tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648409483330236099.post7973389346721565125..comments2024-03-27T21:39:27.170-07:00Comments on The Adventures of Notorious Ph.D., Girl Scholar: Submission and Rebellion (Middlemarch, Book Four)Notorious Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08700875559325201086noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648409483330236099.post-75796940897924026882018-03-27T10:41:57.292-07:002018-03-27T10:41:57.292-07:00My initial reaction to this section: "THANK G...My initial reaction to this section: "THANK GEORGE FOR MRS. CADWALLADER!" I found the reading of the wills section a bit anti-climactic somehow. But Mrs. Cadwallader livens things right up.<br /><br />I found it interesting that Dorothea's observation of Featherstone's funeral is something that stays with her. "Scenes which make vital changes in our neighbors' lot are but the background of our own, yet, like a particular aspect of the fields and trees, they become associated for us with the epochs of our own history, and make a part of that unity which lies in the selection of our keenest consciousness." (chapter 34). This analogy emphasizes Dorothea as the hero of her own story.<br /><br />And there's one quiet moment for Dorothea, where she is talking about the sadness of Featherstone's funeral--especially that "any one should die and leave no love behind"--and Casaubon enters the room. She chooses to go silent, even though she had more to say: "she felt that he often inwardly objected to her speech." She is right, of course. But Casaubon, we know, grows to feel the same way about her, even though Dodo is slow to judgment at first, and judges him for different things than he presumes. Will she continue to love Casaubon, or will he leave no love behind as well? She seems to be the only one who has any love for him at all.<br /><br />Also in Ch 34, there is a Lydgate/Rosamond moment where the narrator interrupts a tender moment (Lydgate is, it turns out, gently asking why Rosamond is sad). The narrator stops before we know anything but Lydate's tone to set the scene. It's as if the narrator is reminding us that she is in control of the story, as well as making sure we know the two lovers are alone. There are a number of other moments where the narrator enters a scene by some metaphor or device, transitioning effectively, yet creating distance between reader and character, reminding us that we are only observers and that there is something to be learned from those observations (the "instruct" of Arnold's "instruct and delight").<br /><br />And my favorite exchange of Book IV:<br />"'I warned you all of it,' said Mrs. Cadwallader, waving her hands outward. 'I said to Humphrey long ago, Mr. Brooke is going to make a splash in the mud. And now he has done it.'<br />'Well, he might have taken it into his head to marry,' said the Rector. 'That would have been a graver mess than a little flirtation with politics.'<br />'He may do that afterwards,' said Mrs. Cadwallader--'when he has come out on the other side of the mud with an ague.'"Amstrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15288210594697010215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648409483330236099.post-73258461033268198022018-03-20T12:40:47.723-07:002018-03-20T12:40:47.723-07:00I just finished Book IV this morning. Thank GE for...I just finished Book IV this morning. Thank GE for Mrs. Cadwallader! More later.Amstrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15288210594697010215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648409483330236099.post-66882255842529225742018-03-20T09:51:48.500-07:002018-03-20T09:51:48.500-07:00For reference, here's Rohan Maitzen's disc...For reference, here's Rohan Maitzen's discussion points for book 4. They're very good. I just zoomed in on something different: https://middlemarchforbookclubs.wordpress.com/questions/one-book-at-a-time/book-iv-three-love-problems/Notorious Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/08700875559325201086noreply@blogger.com