Middlemarch (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: George Eliot
- First Published: 1871
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: 1829-1832
- Setting: Middlemarch, a fictionalized Coventry and Warwickshire
- Principal Characters: Dorothea Brooke, Tertius Lydgate, The Reverend Edward Casaubon, Rosamond Vincy, Fred Vincy, Mary Garth, Caleb Garth, Will Ladislaw, Nicholas Bulstrode, The Reverend Camden Farebrother, Celia Brooke, Arthur Brooke, Sir James Chettam, Mrs. Cadwallader
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: Philosophy or philosophers, Tradition, Power, personal or social, Love or romance, Nineteenth century, Marriage, Prejudices or antipathies, Villages, Doctors, Manners or customs, Social life, England or English people, Small-town life, Ambition, Idealism, Money, Orphans or orphanages, Gossip, Naivete, Debtors or creditors
- Locales: England
Form and Content
In the context of postrevolutionary England’s sluggish attempts at political reform, George Eliot details in Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life the range of a tradition-bound provincial mentality unable to comprehend and unwilling to accept change. She begins by uniting two narratives begun separately, both about self-deluded idealists, Dorothea Brooke of the landed gentry and Tertius Lydgate, newly arrived in insular Middlemarch, the quintessential country town of petty snobberies, power plays for social status, and gossipmongering. Integrating...
[The entire page is 2447 words long]
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