Story Skeleton—Middlemarch

Story structure relates to the psychological appeal of narrative, that which engages readers and builds in them a sense of anticipation—a desire to know what happens next. This blog series is meant to demonstrate the universality of story structure with plot breakdowns of award-winning and classic novels.

 

By Michelle Barker 

An orchestra of a novel

Middlemarch has been hailed as the greatest British novel ever written (although apparently, if you Google I hate Middlemarch, you will immediately discover kindred spirits on Facebook). Virginia Woolf described it as “one of the few English novels written for grown-up people.” It’s a brick of a book, the kind you look at and think, how will I ever get through it? But once you’re in the middle of it, you’ll find yourself wishing it would never end. It’s a novel you want to live in. Truly, this is a masterpiece of both characterization and structure. How George Eliot wrote it without going absolutely mad is something I’d like to know, but the way she plants so many seeds early in the novel convinces me she must have planned it out meticulously. 

George Eliot is the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. She wrote as a man so that she would be taken seriously. Even so, most people already knew she was a woman from her previous work, and Middlemarch was criticized as being “depressing” and “too intellectual” for a female novelist—no doubt the very criticisms she had hoped to avoid. 

The novel is set in the fictional town of Middlemarch and takes place from 1829-1832. It begins with several separate storylines that slowly but surely intertwine, all under the able guidance of a very vocal narrator, much like an orchestra with its sections of woodwinds, strings, brass, percussion—and a conductor who keeps it all in order. 

This is not a typical novel because there is not a singular protagonist. While Dorothea Brooke’s story begins and ends the novel, and while the first inciting incident belongs to her, there are so many different characters and storylines, each with their own inciting incidents, it’s hard to argue for Dorothea as the main character. Instead, Middlemarch itself—or rather provincial life in this typical English town—forms the beating heart of the novel. 

There’s also no real antagonist. Casaubon might be considered one for a while, as is Bulstrode, but Eliot also makes them sympathetic. The real antagonist in the novel is the relentless process of change and people’s general resistance to it.  

Because Eliot was in the vanguard of the realistic novel, she aims to portray life the way it really is, rather than giving us the romantic version typical of many novelists at the time. Instead of marriage marking the end of the novel in a happily-ever-after scenario, marriage is where the story begins. As a result, shit gets real in a hurry. We get to watch the romantic courtships and idealized notions of various significant others, and then we see how things fall apart under the heavy and unrelenting weight of reality. 

Every so often the town itself gets a plot point—with regard to politics or the organization of the hospital or the coming railway. Through the town and its inhabitants, Eliot shows us the social dynamics and pressures of the time, the politics and gossip, the change that was in the air and how so many people were discomfited by it. It’s as though she holds a camera and occasionally pans out to give us the bigger picture, then zooms back in on the main characters. She uses the crowd like a Greek chorus, providing commentary both on what’s going on generally and in reference to the characters we’re familiar with.

So many storylines…

The novel is divided into eight books (which is how it was published), but there are four main storylines (with numerous others that feed into them): 

• Dorothea Brooke with Edward Casaubon and Will Ladislaw
• Tertius Lydgate with Rosamond Vincy and Nicholas Bulstrode
• Fred Vincy with Mary Garth and Mr. Farebrother
• Nicholas Bulstrode and his secret and scandalous past 

Bits and pieces of these various storylines appear in nearly every book. Many of the storylines happen concurrently, almost as though we are peering down on the town from above and watching the stories unfold in different places. 

Middlemarch might be long, but Eliot demonstrates that every plot point exists for a reason and will reap a harvest somewhere in the future. Nothing is superfluous. Nothing exists for its own sake without follow-up or causality. She also makes great use of fatal flaws for each of her main characters. 

Let’s break down these narrative trajectories.

Dorothea Brooke

Dorothea is a key character both in the plot of Middlemarch and thematically as a woman with great potential who never really gets the chance to fulfil it. She is also stubborn, and it is her stubbornness that gets her into trouble, and her triumph over it that allows her to (sort of) achieve her narrative goal. 

