Quote 1
Not only
young virgins of that town, but grey-bearded men also, were often
in haste to conjecture how a new acquaintance might be wrought into
their purposes, contented with very vague knowledge as to the way
in which life had been shaping him for their instrumentality. Middlemarch,
in fact, counted on swallowing Lydgate and assimilating him very
comfortably.
This passage, located at the end of
Chapter 15 after Lydgate is introduced as
the idealistic new doctor, introduces the neighborhood of Middlemarch
as a sort of character. Middlemarch is not particularly interested
in Lydgate as an individual and instead views him as an instrument
and part of the greater community. This illustrates the pull between
individual and community that drives the novel forward. In the novel Middlemarch,
there cannot be individuals without community nor a community without
individuals.
This passage also shows a contradiction between Middlemarch as
an ominous force that swallows its inhabitants and a comfortable force
that draws its inhabitants into its community that is part of the structure
of the novel. It demonstrates the pluses and the minuses of living
in a country community, much like the entire book does. It captures
the realistic, contradictory nature of Eliot’s realistic portrayal
of country living.
