1. Casaubon gets very jealous of Dorothea's time with Will Ladislaw. He seems to want her all to himself, but when he has her, he seems to want nothing to do with her. Why does he do this? Is he trying to isolate her? Is he trying to keep up his reputation of a successful man with a faithful wife? Or is he just acting like the selfish,, greedy child who refuses to share?
2. Many characters in this novel claim to love one another, even after very short periods of time. What constitutes love for most of the characters? Which characters do you think are truly in love and which ones are not? If they are not, why do you think they claim to be?
The issue of love in this book bothers me. Like you said, many characters claim to love each other. Love happens so quickly that I doubt if it is really love, or is love just infatuation or motivated by money. The relationship between Mary Garth and Fred Vincy is puzzling to me. Fred seems to really love Mary. He is working really hard to become her husband. Likewise, Mary seems to love Fred. She gives up a potential relationship with Farebrother for Fred. I just keep asking: Why Fred??
ReplyDeleteWhy Fred, indeed?!
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