Ch. 5). Even his prose is stiff and unnecessarily wody as he awkwardly tries to convince Dorthea and himself of his affections. Contrast this with the scene between Rosamund and Lydgate. When the latter sees Rosamund become emotional as a result of the distance he has created between them, he is enraptured by her vulnerability, recognizing “[t]hat moment of naturalness was the crystallizing feather-touch: it shook flirtation into love” (B3, Ch. 31). Lydgate and Rosamund are so affected by their emotions that they are driven towards love. They are able to see and physically touch one another during the scene of their engagement, playing off one another to fall deeper and deeper towards true affection whereas Casaubon and Dorthea cement their relationship through sterile letters.

However, Eliot does not simply create two relationships which serve as a foil for one another. The Casaubons and the future Lydgates come about their engagements very differently, and yet the author has left hints within the two scenes which link them and link the troubled futures which each couple will experience. Both men see their future brides as childlike and innocent, features which are attractive because the women are seen as easily pliable. After receiving her letter from Casaubon, Dorthea imagines herself in a “childlike sense of reclining” and Eliot describes her as a “neophyte” (B1, Ch. 5). Lydgate is most attracted by Rosamund’s naivete, describing the moment when he fell in love with her as the “moment she was as natural as she had ever been when she was five years old” (B3, Ch. 21). Eliot links the two scenes just as she does the two marriages: doomed for unhappiness.

As a reader, I find myself holding out hope for the third engagement in the novel so far. Eliot does not provide us with the scene in which Sir James Chettum and Celia Brooke become entangled. In fact, we see very little of their relationship first hand. Instead, we are given accounts of the townspeople’s approval of the match, an approval which is sorely lacking in the case of the other two relationships. We do not know much about the pair, but we do know that Celia is more realistic in her views of marriage as she states “I don’t want to be married so very soon, because I think it is nice to be engaged. And we shall be married all our lives after” (B3, Ch. 28). Celia’s level-headedness grounds her views about marriage and gives us as readers a sense to believe in her choice of husband. Though the relationship started inauspiciously, with Sir James jumping to the younger sister when the older proved disinterested, I am curious how Eliot will map their future. She has given us so many reasons to disapprove of the matches between Casaubon and Dorthea and Rosamund and Lydgate, but sets up Celia and Sir James as the practical pair. In a novel so critical of small town marriage and youthful affection, can the relationship between Sir James and Celia provide a model for the others? Or is Eliot simply luring us into a lull before she strikes down this couple as well?

Elizabeth Hatcher ’13

As the characters and crises of Middlemarch crystallize, so too does the issue of unfortunate matches. Initially assured in her choice of Mr. Casaubon, after her somber honeymoon Dorothea begins to think more critically of her speedy match. Pondering on the portrait of her husband’s late aunt Julia, Mrs. Casaubon feels “a new companionship” with the deceased as she considers just how much the two women may have had in common (261). The reality of her fate starts to become clear to Dorothea and rather than experiencing the intellectual liberation she had hoped for, she suffers the oppression of mismatched goals and personalities between two people who must forge a life together regardless. Poor Mr. Casaubon appears to suffer just as greatly as his emotional anguish threatens his physical wellbeing as well as his marriage.

While Dorothea hardly had a moment’s pause in her rushed match, Rosamond Vincy appears to have played the long con with Dr. Lydgate. Sadly for her, she has not truly considered whether or not her engagement is well-suited and appears unable to “distinguish flirtation from love, either in herself or in another” (254). Although her reasons for desiring to marry her intended vary greatly from those of Dorothea, both young women suffer from an immature understanding of the life of matrimony. It remains unimportant to Rosamond that Dr. Lydgate had previously expressed the desire to remain single for some time, and one wonders if her disregard for his feelings will continue to play out in their future relationship. Whether or not her folly will lead to misery remains to be unseen, as Chapter 3 leaves the matter at the couple’s engagement.