Stasis

Dorothea longs to do something serious with her life, though as a woman her opportunities are limited. Her eye is on the tenant cottages on her uncle’s property which need improvement, but her uncle isn’t much interested in that. 

Inciting incident

The clergyman and scholar Edward Casaubon proposes marriage. He is much older than Dorothea but she envisions marriage to him as a way to lead a serious intellectual life. She decides she will help him with his book, The Key to All Mythologies, the great project of his life. Everyone thinks the marriage is a mistake and that she should marry the younger and more attractive Sir James Chettam instead (which truthfully would also have been a mistake). But because Dorothea is headstrong and idealistic, she accepts Casaubon’s proposal, popular opinion be damned. This will be her serious life work: her narrative goal is to be of use to him, specifically in the writing of his book. 

Rising action

Eliot doesn’t wait for the honeymoon to be over before bursting Dorothea’s bubble. Casaubon turns out to be distant and cold, and Dorothea is often left alone with nothing to do. While in Rome, she runs into Casaubon’s much younger cousin, Will Ladislaw, which begins an important friendship that causes unintended jealousy. The contrast between the young and attractive Ladislaw and old, crotchety Casaubon couldn’t be greater. Dorothea wants to learn Greek and Latin in order to help Casaubon, but he isn’t too interested in teaching her. She encourages him to start going through his notes but soon realizes that Casaubon’s project is too unwieldy to be realistic and is doomed to remain unfinished. Casaubon senses her doubt in him and this, coupled with his jealousy over Ladislaw’s repeated visits, creates insecurity. 

Midpoint reversal

After suffering some heart trouble (and being treated by the new doctor, Tertius Lydgate), Casaubon drops dead and Dorothea suddenly finds herself a widow with a huge inheritance and one surprising catch: if she marries Ladislaw, she must forfeit her inheritance. She is enraged by this assumption of wrongdoing on her part. As a result, not only does she vow never to remarry (allowing her stubbornness to get in the way again), but she also refuses to finish The Key to All Mythologies, thus giving up on this form of her narrative goal. 

Rising action

Despite the codicil in Casaubon’s will, Dorothea’s feelings for Ladislaw grow. But she resists them, partly because she doesn’t want to go against Casaubon’s wishes, but also partly because of her stubborn streak. When Ladislaw suggests he will leave Middlemarch (hoping she’ll beg him to stay), she says nothing. New rumors fly around town that Ladislaw has been spending time with Rosamond. 

In the meantime, Dorothea gets involved with the new hospital by donating money and thereby having a hand in the meaningful social reform she had yearned for. When she hears the rumor that Lydgate accepted a bribe from the hospital founder, Nicholas Bulstrode, and might be implicated in the death of a stranger named John Raffles, she refuses to believe it. She has always had great respect for Lydgate and chooses to believe the best about him—as she hoped people would do about her with Casaubon’s codicil. She also believes in what he’s doing at the hospital. 

Dark night of the soul

She offers to cover Lydgate’s debts, but when she arrives at his house to deliver the check, she walks in on Rosamond and Ladislaw holding hands. Misunderstanding the scene, she rushes out, believing all is lost with Ladislaw. Her emotions are more powerful than her stubbornness. She can no longer deny her feelings for him and that maybe she deserves to be happy. Her narrative goal has shifted despite her best efforts: she wants to marry Ladislaw. 

Climax

She finally overcomes her stubbornness, decides to take the high road and returns to Rosamond to tell her about her support of Lydgate. Rosamond admits the truth: Ladislaw has only ever loved Dorothea. Dorothea and Ladislaw declare their love for each other and decide to marry even though Dorothea will have to forfeit Casaubon’s inheritance. 

Resolution

Dorothea and Ladislaw have a happy married life together, and though she never does the reform work she originally dreamed of, she does support medical reform in Middlemarch and achieves her goal of marrying Ladislaw. And she overcomes her fatal flaw. 

