Contemporary Reviews

Summery: 

As I read through the contemporary reviews of George Eliot's Middlemarch, it was hard for me to find a strong unifying theme but I think I found at least a small one. Each critic gave Eliot due credit in her ability to create a strong, well developed story; however, they were not fully satisfied. Henry James says, "Middlemarch is at once the strongest and one of the weakest of English novels," (p 578). 

Eliot's ability to develop her characters throughout Middlemarch makes readers able to relate to at least one, if not more, of the them. One critic says, "Never before have so keen and varied an observation, so deep an insight into character and motives, so strong a grasp of conceptions, such power of picturesque description, worked together to represent through agency of fiction an author's moral a social views," (573). With this novel, Eliot was able to convey the way she saw the lives of people in society at that time. Young women who read the novel are able to relate to a number of the women throughout the story and sympathize with them. They could strive to be like Dorothea morally and religiously and hope they aren't like Rosamand. Eliot was able to accurately develop the phycological triumphs and trials that many people go through in their daily lives. By doing this, she was able to make most readers sympathetic to characters they wouldn't usually be sympathetic to. 

On the other hand, one or two of the critics agreed that Eliot was detached from her writing, and all agreed that her novel fell short in some way or another. Leslie Stephen says, " (Eliot) seems to be a little out of touch with the actual world, and to speak from a position of philosophical detachment which somehow exhibits her characters in a rather distorting light," (586). This statement stems from the argument that many people are "mostly fools" and Eliot was disheartened by this fact. Her lack of development of Will Ladislaw, who seems to be her hero of the story, is another let down for the critics. She does such a great job developing the other Middlemarchers, yet she leaves Will as a character who hardly grows at all throughout the story. 

Analysis:

What I found most interesting about these reviews was their comments on Eliot's ability to make the reader sympathize and relate to a character. One example I liked the most was Bolstrode. Although many people don't like to admit it, we all make small excuses to make up for the mistakes we have made, or are currently making. Or we try to justify our "evil" actions by doing something good before or after. We all want to balance our "karma" so to speak. I think this is why we sympathize with Bolstrode so much. Although he does things that society may consider morally wrong, he does not see the error he is making. He honestly thinks he can make up for his past actions by spending the money he practically cheated to receive on a good cause. He wants to do good with his money, but he does not see that many people think of it has tainted anyway. I think Eliot did a really great job bringing out that mental and moral struggle within several, if not all, her characters. Because of this, readers are able to sympathize with characters and recognize part of the characters in themselves. 

Work Cited: 

Eliot, George, and Bert G. Hornback. Middlemarch: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Criticism. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2000. Print