Middlemarch by George Eliot - Readalong

[CramptonHodnet]

This is the Readalong thread for anyone feeling brave enough to tackle this huge novel this autumn/winter

I enjoyed the dialogues between Celia and Mrs Cadwallader and Sir James and the Cadwalladers. Some lively language to describe Casaubon e.g. 'She says, he has a great soul.-A great bladder for dried peas to rattle in!' said Mrs Cadwallader.

I love Mrs Cadwallader. GE has given her such a great voice and character. The dialogue with Mrs Fitchett the lodge keeper is hilarious.

She is a gossip, yes, but she maintains relationships with all her neighbours, the servants as well as the gentry. She does what she can within the limits imposed on women in that time and place.

Exactly, Pilar. She is a likeable character, a sort of well-meaning busybody.

I snorted with laughter at Mrs Cadwallader's description of Casaubon. Loving GE's dry sense of humour. Hope we get more of Mrs C's observations.

Feels as if dark clouds gathering in the distance for Dorothea and she can't see them. If only she had someone she could trust to talk her out of the disastrous marriage she's about to walk into.

Really want Celia and Sir James to get together. They'd make such a lovely couple.

I am also enjoying the dialogue. What a prig Casaubon is though.
I am reading Lethal White at the same time. 😊

I know. There are dark clouds hovering over Dorothea's head.

When I read the description of Mr. Cadwallader, my DH came to mind ☺️.

Agree Mrs C brings some light relief, also liked the way that Eliot uses her to open up the wider context, local politics, aspects of the local society...seemed an elegant, natural means of introducing Middlemarch the area and starting to shift focus from Dorothea. Also brought in a variety of ideas about marriage and relationships in contrast to Dorothea's idealistic stance.

Also noticed the use of scientific references: the uncle talking about the woman problem at the end of chapter 4; the microscope section in chapter 6 - and was wondering what point Eliot was trying to make with these?

I thought the passages that raised Dorothea's insecurities about her intellect, her lack of 'masculine knowledge' and her own ability to learn as a woman, were quite striking: her musings about whether their masculine knowledge will explain mysteries such as their lack of interest in the local housing conditions. Assumed Eliot working in broader debates about women and their role in society that would have been circulating at the time she was writing.

But, and maybe that's reading this in small sections, I'm not warming to the novel overall, so far. I still prefer the drama/social conscience of Dickens or the psychological subtlety of Henry James. I think I like this less the second time than I did the first but it's early days so hoping will get swept up in the narrative as it progresses. I'm looking forward to a little less of Dorothea and more of the 'provincial life' of the title.

I think it'll broaden out to include other members of the community soon Dottie

I'm finding Mr Brooke a more nuanced character than he first seemed. His heart is in the right place and he truly wants Dorothea to be happy. Although hesitant because he has real reservations about Casaubon as a husband, he believes that whom his niece marries should be her own choice, and rather than insisting that she marries someone else against her will, goes along with her wishes. In some ways that's a very modern and unusual thing to do.

Casaubon's letter to Dorothea is as inadequate as a profession of love as Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth .. but at least the latter had loads of repressed passion simmering underneath. GE has such a clever turn of phrase when describing her characters:

Hence he determined to abandon himself to the stream of feeling, and perhaps was surprised to find what an exceedingly shallow rill it was.

So concise and effective.

highlandcoo I really loved that phrase as well, and it tells you so much, in so few words, about Casaubon and how he's entered marriage without having the reserves and history and experience of loving people generously to be able to love. I love what you said about Brooke as well. Yes, he's a prize numpty in many ways, but I too read it at this point as an innate sense that Dorothea is entitled to make her own choice. It'll be interesting to see if the rest of the book aligns with that, or puts it in a different light, though.

My feeling about Mr Brooke is that he means well, is genuinely fond of Dorothea and wants her to be happy, but yes he is a bit of a numpty.

I am up-to-date only because of this thread. So thank you to Crampton for starting it.

The writing is really enjoyable. I keep going back to certain nuggets!

But iirc it does get better when the focus pulls out from the landed gentry.

Hello! I'm enjoying this thread too. I'm up to chapter 14 and getting used to some new characters.
Dorothea's answer to Casaubon's letter is so compliant, we can see that this won't be an equal partnership at all. His proposal is based on his needs and her usefulness to him and she is prepared to be subservient to him. It is also noticeable at the manor house when she decides to keep the décor as it is and to not put her own stamp on her married home.

It's good to see some different characters beginning to appear now (for next week's discussion ).

Loved the discussion of Casaubon's suitability as a husband for Dorothea in ch 8 - more pithy remarks from the wonderfully sharp Mrs Cadwallader - examining Casaubon's blood under a microscope and finding it all semicolons and parentheses

Good to see Sir James having a strong opinion about him too.

I loved that description too. Very witty 😄

Hello Middlemarch! In this week's installment (chapters 9-12), we meet Will Ladislaw, Casaubon's young cousin. Casaubon and Dorothea nearly have a falling out over their honeymoon in Rome. (Red flag, Dorothea!)
We also meet Bulstrode the banker, Lydgate the doctor and the Vincy family. They are a long-established Middlemarch family, quite comfortably off but looking towards Old Mr. Featherstone to name Fred as beneficiary in his will. There is also an unsaid expectation that the lovely Rosamund will marry well.
Old Mr. Featherstone seems to be the stereotypical miser who has everyone running rings around him and is generally grumpy and disagreable, in particular to Mary Garth, his companion.

Middlemarchers

I like the Vincy family. They seem to really love each other. The way Rosamond and Fred interact on the ride to see Mr Featherstone shows a close relationship.

Yes, they do seem to be a nice bunch.

Interestingly I got a slightly different impression of the Vincys.

I thought they seemed rather spoilt and over-indulged. Fred is clearly expecting a payout from his uncle, having left university without completing his degree. And Rosamond is husband-hunting, looking for someone who will increase her social standing.

I'm not sure about them at all, and watching this space to see if my impression of them improves.

Both those things could be true - they could love each other and be looking to increase their social status.

Mrs Vincy was the daughter of an inn keeper and has 'married well'. I think she is in awe of her children who have more education and a higher class background than she came from.

As I've been reading, I've been comparing the social standing of various characters with those in Pride and Prejudice and other Jane Austen novels.

I was thinking the Vincys were somewhere in between the Philips and the Lucas families. Trade/town background, not old money but respectable. Not completely accepted in upper class society, though.

Rosamund seems very aware of the currency of her good looks and comes across as rather self-absorbed.

Crampton good comparision. Rosamund reminds me of Undine Spragg in Edith Wharton's 'The Custom of the Country' - a massive red flag. And Fred looks like a possible wastrel in the making. But am enjoying the change of scene. I'm not sure about Will Ladislaw not in terms of 'red flags' but he's a bit insipid. He reminds me of the boys at uni. who went around with paperbacks of Sartre/Nietzsche sticking out of their back pockets.

IsFussy agree re: Rosamund, if she were a character now imagine her as a selfie-obsessed, would-be Instagram queen.