love inter micahanisam in woman in middlemarch

Name: Jayshree Kunchala
Class: M.A.,Part -1 ,Sem -2
Roll No: 12
Paper : 6
Paper name: The Victorian Literature
Assignment Topic: inter love machination in middle
March.
Submitted To: Maharaja shri Krishnakumarsinhji
Bhavnagar University.

 

Introduction:

The novel opens with a brief prelude or introduction in which the readers are introduced to Dorothea Brooke, a cultured and high minded young lady with lofty aspirations. She is referred to as a later day st.Theresa of the midlands who could not achieve anything noble because of the lack of opportunity, because her environment was unfavorable and repressive.
Dorothea and her sister Celia live with their uncle , Mr.Arthure Brooke at Tipton Grange near the midland town of middle march. Celia is more practical than her elder sister who is idealistic dreams of lofty achievements and seeks an outlet for aspirations in improving the living conditions of the poor. Multiplicity of women Characters:
The canvass of Middle march is a crowded one. It is a long novel running into over eight hundred minutely printed pages in the penguin edition. There is a host of characters, so many that all of them cannot even be named in the space, at our disposal. The major characters may be divided into four groups. First there are the books consisting of Mr. Edward Brooke and his two nieces Dorothea Brooke the elder sister and Celia the younger one. They reside at Tipton Grange near the town of Middle march. Secondly there are the Vincy, the father and the head of the family Mr. Walter vincy his elder son Fred Vincy his daughter Rosamond vincy and Mr. Lucy vincy his wife. Thirdly there are the Garth Caleb Garth his Daughter Mary Garth his sons Alfred Garth and others. Fourthly there are Casaubon’s Mrs. Edward Casaubon’s a clergy and scholar residing at lowick manor, and his cousin ladislaw. Other importance characters are peter Featherstone. A rich miser owner of stone court. Joshua Rigg his illegitimate son ; John Raffles the drunken step father of Rigg: Nicholas Bestrode a rich banker his wife Harriet Bulstrode; sir James chettam a amiable Baronet who marries Celia; and Tertius lydgate a doctor of advanced views and an outsider in Middlemarch. Of the minor characters more importance ones are Mr.Cadwallader reverend Mr. Camden Fare brother his mother Mrs.Farebroher, and his sister Winifred Fare brother. There is also Mr. Toller a well established doctor of Middlemarch and rival to Lydgate ; Reverend Mr. Tyke the curate ; Trumbull the auctioneer,etc.The list is a long one and it is by no means exhaustive or all-inclusive.
Themes and Ideas:
Middlemarch is a complex work of art and also number of themes and ideas stand out of it. First there is the theme of noble aspirations frustrated both by repressive environment meanness of opportunity and “the spots of commonness” in the character concerned. Dorothea and lydgate are the two main characters who are frustrated in this way. Secondly there the theme of Therasa complex in the novelist her self . Thirdly there is the theme of self education and depiction of the slow process through which a character shades his ego and his delusions and attains spiritual regeneration and a better and fuller life. Lastly there is also the clash of the old and the new depiction of how the past shapes the future and from the future is controlled and determined by the present.
The Women character of in these Novel:
(1)Dorothea Brooke
(2)Celia Brooke
(3)Harriet Bulstrode
(4)Julia Casaubon
(5)Lucy Vincy
(6)Mary Garth
Charming and Beautiful of Dorothea Brooke:
Dorothea Brooke is a young and Fascinating lady who lives with her younger sister Celia at Tipton Grange near Middlemarch the home of Mr. Arthur Brooke their uncle and Guardian. Her physical beauty and fascinating personality have been stressed in the very beginning of the novel. We are told “miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress. Her hand and wrist were so sleeves not lees bare of style than those in which the Blessed virgin appeared to Italian painters and her profile as well as her stature and bearing seemed to gain more dignity from her pain garments which by the side of provincial fashion gave her the impressiveness of a fine quotation from the Bible- or from one of our elder poets in a paragraph of today’s news paper”.
Not any Heroin in the Novel.
Dorothea Brooke is the first major character to be introduced to us and the prelude to the novel creates the impression that she is its heroine. But it is not so. She is no doubt, one of the most important character in the novel and it deals with the frustration of her aspirations .still she is not the heroine for Middlemarch is the story of Middlemarch society and if anyone is its hero it is Middlemarch itself.

