Dorothea Making a Stand

Many of us have voiced the question as to why Dorothea constantly stands up for Lydgate and other men without standing up for herself. I feel that Dorothea's heart is in the right place when she seeks to help Lydgate and his relationship with Rosamond. If you had the power to help a friend from a socially ruining situation, wouldn't you help? While it's hard to understand how a female character can focus on people other than herself, I think that helping others through the course of Middlemarch is what gets her the ending that she wants. We may not consider her marriage to Will to be a good ending in terms of her own independence, but I really think that Dorothea wanted exactly what was given to her. Sometimes it's hard to remember that most characters are supposed to be like real people.

Dorothea's Sense of Self, or Lack Thereof

"...she drew her head back and held his away gently that she might go on speaking, her large tear-filled eyes looking at his very simply, while she said in a sobbing childlike way, 'We could live quite well on my own fortune--it is too much- seven hundred a-year--I want so little--no new clothes--and I will learn what everything costs'" (762).

It breaks my heart that the only thing Dorothea would think to mention about not spending money on is new clothes. Is this all that women wanted to spend money on? Their lives' accumulation of reputation and the right marriages for... new clothing? What about cottages, the cost of blueprints, lumber, books on architecture? What about language books for learning Latin? For a heroine who in the beginning of this novel was not concerned about her dead mother's jewelry... why is she talking about clothes? I understand that she's abandoned her inheritance from her dead husband, as well as the estate that went along with it, just to marry Will, but something is missing; her dreams are missing. It seems those are the real cost of marrying Will, or marrying at all, for that matter.

A woman's role

While reading Middlemarch it took awhile for me to get into it and to truly grasp the message of what it was trying to send to it's readers.  I honestly didn't see the purpose of reading it, until recently, and from what I heard yesterday from one of my best friends it helped me understand the true meaning.  I was talking to one of my friends and she told me that a girl from back home wrote a status on facebook that said, "vaginas learn your place in the household", in which 15 males liked the status. When she told me that I just looked at her with my jaw to the ground and just went off, because hearing that from a woman honestly disgusted me. The fact that this girl made a stereotype and expects women to only be useful in a domestic capacity is wrong. I'll admit I like to cook, bake, garden, clean, and hope to be married and raise a family one day, but there is more to me than that. The way she wrote her status is even condescending and seems to put a limit on what women can actually do. Don't even get me started on the fact that 15 males liked it, all I wanted to do was reach into the computer and pull them out by their ears and if possible just transform them into a woman and see how they like the stereotype and the criticism that is given to us. I also found a website that is called a The World of Letters, in this website it discusses topics of the book and what it means from it's readers, for example: "As such a wife, Rosamond is supposed to occupy her time with trifling pursuits such as needlework and music." which of course it's limiting what we as women are capable of doing, it shows that we only have one purpose and to not follow our dreams. Which in the end of the book, Dorothea does the opposite. I love how Dorothea follows her heart and dreams, and truly doesn't give a crap about what society thinks or how she is viewed by men. She took a stand and believed that she could achieve it and she has. I feel that hearing what the girl said on facebook, goes against everything that women have fought for and where we are today. We have women as CEO's, Lawyers, Teachers, Doctors, and we all can vote, is phenomenal and the fact that she said something that completely goes against what we have now is heart-breaking, and a kick in the face.

Anger Toward Eliot

The other day, I was searching through some articles and found one titled: “Why Feminist Critics are Angry with George Eliot” by Zelda Austen. The article was published in 1976, but I think it makes some good points! Austen takes on some of the negative criticism of Eliot and provides explanations and counter arguments. I found the article to be interesting, especially since some of us may have some anger directed toward Eliot (for reasons other than “Why does Middlemarch have to be so long!).

The article states that critics are angry with Eliot “because she did not permit Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch to do what George Eliot did in real life.” For example, Dorothea does not translate, or publish. She also does not refuse to marry or live openly with a man whom she could not marry. Some critics see Dorothea’s marriage to Will as a cop-out and wish that Dorothea didn’t marry at all. They also wish for Dorothea to be more of a reflection of Eliot’s own biography. Zelda Austen makes the counter-argument that Dorothea couldn’t be like Eliot. Eliot was a “genius” and one of kind. Dorothea, however, represents “every girl of exceptional aspiration” who must fit into “the forms that already existed.”

Other critics disagree with the message that Eliot is portraying. They believe Eliot is saying that the character that breaks the mold of society is “doomed.” Dorothea must go through a lot of pain before her actions are rewarded. One critic states, “The heroine does better to accept her lot, submit to the yoke of marriage, and curb her desires…” Critics are upset because Dorothea’s only happy route seems to be marriage and how does marriage break the female stereotype?

