Middlemarch Analysis

Often times, the transition from single life to married life surprises many, as most find the plethora of imperfections in marriage to be overwhelming and confusing. These unanticipated feelings in a married relationship are well depicted in Mary Ann Evans’ novel Middlemarch. In the novel, the excitement and eagerness of a newly married couple is displayed in Rosamond’s naivety in buying items, while the reality of Lydgate’s and Rosamond’s conflicting personalities that both deem themselves superior to the other reveals the deficiencies and shortcomings of married life. Evans manages to depict the complex characteristics of this marriage through the shift between Lydgate’s and Rosy’s perspectives, the use of formal diction, and the attention

Evans exhibits Rosy’s initially ambitious and spoiled nature to be clashed with the dismal reality of the docile wife through acute attention to Rosy’s yielding mannerisms. For example, in the beginning, Rosy is eager to ask her father for money, assuming that being married will be no different from living off her parents. However, when Lydgate addresses that asking for money is not acceptable, Rosy is characteristics begin to fit into the stereotypical compliant wife when her “lips began to tremble and the tears welled up,”. Before realizing how flawed her marriage was, Rosy was a forward and strong-willed individual who usually attained her desires very easily. However, when faced with the equally strong-willed personality of her husband, Rosy retreats to a defeated and more morose character. Another mannerism displaying Rosy’s frustration with marriage occurs at the end of the passage when Rosy’s “lips seemed to get thinner with the thinness of her utterance,”. This detail reveals her complete disenchantment of married life – as her lips become smaller and thinner in response to her annoyance with her partner, her hope and envision of becoming a happy married couple becomes shrinks as well. In bringing forth details of Rosy’s increasingly defeated character traits, it is evident that her attempt to be the perfect couple conflicts her revelation

Evan’s passage reveals itself to be an uncovering of the disheartening reality that is marriage. While seemingly a joyous and heartwarming union, marriage can easily reveal the chaotic and harsh reality of adult life among even the most