The Women of Middlemarch - Book Report/Review Example

This meant that they lived reasonably well. Mary Ann received a good education, and also had access to the library at the estate. Her books reveal her background-her stories are replete with classical allusions. Living on the estate Mary Ann was also able to observe the lives of people who lived and worked there, who were much poorer to her. This gave her an insight into their circumstances, which influenced her writing. She was brought up as an adherent of the Anglican Church. As a young woman, Evans came in contact with several notable thinkers of her day-Herbert Spencer, Robert Owen and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

In 1858, she became the assistant editor of The Westminster Review. It was unusual in those days to see a woman in a position like that, and mixing so freely with men. She also lived with George Henry Lewes, the critic and philosopher. George Lewes, who had an 'open marriage' with Agnes Jerwis, who had relationships with other men and also children from these relationships. What was creditable about Mary Ann and Lewes' relationship was that they were open about it in a day and age when such alliances were shrouded in hypocrisy.

This relationship continued till Lewes' death in 1878.Dorothea Brooke's, the principal character in Middlemarch, is molded on that of her creator. She is intelligent and wealthy. " Dorothea knew many passages of Pascal's Penses and of Jeremy Taylor by heart; and to her the destinies of mankind, seen by the light of Christianity, made the solicitudes of feminine fashion appear an occupation for Bedlam"(1) However, Dorothea's circumstances are those of a typical Victorian woman. If she remains unmarried she will not be taken seriously.

So she marries Reverend Edward Casaubon, many years her senior, after rejecting the Baronet Chettam, who is pleasant but not so intelligent. The Reverend does not take Dorothea seriously, and resents her desire to participate in what he considers to be his field (research and writing). The two unhappily continue within the confines of a constricting marriage. After Casaubon's death, Dorothea falls in love with his cousin, Will Ladislaw. The two try to fight their attraction for one another, as the relationship is considered scandalous according to Victorian mores.

Apart from this Casaubon had also included in his will a provision that should Dorothea marry Ladislaw after his death, she would be disinherited. Eventually, Ladislaw and Dorothea do get married. Dorothea's situation-and that of any Victorian woman who wishes to do something beyond her home or marriage is neatly summed up in the two lines quoted by Evans from Beaumont and Fletcher's The Maid's Tragedy at the head chapter 1 : Since I can do no good because a woman,/ Reach constantly at something that is near it." (2) Rosamund Vincy's character is in sharp contrast to that of Dorothea, and to the real life Mary Ann herself.

Rosamund and her brother, Fred are from a well off family. They live a life of ease-and Fred especially-of profligacy. Rosamund is vain, well dressed, beautiful (we must remember that Eliot was not herself particularly good looking), and out to get Dr. Lydgate, an