Summary of Middlemarch
George Eliot
Middlarch
Sisters Dorothea and Celia, left without parents, lived in the house of their uncle-guardian, Mr. Brooke. The sisters were almost equally good-looking, but they differed in character: Dorothea was serious and devout, Celia – sweet and moderately frivolous. Frequent guests in the house of Mr. Brooke were two gentlemen who had a clear intention to soon offer Dorothea’s hand and heart. One is the young baronet Sir James Chetteum, the other is a scholar and, let’s add, a very wealthy priest, Mr. Casaubon. Dorothea stopped the choice at the latter, although in his fifty years he was like a withered tongue, like a dried mummy; the girl was impressed with the education and depth of the mind of the Reverend Father, who was preparing to make the world happy with a multivolume treatise, in which, on a huge material, he proved that all mythologies in the world are the distortions of a single source given from above. On Dorothy’s formal
In Rome, Dorothea was overcome with disappointment: what she so deeply admired in her husband, deep knowledge, more and more seemed to her to be a dead, unwieldy burden, not bringing to life neither exalted joy nor inspiration. The only relief was for her to meet with Will Ladislav, poor distant relative of Mr. Casaubon, who visited Rome with a friend-artist. Will, in his youth, had not yet chosen a career in life and lived on money, from the favor given to him by Dorothea’s husband.
When the couple of Casaubonov returned to Midlarch, the main topic of conversation in the city was the construction of a new hospital. Money was given to it by the banker Mr. Bulstrode, in Middlemarch, a stranger, but already in a strong position thanks to his money, as well
So, it was Lydgate who was called when the fever with the young Fred Vinci started. This young man, the son of wealthy, respected parents in Midlarch, did not justify the family’s hopes: his father invested a lot of money in his education so that he could devote himself to the proper profession of priest, but Fred did not hurry to take the exam, everything in the world preferred hunting and billiards in pleasant society of “life-burners”. Such pastime requires money, and so he had a very large debt.
Fred’s illness did not threaten anything serious, however Mr. Lydgate regularly visited the patient, driven partly to his bedside, partly by the desire to be in the company of Sister Fred, the charming blond Rosamond Vincy. Rosamond also had a liking for a promising, purposeful young man, endowed with a pleasant face, intelligence and, as they said, some kind of capital. Taking pleasure in the presence of Rosamond, Lidgate completely forgot about her in the evenings for scholarly pursuits, and did not intend to marry in the next few years. Not that Rosamond. After the first meetings she began to think about the situation of the family home and about all that the bride still needs to take care of. Seeing that Lydgate is helpless before her charms, Rosamond easily achieved her, and soon the Lydgates already lived in a beautiful spacious house, exactly as she dreamed,
At Rosamond’s time everything turned out well, the situation, in which her brother fell, can not be called pleasant. About asking for money from his father, there could be no question, the guarantor for Fred for his kindness was made by Caleb Garth, Mary’s father, to whom Fred was deeply indifferent. Mr. Garth was a land surveyor and, as an honest and unselfish person, did not have significant resources, but immediately agreed to pay Fred’s debt, thus dooming his own family to hardship. However, poverty and hardships are not something that could seriously overshadow the lives of Garth.
In paying the debt of the frivolous young man, even the savings that Mary Garth did, being some kind of housekeeper from the rich relative of Garth and Vincie, the old Featherstone, went. On the inheritance of the rich uncle, in fact, counted Fred, issuing a bill, because he was almost sure that it was to him after the death of Featherstone will withdraw his land ownership. However, all the hopes of Fred were in vain, as, indeed, the hopes of other numerous relatives who flocked to the old man’s death bed. All the property of the deceased refused to some unknown Joshua Rigg, his illegitimate son, who immediately rushed to sell the estate Bulstrode and forever disappear from Midlarch.
The years, meanwhile, did not spare Mr. Keysobon. He began to feel much worse, weaker, and suffered from palpitations. In this position of the Reverend Father, the presence of Will Ladislaw, who was obviously in love with Mrs. Casaubon, was particularly annoying in their relationship with Dorothea; in the end, he even refused to leave the house.
Will was quite ready to leave Midlamch, where before he was held only by his attachment to Dorothea, as the election campaign began. This circumstance, seemingly having no bearing on the life of normal people, played a certain role in the choice of field not only by Will, but also by Fred Vinci. The fact is that Mr. Brooke was determined to run for Parliament, and then it became clear that in the city and the county he had many ill-wishers. In order to adequately respond to their attacks, an elderly gentleman acquired one of the Middleham’s newspapers and invited to the post of editor Will Ladislav; there were not enough other educated people in the city. The main mass of attacks amounted to the fact that Mr. Brooke is a worthless landowner, because the business of his farms is badly delivered. In an effort to forfeit the accusations of ill-wishers, Mr. Brooke invited Kaleb Garth to the manager. His example was followed by some other landowners, so that the phantom of poverty departed from the Gart family, but the affairs of his head became unheard of. Mr. Kaleb needed an assistant, and so he decided to do Fred, who was still hanging around.
