To what extent is Dorothea's attraction towards Mr. Casaubon, and romantic disinterest in Sir James, a reaction to her uncle's continual frustrations of her attempts to be taken seriously in her own intellectual pursuits? Is Dorothea trying to come into the possession of the intellectual gravitas, that which Mr. Casaubon has, by marriage that a patriarchal society, what the uncle who insists "Young ladies don't understand political economy, you know," stands for, has denied her by dint of her gender?