Skip to main content

Middlemarch By George Eliot- Book Review



Rating: If you are a writer, Must read.
If you are not- Still, a must read.


I have just finished reading Middlemarch. It is quite a heavy and voluminous book. The story slowly rises, very slowly, spread across so many deeply developed and intricately engaging characters- the people of a fictional rustic town of Middlemarch in the 18th Century England. The narrative and the story is strong, well-built with huge shoulders to carry various causes which it alludes to.
The beauty and charm of reading a classic of those times is that while these stories were written when Europe convalesced under the forces which were to set it on a path to glory; it is to the credit to wonderful writers like George Eliot (Real name, Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880)), that they never allow the narrative to surrender to their causes. While the story deals with love, marriage as prime theme, it is not a romance novel, as is evident by the male pen-name taken by the writer in those times. There will of course, be allusion to social themes like widow remarriage, love outside of marital boundaries, social divisions and woman emancipation, but there will always be the story which stands supreme. This is the skill of the writer that the story is the message. Author does not, for a moment, sit at the high pedestal to preach. From that perspective, this is another of Writer’s book (like Orlando, or Lord Jim or The Insulted and The Humiliated, for that matter).

There are no judgement which the writer makes on behalf of the reader. In that sense, the writer doesn’t misuse his exalted position as the creator and narrator of the story. The characters are exactly as they are supposed to be. They thrive and bloom in the thin land of reality which exists between the good and the evil. Therein lies the success of the Novel, it doesn’t preach or screech ever. Just as the oft said- Show, don't tell, this is another lesson, illustrate, don't preach.

The message is subtle, the build impeccable. Virginia Woolf called MiddleMarch as one the few English books written for grown-up people. One needs a degree of maturity and patience to let this book grow on you. By the time one ends the book, (which will be a long time, this being a longish book), you almost feel you have been to this small town, know all those inhabitants and are almost saddened when you close the finished story and miss them sorely, sadly and surely.

The story looms about the small town politics, with Nicholas Bulstrode, as a wealthy and overtly righteous banker, Sir James Chattam, Mr. Brooke and his nieces, Dorothea and Celia Brook, Clergyman Edward Casaubon, Vincy family and the young Doctor Lydgate, before it delves deeper and looks into lives of people, their relationships and evaluates, addresses their parallel stories which run side-by-side.  Much like life, no story is subservient to any other story and it takes special vastness of vision on the part of the writer to ensure that each story is dealt with as delicately as any other.

The Plot is very complex, mostly on account of multiple story-lines and makes one ponder about relationships, customs and conventions, without being judgmental about them. As a reader, it opens layers of your understanding about the world and at no point in the story, the writer tries to impose his vision, his idea on to you. The characters emerge as real people of flesh and blood with their very human weaknesses and strengths arising out of the story.

The story begins with Sir James Chettam wanting to get married to Dorothea, a lovely, young and intellectually awakened woman, searching for her moorings. Dorothea, is much impressed, instead with the wise, and self-effacing Rev. Edward Casaubon, who is much older than her. She however, feels that life would find purpose in the intellectual pursuit, rather supporting the intellectual pursuit of Casaubon. In the process, she spurns James Chettam, refuses to listen to her sister Celia, who is practical and intellectually superficial, and gets married to a much older man. Soon, on their wedding journey to Rome, she realizes her folly and finds herself into a lonely existence on the other side of the wall, beyond which Casaubon is busy in the pursuit of his own elusive intellectual glory. She, a sharp and wise soul, soon realizes the futility of her husband’s pursuit, as she finds the limitations of his mind. Nothing can put this disillusionment more eloquently as the author herself when she writes, 

the large vistas and wide fresh air which she had dreamed of finding in her husband’s mind were replaced by anterooms and winding passages which seemed to lead nowhither.

And as time passes, it comes to a point, when Casaubon asks her regarding whether they should leave or stay, 
It seemed to her as if going or staying were alike dreary. 

As I wrote in the beginning, this is a writer’s book, it is an education for a writer. It takes you to such great pinnacles of glory of language, one bows the head in awe. 
She writes the loneliness of young Dorothea, searching for way to enter into her husband’s intimate life, 

The distant flat shrank in uniform whiteness and low-hanging uniformity of cloud. The very furniture in the room seemed to have shrunk since she saw it before: The stag in the tapestry looked more like a ghost in his ghostly blue-green world….her religious faith was a solitary cry, the struggle out of a nightmare in which every object was withering and shrinking away from her.

 She meets in her days of loneliness in Rome, Will Ladislaw, Casaubon’s young cousin with little fortune to his name. She feels Will has been wronged and is sympathetic towards him. Right at the time, when one feels it is getting into Madam Bovary mold, the story soars as one understands Casaubon, even in his failures, as a human being. As one discovers the deeply distrustful husband in Casaubon, one also feels for him as his impending death is announced. 
She writes, 
when the commonplace, “We must all die” transforms itself suddenly into acute consciousness, “I must die and soon” then death grapples us and his fingers are cruel: 

Edward dies amid the disputed request by Dorothea to support Ladislaw. One doesn’t hate him, one does not love Edward. One does feel a little sad as if someone real had died. Dorothea shrinks into the shadows of young widowhood, under the admonishment of her dead husband’s will that she was never to re-marry and not to Will Ladislaw at least.
Another story which runs in parallel is of the young doctor, Lydgate who arrives in the small town of MiddleMarch and while gains affection of Rosamond, the daughter in Vincy family, while helping her brother Fred Vincy recuperate from his sickness, and marries her. A romantic marriage is soon withered in the warm winds of poverty which brings out the vulnerabilities of their happy lives. Fred Vincy on the other hand, is in love with Mary Garth, a conscientious, wise girl and a daughter of Caleb Garth. Mary wants Fred, who is her childhood sweetheart to get out of his aimlessness, and find stability in life, before she could consent to marry him.