Mary Garth’s reservations over Fred Vincy may be the most tempered reaction to romance we’ve seen of the three eligible bachelorettes of the novel. As new relationships echo the faults of those past, Mary Garth attempts to avoid the mistakes of both generations as she denies her obvious feelings for her incorrigible suitor. Although Mary may have fooled herself and Fred as to her affections for him, her father remains unconvinced as he tries warn her by saying “[y]oung folks may get fond of each other before they know what life is, and they may think it all a holiday if they can only get together…but a father trembles for his daughter” (245). Mr. Garth’s display of concern also appears to be the most measured of the guardians, but whether or not his words will be heeded remains unseen.

As the three relationships unfold in their different ways, the reminder of “unfortunate matches” continues to echo in the mouths of older residents of Middlemarch. One has to wonder if the constant remonstrations have not persuaded these young suitors and eligible ladies to act in defiance of their elders. Perhaps Middlemarch’s Cupid truly is blind, or the town suffers from a sort of marital curse, or maybe this is just how love often plays out. The sum of these ill-fated matches has yet to be seen, and it is likely that an unfortunate match may be as much a creation of others as it is the participants. Without the guidance and approval of those closest to us, even the best suited couple can encounter difficulties, and it seems that the opinions of others can greatly influence the success that couples find together.

Emily Fleischhauer

Book three is very interesting to me.  I finished it quite quickly and have pondered over my post for the last two weeks trying to decide how to approach this section of Middlemarch.  Characteristics of Fred remind me greatly of some of my own family members who try to get themselves out of a predicament only to find themselves in deeper.  With the end result often being the same – why didn’t they just ask someone for some guidance?  Granted, pride and other notions of adulthood seem to supersede Fred’s reasoning but it strikes me how Fred is so juvenile at his age, where I would assume to find such actions more likely from a naïve teenager between the ages of 14-16.

Although, I should not be too surprised by the actions in this family.  Fred’s relationship with his mother is very similar to many other families – their relationship is not a Freudian Oedipus way but rather in how his mother does not see his glaring faults.  Many mothers have one child that they do favor, while they say that that they love each one the same amount I do not doubt, but often the baby or the eldest sometimes is doted on a bit more than the others which results in mothers being blind to the fact that their children can do nothing wrong.  In my own personal experience, I deal with this fairly often.  My mother in-law refuses to see that her baby (my brother in law) can do anything wrong, regardless of how bad it is and argues with anyone and all evidence to the contrary.  In addition, an acquaintance refuses to accept her son’s prison conviction and has sacrificed everything – her marriage, home, retirement and own wellbeing – to fight against the evidence, even when he admitted to his mother that it was true and he did it.

Familial love is such a complex and twisted relationship that it is a treacherous path.  Just as Fred’s mother dotes on him, Fred is aware of this and uses it to his advantage to manipulate his parents.  I do commend his actions regarding giving the money to his mother to hold onto, but not seeking the advice of his father regarding his gambling debts is a little ridiculous.  I, personally, would rather have the wrath of my father and request his assistance rather than depend upon strangers in which you lose much more than an hour of being yelled at.  And, in turn, he still had to go and come clean about everything and loose the opportunity with the girl he loves as well and looking more of a fool.  If he would have just been straightforward in the beginning, his mother would have certainly intervened between him and his father if there was any attempt to throw Fred out.  But in the end, the stupidity of this child, stuck in a man’s body, pouted, whined and caused so much unnecessary pain to others.  His actions caused pain to Mary, the entire Garth family, his father when he had to ask for the ridiculous letter (obviously Featherstone was fully aware of the gambling problem), disappointment to his family and the loss of his favorite horse.  I think there is more to see of Fred in the coming chapters, but his own foolishness created larger issues that he will need to contend with.  In the end, Fred is a very silly child.

Vickie Culpepper

George Eliot, in Book 3, deals with the mortality, predictably, of Mr Causabon and Mr Featherstone, but also, surprisingly to me, of Fred. More importantly, these events serve to further her entertaining romantic plots. But, I digress, to reflect on a different aspect of our tale, based on a personal experience of living in England.

