1. After Lydgate advises Bulstrode to keep the ailing Raffles away from alcohol, Lydgate eventually gives into temptation and provides the housekeeper with the keys to the wine cellar. Do you think that this this action is premeditated murder or do you think that Bulstrode honestly felt bad for the man?
2. Do you think that Lydgate understood the real reason that Bulstrode suddenly offered him money or do you think that Lydgate is naive? If Lydgate suspected that the money was to silence him, what does that say about the portrait of his character that Eliot has given us throughout the book?
I really think #1 could be a paper topic. Also, Eliot uses the word "murder" again in the conversation between Rosamond and Dorothea--and it's a very important conversation.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the suggestion, Dr. Hanrahan! I actually did not pick up on the word "murder" when I was reading, so I think that I may need to re-read that section of the text and do some investigating of my own. Although my mind tells me that the whole affair was an accident, my intuition tells me that Bulstrode knew exactly what he was doing.
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