Excerpt for the following discussion:

“Oh, how cruel!” said Dorothea, clasping her hands. “And would you not like to be the one person who believed in that man’s innocence, if the rest of the world belied him? Besides, there is a man’s character beforehand to speak for him.”

“But, my dear Mrs. Casaubon,” said Mr. Farebrother, smiling gently at her ardour, “character is not cut in marble—it is not something solid and unalterable. It is something living and changing, and may become diseased as our bodies do.”

Question: Referring to Virginia Woof’s concerns about the modernization of the novel, in what ways, or is Middlemarch is progressive or regressive?

To answer this question, we can start looking at Woof’s major question: what defines modern literature? She took reference to Fielding and Jane Austen, the two renowned authors of the novel, whose works lay a simplistic framework for the successors. However, she judged, modernization in everyday life is demonstrable – the invention of the machine, progression of social value and improvement in the quality of life. What are the demonstrable modernizing features shown in literature? Before Woof elaborates on her points, she presupposed that this question is awaiting “for the historian of literature to decide” (Woof, 158).

We as readers of this novel written from centuries ago, and from the quoted paragraph, are able to point out some literary features of modernizing. Let us address them one by one.

From a broader view of plot development, characters in the excerpt and in Chapter 72 demonstrated both modernizing features and remanent values of the pre-modern period. In this confrontational exchange between Dorothea and Mr. Farebrother, who is Dorothea’s trusted best friend at the time, it is observed that Dorothea stood up for her own thoughts rather than succumbing to the advisor; while Mr. Farebrother retained his authoritative function of a male mentor over the woman. In the pre-modern period, it was expected or using the words by Sir. James, “a woman is bound to be cautious and listen to those who know the world better than she does” (735), in other words, men. In contrast to that, in the same chapter, Dorothea displayed an emphasis on a woman’s opinion. In the conversation with the other male figures, Mr Brooke and Sir James Chattem were observed with a decline in their influence on Dorothea’s opinion. This result does not come out of anywhere. In the prior chapters of the novel, Dorothea’s decisive mind was made known to the readers. Although, when her opinion came to conflict with the male’s, her disagreement was subtle or even not publicly displayed. Still, it is proved that women do have the capacity to think for themselves, it was the social norms that bounded them from expressing for themselves.

The clashes of the two sexes came most obviously between the Brooke sisters’ conversation, in the last part of this chapter. Celia showed a contradictory stance, she seemingly took the side of the male – she was against Dorothea’s decision to fund the New Hospital. Meanwhile, she agreed on the restriction on the women imposed by the men, “a husband would not let you have your plans” (736). More explicitly, Dorothea’s exclaim of “as if I wanted a husband!” (736) may reveal the unfortunate fate of the unwanted marriage of many more women in that period. Followed by Celia’s observation of Dorothea’s almost shameful submissiveness to Mr Casaubon – the expected loyalty and submission of a woman to her male partner; Dorothea answered by “it was my duty” and “it was my feeling for him” (736) – the presumed duty of a woman in a marriage, and the word “feeling” answered to the prejudice and the presupposed nature of the women – being sentimental and emotionally driven. This chapter certainly reveals many social values that were evolving and regressing.

Back to the excerpt, taking a historical view of the modernization of the novel, keywords in the excerpt provoked some observations.

From Fielding and Jane Austen, Woof observed that the existence of mortal characters represented a sense of “living, breathing, everyday imperfection” (Woof, 158), which gives modern novels a contrasting essence to classical literature. As from Mr Farebrother’s comment on Lydgate’s character is “not cut in marble” (734) – association to heroic figures celebrated by marble statues – sheds light on modern novels dismissing the reliance on saint-like and close-perfect characters. Rather, the everyday figures are shown to be “living and changing, and may become diseased as our bodies do” (735). In which, this helps triggering more empathy from the readers towards the characters (Woof, 163).

However, the excerpt shows a contradictory set of values. Similar to what was mentioned above, Dorothea showed much “ardour” (734) in this chapter, representing women’s ever-growing confidence in their own minds; she is the exact person who acted the long-established “one-person” (734) role in the novel – a woman character’s existence was to become the saviour of the male protagonist. Arguably, Dorothea is enjoying more attention from the readers as the female protagonists, along with other minor characters regardless of their genders. Still, in this chapter, she was the sole character that serves as the definite hope for Lydgate, a male who was struggling to become a better version of himself. This pattern repeats the old framework of the novels, hence Woof’s comment on modern novels are “given a few scraps of their talk (preceding novelists) and some of their thoughts” (Woof, 182) until a real modernized novel overthrows this string of inheritance.