Middlemarch

[Psycheinaboat]

I have a question about George Eliot’s Middlemarch, but because I am only on Ch. 3 I beg of you, please no spoilers!

This book seems very satirical to me. In the preface Eliot warns that a Saint Theresa born into an environment with fewer opportunities for heroic martyrdom will seem ridiculous, but even with that in mind, Dorothea seems a caricature. And not only Dorothea, but all the other characters seem equally absurd.

Eliot’s other characters in other novels seem so realistic compared with those in Middlemarch. Am I reading this correctly or am I allowing my personal opinions to color my perception?

[Riddleman]

You're spot on I think! It's a satire. Actually, I must say I found Middlemarch a bit of a tough read because of all the caricatures: there's no one to sympatise with.... I liked Adam Bede much better!

[Psycheinaboat]

Thank you for the response. I just wanted to know that I was going in the right direction with this and it is good to know at least one person agrees. :)

[omegaxx]

Hi OP, are you finished the book yet? What do you think now?
I found the 1st 100pgs or so very satirical as well. But as the story moves on and you start delving deeper and deeper into each character's brain you realize that they are, in fact, very sympathetic and indepth portraits.

[lisahead]

I love Middlemarch because it is a farce!! The uncle is a hoot and has become the achetype of an English county squire.

[Cathy_May]

The first part sounds really ironic, for this part is originally another story, which is called Miss Brooke. G. ELiot has noted in her diary that this time she was going to creat her beloved intelligent heroin in a new form. She managed it well, but without finishing it she combined it with another half-written novel, which is about a doctor's ideal and failure, and thus the new novel, Middlemarch was born. So it is quite understandable that the first part reads different from the rest of the novel. It is obvious that Eliot changed her mind on the part of Dorothea Brooke, and from the second part we face a heroin in her usual form

[kelby_lake]

I agree with Cathy_May. The novel starts off openly satirical and it seems like it'll be a satire in the way that Vanity Fair is. Although Eliot makes satirical commentary, there's too much heart for it to be a satire and it has quite a tragic vein. Casaubon's tragedy might be dismissed as him simply being cudmeogenly but then Lydgate, who we expect to be a hero, is also a failure. There's too much doubt for it to be a real satire. Satire is merciless and completely undoubting as to the writer's reaction to whatever is being satirised. Middlemarch is a novel heavy with doubt.