Humility seems to be out of fashion these days. People have a tendency to want attention, and preferably fame, regardless of what they have to do to get it.
So it was with pleasure that I encountered beautifully understated qualities of humility and simple goodness in a 19th century novel, Middlemarch, by George Eliot.
If you really read this novel, you will learn about yourself; if you listen to her, if you let her sentences penetrate, you will find out things about yourself that you didn’t and maybe don’t even want to know. Each page is a lesson in how to be honest with yourself.
BBC.com
Because it finds its way to so many lists of recommended classic novels, it was on my list of books to read for a long time.
It is set in Middlemarch, a fictional English town in the early 19th century. There are many characters to keep track of, and the story is actually several stories which intersect. The book touches on marriage, the status of women, religion, education and politics. George Eliot is actually the pen name of Mary Ann Evans; that fact itself hints at the times.
It is considered a realist work, and includes information on the early railways and the accession of King William IV. It looks at various classes of society at that time: manufacturers, professionals, clergy, farmers, the wealthy elite and laborers.
Middlemarch is now seen widely as her best work, and one of the great English novels.
For the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts and all those… who live faithfully their hidden lives and rest in unvisited tombs.
Middlemarch
First attempt
The book is very thick, the Wordsworth Classics version is 763 pages. According to readinglength.com, the average reader will spend 14 hours and 40 minutes reading this book at 250 words per minute. Based on what I knew about its content, I found that intimidating .
The focus is on the idealistic main characters, who marry each other for very different reasons. Dorothea is an intelligent, pious 19-year-old woman, who marries a 45-year-old pedantic and perfectionistic scholar, Edward Casabon, who becomes a controlling husband. Dorothea becomes friends with Edward’s cousin, Will Ladislaw, who is a newspaper editor and politician, a man of enthusiasm and talent, but no property.
After the first eight chapters, I still wasn’t engaged in the story. Maybe the author was primarily making a statement or observation. Even though there were some interesting characters and relationships, it didn’t have a clear plot and was overly focused on politics. And the author and I definitely did not see eye to eye on certain issues.
But I was still curious to find out why it is admired and so highly recommended!
Off to the public library
It’s a little embarrassing for a classic book lover to admit, but the DVD was better than the book for me! The plot was clear and engaging, and I admired Dorothea’s simple goodness and humility so much that I even wrote down the final words of the narrator:
[*****Spoiler!*****]
“Dorothea never repented that she had given up position and fortune to marry Will Ladislaw…she had no dreams of being praised above other women, feeling that there was always something better which you might have done, if she had only been better and known better.
Her full nature spent itself in deeds which left no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculable. For the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts and all those Dorothea’s who live faithfully their hidden lives and rest in unvisited tombs.”
If you’re interested, here is a great article about the book from BBC.com.
You can download a free copy of Middlemarch from Gutenberg.org. Many formats are available including Kindle!
If you’ve read Middlemarch or other books by George Elliot, I’d love to hear what you have to say. Happy reading!
Happily Writing 