Feminine Masculinity

I think it is interesting how Eliot talks about the gossipers who are involved in spreading the news about Bulstrode's past. She includes some very interesting references to both the male and female characters as she introduces some new characters with very distinct attributes. For instance, Mr. Limp is the "meditative shoemaker with weak eyes and a piping voice (678). Mr. Hopkins, the "meek-mannered draper," needed to talk to men because he usually only dealt with women (672). And then there are the "horse men." Mr. Bambridge talks about horse business with Mr. Hawley. These men are clearly manly men. Why does Eliot make the distinction between the types of people who begin to talk about Bulstrode? Do they all have flaws (all except Will Ladislaw, of course)? These few pages seem full of descriptive passages about their personalities. Is Eliot trying to get the point across that all people have flaws, or is there something else run afoul in Middlemarch?