Account for George Eliots Decision to Give Maggie a Tragic Ending

Her actions are caused by the mixture of genuine love towards Brick and the desire to ensure her own future. There is a threat that if Brick does not stop drinking, he will not inherit Big Daddy's property. Maggie lived in poverty most of her life and she is not willing to give up the fortune. Her catty attitude grants her success at the end of the play, and although she lies about being pregnant in order to obtain the plantation, it is hard not to sympathize with her. Even Williams himself wrote in the explanatory note to the play that she “had become steadily more charming to me as [he] worked on her characterization” (1976: 106). She constantly feels “like a cat on a hot tin roof” (Williams, 1976: 31), but she refuses to leave it, for she believes that the victory is “just staying on it (…) as long as she can” (Ibid., 26). Her determination may also stem from her understanding of Brick's emotions. He has rejected her so she knows exactly how it feels to lose the love of one's life. Still she is desperate to persevere, because “life has got to be allowed to continue even after the dream of love is all over” (Ibid., 42). She is the complete opposite of her husband. In spite of being undoubtedly miserable, she fights against the odds to provide for them both. She is fully aware that if they were left without the plantation, they would be doomed. And, unlike Brick, she still

Maggie feels terribly unloved in her marriage with Brick. Because of her unfulfilling marriage with Brick, she seeks affection and attention with someone close to Brick. In addition, when Mae interrupts Maggie and Brick from conversing by talking about her own children and how adorable they are, Maggie says, “why did y’give dawgs names to all your kiddies... sounds like four dogs and a parrot”(29). Maggie has a grudge Mae because she has many children with Gooper. Maggie feels insecure about having children, so she mocks Mae and her offspring to reassure herself and make her self feel better. Margaret has a dreadful relationship with Brick and also with Mae and her kids.

Maggie comes from a very strained family life, living in poverty. She lives in a horrific tenement in the Bowery neighborhood of New York’s Lower East Side, with her two younger brothers, Jimmie and Tommie. Jimmie is hardened against any sympathy due to the years he spent on the streets fighting with gangs and is currently working as a truck driver. Tommie was the infant of the family who passed away at a young age. The tenement is filled with argumentative feelings amongst her parents. Mary Johnson, Maggie’s mother, is an alcoholic and very aggressive. She has been noted for torturing Maggie with hateful words over actions that she has done. Mr. Johnson, the father, was also very aggressive with his children and an alcoholic like his wife, he too passed away. Maggie had a relationship with a friend of

"How has your research into TS Eliot's life and the opinions of ONE critic enriched your understanding of an aspect of The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock?"

One column indicated the home of Matilda's family and a huge clutter of tiles and books made up the local library, where she found refuge. I read the story of Matilda during my childhood, but I did not remember her being so intelligent! I do recall she always being mischievous, but it also reminds me of my childhood and getting into trouble in class. I myself was a gifted child as well, and always finished my assignments in class early and got bored easily, furthermore, getting into trouble. I found it rather odd that Matilda and I had many things in common, although I didn't like to read as much as she did. I couldn't believe how Matilda's father, Harry Wormwood, treated her unfairly and always referred her as a boy, and took a fondness with her brother Michael. Ironically, Michael enjoyed watching television and generally didn't care about reading or academics, just like the rest of the family. Harry wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and work as a car salesman alongside him one day. With the priorities of Matilda's family being rather substandard, Mrs. Wormwood, Matilda's mother, was a voluptuous woman highly concerned only with her appearance, such as dying her hair platinum blonde, and prizing her looks over intelligence and substance. With Matilda not having an array of support and mentors, she confided in reading a lot of books with the village librarian Mrs. Phelps. Mrs. Phelps meant well, but she often treated Matilda as a little girl and had difficulty understanding how a six-year-old girl had the knowledge to read books outside the children's section in the library. She did her best to mentally stimulate Matilda and showed her how to pursue her love of reading. I really enjoyed watching the

Even though this Third Maggie has distanced herself from Tom, she still feels indebted to him. She seeks him out to ask permission to see Phillip after all this time. Tom still has power over her with the promise she made years ago that she cannot break. This promise would be the easiest to break without Tom even knowing what is going on because she has distanced herself from him. In this moment, when she has the upper hand of the situation, Maggie still puts herself beneath Tom and submits to his will. She says to him, “I do love you, so much. I won’t be naughty I promise I won’t. Please be good to me” (Edmundson, 63). Her

Maggie is in fact just a girl who is pressured and allows herself to be shaped by society. She is inevitably just a sad, scared, desperate girl who is in need of help, love, and guidance but is ignored and pushed away. is a girl that is pressured and is shaped by society in times of much need. Maggie was in search of help and love and everyone stood in her way. This leads to her being viewed as a shameful women who everyone refused to assist, as they did not want the stigma she would bring. Maggie eventually even becomes a victim of her own death, as a result of her good looks and the lifestyle she is forced to live.

However, in the process, is portrayed as this thug by doing what she wants. “Rita goes to hang her coat on the door hooks” acting as if she has ownership of the place. Through her action, it is evident to say she is not well mannered and is in need of development. Rita here at the start sees this degree a way of catapulting herself to a high status but realises not, that the way she conducts herself is letting her down- she needs to learn that she must act the part to succeed. She needs to change how she sees things. Foolishly, she seems to think that reading books, acting as if though she’s’ some student of literature would open the door to her “freedom”. And again to commit the foolish act again she tells Frank that she want to know “everything”, of course showing that she is oblivious to the sudden reality. Her ignorance have made her suspended from the Heavens and the Earth.

