Analysis of women and their marriages in middlemarch

Abstract

With the development of the Industrial Revolution，there were great changes，not only in material but spiritual aspects，taking place in Britain through the whole 19th century.However，during the period of transition in society，for the old habits were broken，people’s spiritual lives trapped into anxiety，confusion and panic，the spirit of people fell into “dilemma”.

George Eliot，as one of the great nineteenth-century British women writers，is particularly sensitive to these changes and used own pen to portray a complex panorama of British society for us，but the most important is，Eliot wants to express her own views on society，life and marriage.This paper mainly analyzes of two main characters in Middlemarch to express Eliot’s view on woman and marriage，and at the same time，analyze of the ambivalent Female Marriage Concept with the combination some texts and plots，focusing on analysis and discussion of the marriage view of women in Victorian period，patriarchal characteristics，and the author’s advices.

Through the above analysis，I hope to make the readers a better understanding of the nineteenth century British society and，more importantly，enable the readers to more deeply experience George · Eliot’s unique charm and literary insight as a great writer .

Keywords：Middlemarch George Eliot Ambivalence Woman Marriage

Introduction

George Eliot is regarded as one of the greatest women writers in 19th century，who is listed with Jane Austen，Henry James and Joseph Conrad. Most literary critics in China pay their focus on Eliot’s religious morality，while the purpose of her writing is as she says “the faithful representing of commonplace thing” as a realist. In recent years，however，more and more attention has been paid to George Eliot’s works，especially Middlemarch，which “is now generally recognized，not only as the full flower of George Eliot’s genius，but as one of the finest novels in the English language.” Meanwhile，in the last twenty years，feminist literary criticism has introduced categories of sex and gender into the discussions of the novels of George Eliot.From then on，the name of George Eliot has always been connected with feminist criticism.However，George Eliot is，as Elizabeth Showalter has pointed out，the most difficult and controversial figure for feminist literary criticism.

This paper mainly analyze of two main characters in Middlemarch to express Eliot’s view on woman and marriage，and at the same，analyze of the ambivalent Female Marriage Concept with the combination some texts and plots，focusing on analysis and discussion of the marriage view of women in Victorian period and the author’s advices for women.The very important point of my thesis is to reveal the social fact of the women in Victorian Age through Eliot’s portrays，and then I try to collect and sum up main points of Eliot’s view on woman and marriage aspects from her works and many scholars’ researches.This is also the uniqueness of my thesis.

Analysis of the Two women in Middlemarch

Henry James thinks her novel as a “treasure-house of details” with “too much description and too little drama，too much reflection and too little creation”. But in my opinion，in Middlemarch the whole could simply separate into at least three love stories---Dorothea and Casaubon，Rosamond and Lydgate and Mary Garth and Fred Vincy.The two female characters becomes the bridge to understand Eliot’s view on woman and marriage.The twos have some ambivalence not only in themselves’ character but also during the process of choice in marriage because of the novel’s background---the Industrial Revolution and the rapid speed of the whole society；the contradiction of course is the mirror of social influence to woman and Eliot’s view.

Dorothea’ s Ambivalence

There are two main characters in this novel：Dorothea and Rosamond.The former is the representative of new era’s women，who is passionate and has high ideal but doesn’t get rid of the tradition’s influence.And the latter is the representative of the woman who is molded in the lines of Victorian value.Eliot is a very intelligent and thoughtful woman and her life experience and knowledge make her sensitive to the woman’s status in society，especially in the aspects of women themselves and their marriages.

Ambivalence in Her Characteristics

In Middlemarch，Dorothea is a complex person and a combination of some ambivalence，who is passionate，energetic，and long for high ideal to be knowledgeable，realized what she really needs and her own nature instead of being suppressed and self-created by asceticism and self-sacrifice.She has the passionate specific character and unparalleled pious faith to look for epic life wholeheartedly to cast off the meaningless life type of middle-class woman and contribute to the social progress.But she can’t find the right way because she doesn’t realize that it’s impossible to make the ideal come true for a woman in patriarchal society of Victorian Age.“With more energy than is expected of so young a lady” which is betrayed the social expectation：Women were expected to have weak opinions；but the great safeguard of society and of domestic life was，that opinion was not acted on. Her unique characteristics are not accepted by the tradition.Even she herself also thinks that some of her habits are not suitable with the lines of traditional points.She has her own dreams and wants to lead a meaningful life differently from the other women like “flowers which are planted in too rich a soil，strength and usefulness are sacrificed to beauty.” But the social circumstance cannot allow her to be that woman like Saint Theresa.

Ambivalence in Her Marriage

Although she has a lofty ideal that makes her enthusiasm to devote the whole energy and time to construct society and something great，she has no exact target and lack of education，artistically accomplished，social experience and even specific technique.So as a woman in Victorian society，she only to choose a learned husband that she admires，at the same time hopes to learn more from him and eventually to be great with participating the compile of Casaubon’s Keys to All Mythologies.However，she has committed a taboo—no matter how great the ideal is —the basic elements of marriage should be taken into consideration like true love…“an intellectual appetite impossible to satisfy in the home circle，a capacity for affection and a yearning to learn on the beloved which circumstance also foil.” Those contradictions the women in that time have to face：high aspiration but ignorance，a boost to own ego but against the social doctrine，a dilemma between career and marriage.Her situation also represents the whole woman such as circle of narrow life，the limited education，and ignorance to human nature，but enthusiasm of religion，which makes them regard marriage as the bridge to achieve ideal.

Rosamond’s Ambivalence

Rosamond is the foil，who is the story's key figures.And as the embodiment of the social environment，she destroys Lydgate’s lofty ideals of science，but also plays a victim of gender discrimination.

