MIDDLEMARCH

George Eliot's novel Middlemarch is set in a fictional English village named Middlemarch from 1829 to 1832. It delves into a variety of people' intertwined lives and discusses issues such as the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education. Despite its comic elements, the novel's realism includes historical events such as the 1832 Reform Act, early railways, and the rise of King William IV. The novel is often considered to be Eliot's masterpiece and one of the great English novels.

In Middlemarch, which takes place before the First Reform Bill of 1832, nearly every aspect of contemporary life is examined, including art, religion, science, politics, one's own identity, society, and interpersonal relationships. Her characters include some of the most notable literary portraits in English literature: The protagonist, Dorothea Brooke, is idealistic but naive. Rosamond Vincy is pompous and attractive. Tertius Lydgate is a morally questionable doctor who is very clever. Will Ladislaw has a deep love for art. One of the many hilarious elements in the novel's rich comic vein is the loving courtship of childhood sweethearts Mary Garth and Fred Vincey.