My husband and I own a 400 square foot cottage (actually, a row house) in St Albans, famous for Romans ruins, a medieval cathedral, and a bustling market, about ½ hour from London. We lived there for 11 years while he worked at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases. I learned the area by walking, particularly to two destinations where I spent most of my time, the cathedral (as a tour guide) and a local goat farm. I took for granted my lush, green and colorful surroundings where hedgerows predominate and birds sing from dawn till sunset. Our long, narrow garden faced south, towards the Abbey (in medieval days, the cathedral was an abbey where Benedictine monks lived), and we heard daily resonant bell chimes for Morning Prayer, noon Eucharist, Evensong, etc. Our yellow rose bush, wafting sweet scent, bloomed almost year round; snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils heralded spring; the huge lilac bush sent out its unique fragrance by the kitchen door; and the dense, vigorous hedge required a day of trimming three times a year (still does!). At least once a week, I walked 3 miles to a goat farm, which abuts the property of the Stanley Kubrick estate (where his widow still lives). I met the goat farmer in the Saturday market, where he rented a stall, selling all kinds of mouth-watering European cheeses, including his wife’s goat cheese. He was surprised when I got up the nerve to ask if I could visit the farm, but even more so when I actually showed up! I love the outdoors but I was not ‘farming-literate’, only curious to learn. He told me later that only an American would be so bold as to offer help, especially after he made clear that he couldn’t pay me, but the relationship and experience grew to a warm friendship with his family today. The trek from home to farm passed through neighborhoods of small, timbered/plastered bungalows, each boasting their own selection of English flowers. I think the most popular are the brightly colored, low-growing primroses and multi-hued roses. I also passed farms of crops, sheep and dairy, winding through a trail cut by medieval carts; of course, imagining who travelled this way before me, occupied my mind for hours! I helped the famer weed his land, cover it with goat manure to encourage healthy growth for fall harvesting of hay, plant trees in large spaces, more rose bushes…all of this energetic work after we had caught, milked and fed about 30+ goats. Late morning was learning from his wife how to make three different goat cheeses. Lunch at 1pm was a feast for the senses! My final chore was to feed the goats at the end of the day, before hiking home, exhausted but happy (with a backpack of fresh veggies).

The Abbey was my other home, at least 5 times a week. My journey was only ½ mile, through fancier neighborhoods of brick homes, with lovely gardens. I am impressed by the English flair for design, which just seems to happen on its own…colors mingle in a natural order that attracts wildlife, as well as human passers-by!

Compare the homestead of Caleb Garth (Mary’s family), described as rambling, halftimbered and, of course, the ubiquitous orchard (p. 242). On Sunday afternoon, my husband and I would take several large plastic bags (to pick up rubbish, mostly discarded soda cans and plastic bottles) and go off in search of another route to discover; blackberry bushes grow wild, so I am sure that Middlemarchers ate their fill, as well! Lowick (home of Mr Causabon), was entered by a long avenue of limes (p 273); these also line the main street of St Albans. Their ornamental quality adds greenery and vigor to a town center.

The great oak shadowing a bare place in mid-pasture ( p. 104) offers a more sobering image for me of the goat farm. Tragically, the famer died very suddenly, and his widow planted a small oak tree on his grave (which is on the farm) a favorite symbol of his for quiet and beautiful strength.

Returning to the US (Hamden, Ct) was a ‘landscape jolt’ for me. The barren, concrete highways and shopping malls take up too much space (granted, they exist in England, too), so I have begun to plant an English type garden of soft hues and fragrant scents in our back yard. And when I walk the dog, I appreciate every small attempt to return our city to nature.

I will close with the author’s depiction of her beloved landscape, which, thankfully, is still, familiar…(p 104)

The ride to Stone Court…pretty bit of midland landscape, almost all meadows and pastures, with hedgerows still allowed to grow in busy beauty and to spread out     coral fruit for the birds…. the high bank where the ash trees grew; the gray gate and          fences against the depths of the bordering wood; and the stray hovel, its old, old    thatch full of mossy hills and valleys with wondrous modulations of light and shadow         such as we travel far to see in late life, and see larger, but not more beautiful. These          are the things that make the gamut of joy in landscape to midland-bred souls.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Tudy Hill