The So-called Perfect Woman

Rosamond is completely molded by the standard of patriarchal values，and Eliot reveals her most realistic attitude towards woman.She met the men of that society's general expectations of the spouse.The factors of ideal husband in Rosamond’s mind will be related to the social status，rank and wealth，for he who is “carrying a certain air of distinction congruous with good family，and possessing connections which offered vistas of that middle-class heaven rank” What’s more，she holds that “no young man in Middlemarch was good enough for her.”She wants the man foreign to the Middlemarch.

Ambivalence in Her Marriage

Rosamond is sent to the Mrs.Lemon’s school to train her to be a fair maiden—“even to extras，such as getting in and out of carriage”. Eliot uses symbolism to satire the social doctrine and suppression to woman—the school is the symbol of patriarchal society value.And her husband Lydgate is also a standard gentle man from aristocrats’ family emigrated into Middlemarch from the external world and has ambition to succeed in medical circle.In fact，Rosamond’s “perfect” is not only the result of lady education，but the so-called virtue of male self-righteousness imposed on woman.It is society，especially man create this “Angle in the Home”.Being educated in such manner，Rosamond becomes a selfish girl，“a monster of self-love in whose softness and sweetness lies concealed an utterly ruthless resolve to have her own way in everything” and she wants to step into the upper class.On the other side，Rosamond has no choice only to depend on who is wealthy，enjoying social statue to satisfy her luxury consumption.So she is a victim of gender discrimination，while her husband is a victim of the victim.

George Eliot’s View on Women and Their Marriages

George Eliot herself，who is utterly different from contemporary woman in that conventional and traditional society，leads a special life with Lewis，which is not accepted and understood by the others.In the final analysis of the difference，it lies on the different concept towards woman and their marriage.Her views on woman and marriage are running through in her women figures in her novels as the above analysis of the twos.But Eliot herself is also tripped into contradiction because she cannot get rid of the influence of the tradition as a member of the society.

View on Women

“Angel in the House” is the perfect sketch of middle-class woman in Victorian Age written by Coventry Patmore.

However，in Eliot’s writings，the image and status of feminine are not stereotyped.Firstly，love and the spirit of dedication are regarded as the feminine virtue and maternal love is the fountain and essence of human being’s other loves.In her novel，feminine leads like Dinah·Morris，Maggie·Tulliver，Romola·Barton，Dorothea bring the twilight of hope and happiness to others surrounded them with their selfless dedication and love，whether they make their ideals come true or not，but the spirit is splendid and honored through defeat.In the novel，she uses very harsh words outline of selfish in difference parasites，and praised to Mrs.Garth as the representative of the traditional family women with the voice of plain，who are pain and simple，but educated，good at turning knowing into a practical and effective family management skills；they respect her husband，but refused to place themselves entirely subordinate position，it also won her husband and children love and respect of others.However，if the one like Hefty · Sorrel gives up maternal love and refuses to dedicate to others，they will eventually suffer the retribution.From the above mentioned，we easily infer that Eliot’s perfect woman is that who pay more attention to the family affairs and has the spirit of self-sacrifice.Her view on woman has been amply demonstrated by portraying female characters in the novel.Social restriction and prejudice have effects the woman’s career revolution，and also the choice in marriage as Celia believes：

“Of course men know best about everything，except what women know better”

B.View on Woman’s Marriage

In Eliot’s view，she doesn’t encourage woman independent and to separate themselves from man，especially in marriage life.So there is also dilemma in what she did and said：on one hand，she stands for woman being own self in man-dominated society as the Elizabeth Showalter has noted，“the most difficult and controversial figure for feminist literary criticism.”；on the other hand，she has to choose the marriage-end for her women-figures for the great influence of the traditional prejudice.She claims that “As a fact of mere zoological evolution，man and woman have different nature.As a result，absolute equality between men and women is not desired.” Whether it is good or not，they constitute Eliot’s unique view on woman’s marriage.From the point view of Eliot’s，communication and love are two important points in marriage life for the great influence of the theory of organic society and her own experience.Communicating with friends in letter，she repeatedly stresses the essence and meaning of marriage.She holds that the true love is not related to the external factors with involuntary but willingness.Eliot thinks highly of love and responsibility as the decisive roles in the marriage.Love is one of the most important elements to depend on a marriage is failure or not，which is not related to one’s ambition，property，social status or other worldly factors.It includes an equal treatment between husband and wife，a friendly true emotion after overcoming many obstacles together in real life and so on.Eliot’s “marriage” with Lewis is the best example for love.

If we define Dorothea’s first marriage as a way for being great and knowledgeable，the second would be simple for love as it narrated in Finial：“No life would have been possible to Dorothea while was not filled with emotion.” Eliot has been exploring and discussing the essence and meaning of marriage in her writings even in her whole life.

Conclusion

George Eliot’s novel just likes a mirror of the English society，presenting male-dominated age and woman’s subordinate status.We could separate the two main relationships from the complex social system：one is man and society，the other is woman and society.For me，I take the woman affairs into consideration to present Eliot’s views on woman and their marriage as a rare feminine writer through analyzing of two feminine leads’ marriages and fates in Middlemarch.George Eliot in Middlemarch creates many vivid female figures，such as Dorothea and Rosamond，presenting one aspect of her views on woman and their marriage.This thesis will be mainly focus on the views of Eliot towards woman and their marriage by analysis of the ambivalence of two feminine during the process of the choice between marriage and career.There is also dilemma in what she did and said：on one hand，she stands for woman being own self in man-dominated society.On the other hand，she has to choose the marriage-end for her women-figures for the great influence of the traditional prejudice.Whether it is good or not，they constitute Eliot’s unique view on woman’s marriage.

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