Middlemarch as a Study of Provincial Life
The novelist has called the novel ‘Middlemarch’ and also given it a subtitle “A Study of
Provincial Life”. The title is an appropriate one, for the novel gives us a realistic, vivid and
comprehensive picture of provincial life of England as it was in the years immediately
preceding the Reform Act in 1832. The picture is so vivid and comprehensive, that it has been
said that if there is any hero in the novel it is the society of Middlemarch. The novelist, George
Eliot, has drawn heavily on her memories of early girlhood and it accounts for the truthfulness
and vividness of her portrait of provincial life. In the 1830’s provincial life was the same in
every part of England for the railways had not yet destroyed rural isolation and seclusion. This
makes George Eliot’s study of provincial life a microcosm of the provincial life of England.
A book about people, not places
The action of the novel takes place in Middlemarch or the neighbouring parishes of Tipton,
Lowick or Freshitt. The locale of Middlemarch has been left vague and indistinct, though it is
generally identified with the town of Coventry in the Midlands. This is so because it is a novel
about people and not places or ideas. The setting is at once ample and plain. It is a world of
family circles and fragile reputations; and no scene is more skilfully managed than poor Mrs.
Bulstrode’s round of visit to her friends. The pitiless self-protection of society is here
relentlessly exposed.
Landscape of Opinion
The canvas of the novel is a crowded one. A host of characters, belonging to every profession,
age group and walk of life have been brought in, and through their actions and interactions
life in a limited region – Middlemarch and its environs – has been faithfully recorded. Not
even the minor characters are superfluous, for they serve to illuminate some one aspect or
the other of provincial life of the time. As Quentin Anderson points out, “It is a landscape of
opinion”, and not any natural landscape, which is dominant in the novel.
A Conservative and Tradition bound Society
This limited, isolated community has certain well-marked characteristics. It is deeply
conservative. Everything new, every hint of change, is looked upon with suspicion. Railways
which are yet distant and far off, are regarded as a threat to the agricultural way of life. Class
distinctions are taken for granted, and every class carries with it, its own privileges.
The novelist has called the novel ‘Middlemarch’ and also given it a subtitle “A Study of
Provincial Life”. The title is an appropriate one, for the novel gives us a realistic, vivid and
comprehensive picture of provincial life of England as it was in the years immediately
preceding the Reform Act in 1832. The picture is so vivid and comprehensive, that it has been
said that if there is any hero in the novel it is the society of Middlemarch. The novelist, George
Eliot, has drawn heavily on her memories of early girlhood and it accounts for the truthfulness
and vividness of her portrait of provincial life. In the 1830’s provincial life was the same in
every part of England for the railways had not yet destroyed rural isolation and seclusion. This
makes George Eliot’s study of provincial life a microcosm of the provincial life of England.
A book about people, not places
The action of the novel takes place in Middlemarch or the neighbouring parishes of Tipton,
Lowick or Freshitt. The locale of Middlemarch has been left vague and indistinct, though it is
generally identified with the town of Coventry in the Midlands. This is so because it is a novel
about people and not places or ideas. The setting is at once ample and plain. It is a world of
family circles and fragile reputations; and no scene is more skilfully managed than poor Mrs.
Bulstrode’s round of visit to her friends. The pitiless self-protection of society is here
relentlessly exposed.
Landscape of Opinion
The canvas of the novel is a crowded one. A host of characters, belonging to every profession,
age group and walk of life have been brought in, and through their actions and interactions
life in a limited region – Middlemarch and its environs – has been faithfully recorded. Not
even the minor characters are superfluous, for they serve to illuminate some one aspect or
the other of provincial life of the time. As Quentin Anderson points out, “It is a landscape of
opinion”, and not any natural landscape, which is dominant in the novel.
A Conservative and Tradition bound Society
This limited, isolated community has certain well-marked characteristics. It is deeply
conservative. Everything new, every hint of change, is looked upon with suspicion. Railways
which are yet distant and far off, are regarded as a threat to the agricultural way of life. Class
distinctions are taken for granted, and every class carries with it, its own privileges.