I would argue that Dorothea does break out of the world of limitations that are associated with being a woman. Although she gets married, Dorothea wants to be married to Will and does not "curb her desires." In response to Dorothea’s marriage, Mr. Brooke says, “But she can act as she likes, you know.” Dorothea doesn’t let her dead husband control her from the grave. She doesn’t wallow in self-pity that she can’t marry the man she loves without losing all her money. Instead, she is active. She defies Casaubon, and does exactly what she wants.

The article says a lot more than I can't write on a blog post. If you are interested, it can be accessed on JSTOR.

I Misplaced my Values....

Okay so after finishing this book, there are three things I have found to be constant.  Money, class, and Reputation mean everything in Middlemarch.  Maybe it's me, but since when does one's belongings, social ranking, and supposed "reputation" matter more than the relationships you have with people?  Casaubon was obsessed with Dorothea marrying Lydgate after his death, and threatened to take away her inheritance (which should be doubled after putting up with his stingy self).  Eliot wrote scathing descriptions of all the gossipy townsfolk, and it seems that EVERYONE has an opinion about how others should live their lives (Dorothea's James).  This book would have been much more enjoyable had the characters lived for themselves, instead of others.  They meddle where they don't belong, pass judgment on situations they have no right to even know about, and continue to create problems for themselves.  I am not the type of person to concern myself with what other people do, quite frankly I have enough to deal with in my life, that I really don't have time for yours.  These characters would benefit to adopt the same ideal.

Hate to say "I told you so"

One of the things that stands out about Middlemarch is Eliot's use of characterization. From the very beginning of the novel, Eliot provides the reader with detailed, thorough character sketches and she explores how characters interact with each other. Many of the characters fit within the context of a stereotypical mode. For example, Cecilia is the typical girly girl, Mrs. Cadwallader is the town gossip, and Mr. Featherstone is the cranky, hateful old man. Despite the stereotypical characters, however, there are a few characters whose personalities stand out from the crowd. When I think of the most unique characters in Middlemarch, I think of Dorothea and Lydgate. Dorothea is unique in that she ultimately ends up discovering her identity as a woman, whereas Lydgate is unique in that he learns how to rise above an unsatisfactory position in life to pursue a career as a new-age doctor.

Although Dorothea and Lydgate appear to be different on the surface, a closer examination of the text shows that the two characters are closely aligned. For starters, Dorothea and Lydgate both appear to be driven by an inward desire to do good in the world. Both characters also decide to pursue alternative paths in life, which forces them to believe in themselves and to learn how to ignore criticism. About halfway through the book, I began to think that Dorothea and Lydgate are parallel characters. I had no doubt in my mind that Eliot would try to connect the two by the time the book was finished--and, lo and behold, Dorothea comes to Lydgate's rescue after the Bulstrode scandal. Dorothea offers to fund Lydgate's project at the hospital because she feels that the project provides her with a way to use her money to benefit the good of all: "So you see that what I should most rejoice at would be to have something good to do with my money; I should like it to make other people's lives better" (813). Although I think that Dorothea's generosity is a good thing, I feel like the event is too contrived to be realistic. In many ways, I feel like Eliot uses this scene as a means to make the reader sympathize with Dorothea and to overlook Dorothea's defaults throughout the book.

I can't think of a clever title :(

"Sir James never ceased to regard Dorothea's second marriage as a mistake" (784).

Well the marriage is not any of his business, is it? I think he needs to keep his nose out Dorothea and Will's lives unless his nose is invited to be there. He is the kind of person who would get on my nerves very easily. Dorothea can make her own decisions. Her brother-in-law should not have any say in the matter.

I was slightly surprised by Sir James though... When Celia receives the letter from Dorothea announcing the birth of her son, she kind of blows up on Sir James. Perhaps he was shocked by her outburst, or perhaps he was feeling kind, but he states, "What do you wish? I will do anything you like. I will take you to town tomorrow if you wish it," (783). I wonder if he actually cared about her feelings or if he just wanted her to shut up. Anyway, I am glad that he put aside his opinions and allowed Celia to visit her sister.


Not relevant to my original topic, but I would still like to address it... In my post from last week, I tried to combine Dorothea and Casaubon's names to give a name to the child they never had. Now I shall try it for Dorothea and Will...
Willothea, Doroslaw, Ladithea, Wildorslaw... I should probably stop this.