Imperfection Of Marriage In Middlemarch By George Eliot

Examine Eliot’s treatment of women in Prufrock, Preludes, Portrait of a Lady and Rhapsody on a Windy Night In all four of the poems; ‘Prufrock’, ‘Preludes’, ‘Portrait of a Lady’ and ‘Rhapsody on a Windy Night’, Eliot makes references to women. Eliot seems to treat women almost as objects to either be looked at with wonder and, at times, fascination or as objects to be scorned upon. In all of the poems Eliot makes the voice of the poem slightly distanced from the women and this, to me, makes the women seem almost untouchable.

Silas Marner George Eliot the pseudonym of Mary Anne Evans was born in Warwickshire, England in 1819. Eliot was one of the finest realists of Victorian fiction and produced a remarkable range of intellectual novels throughout her life, including the moral fable of Silas Marner. The 19th Century was an extremely patriarchal period, which Mary Anne Evans had to pen her name as George Eliot, otherwise her novels would not be published. George Eliot was a critic of the Victorian society in which she lived, and which she felt remarkably hypocritical in its treatment of her, as an intelligent, freethinking woman, who lived with a man to whom she was not married.

By looking through a critical lens at T Stearns Eliot’s poetry in light of his 20th century, modernist context, much is revealed about his personal and the rapidly evolving societal beliefs of that era. Through his repeating motif of time and fragmentation throughout his poems, Eliot reveals the prevalent feelings of isolation while in society along with the need to hide one’s feelings and emotions in this degrading society. His exploration of the use of ambiguity and stream of consciousness by Eliot, which is a characteristic of modernist artists, allows his work to resound over decades while being interpreted and differently understood by every audience that encounters them.

Within Eliot’s Middlemarch, a husband and wife discuss and argue about financial decisions. Tertius, the husband, attempts to remain proud and poor whereas Rosamond, the wife, desires to have money and material despite Tertius’ reservations. Although it appears that Eliot’s Middlemarch portrays Tertius as mature, Rosamond as childish, and the relationship as fiscally difficult, it is additionally evident that Tertius is impetuous, Rosamond is controlled, and the complex relationship has deeper issues.

In the dystopian novel of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, one of the most important and influential marriages in the book that help with the understanding of the world that they live in is Montag and Mildred’s. Montag and Mildred have been married for more than ten years. In the beginning of this intricate novel, you would assume that Montag and Mildred have developed a strong and affectionate relationship, like most married couples that you would expect.

In Middlemarch, George Eliot utilizes several literary devices to portray her two characters and their complex relationship that reveals their marriage is dominated by the husband who objectifies his wife into silence. Throughout the passage, Eliot makes it clear that Rosamond and Tertius Lydgate are in an uneven relationship, considering Tertius refuses to listen to his wife who seems to only have his best interest at heart, yet still, he continues to yell at her for thinking she knows what is best for him. With the help of details, Tertius’s critical tone, and imagery, Eliot is able to showcase how complex their relationship is when it comes to Rosamond giving her opinions and ideas, just to be casted to the side.

Relationships are always undoubtedly complex and dysfunctional. George Eliot, in this excerpt from the novel Middlemarch, thoroughly portrays many of these intricacies of relationships through a husband and a wife: Rosamond and Tertius Lydgate. This relationship’s dysfunctionalities are revealed through a financial conflict which brings to light their underlying thoughts toward each other. Eliot makes certain to portray Tertius as the dominant and strategically manipulative character while Rosamond is the weak, ignorant and oblivious one. Through these distinct personalities, Eliot shows how these characters react oppositely to each other when they clash from an economic struggle, stemming from a small disagreement. Eliot portrays Rosamond

I chose to do my analysis on the short story, “The Story Of An Hour”. The themes I see in this story is the quest for identity/coming of age, romantic/love, birth, and death. It is about a woman named Mrs. Mallard. She was an elderly lady and had a heart complications. Her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards had to break the news to her that her husband, Brently Mallard, has been killed in a railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallard was sorrowful and sobbed in her sisters’ arms. After her grieving process, she wanted to be alone, so she went to her room and locked herself in. As she sat in the window, she seem to be calmer and accepted her husband’s death. She was not distressed of what had happened. She began to say the words “free” and her heart

Although Highbury was just a small population town, the particular social structure was reflecting this type of class structure about Britain. For instance, the love amongst Robert Martin and Harriet was not acceptable in Emma’s eyes. Robert Martin was a successful respectable farmer; Harriet is a friend of Emma and illegitimate of a tradesman nevertheless she received well cared and properly educated. So Emma couldn’t agree while Mr. Martin proposed marriage to Harriet, subsequently Emma Convinced Harriet to Refused to associate with Robert Martin. And try to match Harriet and Mr. Elton who was considered as higher rank of society status, young priest with record of great educating. In Emma describe of Mr. Martin “he may be the richest of the two, but he is undoubtedly her inferior as to rank in society.”(Emma, Chapter7, and p.33) it is clear that time, marriage most depended on and compromised with the values of their social status.

“Many abused children cling to the hope that growing up will bring escape and freedom but she is still a prisoner of her childhood; attempting to create a new life, she reencounters the trauma” (Herman, Trauma and Recovery). In the novel A Thousand Acres the protagonists, Ginny and Rose, take the responsibility of being the women of the household after their mother passes away. They raise their younger sister and take care of all their father’s needs. Their father, Larry Cook, asserts his position as a dominant male and forces his daughters to submit to him through abuse, however, in the end Ginny and Rose revolt against their father. Ginny and Rose tolerate their father’s bad temper and tantrums, but are only subject to disrespect

            I think this style of writing is also a reflection of Eliot's feelings about the time.  Eliot was more of a Modernist than Victorian poet and as such held to beliefs like: there is no higher power in the universe, man is alone on this planet to govern his own affairs, everyone is truly alone, there is no unity, no support, for we live in a godless heartless world (Stacey Donohue).  The floating, confusing, jumbled mix of emotions and directions in this poem mirrors the modernist image of society.

   Thomas Stearns Eliot was not a revolutionary, yet he revolutionized the way the Western world writes and reads poetry. Some of his works were as imagist and incomprehensible as could be most of it in free verse, yet his concentration was always on the meaning of his language, and the lessons he wished to teach with them. Eliot consorted with modernist literary iconoclast Ezra Pound but was obsessed with the traditional works of Shakespeare and Dante. He was a man of his time yet was obsessed with the past. He was born in the United States, but later became a royal subject in England. In short, Eliot is as complete and total a

The failings of not marrying for love are again made apparent by Austen through the account of Lydia and Wickham and their shortfalls. Lydia and Wickham’s relationship was built on a mixture of youthful attraction and naivety. In the letter she sends to Harriet,

The Relationship Between Parents and Their Children in Silas Marner by George Eliot "A child more than all other gifts

The novel is distinguished from the long narratives in verse of Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, and John Milton which, beginning with eighteenth century, the novel has increasingly supplanted. Within these limits the novel includes such diverse works as Samuel Richardson’s Pamela and Lawrence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy; Jane Austen’s Emma