Fred Vinci, meanwhile, was already beginning to seriously think about taking the rank, which would give him at least some permanent income and the opportunity to gradually pay off the Gart. Stop it, in addition to its own reluctance, Mary’s reaction, with fervor, in general, it is unusual, said that if he goes to such a profanity, she will stop with him any relationship. The proposal of Caleb Garth had come in handy, and Fred, happily accepting him, tried not to strike his face in the mud.
Mr. Casaubon could not prevent Will’s appointment, and seemed to accept that the young man stayed at Middlemarch. As for Mr. Casaubon’s health, it did not improve at all. During one of Dr Lydgate’s visits, the priest asked him to be extremely frank, and Lydgate said that with such a heart condition he could live another fifteen years, or he might suddenly die much earlier. After this conversation, Casaubon became even more thoughtful and finally began to systematize the materials collected for the book, designed to be the result of his entire life. However, the next morning Dorothea found her husband dead on a bench in the garden. All his condition was left to her by Casaubon, but at the end of the testament, a postscript was made that it was valid only if Dorothea did not marry Will Ladislav. Itself insulting, the addition of this addition cast a shadow over Mrs. Casaubon’s irreproachable reputation. In one way or another, Dorothea did not even think about re-marrying, and she directed all her powers and incomes to charity, in particular to help the new hospital, where Lidgate ran the medical unit.
With practice, Lydgate was all right, family life was not the best way. Very soon it turned out that his vital interests had nothing to do with the interests of Rosamond, who talked about how Lydgate should leave the hospital where he was enthusiastic and successful, but he used the best methods of treatment for free, and, having moved to another place, more profitable than he had in Midlarche, practice. It did not bring the spouses together and the grief they experienced when Rosamond had a miscarriage, and all the more the financial difficulties natural for the beginning doctor when he lives on such a wide leg. Unexpected help came in the form of a check for a thousand pounds – it was such a huge amount Lydgate needed to settle with creditors – proposed by Bulstrode.
Banker generous for good reason – he, a man in his devout way, it was necessary to do something to calm the conscience, awakened by a certain history. This story was not completely disinterestedly reminded Bulstrode of a subject named Rafles.
The fact is that Rafles served in one enterprise, which flourished due to not entirely legal operations, co-owner, and after and the sole owner of which was once Bulstrode. The owner of Bulstrode was after the death of a senior companion, from whom he inherited not only business, but also his wife. The only daughter of his wife, stepdaughter Bulstrode Sarah, fled the house and became an actress. When Bulstrod was widowed, Sarah would have to share huge capital with him, but she could not be found, and everything fell to him alone. There was one person who still found a fugitive, but he was generously paid to ensure that he went to America forever. Now Rafels came back from there and wanted money. It remains to add that Sarah married the son of the Polish emigrant Ladislav and that they had a son, Will.
Raflsa Bulstrode spared, having given the required amount of that, and Will, having told about everything, offered a fortune, but the young man, no matter how poor he was, with indignation refused money earned by dishonest means. Bulstrode almost calmed down when Caleb Garth came to him and brought back the sick Rafls; by Garth it was clear that he had managed to talk about everything. Called Bulstrode Lydgate prescribed a sick opium and left in the care of the banker and his housekeeper. Leaving to sleep, Bulstrode somehow forgot to tell the housekeeper how much opium to give to the patient and that for the night she gave him the whole bottle, and in the morning Rafles passed away.
It was rumored that Bulstrode had intentionally killed the patient, and Lydgate helped him, for which he received a thousand pounds. Both were subjected to severe obstruction, the end of which could only be put by Dorothea, who believed the doctor and convinced many others of his innocence.
Dorothea itself, meanwhile, was becoming more and more affectionate with feelings for Will, and at last an explanation was made: the young people decided to get married, despite the fact that Dorothea would lose her rights to Casaubon’s money. Over time, Will became a figure visible in political circles, but by no means a politician, Dorothea found herself as a wife and mother, for, with all the talents, in what other field the woman could manifest herself at that time.
Fred and Mary, of course, also became husband and wife; they never got rich, but they lived a long, bright life, decorated with the birth of three glorious sons.
Lydgate died fifty years of age in one of the fashionable resorts where he lived, to the joy of Rosamond specializing in gout – the disease of the rich.
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