Friday, April 13, 2012
What happens after Middlemarch ends?
Dr. Hanrahan stated that we could write about anything this week on the blog, so here goes. I am going to talk about what I wrote in my paper just a bit, because I am Middlemarch brain-dead just about now! And of course my favorite subject of Middlemarch is....WILL LADISLAW! Well, who wouldn't want to be married to Will? He was on the cutting edge of societal evolution, not stuck in some patriarchal misogynistic role of the mid-nineteenth century England. AND, he was good-looking. He was progressive. If the book had continued for another 900 pages, in my opinion, Eliot would have most assuredly returned Dorothea to her architectural work. Dorothea would perhaps have even gone back to school to become proficient in architectural drawings. No, Dorothea wouldn't have needed to go back to school because she was smart enough to start her own architecture school after her kids had gone off to college (her girls included, because she has a few more kids after the book ends...). So Ladislaw is not the cause of Dorothea's return to the domestic sphere. Ladislaw helps Dorothea fulfill her dreams of motherhood and then Dorothea chooses to pursue her dreams of college a profession.
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I love this! For my paper, I am adding scenes to Jane Eyre that center around Bertha and Rochester. Isn't it fun to rewrite/modify these novels?
ReplyDeleteYes! And they can end the way that you want them too! :)
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a very interesting idea, Ann. Unfortunately, however, I do not think that a union between Dorothea and Will would work out in the long-run. Although Dorothea masks herself underneath a veil of morality and advocates religious principles, I think there is another side to her that Eliot attempts to conceal. I always think back to the jewel scene where Dorothea and her sister are splitting up the jems: Dorothea talks about how she is unphased by earthly possessions but then selects the most beautiful piece of jewelry for herself. I cannot help but think, therefore, that there is a part of Dorothea that is never satisfied. I think that Dorothea would eventually get bored with William or would see him as her intellectually inferior--despite his accomplishments in the arts.
ReplyDelete*would see him as intellectually inferior*
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