MIDDLEMARCH. To many critics 'Mid dlemarch' (1871-72) is the greatest novel George Eliot ever wrote. Its scope, its variety, its maturity and insight, are indubitable. Yet to others it lacks something of the charm and spontaneity of the author's earlier works, and its very inclusiveness and scope lead to a certain confusion of plan- and blurring of outline that mark it as artistically imperfect. Whichever view is correct, the novel is admittedly great. Written late in George Eliot's career, it is at once weighty with her considered evaluation of the essential factors in life and rich in her observation and experience of human nature. The plot is the most involved of any that the author has presented, and the characters are numerous even for a Victorian °three-decker.* In general there are two main groups of char acters, not, it must be confessed, as closely inter-related as artistically they should be. Dorothea Brooke may be regarded as the centre of one group, and Dr. Lydgate of the other. Both represent the tragedy of high aims that fail to take fully into account the actualities of life. Dorothea sentimentally pines to be the helpmate of a genius; but as the wife of the Rev. Edward Casaubon, who is writing a 'Key to All Mythologies,' she is disillusioned, and her misery is ended only by the death of her husband. Dr. Lydgate comes to Middlemarch
with excellent training, determined to push forward in biological research. However, he marries the attractive but tmpractical Rosamond Vincy, is overwhelmed in debts and his possible career fades into nothingness. But George Eliot's view of life is not distortedly pessimistic. Over against the sombre recognition of the inadequacies and weaknesses of humanity must be placed her portrayal of the fine and strong elements. Dorothea herself is genuine and charming fundamentally; the Garths are ster ling, and full of vitality. For all its wavering and crowded plot, 'Middlemarch' is perma nently valuable because it represents a realism that endeavors to reflect in just proportions the good and had in life; a realism, moreover, that does not content itself merely with presenting life, but shrinks not from the task of inter pretation and evaluation. Consult Stephen, Sir Leslie, 'Life of George Eliot' (Chap. 12, New York 1902), and Cross, J. W., 'George Eliot's Life' (Chap. 16, 3 vols., London 1885).