1230000113240_

Dorothea Brooke is an idealistic, well-to-do young woman, engaged in schemes to help the lot of the local poor. She is seemingly set for a comfortable, idle life as the wife of neighboring landowner Sir James Chettam, but to the dismay of her sister, Celia (who later marries Chettam), and of her loquacious uncle Mr. Brooke, she marries instead Edward Casaubon, a middle-aged pedantic scholar who, she believes, is engaged on a great work, The Key to All Mythologies. She wishes to find fulfillment through sharing her husbands intellectual life, but during an unhappy honeymoon in Rome she experiences his coldness towards her ambitions. Slowly she realizes that his great project is doomed to failure and her feelings for him descend to pity. She forms a warm friendship with a young cousin of Casaubons, Will Ladislaw, but her husbands antipathy towards him is clear (partly based on his belief that Ladislaw is trying to seduce Dorothea in order to gain access to Casaubons fortune) and Ladislaw is forbidden to visit. In poor health, Casaubon attempts to extract from Dorothea a promise that, should he die, she will "avoid doing what I should deprecate and apply yourself to do what I desire" meaning either that she should shun Ladislaw, or, as Dorothea believes, that she will complete The Key to All Mythologies in his place. Before Dorothea can give her reply, Casaubon dies. She then learns that he has added the extraordinary provision to his will that, if she should marry Ladislaw, Dorothea will lose her inheritance from Casaubon.
Meanwhile, an idealistic young doctor, Tertius Lydgate, has arrived in Middlemarch, with advanced ideas for medical reform. His voluntary hospital work brings him into contact with the towns financier, Mr. Bulstrode, who has philanthropic leanings, but who is also a religious zealot with a secret past. Bulstrodes niece is Rosamond Vincy, the mayors daughter and the towns recognized beauty, who sets her sights on Lydgate, attracted by what she believes to be his aristocratic connections and his novelty. She ensnares him, but the disjunction between her self-centeredness and his idealism ensures that their marriage is unhappy. Through a combination of her material greed and Lydgates weakness he is soon deep in debt and has to seek help from Bulstrode. He is partly sustained emotionally in his marital and financial woes by his friendship with Camden Farebrother, the generous-spirited and engaging parson from a local parish.
At the same time we have become acquainted with Rosamonds university-educated, restless, and somewhat irresponsible brother, Fred, reluctantly destined for the Church. He is in love with his childhood sweetheart, Mary Garth, a sensible and forthright young woman, who will not accept him until he abandons the Church (which she knows he has no interest in) and settles in a more suitable career. Mary has been the unwitting cause of Freds loss of a considerable fortune, bequeathed to him by the aged and irascible Mr. Featherstone, then rescinded by a later will which Featherstone, on his death-bed, begs Mary to destroy. Mary, unaware of what is at stake, refuses to do so. Fred, in trouble over some injudicious horse-dealing, is forced to borrow from Marys father, Caleb Garth, to meet his commitments. This humiliation shocks Fred into a reassessment of his life and he resolves to train as a land agent under the forgiving Caleb.
These three interwoven narratives, with side-plots such as the disastrous though comedic attempt by Mr. Brooke to enter Parliament as a sponsor of Reform, are the basis of the story until it is well into its final third. Then a new thread emerges, with the appearance of John Raffles, who knows about Bulstrodes past and is determined to exploit this knowledge. Bulstrodes terror of public exposure as a hypocrite leads him to hasten the death of the mortally sick Raffles by giving him access to forbidden alcohol and excess amounts of opium. But he is too late; Raffles had already spread the word. Bulstrodes disgrace engulfs the luckless Lydgate, as knowledge of the financiers loan to the doctor becomes public, and he is assumed to be complicit with Bulstrode. Only Dorothea and Farebrother maintain faith in Lydgate, but Lydgate and Rosamond are forced by the general opprobrium to leave Middlemarch. The disgraced and reviled Bulstrodes only consolation is that his wife stands by him as he, too, faces exile.
The final thread in the complex weave concerns Ladislaw, who, since their initial meeting, has kept his love for Dorothea to himself. He has remained in Middlemarch, working for Mr. Brooke, and has also become a focus for Rosamonds treacherous attentions. After Brookes election campaign collapses, there is nothing to keep Ladislaw and he visits Dorothea to make his farewell. But Dorothea, released from life with Casaubon, but still the prisoner of his will, now sees Ladislaw as the means of her escape to a new life. Renouncing her independence, and Casaubons fortune, she shocks her family again, by announcing she will marry Ladislaw. At the same time Fred, who has proved an apt pupil in Calebs profession, finally wins the approval and hand of Mary.
Beyond the principal stories we are given constant glimpses into other scenes. We observe Featherstones avaricious relatives gathering for the spoils, visit Farebrothers strange ménage, and become aware of enormous social and economic divides. But these are the backdrops for the main stories which, true to life, are left largely suspended, leaving a short finale to summarize the fortunes of our protagonists over the next thirty years or so. The book ends as it began, with Dorothea: "Her full nature . . . spent itself in channels which had no great name on the Earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts."