Tertius Lydgate

Lydgate is another key character in a separate storyline that intersects Dorothea’s in several places. As the new surgeon in town, Lydgate serves an important structural purpose. Eliot uses him to weave various storylines together, since many of the characters become his patients. Lydgate, however, will be dogged by a pride that creates dangerous arrogance through most of the novel. 

Stasis

Lydgate arrives in Middlemarch eager to make a name for himself in medicine. He has come from Paris where he left behind a disastrous love affair and brings with him some newfangled ideas about studying anatomy and treating disease. 

Inciting incident

Lydgate secures the position of physician at the newly established Fever Hospital, supported by the influential but morally questionable banker, Nicholas Bulstrode. Narrative goal: this position offers him a platform for his medical reforms with regard to modern treatments, though the townsfolk of Middlemarch aren’t fond of new ideas. 

Point of no return

Rosamond Vincy has her eye on Lydgate before he starts paying attention to her. It is her brother Fred Vincy’s illness that causes Lydgate to spend more time at the Vincy home—where, against his better judgment, he consequently spends more time with Rosamond. Eventually Lydgate proposes to Rosamond, not seeing beyond her physical attributes, and she accepts. Marriage to Rosamond will become Lydgate’s biggest obstacle to achieving his goal, and it is a direct result of pride. She’s pretty and elegant and she’s the mayor’s daughter. She’ll look good at his side. 

Rising action

Lydgate wants to make changes to the medical system, but his arrogance when it comes to dealing with small-town people makes him bullheaded and insensitive. Once again, his pride is destined to cause trouble for him. It doesn’t take long for him to start making enemies all over town on both a personal and professional level. To make matters worse, Rosamond is high maintenance and not easy to live with. In order to keep her happy, he spends more than he should to rent and furnish their house. 

Midpoint reversal

Because Lydgate is too proud to admit the truth about their finances, Rosamond continues to spend money. It’s clear to both of them that this marriage was a mistake, but they’re stuck in it. Instead of focusing on medical reforms, Lydgate must now figure out how to deal with his mounting debts. 

Rising action

Lydgate can no longer hide his debts. He finally tells Rosamond they will have to move to a smaller house, but she manipulates things so that it can’t happen and goes behind his back to ask his relatives for money—which they refuse. At his wits’ end, he resorts to gambling and is narrowly rescued from ruin by Fred Vincy. He then approaches Bulstrode to ask for a loan. Bulstrode refuses, suggesting he should declare bankruptcy. 

False victory

When Bulstrode changes his mind and offers Lydgate the loan, Lydgate doesn’t realize that the timing will make it look like a bribe. The offer of money comes just after John Raffles has died, and Lydgate was the doctor who treated him. He has no idea about Bulstrode’s nefarious past, nor does he know that Raffles was blackmailing Bulstrode and that Bulstrode had a hand in Raffles’ death. But he also doesn’t ask many questions. He believes his money problems are over. He won’t have to move to a smaller home and endure Rosamond’s complaints about being poor. His pride and social standing are intact. He can continue with his medical reforms, as planned. 

Tragic climax

Lydgate becomes implicated in the scandal surrounding Bulstrode, who is exposed both for the questionable source of his wealth and his involvement in the death of Raffles—which many suspect was a murder. So much for his pride. Lydgate faces public humiliation and the collapse of his professional dreams, but Dorothea steps in to clear his name and offer him money so that he can return Bulstrode’s loan. Her actions are as much a reflection of her own character as they are an endorsement of his attempts at medical reform. They also fulfill her narrative goal of actively supporting reform. 

It is noteworthy that Lydgate helps Bulstrode out of the town meeting in which Bulstrode is publicly humiliated—at the direct expense of Lydgate’s reputation. Here is the demonstration of his arc: he must swallow his pride to support a man who has been vilified by the community. 

Resolution

Lydgate’s story is a tragedy. Thanks to the Bulstrode scandal, the damage to his reputation is significant. He can only salvage his medical practice by moving to London, and he sort of salvages his marriage. He and Rosamond are never really happy and he dies young without every achieving his true goal. But he does overcome his fatal flaw. 

