By George Eliot
A Brief Storyline of the Novel
Dorothea Brooke is a bright, religious girl from a “good family.” Orphans, she and her sister Celia live with their unmarried uncle Mr. Brooke at Tipton Grange. So is Sir James Chettam, who arrives to dinner at Tipton with Rev. Edward Casaubon, a 45-year-old bachelor theologian. Casaubon has spent decades writing The Key to All Mythologies, a monumental theological history. Dorothea has been designing homes for Tipton’s tenant farmworkers. At dinner, she likes Casaubon, whom she thinks looks like John Locke and is a “great man.” She imagines a life where she can assist him finish The Key to All Mythologies and fulfil her academic dreams. Sir James is eager to see Dorothea’s plans for the cottages realised, while Casaubon is unimpressed.
On hearing that Casaubon is interested in marrying, Mr. Brooke promptly sends Dorothea a rather formal and awkward letter in which he proposes. Dorothea is overjoyed and sobs to the floor. Dorothea accepts Casaubon despite Mr. Brooke and Mrs. Cadwallader’s reservations, and they eventually relent, saying Dorothea can do what she wishes. Sir James is astounded and appalled by Dorothea’s decision, but more for her than for himself. He keeps in touch with Dorothea and pays frequent visits to Tipton. Dorothea, Celia, Mr. Brooke, and Casaubon meet Will Ladislaw, Casaubon’s second cousin, who is holding a sketchbook. Then a dinner party at Tipton before the wedding. Among the attendees is Tertius Lydgate, a bright young doctor new to Middlemarch who aspires to promote cutting-edge medical change. Lydgate is smitten with Rosamond Vincy, Middlemarch’s most beautiful young woman. Rosamond’s brother Fred is a slacker.
Fred intends to inherit his wealthy but ailing uncle Mr. Featherstone’s farm. Fred has been borrowing money on this assumption. Fred has a crush on Mary Garth since they were kids. Rosamond, meantime, is determined to marry Lydgate in order to gain fortune and position. Bulstrode is a wealthy banker who is distrusted because he is a newcomer from a distant land and an evangelist. He funds the New Hospital and appoints Lydgate as director. Caleb Garth co-signed for Fred after he couldn’t pay the local horse-dealer Mr. Bambridge. When Lydgate lived in Paris, he fell for Laure, an actress who murdered her husband onstage. Lydgate was inspired by the occurrence to adopt a “scientific” approach to women. He is smitten with Rosamond, but wants to wait five years to marry so he can focus on his job. Lydgate befriends a vicar named Farebrother and hesitates to vote for Mr. Tyke for the New Hospital chaplaincy. However, under pressure from Bulstrode, Lydgate provides the final vote to Tyke.
Will Ladislaw and Adolf Naumann, a German painter, see Dorothea at the Vatican. Dorothea is dissatisfied with Casaubon’s treatment of her, especially his refusal to let her assist him with his scholastic work. When Casaubon discovers that Will has visited Dorothea alone at her flat while he is at the Vatican library, he threatens to excommunicate her. Naumann asks Dorothea and Casaubon to sit for him the next day. To make matters worse, Casaubon doesn’t know the current breakthroughs in theological studies because he can’t read German. Fred is still worried about his debt and fails his university exam, making him even more depressed. He tries to sell a horse to get some money, but the horse is lame, leaving Fred worse off. Miserable, he tells Caleb he can’t afford it. Caleb and Mrs. Garth are forced to give up their resources to pay for their son Alfred’s apprenticeship. That means asking Maiy for some of her savings.
Fred gets a fever; the Vincys’ doctor Mr. Wrench treats him, but Fred gets worse. Rosamond spots Lydgate and summons him. Lydgate diagnoses Fred with typhoid illness after Wrench gave him the wrong prescription. Mrs. Vincy is ecstatic Lydgate saved Fred’s life. After her honeymoon, Dorothea learns Celia and Sir James are engaged. The doctor tells Lydgate that Casaubon has a cardiac issue that might be fatal if he doesn’t stop working so hard. Upon learning that Lydgate and Rosamond are engaged, Mrs. Bulstrode confronts him and he pledges to stop visiting the Vincys unless for professional reasons. Rosamond is miserable; Lydgate realises he loves her and proposes. As Mr. Featherstone’s death approaches, his relatives rush to his residence to claim their inheritance. Angry, he informs them he’s already prepared his will. Mary is his carer and one night he wakes up and asks her to burn one of his two wills. She declines, knowing that it may raise suspicions. He offers her £200 to bribe her, but she refuses. Featherstone dies soon after.
