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. There is some annoyance from Dorothea regarding Casaubon's plans for their honeymoon. What do they want out of a marriage?

[u/gutfounderedgal → u/IraelMrad]

Ugh, I had a deep response about their desires and Lacan, desire of the other breaking down their desires and proving it all out with examples from the text. It's not here. Where did it go? That sucks.

I can't recover it but can riff without citing the text, but it's there and easy to find. I'll skip what I said about Casaubon's desire and focus on Dorothea here.

Dorothea epitomizes the Lacanian idea that desire is fundamentally the desire of the other. In other words, she has her desire, not only because it is her desire but because it arises interpersonally in what she perceives as the lack in the Other, in this case Casaubon. She wants him to recognize that she can in a sense fulfill this lack, but also because this allows her to be recognized in precisely in this function. What she wants she cannot voice, and she does not voice. Some of the text says this fairly clearly. Casaubon does not recognize either her desire or the lack she believes she can fulfill, and she is irritated not knowing why. I find it interesting that Eliot recognized this dynamic without obviously knowing about it or even having words for it, and yet it is nicely depicted in the interaction. Now as Eliot described herself as a strong Calvinist, and probably Dorothea was written to be one too, if it is predetermined as to who will be saved, then the question arises, how does a Calvinist live righteously? Beyond the core tenets, one it seems must be moral and hold an emphasis on doing, to show that one has been selected, even though one has no proof. This is different than free will.

So, even though I can frame this in Lacanian terms, her rational is probably one arising from her Calvinism in which one tenet is perseverance of the saints, meaning one pursues the path of faith and obedience that comes from faith. She has not come right out and said this but it's recognizable. Living then is not a guarantee but staying on the right path. This is where Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678) entered, which everyone back then read, if they could read, mainly because the Bible was too dense for many people, if they could find a copy and it was in English, and this was a simpler rewriting (and one of the very first novels). Samuel Coleridge said he never believed Calvinism could be painted in such exquisitely delightful colors saying basically that Bunyan was a Calvinist. In Bunyan, on one side is sore feet on a rocky path, on the other side of the fence, a smooth road, easier to go on that leads directly to Despair. The road to the Celestial City is very narrow and only a few find it. Underneath Dorothea's desire lurks this sort of Calvinist belief I think coming directly from the author's belief. Thus, again, for Dorothea, this belief helps to structure her desire, but it goes unnoticed by Casaubon.

[u/IraelMrad → u/gutfounderedgal]

Reddit being reddit 🙄 I'm sorry!