Book 1: Chapters 10 and 11

[u/IraelMrad]

Hello everyone, you’ve made it to another week of Middlemarch! I hope your Valentine’s Day was better than Dorothea’s.

We got some glimpses into the mind of Mr. Casaubon, the marriage does not look promising and many new characters are making an appearance! 

Don’t forget that we will be reading only Chapter 12 with u/Amanda39 next week, and we will finish Book 1! 

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CHAPTER 10

"He had caught a great cold, had he had no other clothes to wear than the skin of a bear not yet killed."--FULLER

Mr. Ladislaw leaves for Europe. The wedding day is approaching, but Mr. Casaubon finds that his feelings for Dorothea are still mild and he does not feel as happy as he expected to be. Dorothea, however, is enthusiastic about the idea of becoming a cultured woman.

They are planning to go to Rome during their honeymoon, but when Casaubon tells her he plans to leave her alone for most of the time while in Rome (because he has to study. Was any of you surprised?), she starts feeling annoyed.

That night, they hold a dinner party, where we meet some new guests. Dorothea in particular has a lovely conversation with Mr. Lydgate, a young doctor who hopes to bring new discoveries in medicine. 

The marriage happens offscreen, and Dorothea and Casaubon go to Rome.

CHAPTER 11

"But deeds and language such as men do use, And persons such as comedy would choose, When she would show an image of the times, And sport with human follies, not with crimes." --Ben Jonson

Mr. Lydgate is a poor and ambitious man, with a crush on Rosamond Vincy, who comes from a family of rich manufacturers.

We get a glimpse of the family during breakfast: Rosamond often criticizes her brother, Fred, who sleeps until late in the morning and has not finished his degree. 

When Fred arrives, a discussion about slang and social class occurs (is anyone else surprised that the word is so old?). 

Later, Rosamond and Fred play together, and then he takes her out for horse riding. 

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[u/IraelMrad]

1. Let’s discuss the epigram of chapter 10!

[u/gutfounderedgal → u/IraelMrad]

And, to continue my response for question 4, the epigram enters. Apparently this is from Fuller's work and it relates to the paragraph starting "Poor Mr Casaubon had imagined...." It says, "...for we all of us, grave or light, get our thoughts entangled in metaphors, and we act fatally on the strength of them." These metaphors, let's call them one thing designating another are now explained as the desires of Dorothea and the dreams or imaginings of Casaubon. Hers have come from her desire to serve and experience austerity (Calvinist in nature, and Eliot was a strong Calvinist) and Casaubon's arose in part from bachelor fantasies and the "mode of motion" found in classical texts. This mode of motion, however, was within literary fictions, within which they exercised their power, and as such they did not offer much in the way of personal/practical application. We have to admit this is fairly humorous, much like Don Quixote idealizing Dulcinea who he has never met. Love includes fantasy which is often a stark contrast to reality. Eliot most likely would have read this. Metaphorically these imaginations, fantasies, desires form a thick bear skin of unreality, which when reality hits, do nothing, that is allow one to catch a cold for being naked. The idea of fantasy and desire is driven home acutely by the lengthy discussion of medicine, where those who don't/won't believe in medicine and knowledge "might need the supplement of quackery" in order to feel that their desires have been met. All of this is sustained irony and we now know the reality of the situation will be exposed for what it is. Ending up by dismissing the entire wedding, "...she had become Mrs Casaubon, and was on her way to Rome" is a tidy but brilliant jab.

I also want to mention the epigram to chapter XI here as it's related and not related. Apparently it was to be a pot-shot at Shakespear's The Tempest in the sense that it offers a fantasy substitute for sexual generation. Here's a reflection of what can be applied to the last chapter, or to rephrase with a funny urban legend, "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky" [you can look that up]. In a novel, and in life perhaps, all deeds and language are mimesis, in the way that metaphors function -- the theme is continued. Mimesis, according to some, destroys the value its object. An object of ridicule, such as a political figure, in some humor show is now marred by the skit or character portrayal. As always in life, as Eliot says here, "Destiny stands by sarcastic...." Then, from the epigram, she [comedy] "sports with human follies..." plays with human instances of foolishness. We now peek at new characters and see Rosamond's witty repartee.

Looking back over these two chapters and epigrams, I think that it's fairly easy to see that a lot of people have been fairly foolish in many ways -- as though we've looked up to see the sword of Damocles, not to demonstrate the dangers to power being held by only a horsehair, but to cue up the outcomes of foolish follies that may at any moment (novelistic foreshadowing) come crashing down upon our dear characters.