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Middlemarch Study Guide

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by George Eliot
About 120 pages (36,018 words)
Middlemarch Summary

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Themes

Marriage

Middlemarch intertwines three courtship and marriage plots. The courtships of two couples, Dorothea and Casaubon and Rosamond and Lydgate, illustrate how the illusions, impressions, and expectations reached during courtship are shattered by the day-to-day familiarity and difficulties of married life. The initial misconceptions these characters have regarding their partners lead them to project onto their partners the qualities they seek in marriage. Dorothea wants entry into the world of male knowledge, and she sees Casaubon's book project as a worthy cause to serve in her hunger for action that will improve the world. Casaubon seeks a nurse, secretary, and reader, all menial jobs he believes Dorothea can handle. Rosamond seeks wealth and prestige through aristocratic alliance and believes that Lydgate offers the means by which she can be lifted out of the embarrassingly unrefined.....

This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 2,176 words. This study guide contains 36,018 words (approx. 120 pages at 300 words per page).

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Copyrights
Middlemarch from BookRags and Gale's For Students Series. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.



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