Assignment
Topic :
Victorian Literature
Name : Ravina Parmar
Roll no : 19
SEM : M.A. sem- 2
Batch year : (2019-2021)
Email :ravinaparmar827@gmail.com
Enrollment no : 2069108420200031
Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi English Department Bhavnagar
- Write a critical note on the character of Dorothea Brooke, as a modern St. Theresa.
About Author :
The novel Middlemarch is the famous novel by George Eliot ( Mary Ann Evans 1819-1880 ). Middlemarch is the study of provincial life. George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Although female authors were published under their own names during her lifetime. But there is one reason behind her pen name. Reason is that she wanted to escape the stereotype of women's writing being limited to lighthearted romances. She also wanted to have her fiction judged separately from her already extensive and widely known work as an editor and critic.
In George Eliot's writing we find that the reflection of country life in England, just as we look to Dickens for pictures of the city streets and Thackeray for the vanities of society. If we talked about portraying the characters, she has minutely explained the motives of her characters and the moral lesson to be learned from them. Her heroes and heroines differ from other writers. Well known name in the English novelist. Her contribution as a novelist is very remarkable. Famous novel by her :
Let's briefly look at the novel Middlemarch. What are the issues expressed by Eliot many mores.
- Middlemarch : A Provincial Life
According to the British Broadcast corporation (BBC) poll Middlemarch is the greatest British novel. In this novel we find that lots of characters, you can say a web of character. Middlemarch is very attentive to the historical events and situations of the time.
The most important of these is the 1832 Reform Act, which expanded the population of eligible voters in the country and changed aspects of the parliamentary system in order to make it more democratic. Other important events include the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, which allowed Catholics to become Members of Parliament.
Although in Middlemarch we don't get clearly a protagonist because all the characters are important at place. But the character of Dorothea is suggesting something more than others. Let's discuss Dorothea's character.
- Dorothea as a Modern St. Theresa :
First of all we have to know about Saint Teresa.
Saint Theresa : ( 28 March1515 - 4 or 15 October 1582)
St. Theresa, a spanish Catholic nun from the 16th century. She was known as a Doctor of the Church as well as known for Catholic Reformation. Spanish noblewoman who felt called to monastic life in the Catholic Church. She is the founder of the Discalced Carmelites. In 1970 she was declared as a doctor of the church for her writing and teaching on prayer. St. Theresa is the patron saint of Headache sufferers. Her symbols are a heart, an arrow and a book . She was canonized in 1662 in Rome by Pope Gregory XV. "Just being a woman is enough for my wings to fall off," St. Teresa said. This statement, written in her autobiography, is one of the famous sayings of this great saint, whose full name was Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada.
✍️ Personality :
As we know that Dorothea has a soft corner for poor people she likes to work for them. In Middlemarch she is the only woman that through we got a kind of influence in our mind. We like Dorothea's character instead of other women's characters. Maybe because George Eliot describes it as like St. Theresa. Theresa was an influential and pivotal figure of her generation. As a young child Theresa showed signs of a deeply religious nature. She would enjoy giving alms to the poor. So here we say that both have similar kinds of messages and helping nature.
St. Theresa spent much of her time in writing in her life and at the age of 51 she felt it was time to spread her reform movement. As in the novel Dorothea who spent her time reading books and drawing designs for a cottage ,she dreams of making a cottage for poor people.
" St. Theresa proclaimed poverty, she believed in work not in begging. "
As we know that if any literary text is a famous one then we definitely can say that lots of research has been done on that particular text. Here we have the most remarkable novel Middlemarch , so here alao large body of critical works and research.
✍️ Here Hilary Fraser mentioned in his article " St. Theresa, St. Dorothea and Miss Brooke in Middlemarch " , how Dorothea related with the author and established the tone of the novel, should have fallen passionately in love with the handsome young Ladislaw by the end. Many readers find it a serious inconsistency that Dorothea, that would be At. Theresa.
In the beginning of the novel in prelude, we find that the description of St. Theresa and her life and how she became a saint.