Fred Vincy

Fred’s trajectory is different from the other characters who start off with big ambitions and then careen downhill. He starts in the dumps—and things get worse before they get better—but his journey is from irresponsibility to maturity, driven by his love for Mary Garth and his desire to become worthy of her respect. In this way, he can be considered an anti-hero. His fatal flaw is that he’s lazy. 

Stasis

When the novel begins, Fred is a bit of a dilettante. He’s failed his exam at college and is deeply in debt but assumes he’ll be rescued when he inherits his elderly (and ill) uncle’s fortune. His narrative goal is to make something of himself so that Mary Garth will marry him. But he starts the novel by going about it the wrong way: trusting to luck and inheritance and doing the least amount of work possible. His strategy is guaranteed to fail, since Mary comes from a family that is founded on the value of hard work. She has known him since childhood, and though she loves him, she sees his flaws clearly and won’t marry him until he overcomes them. 

Inciting incident

Fred borrows money to buy a horse and convinces Mary’s father Caleb to co-sign on the debt he owes, figuring it’s not a huge risk. This will be easy money. He’ll sell the horse for more than he bought it for and thereby win Mary’s hand. 

Rising action

Fred is a bad-luck Charlie. He trusts to luck and luck lets him down. The horse he buys goes lame, Fred loses everything, and the debt has a big impact on the Garth family who can’t afford to cover Fred’s losses without sacrificing their savings (including Mary’s). Stressed from the loss, Fred gets sick. 

Midpoint reversal

When Uncle Featherstone finally dies, the will reveals that Fred stands to receive precisely nothing. Mary refuses to marry him unless he gets it together and becomes serious about a vocation in life. She is sensible and hard-working and comes from a poorer family than Fred. Her encouragement—along with Mr. Vincy’s insistence that Fred go back to school to finish his theology degree—sets him on the long road to a responsible life. Rather than being lazy and trusting to luck to make his fortune, he must learn to work for it. As is typical of an antihero, Fred must overcome his flaw at the midpoint. 

Rising action

Fred finishes school but abandons the idea of joining the clergy (especially since Mary won’t marry him if he becomes a clergyman). Instead, he starts working with Caleb Garth, learning agricultural work and estate management. However, a new threat enters in the form of Mr. Farebrother as a rival for Mary’s hand. Mr. Farebrother would be a good match for her and he’s interested in her. Without knowing this, Fred asks Mr. Farebrother to speak to Mary on his behalf and find out if she’s interested in marrying him. Mr. Farebrother does this but also hints at his own interest in her, but Mary makes it clear that she loves Fred and won’t give him up for anyone else. 

Dark night of the soul

In a classic “recovering addict” moment, Fred shows up at the Green Dragon, his former gambling haunt. As a reformed gambler, he figures it’s safe; he can go there to relax and won’t be tempted to bet. Naturally, he’s wrong. He is tempted—until he sees Lydgate there. It shocks him back to his senses. When Mr. Farebrother calls him downstairs and threatens to court Mary if he starts gambling again, Fred vows never to go back down that road. He must continue on the path of choosing hard work over luck. 

Climax

To make things up to his wife (who is a Vincy), Bulstrode arranges for Caleb Garth to manage Stone Court and for Fred to live there, and thus Mary consents to marry him. This is a nice reversal for Fred, since it’s his own hard work that has earned him this stroke of so-called luck. 

Resolution

Fred and Mary have a happy life together and raise three sons. This is one of the few happy marriages in the novel, probably because the couple knew each other for years before they got married and didn’t have any idealistic notions about what they were getting into. Mary provided the motivation for Fred to overcome his fatal flaw. 

Nicholas Bulstrode

Bulstrode’s storyline is noteworthy because it doesn’t really get off the ground until Book 5. In the meantime, Eliot plants seeds, making sure to introduce him in Book 1 and weaving him into the earlier books as a financial (and moralistic) presence in Middlemarch. By the time his story starts in earnest, we’re prepared for it. Bulstrode is a hypocrite who believes he will never be found out. 