This is a wonderful story of man-woman relationships, of marriage, where love helps the three people survive their on fractured moralities, whether it is Fred Vinci’s view of life devoid of any seriousness, Lydgate whose marriage braves both poverty and selfish attitude of Rosamond to finally settle down and apathy of his in-laws, or Dorothea, who helps Lydgate come out of the unreasonable blame of death of Raffles . Raffles arrives late in the scene and carries secret regarding Bulstrode and Ladislaw. At the end, Dorothea marries Ladislaw, contrary to the will of her deceased husband and advise of her presumptuous and haughty brother-in-law, and erstwhile spurned suiter, Chettam. As a consequence, the relationships with Celia is broken. However, as they would say in Eighteenth century English, by-and-by things would come around all would fall in place. The best thing about this story is that it takes no side, and tells you that left to their own design, in the long run, truth prevails, love prevails. As VS Pritchett would write in 1946, No other writer has represented the ambiguities of moral choices so fully.  Emily Dickinson, when asked about what she thought of MiddleMarch responded by saying, “What do I think of glory?”


While in most Novels, no character except the main protagonists, Ms. Eliot attends with affection to each character in the story. While this lengthens the novel, it ensures that one gets into the skin of MiddleMarch. This explains why the novel still captures the fancy of modern readers, more than a century after it was published (it is an 1872 novel), ranked 21st among the 100 best novels ranked by The Guardian in 2014.  

Comments

Anonymous said…
Enjoyable post thank you

Popular posts from this blog

कायस्थ- इतिहास एवं वर्तमान परिपेक्ष्य

सत्यम , दानम , क्षमा शीलमानृशंस्य तपो घृणा। दृश्यंते यत्र नागेंद्र स ब्राह्मण इति स्मृतः।। ( हे सर्पराज , जिसमें सत्य , दानशीलता , क्षमा , क्रूरतारहित भाव , तप एवं संवरण , एवं संवेदना हो , वह मनुष्य को ही ब्राह्मण मानना चाहिए। ) शुद्रे तु यद् भवेल्लक्षम द्विजे तच्च न विद्दयते। न वै शूद्रों भवेच्छुद्रो ब्रह्मणो न च ब्राह्मण : ।। ( यदि शूद्र में यह गुण हैं ( सत्य , दान , अक्रोध , अहिंसा , तप , संवरण एवं संवेदना ) और ब्राह्मण में यह गुण परिलक्षित ना हों तो वह शूद्र शूद्र नहीं , ब्राह्मण है ; और वह ब्राह्मण ब्राह्मण नहीं है। )  - युधिष्ठिर - नहुष संवाद , अजगर कांड , महाभारत , वन पर्व   वर्तमान परिपेक्ष्य में जिसे जाति कहा जाता है , वह वर्ण व्यवस्था का विकृत रूप है। सनातन धर्म का वर्ण जहाँ समाज को व्यवसाय एवं क्षमता के अनुरूप व्यवस्थित करने का प्रयास था और कर्म पर आधारित था , जाति उसी व्यवस्था का विघटित रूप बन कर जन्मगत व्यवस्था बन गई। जाति या कास्ट पुर्तगाल

Pathaan and Polarisation- Movie Review

Many have not seen Pathan, I have. I have a huge tolerance towards stupid movies and I love to watch all sort of movies. What has bothered me most about Pathaan is that in terms of content and characterisation, it is absolutely shoddy, much worse than much lampooned RaOne AND there is no review which openly tells you about it.  Most reviewers have reviewed the movie like a teenager, gushing over VFX generated body of ShahRukh Khan. This reminds me of my schoolmates bunking classes to watch tomato-sauce-laced movies of Ramsey brothers, gushing over semi-nude voluptuous actresses in the late 80s. Only difference being that those were school kids in class XII, with raging hormones and a stupefied intellect when a world around them was fast changing. Here we have middle-aged professional movie reviewers guiding people to their way in or out of Movie theatres. Their primary argument in favour of the movie is nothing but beefed up Shahrukh Khan and the gap between his earlier movie and this

बाल विवाह - हिंदू इतिहास और सत्य

  इतिहास का लेखन उसकी विसंगतियों की अनुक्रमिका नहीं वरन उसके समाज के आम रूप से स्वीकृत मान्यताओं एवं उस समाज के जननायकों द्वारा स्थापित मानदंडों के आधार पर होना चाहिए। परंतु जब लेखनी उन हाथों में हो जिनका मंतव्य शोध नहीं एक समाज को लज्जित करना भर हो तो समस्या गहन हो जाती है। जब प्रबुद्ध लोग कलम उठाते हैं और इस उद्देश्य के साथ उठाते हैं कि अप्रासंगिक एवं सदर्भहीन तथ्यों के माध्यम से समाज की वर्ग विभाजक रेखाओं को पुष्ट कर सकें तो हमारा कर्तव्य होता है कि हम सत्य को संदर्भ दें और अपने इतिहास के भले बुरे पक्षों को निर्विकार भाव से जाँचें।   बीते सप्ताह बाल विवाह को लेकर विदेशी सभ्यता में उठे प्रश्नों को भारत की सभ्यता पर प्रक्षेपित करके और उसकी स्वीकार्यता स्थापित करने पर बड़ी चर्चा रही। इस संदर्भ में   श्री ए एल बाशम से ले कर राजा राम मोहन रॉय तक चर्चा चली। बाशम की पुस्तक द वंडर दैट वाज इंडिया - को उद्धृत कर ले कहा गया कि हिं