The Vincy family represents the successful middle-class
family with upper-class pretensions. The changing social structure
brought about by industrialization made upward social mobility possible. Walter
Vincy is not a worldly, educated man, but he dreams of offering
his children a step up the social ladder. He pays for Fred's expensive
college education in order to socialize him into manners and customs
of the landed gentry, as well as to prepare him for a career as
a clergyman. In the past, social status was determined primarily by
birth. The rise of industrialization, however, allowed middle-class
men to achieve the status of gentlemen through education and a successful
profession.
For the Vincy daughter, however, the process of upward
social mobility is different. Rosamond represents one stereotypical
view of women. She has been trained to be a socialite wife by going
to an expensive finishing school. Her "education" has molded her
into the perfect ornament for a wealthy husband. A woman's status
is not self-made. Rather, her husband's status determines her status. Still,
Rosamond views her future husband with an unrealistic idealism.
To her, Lydgate is the mysterious newcomer in town with rumored
family connections. She views him as though he stepped out of a
conventional romantic novel.
Lydgate himself suffers from stereotypical ideals of femininity. He
finds Dorothea "troublesome." Unlike most women, she insists on
reasons and explanations. His ideal wife is an adornment to his life.
He believes that he wants an ornament, not a partner. However, he
will find that his "ideal" wife isn't necessarily the best wife
for him.
The Vincys believe that money is the ticket to success
and social freedom. But Peter Featherstone demonstrates the manner
in which money is also a tool for manipulation. He uses the uncertain
promise of a large inheritance to control and humiliate Fred. Eliot
often uses a web as a metaphor for the complex, interconnected social relations
in Middlemarch. Money functions as a representation of this web.
Featherstone instructs Fred to ask his uncle, Mr. Bulstrode, to
confirm or deny the accusation against him. Bulstrode, as a banker,
has an intimate view into the private lives of Middlemarch citizens
through their finances. Private problems and secret sins are often
discovered by tracing financial transactions.
