Summary:
Examines George Eliot's novel, Middlemarch. Explores the narrator's description of the simple, yet inexplicably beautiful and complex woman, Dorothea Brooke. Describes how George Eliot had been fascinated by the simplicities of an unknowingly complicated woman through examples of rhetorical stratagem.
."..beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress." Would a woman enjoy being told such words? In the passage from George Eliot's novel, Middlemarch, the narrator describes the simple, yet inexplicably beautiful and complex woman, Dorothea Brooke. The speaker's classification and comparison of her beauty and retelling of an event from her life, gives the reader the impression that his blasé attitude serves as a façade to his subconscious attraction to her, for his comments appear contradictory.
In the excerpt, the narrator defines Dorothea's type of beauty as flagrant, yet tempered. She apparently had been so beautiful, every part of her "finely formed," that each feature had been modulated only by "poor dress." Even with such modest style, she acquired more distinction from her "plain garments." He also identifies her beauty as one would identify the beauty of a "quotation from the Bible;" in the same sentence, however, he states how it is as impressive as a section in "today's paper." Such contradictions reveal how the presenter is aware of how attractive Dorothea is, yet he forces himself to feel listless about it.
The narrator acknowledges Dorothea's good looks by comparing them to her sister's. Celia, Dorothea's sister, had not been as witty as her sister, but she had more "common sense." She dressed more appropriately to society's standards with "a shade of coquetry," unlike Dorothea. The speaker, however, furtively defends Dorothea's plain clothing by saying it had been due to "mixed [weather] conditions." Furthermore, he states that the rural area they had lived in had found Celia more attractive, since she appeared "amiable and innocent-looking" while Dorothea's features seemed "too unusual and striking." The speaker sympathizes with Dorothea, however, when he implies that the delicacy the appearance of innocence emanates pales in comparison to the "subtlety" intuition can emit. His contrasts exhibit how although the rest of the town believes Celia is much more attractive than her sister, he believes Dorothea is more appealing, yet he does not plainly admit this thought to the reader.
The passage recounts a specific event that ties the definitions and comparisons together, attesting to the narrator's true attitude toward Dorothea's beauty. If ever there was an instance where a guest had not come to visit Mr. Brooke, Dorothea automatically believed the stranger "had been in love with Celia." Such a stranger had been Sir James Chettam. Dorothea thought the fact of her being with any man other than Richard Hooker, a theologian, and John Milton, a blind man, was a "ridiculous irrelevance." She wanted a man who matched her intellectuality not "an amiable handsome [brainless] baronet." The narrator delineates Dorothea as a modest, intelligent character and entails his admiration for her intelligence in comparison to other women, like Celia.
This is the complete article, containing 456 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
