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Article: Eliot's 'Middlemarch.'.(George Eliot's book)
- Article from:
- The Explicator
- Article date:
- January 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In chapter 19 of Middlemarch we catch our first glimpse of Dorothea Casaubon, her wedding having taken place off-page. It is her appearance as seen through the eyes of Ladislaw and his companion Naumann, and their differing responses to her, that claim our attention. At the outset of the next chapter, however, we are shown Dorothea alone and in tears. George Eliot has wasted no time in fulfilling the reader's confident if regretful expectations with respect to the Casaubons' marriage.
Yet for five paragraphs the narrative voice argues, and almost has the reader agreeing, that the cause of her tears is Rome (142-44).(1) The sudden impact of the "stupendous ...