Idealistic ,Theoretic Nature:

Dorothea Brooke is a lady with noble aspirations. She wants to lead a higher life to achieve something really noble. She is the extra ordinary individual thrown upon a common place world. She seeks an outlet for her higher aspirations in doing humanitarian work. Thus she makes plans and projects to improve the living condition of the tenants on the estate of the Baronet sir chettam. She is different from other ladies of her age and this difference is stressed by contrasting her with her sister Celia. Celia is an ordinary normal girl with a girlish fondness for jewellery and fine clothes. Dorothea looks down upon such feminine frivolities Celia notices Casaubon’s age and his two white moles with hairs on them Dorothea remains completely oblivious to such physical details. She sees in him a reflection of Locke or Milton and accepts him as her husband in preference to young and handsome for Twould be able to achieve her aspirations.
The Theresa –Complex:
Dorothea what has been called the Theresa complex ;I.e.
“a yearning to do good in the world which is so intense that it must answer to some emotional need in the Theresa her self”.
Theresa was an Christian saint who had such a yearning. Dorothea has been referred to in the prelude as a later Theresa. We are told “here and there is born and saint Theresa foundress of nothing whose loving heart beats and sobs after and an unattained goodness tremble off and are dispersed among hindrances instead of centering in some long recognizable dead”. She is Theresa in her lofty aspirations “struggling under dim lights and entangled circumstances”, to achieve her aspirations but she lives in society in which there is no particular demand for Theresa. It is a repressive environment which allows no scope foe lofty ideals, where such idealistic natures are frustrated crushed to atoms. Or compelled to compromise with their environment.

Inner frustration of Dorothea:

The most that she can do in the society of Middlemarch is to make projects for building better cottages for poor tenants and thus ameliorating their lot. It is this inner frustration which makes her seize any opportunity which offers her a chance of self fulfillment. It is this which makes her accepts Casaubon in place of sir Chettam despite his age and his physical unpleasantness. She marries him not because any sexual consideration but because “she has vague religious aspirations looks down upon the excellent country gentleman, sir James chettam and fancies that she would like to marry the Judicious Hooker or Milton in his blindness’.
Dorothea’s unfortunate consequences.
In her view “the really delightful marriage must be that were your husband was a sort of father and could each you even Hebrew ,if you wished it”. The word father here is important .It is both an early signal to the reader of what will follow when Casaubon comes on the scene and a revelation of what is lacking in Dorothea which any other girl would have . She is deeply conscious of gender. Leading to a complete difference of intellectual and spiritual function. She is scarcely at all at this stage conscious of sex But perhaps no persons than living certainly none in the neighborhood of Tipton-would have had a sympathetic understanding for the dreams of a girl whose nations about marriage took their color entirely from an exalted enthusiasm about the ends of life an enthusiasm which was lit by its own fire and included neither the niceties of the trousseau the pattern of the plate not even the honors and sweet joys of the blooming matron.
Dorothea’s self Decision and suffering
She is lofty, lofty, idealistic straight forward and honest and also self-deluded and self deceived. Carried away by her lofty ideals she fails to see the reality she remains c even to most obvious truths. She fails to understand the real character of Casaubon-that he is a prig and pedant a wooden character incapable of love any enjoyment of life until it is too late . This self delusion is her “spot of commonness” and the real cause of the tragedy of her life.

Vain and inconsiderate:

Dorothea is self deluded in another way also. She thinks that she is entirely free from the little vanities and frivolities of the fairest but such vanities still lurk within her. This is clearly brought out through the séance in which the two sister divide their jewellery. The episode shows that she is self-centered and self deceiving and as consequence, often inconsiderate and harsh according to A.O.J. Co shut, it is a weakness of characters of this kind to make no allowance for the existence of other temperaments and other interests without meaning to be harsh on Celia takes.
Comparison with Celia.
Celia the simpler nature with her perfectly normal and unconcealed wish to wear splendid jewellery is here the more objective of the two. “And throughout these early chapter Celia is used to shows by contrast the more obscure character of Dorothea it would be wrong to think of Dorothea as entirely remote from mundane concerns. She is very anxious once she has agreed to marry Casaubon to get the people well housed in lowick.

The note of irony and satire.

It is for this reason that lesliestephen goes to the extent of saying that Dorothea is a satire is on young ladies with noble aspirations. To passage quote his own words.
“Dorothy’s mistake was not that she married a man who had not read German but that she married a stick instead of a man”.
Conclusion:
Thus in the Victorian tradition of the novel all the difficulties and complications are resolved in the end and all the characters are happily united. Even Bulstrode who had to suffer disgrace and give up all his public offices at last achieves a measure of serenity. His wife who had been much shocked by the discovery of his past remains loyal to him and does much to console and comfort him in his time of trouble.
The novel has its faults still it remains a great classic and a masterpiece.

Mary Garth:

The practical pain and kind daughter of Celeb and Susan Garth, she works as Mr.featherstone nurse. She and Fred Vincy were childhood sweethearts but she refuses even to encourage him to who her until he shows himself willingly and able to live seriously practically and sincerely.

Celia Brooke.

Dorothea’s more conventional younger sister who does not share Dorothea’s idealism and asceticism.
Dorothhea as sister, Celia is an amiable , innocent looking , down to earth young lady ; her attitude towards Dorothea is a “mixture of criticism and aew”,and on “safe opportunities she has the knack” of making her negative wisdom tell…… by remanding he that people were staring not listening “again in contrast to Dorothea she is not impulsive she waits the appropriate opportunity. To voice her views and always in a tone of ‘quiet’ staccato evenness”.