Chapters 38-42 Summary and Analysis
Chapter 38
Sir James Chettam is concerned by Mr. Brooke’s acquisition of The Pioneer. He does not want to criticize Celia’s father in front of her but voices his opinions at lunch with the Cadwalladers. A rival paper, The Trumpet, has been attacking Brooke as a bad landlord, and Sir James believes that he will lose his dignity if he stands for Parliament. Sir James has been talking to Ladislaw, whom he thinks clever and who agrees that Brooke should not stand in the next election.
Sir James thinks that Brooke manages his estates poorly and that he should take Caleb Garth, his former estate manager, back on, whom he dismissed twelve years ago. When Mr. Brooke arrives, Mr. Cadwallader shows him a copy of The Trumpet, and Brooke attempts to laugh off the paper’s criticism. He says that although Chettam goes in for “fancy farming,” he does not have the money for such improvements. Mrs. Cadwallader then points out how expensive it is to stand for Parliament. The discussion ends awkwardly.
Chapter 39
Dorothea goes to visit Mr. Brooke and finds him with Will, who is bored with the documents about sheep stealing that Brooke has placed before him. Dorothea wants to talk to her father about improving the estate and cottages, but Mr. Brooke is indecisive and will not commit to anything. Dorothea points out that he can scarcely run for Parliament as a reformer if he has done nothing to improve the conditions on his own land, and Mr. Brooke admits there is some truth to his daughter’s words.
Mr. Brooke has to go out to deal with the son of one of his tenants, who has just killed a rabbit. Meanwhile, Will talks to Dorothea, telling her that Casaubon has forbidden him to go to Lowick. Dorothea is very sorry to hear this and feels that Casaubon is in the wrong, though she will not say so. Will complains that he will hardly ever see Dorothea now and calls her life at Lowick “a dreadful imprisonment.”
Chapter 40
At the breakfast table in the Garths’ house, Mary is sewing a handkerchief for Rosamond’s wedding, and Caleb is reading the morning mail. Mary has decided to accept a job teaching at a school in York, though she does not relish the prospect and is on the verge of tears. One of Caleb Garth’s letters, however, contains an offer of a job from Sir James, who wants Mr. Garth to be his estate manager at Freshitt. He adds that Mr. Brooke has also offered him the opportunity to manage the Tipton estate and asks him to come to Freshitt the following day to discuss the double agency. This means that Mary will not have to go and work in York after all.
In the evening, Mr. Farebrother comes to call on the Garths. He delivers a message from Fred Vincy, who is leaving Middlemarch to pursue his studies and wanted to say goodbye but was too ashamed to come in person. Mr. Garth good-naturedly says that the debt is of no consequence now that he is to be rich, though Mrs. Garth says that he is exaggerating and is still annoyed with Fred. Mr. Farebrother says that he is pleased Fred is going to take his degree, but he has not encouraged him to become a clergyman.
When Mary leaves the room, Mr. Garth tells Mr. Farebrother that Featherstone asked her to burn one of his wills. If she had done so, Fred would have inherited ten thousand pounds, and she feels guilty about this....
(This entire section contains 1009 words.)
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Mr. Farebrother says that Mary did the right thing, and should not blame herself for Fred’s loss. He promises not to tell Fred and, as he returns home, considers the possibility that Fred and Mary may be falling in love. Back at the Garths’ house, Caleb is thinking that he will need an assistant if he is to manage two estates and that he might offer the job to Fred Vincy. Mrs. Garth, however, says that his family would be certain to object.
Chapter 41
Joshua Rigg is at Stone Court, talking to an older man called John Raffles, who turns out to be his stepfather. Raffles is begging Rigg for money to allow his mother to live comfortably in her declining years. Rigg replies cruelly, saying that nothing could make her comfortable while Raffles is alive and that whatever he gives her, Raffles will take. Rigg remembers that, when he was a boy, Raffles used to kick him, eat all the best food, and sell the family’s possessions to support his idle lifestyle. Though he expresses his disgust, Rigg gives Raffles a sovereign and fills his flask with brandy before sending him on his way.
Chapter 42
Lydgate returns from his honeymoon and pays a call to Lowick Manor to see how Casaubon is faring. Casaubon is worried that he will not be able to finish his work and is upset by Will’s refusal to leave Middlemarch. He is also dissatisfied with Dorothea’s attitude toward him. Although she is a perfectly dutiful and devoted wife, she does not now see him as a great man, and this seems like a betrayal to Casaubon. He is jealous of Will and suspects that he has settled in Middlemarch in order to be close to Dorothea.
Lydgate tells Casaubon that he might live for fifteen years or even more but that the illness from which he is suffering is unpredictable, so his death may be sudden. When Lydgate leaves, Dorothea comes out to walk in the garden with Casaubon, but he tells her he wishes to be alone. Dorothea feels angrier than at any time since the beginning of their marriage and asks herself what she has done to deserve such coldness. Casaubon dines alone in the library and finds Dorothea waiting for him when he comes out. She takes his hand, and they walk peacefully along the corridor together.
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