" Here and there is born a Saint Theresa, foundress of nothing, whose loving heart-beats and sobs after an unattained goodness tremble off and are dispersed among hindrances, instead of centring in some long-recognizable deed."
Saint Theresa's life of achievement is offered as a contrast to the heroine of Middlemarch, Dorothea Brooke, and all that Dorothea fails to achieve. George Eliot examines Dorothea' s life in part through the medium of medieval hagiography, a form which recognises the tensions and crises through which a martyr passes.
The analogy of the saint Theresa occurs along the journey that Dorothea makes at moments in the novel when her life is taking a new direction such as her engagement to Casaubon, her meeting with Will and Casaubon's death.
"If she had written a book she must have done it as Saint Theresa did, under the command of an authority that constrained her conscience."
These lines show us how Dorothea compared and contrasted with Theresa. Both women like to read and research kind of work or to write something that is their hobbies. But here the narrator tries to say that if she wrote a book that should be her own not collaborate with her husband Casaubon. Authority is their but not any relationship.
Dorothea's 'special tragedy' is the ordinary tragedy of most people. In the 'Finale' Eliot offers a paradox because she uses martyrdom as a referent for ordinary tragedy, and martyrdom is both tragedy and triumph. Dorothea is likely martyrdom , But the quarter in which Dorothea actually incurs martyrdom is in her second marriage. And the triumph is the second quarter is Dorothea's initial renunciation of Will.
✍️
As we know that Theresa is known as a reformer. So that Reformation we can see here the narrative looks into the lives and habits of the people of Middlemarch. It recognises that the issue of Reform affects every aspect of Eliot's novel, we understands how the image of Saint Theresa, the successful, and female, reformer and educator, consistently informs
any reading of the entire novel, not only because Theresa was successful but because she was a woman. If we think that Dorothea is removed as the novel's central focus yet every issue of the novel, from women's education to marriage, every character from Will Ladislaw to Rosamond Vincy, reflects back upon and revolves around Dorothea.
“The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.” (Teresa)
In her later life after the illness she again started praying and felt love with god. She stressed the importance of experiencing God’s Love. As we compare this situation with Dorothea's life when Casaubon died after that she realized what true love is ? And then married Will.
As Theresa herself admitted, sometimes she felt like “a lion,” and other times like “an ant.” In Dorothea's character also we find these kinds of situations. Like before the marriage with Casaubon she expressed her ideas without any fear and expressed her ideas confidently. But after the marriage she became like an ant. She was dominated by her husband.
Dorothea's passage through the pages of Middlemarch is a painful lesson with all the force and suffering of a religious allegory.
- Conclusion :
Thus the whole discussion leads us to know why George Eliot chose St. Theresa. Franklin E Court mentioned that
" The image of St. Theresa in Middlemarch is a positive Ethics."
There are two reasons behind choosing St. Theresa that is " To suggest elements of mystical dedication and excess that later would be linked with Dorothea". And the second reason is that " At the period in her life she simply may have been infatuated with the life of Theresa." There is a chain of reasons that leads to logically choosing St. Theresa, that to exaltation of women's achievement in the realm of literature and reform during times of male oppression issues and also that is clearly related with Eliot's personal life and literary intent in Middlemarch.
In a way Dorothea and St.Theresa have most of similarities that's why Eliot used Theresa in the prologue . So here we can conclude that Dorothea was a modern St. Theresa.
Work cited :
- Catholic Online. “St. Teresa of Avila - Saints & Angels.” Catholic Online, www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=208.
- Court, Franklin E. " The Image of St. Theresa in Middlemarch and Positive Ethics " The Victorian Newsletter, spring 1983.
- Eliot, George. Middlemarch Penguin Classics Edition. 1972.
- Fraser, Hilary. " St. Theresa, St. Dorothea, and Miss Brooke in Middlemarch." Nineteenth-century Fiction, 40, no. 4, 1986,pp. 400-411. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3044729. Accessed 6 Mar. 2020.
- Pettinger, Tejvan. “Biography of St Teresa Avila”, Oxford, UK – www.biographyonline.net. 12th Jan. 2013.
Thank you......