Joshua Rigg, an illegitimate son of Mr. Featherstone, is revealed as the beneficiary of Mr. Featherstone’s estate during the reading of his will. The Vincys are particularly enraged. Mr. Vincy seeks to annul Rosamond and Lydgate’s engagement because Lydgate is poor. Electoral reform is gaining momentum in England. Mr. Brooke acquires The Pioneer and hires Will Ladislaw as editor-in-chief. Casaubon tries to stop it since he is sceptical of Will’s feelings for Dorothea. But Will defies him and takes the job. Brooke is accused of being a hypocrite for campaigning on a progressive platform while being a cruel landlord. Mr. Brooke recruits Caleb to handle Freshitt and Tipton, saving the Garths from bankruptcy. Fred has returned from university, where he finally passed his exams and graduated. But he won’t enter the church.
John Raffles, Rigg’s stepfather, arrives in Middlemarch requesting payment. Raffles is an alcoholic who used to beat Rigg, thus Rigg bitterly dismisses him. Meanwhile, Lydgate talks medical reform with Dorothea, who offers £200 a year to the New Hospital. Despite this success, Lydgate remains unpopular in Middlemarch. Will befriends Lydgate and frequently visits Rosamond and Lydgate. Casaubon, ailing, asks Dorothea to promise him that she will honour a wish after he dies. Dorothea, sensing he’s about to ask her to finish The Key to All Mythologies, says she’ll answer in the morning. She decides to say yes, but discovers Casaubon dead when she goes to tell him. Mr. Brooke and Sir James find that if Dorothea marries Ladislaw, she will lose all her property. Dorothea is stunned when Celia tells her. For the first time, she considers having feelings for Will.
Mr. Brooke gives an election campaign address and is egg-pelted. Mary tells Farebrother that she would never marry Fred if he becomes a preacher. Raffles returns to Middlemarch and targets Bulstrode. Raffles has secrets about Bulstrode’s history that he wants to use to blackmail him, and these secrets implicate Will. Dorothea has been living in Freshitt with Celia and her new baby since Casaubon died, but she is bored. Will visits her and leaves Middlemarch. A crowd of anti-railroad farmworkers attacks Caleb and his aide Tom as they are surveying land for a railway. Caleb offers Fred an apprenticeship after Fred defends Caleb and Tom. Mr. Vincy is displeased since it suggests Fred’s schooling was a waste.
Rosamond miscarries after riding when Lydgate warned her not to. Rosamond is enraged that Lydgate had to sell his silverware to pay off their debts. Rosamond informs Will of Casaubon’s will preventing him from marrying Dorothea. Bulstrode is still bothered about Raffles. When Bulstrode was a child, he befriended a pawnbroker from his church, Mr. Dunkirk. Bulstrode was the company’s accountant. Bulstrode married Mr. Dunkirk’s widow. In order to give Sarah (Will’s mother) her inheritance, the widow sought Sarah’s help. Bulstrode bribed Raffles to keep Sarah hidden so he could inherit the money.
Present day: Bulstrode tries to offer Will the inheritance as a sort of reparation. Will returns to say farewell to Dorothea, and she understands he loves her. This time he departs Middlemarch. Lydgate owes £1000 and wants to sell his house to Ned Plymdale, but Rosamond intervenes. Lydgate begs Bulstrode for money. Bulstrode refuses and recommends Lydgate to declare for bankruptcy, removing him from the New Hospital’s management. Raffles reappears, ailing. After calling Lydgate, Bulstrode is diagnosed with alcohol toxicity. Bulstrode offers Lydgate the ,£1000 he needs. Bulstrode fails to give Raffles’ servant sufficient care instructions, and Raffles dies. And now the mysterious narrative of Bulstrode’s history has spread like wildfire around Middlemarch. Bulstrode allegedly bribed Lydgate to kill Raffles. The controversy destroys both of them, compelling them to leave Middlemarch and forsake the New Hospital.
He refuses to stay with Dorothea, who feels Lydgate is innocent. She also writes him a $1000 check to pay off his obligation to Bulstrode. When Dorothea visits the Lydgates, she observes Will and Rosamond holding hands and crying, which she misinterprets as proof of their love. If you don’t like Will, you won’t like Dorothea. Because of Casaubon’s will, Will is certain that he and Dorothea cannot marry. Dorothea assures him she will give up her riches to marry him, despite the opposition of her friends and family. Bulstrode agrees to give his house to Fred.
The narrator explains what happens to each of the main characters after the main storey ends. Fred and Mary marry and live happily ever after. Rosamond and Lydgate’s marriage is unpleasant, and Lydgate dies at 50, a failure. Dorothea is a wife and mother, and Will is a prominent politician.
