Critical Views of George Eliot's Middlemarch During Her Time

 The critics of her time may have had some issues with the novel Middlemarch, but all of them found some form of enjoyment. They declared the characters in-depth and though there was some plot issues that some explained during their analysis, the story was still to their liking. Joseph Jacobs explains the novel to be a criticism of life. Joseph's critical review was very heavy on his opinion of the book from a psychological stand point, I enjoyed Leslie Stephen's point of view by giving us this image of the three circles within Middlemarch. In each of the circles is the three different stories that were intertwined together in Middlemarch: Casaubon and Dorothea, Rosamons Vincy and Lygate, and Mary Garth and Fred Vincy. The story was one that at least the critics of the author's time had to admit to some level that they had enjoyed the novel, but the fact that so many of the critics gathered all forms of different outcomes tying into their personal opinion was fun to read. Not only did George Eliot create something that had such colorful characters reflecting the lives of many during her era, but in doing so created discussion between critics that exposed a flare of personality with the critics. By doing so, this book was not only created as a reflection of the era through her eyes, but by seeing the view of the critics in the Norton Critical Edition of Middlemarch, we are opened to the personality and in-depth characters of our critics themselves.

Joseph Jacobs views the book in a more logical standpoint, taking close note to the psychological aspect of the specific piece. As he sets off with his opinion, it almost seems as though the thoughts of George Eliot's work was far from a desirable choice for him to criticize. Jacobs began by describing the piece as a curtained painting with the curtain as the art instead of the canvas below. As far as the scientific standpoint of the novel, she did not succeed through the eyes of this critic: “The Selective principal with regard to the latter cannot be of an intellectual, conscious kind at all: it must clearly be of an emotional nature akin to the moral faculty” (p.581). Instead of looking at the novel as a whole and how it pertains to the people of that era, the critic specifies itself on the sole concept of an intellectual standpoint. I believe Eliot was attempting to get the intellectual concept across, but I believe that the emotional aspect was also important for her to incorporate in order to not only educate, but to also draw in the readers. Not to say that I completely disagree with what Jacobs was saying; she did focus on the emotional aspect of the era more than the intellectual aspect, but the critic was a bit harsh with his opinion. The book is not a “complete failure” intellectually. She still puts in some important events of their time and character conversations that could be considered to be intellectual. Though Joseph Jacobs shined light on what people could view as problems, his critique in particular stood out due to its narrowed viewpoint of only looking at her novel in a purely logical standpoint instead of taking the whole concept that Eliot attempted to get across. Instead of Jacobs' nitpicking at only one aspect, he should take it all in, diving deeper into the waters of Middlemarch.

The book takes place in the town of Middlemarch, but at the center of the town is the people within it. In George Eliot's world that she had created, there was no specific center of any particular character. Instead was a trifecta of the couples that the book had set itself around, making Eliot's kingdom such an engaging read. Leslie Stephens also had a similar idea of the story starring the three pairings of Middlemarch: Dorothea and Casaubon, Rosamond Vincy and Lygate, and Fred Vincy and Mary Garth. The characters play as gears to the story, continuing a flow through the novel. Stephens expressed the idea in a portrait of three circles that were the most familiar to George Eliot in her youth. Leslie Stephens described Middlemarch as, “the various actions get mixed together as they would naturally do in a country town” (p.582). She sees her novel as a reflection of society which I believe to be a goal of Eliot. Stephens goes on to express her like for the novel, but understanding of how moments in the story can be protested by the readers such as Dorothea's choice to marry Casaubon. Still, Stephens thoroughly enjoyed the book, finding the story accurate to life in their generation.

The two points of view that I have mentioned gaze into the novel, taking out different aspects and expressing what they see within the piece. This book has the capability to spark the mind of its reader and create a set of emotions in unique ways. The critics, Joseph Jacobs and Leslie

Stephens, had very different opinions on the book. Not only that, but how the two of them took in the book and looked at it were on almost completely different sides of the critic spectrum. Jacobs looked more at the certain aspect of the novel that held strongly with him as he read Middlemarch and really focused on that particular subject that he felt George Eliot lacked in. Stephens however, looked at the piece and the goal of Eliot finding good in her piece as a whole, but expressed some challenges that could come her way in the written piece. Both opinions were valuable; they may be different, but each opinion expresses not only the novel, but a glimpse of the past. When reading the critics of George Eliot's time, people see what was important in a novel to incorporate according to the critics and we see their persons as they reflect not only on the book, but themselves.