...(*_*)1230000113240_

Dorothea Brooke is an idealistic, well-to-do young woman, engaged in schemes to help the lot of the local poor. She is seemingly set for a comfortable, idle life as the wife of neighboring landowner Sir James Chettam, but to the dismay of her sister, Celia (who later marries Chettam), and of her loquacious uncle Mr. Brooke, she marries instead Edward Casaubon, a middle-aged pedantic scholar who, she believes, is engaged on a great work, The Key to All Mythologies. She wishes to find fulfillment through sharing her husbands intellectual life, but during an unhappy honeymoon in Rome she experiences his coldness towards her ambitions. Slowly she realizes that his great project is doomed to failure and her feelings for him descend to pity. She forms a warm friendship with a young cousin of Casaubons, Will Ladislaw, but her husbands antipathy towards him is clear (partly based on his belief that Ladislaw is trying to seduce Dorothea in order to gain access to Casaubons fortune) and Ladislaw is forbidden to visit. In poor health, Casaubon attempts to extract from Dorothea a promise that, should he die, she will "avoid doing what I should deprecate and apply yourself to do what I desire" meaning either that she should shun Ladislaw, or, as Dorothea believes, that she will complete The Key to All Mythologies in his place. Before Dorothea can give her reply, Casaubon dies. She then learns that he has added the extraordinary provision to his will that, if she should marry Ladislaw, Dorothea will lose her inheritance from Casaubon.
Meanwhile, an idealistic young doctor, Tertius Lydgate, has arrived in Middlemarch, with advanced ideas for medical reform. His voluntary hospital work brings him into contact with the towns financier, Mr. Bulstrode, who has philanthropic leanings, but who is also a religious zealot with a secret past. Bulstrodes niece is Rosamond Vincy, the mayors daughter and the towns recognized beauty, who sets her sights on Lydgate, attracted by what she believes to be his aristocratic connections and his novelty. She ensnares him, but the disjunction between her self-centeredness and his idealism ensures that their marriage is unhappy. Through a combination of her material greed and Lydgates weakness he is soon deep in debt and has to seek help from Bulstrode. He is partly sustained emotionally in his marital and financial woes by his friendship with Camden Farebrother, the generous-spirited and engaging parson from a local parish.
At the same time we have become acquainted with Rosamonds university-educated, restless, and somewhat irresponsible brother, Fred, reluctantly destined for the Church. He is in love with his childhood sweetheart, Mary Garth, a sensible and forthright young woman, who will not accept him until he abandons the Church (which she knows he has no interest in) and settles in a more suitable career. Mary has been the unwitting cause of Freds loss of a considerable fortune, bequeathed to him by the aged and irascible Mr. Featherstone, then rescinded by a later will which Featherstone, on his death-bed, begs Mary to destroy. Mary, unaware of what is at stake, refuses to do so. Fred, in trouble over some injudicious horse-dealing, is forced to borrow from Marys father, Caleb Garth, to meet his commitments. This humiliation shocks Fred into a reassessment of his life and he resolves to train as a land agent under the forgiving Caleb.
These three interwoven narratives, with side-plots such as the disastrous though comedic attempt by Mr. Brooke to enter Parliament as a sponsor of Reform, are the basis of the story until it is well into its final third. Then a new thread emerges, with the appearance of John Raffles, who knows about Bulstrodes past and is determined to exploit this knowledge. Bulstrodes terror of public exposure as a hypocrite leads him to hasten the death of the mortally sick Raffles by giving him access to forbidden alcohol and excess amounts of opium. But he is too late; Raffles had already spread the word. Bulstrodes disgrace engulfs the luckless Lydgate, as knowledge of the financiers loan to the doctor becomes public, and he is assumed to be complicit with Bulstrode. Only Dorothea and Farebrother maintain faith in Lydgate, but Lydgate and Rosamond are forced by the general opprobrium to leave Middlemarch. The disgraced and reviled Bulstrodes only consolation is that his wife stands by him as he, too, faces exile.
The final thread in the complex weave concerns Ladislaw, who, since their initial meeting, has kept his love for Dorothea to himself. He has remained in Middlemarch, working for Mr. Brooke, and has also become a focus for Rosamonds treacherous attentions. After Brookes election campaign collapses, there is nothing to keep Ladislaw and he visits Dorothea to make his farewell. But Dorothea, released from life with Casaubon, but still the prisoner of his will, now sees Ladislaw as the means of her escape to a new life. Renouncing her independence, and Casaubons fortune, she shocks her family again, by announcing she will marry Ladislaw. At the same time Fred, who has proved an apt pupil in Calebs profession, finally wins the approval and hand of Mary.
Beyond the principal stories we are given constant glimpses into other scenes. We observe Featherstones avaricious relatives gathering for the spoils, visit Farebrothers strange ménage, and become aware of enormous social and economic divides. But these are the backdrops for the main stories which, true to life, are left largely suspended, leaving a short finale to summarize the fortunes of our protagonists over the next thirty years or so. The book ends as it began, with Dorothea: "Her full nature [ . . . ] spent itself in channels which had no great name on the Earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts."

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Filtros

middlemarch-4