Stasis

Bulstrode is the successful and moralistic banker in town who has his fingers in a lot of pies in terms of both the hospital and politics. He has an unsavory (but mysterious) past and is determined that no one will find out about it. As a result, he is keen to protect his reputation and social standing in the town. 

We see Bulstrode moralizing to Fred Vincy and pushing his weight around at the hospital and in the community. When Joshua Rigg inherits Mr. Featherstone’s property and fortune, Bulstrode purchases Stone Court from him. More property means more influence and more protection from any suspicion that he came by his money dishonestly. 

Inciting incident

The purchase of Stone Court is how Rigg’s stepfather John Raffles ends up in Middlemarch. While visiting Rigg, he spots a letter addressed to Bulstrode regarding this purchase and pockets it in the hopes of finding Bulstrode’s address. 

Raffles arrives to speak to Bulstrode, and Bulstrode offers him money to leave Middlemarch and never return. This is our first indication that Bulstrode is not the man we thought he was. Raffles poses a direct obstacle to Bulstrode’s goal of cementing his influence in Middlemarch, and from this point on in the novel, Bulstrode’s narrative goal becomes silencing or getting rid of Raffles. What Raffles knows that no one else does is that Bulstrode came by his fortune dishonestly and the person to whom it actually should have gone was none other than Ladislaw’s mother (and therefore Ladislaw). Raffles was the person Bulstrode hired to find Ladislaw’s mother and then he bribed him to keep quiet about it so that Bulstrode could keep the fortune. If Raffles lets this spill, Bulstrode’s reputation in Middlemarch will be ruined. 

Rising action

Raffles starts to get around. He crosses paths with Ladislaw at an auction, stops in to visit Mrs. Bulstrode, and then heads to the bank to blackmail Bulstrode. 

Midpoint

Realizing that he won’t be able to shake Raffles, Bulstrode meets Ladislaw and tells him part of the truth, essentially offering to buy Ladislaw off. But Ladislaw senses this is dirty money and refuses it. 

Rising action

Lydgate approaches Bulstrode to ask for a loan. Bulstrode refuses, suggesting he should declare bankruptcy. Bulstrode is planning to leave town for a while and intends for Caleb Garth to manage Stone Court in his absence. Caleb plans to give the job to Fred Vincy, but when he finds Raffles at Stone Court very ill, he backs out of the deal suspecting something sketchy is going on. 

Bulstrode allows Raffles to stay and calls for Lydgate who says his illness is the result of alcoholism. He’ll probably be fine as long as no one gives him anything more to drink. Bulstrode now changes his mind about the loan and agrees to give Lydgate the money he needs. 

False victory

When Lydgate arrives the next morning to check on his patient, Raffles is dead. What Lydgate doesn’t know is that Bulstrode allowed the housekeeper to take over watching Raffles, and when Raffles begged for brandy, Bulstrode gave the housekeeper the key to the liquor cabinet—knowing full well what would happen. However, Bulstrode believes no one is the wiser. No one has found out about his disreputable past. He doesn’t have to leave town, and he won’t suffer any humiliation. Silencing Raffles has allowed him to retain his influence in Middlemarch. It seems like he has attained his narrative goal. 

Tragic climax

Surprise. He’s wrong on all counts. Rumors in Middlemarch spread faster than the plague. When Bulstrode goes to a town meeting, he discovers that everyone knows. He is forced to resign from all his public positions and leave the meeting in disgrace, helped out by Lydgate. Then his wife learns the truth. His hypocrisy has been revealed to all. 

Resolution

Bulstrode is certain his wife will leave him. Instead, she wants him to make amends. Caleb Garth won’t do business with him anymore, so he suggests she approach Caleb with the original offer to manage Stone Court and install Fred Vincy there, thus allowing Fred to marry Mary Garth. Bulstrode is ruined by the past that he sought to hide. He loses his social standing, but his wife remains loyal to him. 

