The “Contemporary
Reviews” of George Eliot’s Middlemarch
that can be found in the Norton Critical Edition of the novel were written
shortly after the release of the novel in its eight parts. The Saturday Review, “Middlemarch”
applauds Eliot’s portrayal of her characters, particularly those of Dorothea,
Celia, and Casaubon but notes some flaws as well. This particular review argues that “The quarrel with humanity
in Middlemarch is its selfishness, and
the quarrel with society is its hollow respectability. Human nature and society are hard
things to defend; but care for self up to a point is not identical with
selfishness; and respectability which pays its way and conducts itself with
external propriety is not hollow in any peculiar sense.”(573) Another review,
by Sidney Colvin claims that, “In the sense in which anything is called ripe
because of fullness and strength, I think the last of George Eliot’s novels is
also the ripest. Middlemarch is extraordinarily full and
strong, even among the company to which it belongs”(576) Colvin
enthusiastically praises the novel with his colorful language. A critic who also praises the novel,
but more harshly points out its flaws is Henry James in his essay, “George
Eliot’s Middlemarch”. James states that, “Middlemarch is a treasurehouse of
details, but it is an indifferent whole.”(578) James complains that “our
objection may seem shallow and pedantic, and may even be represented as a
complaint that we have had the less given us rather than the more.”(578)
In comparison to
Mary Barton, Middlemarch seems rather anticlimactic. I couldn’t quite figure out why this was so frustrating
until I read Henry James’ review; the novel describes Middlemarch, its
inhabitants, as well as their lives so well, that as a reader, I hoped for
something more exciting to happen.
However, a plot that holds so much potential, (with its mysterious
Bulstrode and jealous Casaubon, for example) sort of flat lines through the
whole story. Another frustrating
thing to note is the way that Eliot really builds up Dorothea’s character to
this beautiful, strong, pious, character, but does nothing with that. James remarks on this, saying that “A
work of the liberal scope of Middlemarch
contains a multitude of artistic intentions, some of the finest of which become
clear only in the meditative after-taste of perusal.”(580) I think that Middlemarch could have been much more exciting and captivating, had
Eliot given her characters more of a purpose.