In George Eliot’s Middlemarch, Will Ladislaw is introduced as Mr. Casaubon’s young cousin. He is seen in the gardens at Lowick Manor and described as “a gentleman with a sketch book […] and light brown curls” (49). Mr. Casaubon describes him as a young man who with a mercurial temperament, general inclination to resist responsibility and an affinity towards grand artistic endeavors. Later in the book, town gossip Mrs. Cadwallader refers to him as “a dangerous little sprig […] with his opera song and his ready tongue. A sort of Byronic, amorous conspirator” (237). In ‘Middlemarch,’ Eliot weaves a character with a Romantic character into the social web of a provincial Victorian village. Eliot’s depiction of Ladislaw’s coming-of-age journey

In one of the first obvious moments of the theatricalized nature of the play, Maggie’s family rolled on her cousin, Lucy (more or less). She was a child-sized mannequin. While at first glance this seemed like a stale joke, I began to realize that from Maggie’s point of view, Lucy was the doll. Fragile, delicate, quiet and lady-like in every way. Maggie, on the other hand, saw herself as a wicked “wench” (as her father lovingly called her). She read books down by the river, only to return with her hair ratted and matted every which way (Edmundsen & Houghton). In her own eyes, she could never be as obedient and loved as Lucy. The simple choice of using the doll brought about a completely new perspective that allowed audience members to interpret and learn differently.

Containing stories, news, and opinions of both T.S. Eliot and others who wrote about him, The Letters of T.S. Eliot offer an inside perspective on Eliot’s life.. In Volume 1 of the revised edition of the letters Patrick Query describes how T.S. Eliot felt so much passion for culture and how it must improve (Letters, Volume 1). In the volume, the writer states that Eliot started a movement to modernize literature all on his own. Eliot contained such a strong passion for making the world a better place, that as society generally acted apathetic towards life, Eliot strived for a culture where people actually inserted energy and passion into life. Also, in John Worthen’s biography of T.S. Eliot, the author believes Eliot focused the entire masterpiece of Four Quartets on illustrating to his audience despite painful times in life, people must focus more on the beauty of life (Worthen). Devoting much of his literature career to impacting society, Eliot often focused on changing the lack of enthusiasm culture contained.

Moving on to her relationships, Ermarth analyses that her relationships with Mr.Tulliver and her brother Tom Tulliver play a very important role in her being a selfless person. In return of being obedient Tom gives

At the heart of the novel, Maggie’s relationship with her older brother Tom was without a doubt the most important in her life. The two were incredibly close as

The sharp and unruly main character of The Mill on the Floss is Maggie Tulliver. She is a “‘gell gone nine,’” at the outset of the story, the daughter of the miller Mr. Tulliver, and lives with her family on the banks of the Floss (Eliot 8, 9, 12). When Mr. and Mrs. Tulliver begin discussing the issue of Tom's education in their first conversation of the story, they segue into discussion of his sister. While Mrs. Tulliver derides Maggie for being unsensible, brown-skinned, and altogether unlike her side of the family, Mr. Tulliver defends her, saying “‘she's a straight, black-eyed wench as anybody need wish to see. I don't know i' what she's behind other folks's children; and she can read almost as well as the parson,’” (Eliot 12). Maggie's parents further describe her physiognomy for the reader later in this conversation. From Mrs. Tulliver's perspective, her daughter's hair exemplifies the issue with Maggie's character. “‘But her hair won't curl all I can do with it… an' there's her cousin Lucy's got a row o' curls round her head, an' not a hair out o' place,’” Mrs. Tulliver frets (Eliot 12, 13). Maggie’s mother feels that her daughter is a comical mistake, with her “dark, heavy locks,” “air of a small Shetland pony,” and likeness to “‘a Bedlam creature,’” (Eliot 12, 13). Because of this dissatisfaction, Mrs. Tulliver is forever attempting to make her daughter more similar to herself and to “‘other folks’s’” respectable, curly-haired children. Later in the story, Maggie’s character is further established by juxtaposition to her brother Tom. Tom Tulliver differs from Maggie not only in appearance, but also in garnering motherly affection: Mrs. Tulliver continually speaks of him with great approbation and pride, greeting him as “‘my sweet lad!’”on his return from school (Eliot 30). In addition to this contrast in affection, a contrast in physical character is evident between the siblings. Tom is described as “a lad with light-brown hair, cheeks of cream and roses, full lips, indeterminate nose and eyebrows… the generic character to boyhood,” while Maggie is “moulded and colored with the most decided intention,” a “dark-eyed, demonstrative, rebellious girl,” though it is noted that these physical appearances

Mr. Tulliver is a decently prosperous farmer, the proprietor of Dorlcote Mill, and the father of Maggie and Tom. In the first dialogue of the story, we learn that Mr. Tulliver’s desire “‘is to give Tom a good eddication, an eddication as’ll be a bread to him… The two years at th’ academy ‘ud ha’ done well enough, if I’d meant to make a miller and farmer o’ him, for he’s had a fine sight more schoolin’ nor I ever got: all the learnin’ my father ever payed for was a bit o’ birch at one end and the alphabet at th’ other,’” (Eliot 9). Mr. Tulliver’s “uneddicated” country speech is certainly a far cry from the exact Eton grammar of the clergyman he employs as Tom’s second school master (Eliot 123). The simple and almost comical nature of Mr. Tulliver is further shown through the medium of his own diction. In a conversation with his wife, Mr. Tulliver attempts to use symbolism to illustrate his point that Bessy Tulliver finds fault in things that aren’t just the way she’d like them. He tells Mrs. Tulliver, “‘you’d want me not to hire a good waggoner, ‘cause he’d got a mole on his face… No, no, Bessy; I didn’t mean justly the mole; I meant it to stand for summat else; but niver mind- it’s puzzling work, talking is,’” (Eliot 10). Talking