George Eliot's Engrossing Background to Middlemarch

   George Eliot is certainly not afraid to hide the personality that bursts through her being into her novels. Middlemarch is the seventh novel written by George Eliot and is still considered a masterpiece of English fiction. This was Eliot's most comprehensive and sweeping novel to date and was intended as a study of provincial British life. Though Eliot's novel was to focus on the life and integrate the opinions of others, she still put in personal opinion in terms of marriage, belief of humanity and other factors that can show in the novel. This was not just a simple novel but a piece of history brought to life through her gifted story telling in Middlemarch.

   Initially, there was going to be two separate books. One book was going to center on the doctor Lygate as the main character, and the other would focus on Dorthea. In the end, she decided to take a different route by combining the characters' stories into one. The characters in Eliot's novel can be related to or empathized with; with each person in the novel, the characters may be liked or disliked. The human behavior the characters express represents and mirrors us as people to some degree. As we judge Eliot's characters in Middlemarch, we are also judging ourselves. Having that perspective of the novel and by looking at these complex characters, each if not all of them hold some aspect that lies within ourselves whether that aspect of our personality is desirable to one's self or not.

   The characters and stories told within the novel are meant to show how people are affected by historical change while it happens and how progress happens in people's lives. Her intention with the novel was to analyze recent political, social and economic threads through the character's life experience and personality. Middlemarch was written in such a subtle way, incorporating both topical history, such as the death of George IV, and the reform bill that will be passed later that year and still bestowing a feeling of an engrossing novel. The novel is very much concerned with women's roles and how they should be changed. Although she had no children and lived with her lover, George Lewes, without being married, believed that women should be married and had obligations to their husbands and children. This tension in Eliot's personal views forms struggles that Rosamond, Dorothea, and Celia face, determining the outcome of their unions according to their character. Middlemarch is a very carefully woven work of social commentary with living and breathing characters who are as real as the historical time period they inhabit. 

Mary Barton and Boucicault

The exquisite comparison of Mary Barton written by Elizabeth Gaskell and its stage counterpart Boucicault was truly interesting and new to my knowledge of Victorian literature. While reading through the reviews of Altick, I found tasteful differences between the play and novel, making both works hold something unique to bring forth to those who indulge in such a dark and fascinating era. Through Altick's review, my opinion on the novel so far agreed closely on the lines in which he spoke of. In the basic summary of the play and novel, the comparisons between the two followed closely, but the play lacked in the meaningful focus Gaskell painted so well. The characters were quite important to her, but the message of social protest held a top priority for her. "Her dominant concern was to convey her message of social protest" (493).

Comparing the novel and play side by side, Altick explained that Esther did not appear in the play and that the mill owner and his son were combined into one (Radley). Aside from my dolefulness from the absence of one character, I could understand that it couldn't be exactly like the novel due to time constraints of the play and the different writing style of the play writer whom focused more on character development than the social protest. The differences from the play makes the story unique from the novel. Though the general plot was the same, the play introduced different twists. Without Esther, the the full retribution is not expressed through her character. When combining the Carsons into one being however was fairly interesting, giving our villain both issues with being a seducer and a labor-oppressing mill owner.

Not only Esther and the Carsons, but other characters were also cut from the play, most of them being a character who caused more trouble or died early on enough for them to not be deemed important, even though their deaths express the tragedy that impressively tore the ground right from under the poor and hungry. With these various characters cut from the book, the aspect of poverty is not fully appreciated.  

Contemporary Review on Mary Barton: Industrialization and Hope

For the contemporary reviews on Mary Barton, I narrowed my focus to Fredrich Engles who decided to focus on the issue with Results of Industrialization and examinar (1848) John Forster. Engles found true inner conflict with the novel as it brought forth the concept of murder through both spectrums: one of a person knowingly striking the blow and that of society inadvertently killing those sinking in hunger and despair.  Forster found "unusual beauty and merit"(376). He described the compelling qualities that drew fascination upon his analysis. Forster also had taken note of the feminine qualities that it displayed. This sad portrayal of Manchester life has no real solution to this crises of poverty, but holds a candle of hope in the face known as sympathy. The reviews are impressionable and though they write with bias and enjoyment to the novel, I find their criticism to be just and thoughtful. Both points made  about the novel call out the uniqueness that is Mary Barton and the societal and inner conflicts that arise during the book.
Engels narrowed his views on the industrial aspect of the book. Through his experience and awareness of the uncleanliness industrialization builds around him, his review expressing his utter disgust for the treatment and lifestyle of the poor. Unlike the review of Forster, Engels takes a dark turn from hope and enlightenment to the fear and hope that consume the many lives of the poor. "There is no end to the sufferings which are heaped on the heads of the poor"(414).
The entire review follows more along the lines of a rant about cruelty that has befallen the poor through industrialization than a review simply about Mary Barton. This may be the case, but I believe that to be a goal of Gaskell. Heightening the senses of the world around them and bringing forth the conflict so openly raging inside him, so I suppose job well done. Engels' words sprout from Mary Barton, Gaskell blatantly explaining the issues with this predicament through a coy and innovated manner. His tangent  begins with a review, but never quite recollects itself onto the main topic. Still, his temperament with the relationship between the workers and the mill owners obviously struck a chord, but I am sure that he was not the only one. If anything, he personified the discontent with both Elizabeth Gaskell and the many readers upon this subject.
Forster looks to the story almost as an enlightenment to those who are in the dark about the hardships and callousness that poverty has bestowed its presence to many of that time. Some may even believe Mary Barton to be a political novel, but I agree more with Forster writing against such a notion of this novel. The moral of the story blossomed between the contrast of the characters, branching to possible conclusions that poverty could bear,
"The little girlish varieties which cost the heroin so dear: and, in the contrasted characters of Jane, Wilson, and Alice, the irritable exactions of temper which are bred by poverty as well as the humble religious patience which may alleviate and redeem it; are beautifully sketched" (368).
Gaskell didn't just write a novel on politics, sympathetic characters, and soul crushing truth of poverty; she expressed that through the thorny thicket of hard times, there are ways to build and find a way out through religious patience. Forster's contemporary review indulged my mind to think beyond the characters and look at the honest truth of Gaskell's "right and keen perception of the motives that actuate ordinary life."
The contemporary reviewers both comprehended what I thought to be the message Gaskell hoped to get across. The method in which they portrayed their emotions are different in writing style and focus. The two reviewers did however come to one conclusion: the current system is in need of work to some degree. Engels and Forster in a way complemented each other with Engels starting his distaste for the system followed by Forster's decree of hope and patience for those in such a terrible situation.