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Themes

Education

The book examines the role of education in the lives of the characters and how such education and study has affected the characters. Rosamond Vincy's finishing school education is a foil to Dorothea Brooke's religiously-motivated quest for knowledge. Rosamond initially admires Lydgate for his exotic education, and his intellect. A similar dynamic is present in Dorothea and Casaubon's relationship, with Dorothea revering her new husband's intellect and eloquence. In both cases, however, the young wives' expectations of their husbands intellects are not reflected in reality.

Despite extreme erudition, Mr. Casaubon is afraid to publish because he believes that he must write a work that is utterly above criticism. In contrast, Lydgate at times arrogantly flaunts his knowledge, making enemies with his fellow physicians. He regards the residents of Middlemarch with a certain amount of contempt stemming from his belief that the townspeople are backwards and uninteresting. However, his education has not included tact and politicking, skills necessary in a small town but which are seen by Lydgate as below him, the brilliant doctor.

Class

The characters in the book belong to distinct social classes based on birth and money. The genteel class (that is to say, the class of people who are financially independent and who do not have to work for a living) are represented by Sir James Chettam, Mr. Casaubon, old Mr. Featherstone, and the Brooke family (Dorothea, Celia, and their uncle). The merchant and professional class is represented by the Vincy family (particularly Fred and Rosamond), and the labouring class is represented by the Garth family.

Class climbing and class sinking also feature in the book. Mr. Vincy, who has become reasonably wealthy but who is living beyond his means and who is teaching his children Fred and Rosamond to do the same, is hoping that his children will make it into the upper class. He believes Fred will inherit a substantial amount of money from old Mr. Featherstone, so he does not push Fred to work hard at university or pass his exams. He raises Rosamond to spend foolishly because he hopes that, with her beauty and charm, she will be able to marry up. Neither of the Vincy children succeed. Fred alienates Mr. Featherstone and does not inherit the fortune he hoped for, and it is not until he embraces work and fulfils his destiny as a member of the working class that he earns Mary Garth's respect. Rosamond marries Dr. Lydgate believing that she's marrying into an upper class family when in reality Lydgate is short of money and sinking into debt. Rosamond in fact insists on maintaining an upper-class lifestyle even when her husband tries to cut back expenses and to sell off unnecessary belongings in order to avoid bankruptcy.

Lydgate, unlike his wife, is not trying to move up in class but to move down. He was born into a wealthy family, but alienated his relatives by deciding to become a doctor. As a professional, he voluntarily stepped into a lower class. Yet he is still accustomed to the material luxuries he enjoyed in his youth, so he spends more than he should to buy a practice and to set up his household. He persists in idealistic, upper-class activities such as working without pay for the Hospital and alienating patients by not dispensing medicine and by charging for consultations in a manner inconsistent with the traditional practice of medicine in Middlemarch. His patients believe he is an arrogant snob, and they want nothing to do with him. So, by belonging convincingly to neither class, Lydgate effectively shuts himself out from both.

Another class-crossing character is Ladislaw. He lives a fairly Bohemian life at first, but comes to Middlemarch and seeks employment as a clerk. Since he works for a living, he puts himself on a far lower social rung than his relative Mr. Casaubon. Dorothea's marriage to Ladislaw is shocking not because he is a relative or because it is in defiance of Casaubon's will, but because the class and financial differences between Ladislaw and Dorothea are so great.

Self-Delusion

Most of the central characters of this novel have a habit of building castles in the air and then attempting to live in them. Because they are idealistic, self-absorbed, or otherwise out of touch with reality, they make serious mistakes. These mistakes cause them great unhappiness, and eventually their illusions are shattered. Some characters learn from this process, and others do not. Those who learn not to build castles in the air generally end up happy, while those who persist in ignoring pragmatism are miserable.

Dorothea, who wants nothing more in life than to do good, rejects a young man who would have been a reasonably good match for her in order to marry the aged scholar Mr. Casaubon. She does this because she likes the idea of being an assistant to him and helping him with his great intellectual pursuits. Unfortunately, she is so much in love with her image of Mr. Casaubon that she fails to notice he isn't actually writing anything. He is supposedly working on a great work that, when completed, will link together and explain all world mythologies. However he is so obsessed with creating a perfect work of scholarship, and so afraid of criticism from his peers, that he never publishes anything. He is not interested in contributing to the discipline for its own sake; rather he uses scholarship to enhance his ego and improve his image. Dorothea, in her youth and enthusiasm, does not recognize this. Later, when she meets people who genuinely do love knowledge for its own sake (Ladislaw and Lydgate come to mind) she cannot help but notice the discrepancy between what she wanted and what she actually chose. Yet this discrepancy does not keep her from marrying foolishly a second time, to Ladislaw whom she hardly knows. Based on a few days' acquaintance developed during her honeymoon and a handful of occasional conversations, Dorothea is attracted to Ladislaw but does not have an opportunity to get to know him. Their mutual love is developed apart from one another.

Lydgate, the other tragic character in this novel, chooses his wife based more on physical attraction than on a knowledge of her character. He marries the materialistic, self-absorbed Rosamond Vincy who, unbeknownst to Lydgate, has been harbouring her own delusions and misconceptions about who Lydgate is. Once safely married, they each find out exactly how poorly they suit one another. He cannot free himself of Rosamond, yet he is unwilling to set aside his (and her) upper-class pretensions to buy himself the time and resources to conduct the medical research he wants to do. He ignores the basic financial reality of life in Middlemarch, does not dispense prescriptions, and alienates patients by not filling what they believe to be his proper role as a doctor. Eventually he succumbs to Rosamond's desire to leave Middlemarch, and turns into the kind of doctor he never really wanted to be, his research permanently abandoned. He becomes financially successful, which appeases Rosamond. After Lydgate dies, Rosamond marries someone better suited to her tastes, who can indulge her materialism and who never asks her to do anything difficult.

Not all the characters in Middlemarch cling to their delusions. Fred Vincy gets a rude awakening when the big inheritance he expects fails to materialize. He sets aside his more frivolous pursuits and goes to work for Mary Garth's father. Mr. Farebrother, who is also in love with Mary, helps to steer Fred away from temptation and keep him on the best course. Mr. Farebrother does this with a great deal of regret, since if Fred were to fail to become a productive, self-sufficient adult he would have his own opportunity to woo and win Mary, whom he wants for himself. Yet in the end, Fred is rewarded when he proves himself to be a reliable, sensible individual. Mary accepts his hand in marriage.

Rosamond Vincy Lydgate never abandons her delusions about herself, and persists in viewing herself as a perpetually wronged princess even though she's scheming and manipulative. Yet she does eventually realize that being married to an idealistic doctor is not easy, and that marrying into a wealthy family does not guarantee that she and her husband will be rich. She also realizes that Lydgate, whom she decided she loved because of his upper-class background and distant origins, is not the meal ticket to which she felt entitled. At the end of the book, after Lydgate's death, Rosamond correctly identifies the attributes most desirable to her in a husband: a fat wallet and an indulgent nature. She obtains such a husband and lives happily ever after.