Middlemarch

In Middlemarch, George Eliot—penname for Victorian writer Mary Ann Evans—does away with all of the conventions for the story produced by a woman. Middlemarch deals with heavy themes such as making the right decisions in marriage, work, and in life in general in a satisfying way. There are no stereotypes in Eliot’s novel, particularly with the characters Dorothea, Lydgate, and Rosamond as we see them live with the consequences—good or bad—of their choices. The female characters are written as people, rather than archetypes typical for Victorian writers, and it views relationships in a fashion far ahead of Eliot’s time.