Bulstrode's transformation of character is harder to discern, but it is implied by the fact that he believes his wife should leave him—it's what he deserves—and yet she doesn't. Her loyalty suggests that she perceives there is something worth staying for, that he is worth staying for. Given his public humiliation, it's hard to imagine him doing the same thing again if he had the opportunity. But Eliot leaves that open to interpretation.

Idealizations versus Reality

A lot of what Eliot does in this novel involves showing us the difference between our impressions and idealizations, and what occurs when the scales fall from our eyes. It happens to nearly every main character. 

• Dorothea sees Casaubon as a wise, accomplished scholar destined to achieve greatness in his Key to All Mythologies. Reality: he’s a jealous, cold, and insecure old man whose ambition will never be realized.
• Casaubon sees Dorothea as an attractive, submissive, and devoted young woman—the perfect bride. Reality: she is smart, stubborn, and independent-minded with her own ideas that don’t necessarily mesh with his.
• Rosamond sees Lydgate as a successful and handsome aristocratic doctor who is guaranteed to provide her with the elegant lifestyle she craves. Reality: he has very little money and a tendency to rub people the wrong way with his arrogance, and he has little patience for Rosamond’s idiosyncrasies.
• Lydgate sees Rosamond as a beautiful, pliant trophy wife—the perfect accessory. Reality: she is shallow and self-centered, spends too much money, and tries to manipulate him.
• The townspeople view Bulstrode as a successful and pious banker. Reality: his success is built on dishonesty and his piousness is pure hypocrisy. 

There are two main characters who do not idealize each other: Fred Vincy and Mary Garth. They have known each other since childhood and are not deceived by any false impressions. Mary recognizes that Fred is lazy and irresponsible, but she believes in his ability to improve himself—and indeed won’t marry him until he does. Fred respects Mary’s integrity but he also recognizes that she doesn’t have the social standing that his parents would prefer. 

The Narrator

Like Jane Austen and Gustave Flaubert, Eliot experiments with free indirect discourse to give the reader more direct access to the characters’ thoughts and emotions. But rather than being a neutral observer, the narrator of Middlemarch is a separate and rather vocal character in her own right and often addresses the reader with her commentary and insights. This was groundbreaking in its time. The narrator forms a bond with the reader, sometimes using a conversational tone and even the first person POV, sometimes stepping back to offer her own ideas or opinions about what’s going on. It feels very much like Eliot’s voice. 

Indeed, in Chapter 29, Eliot directly breaks the fourth wall: “One morning, some weeks after her arrival at Lowick, Dorothea—but why always Dorothea? Was her point of view the only possible one with regard to this marriage? … Mr. Casaubon had an intense consciousness within him, and was spiritually a-hungered like the rest of us.” 

Not only does she remind us that we’re reading a story, but she proceeds to shift the focus of the chapter to Casaubon. 

Overall, the narrator is honest about the characters, and in the process, she forces us to take a closer look at ourselves—at marriage, at expectations and gossip, at how we idealize people we don’t know well, and how we resist change. 

Why Middlemarch is a classic

Originally, Eliot was working on two separate novels, one about a doctor named Lydgate and the other about Dorothea. In a flash of brilliance, she decided to intertwine them into one great work of fiction. 

Why is this book a classic? Because of the dialogue of Mrs. Cadwallader and Mr. Brooke. Because of the complexities of both the structure and the characters. Because Eliot doesn’t shy away from the truth of human nature. Every character is a web of motivations, virtues, and flaws. They feel so real, they could walk in the door and you’d recognize them. This book is a tour de force, the sort of novel you can come back to again and again and find more things to admire in it—which is the definition of timelessness.

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Michelle Barker is an award-winning author and poet. Her most recent publication, co-authored with David Brown, is Immersion and Emotion: The Two Pillars of Storytelling. Her fiction, non-fiction, and poetry have appeared in literary reviews worldwide. She has published three YA novels (one fantasy and two historical fiction), a historical picture book, and a chapbook of poetry. Michelle holds a BA in English literature (UBC) and an MFA in creative writing (UBC). Many of the writers she’s worked with have gone on to win publishing contracts and honours for their work. Michelle lives and writes in Vancouver, Canada.