Chapter 29

Summary

Just as Dorothea is suffering a sense of disappointment and frustration after her marriage, so is Casaubon. He is gradually becoming aware that marrying a very young emotional girl, under the notion that she will be docile and malleable, has misfired. He is too inhibited and solitary from long habit, to let himself feel strong emotion. His misfortune is "to be present at this great spectacle of life and never to be liberated from a small hungry, achieving self." In addition he is haunted on the intellectual level by a sense of failure - doomed to be scholarly and uninspired ambitious and timed." In this state of depression, he is unsure whether to let Dorothea share in his work or not. At least, she takes the decision and either reads aloud to him or copies out his Notes. At this time, a letter from Will arrives, enclosing another addressed to Dorothea. Casaubon is annoyed. He tells her irritably that he will turn down Wills request for a visit to Lowick, as it will be an interruption in his work. His tone annoys his wife, who feels he is charging her with a wish for the visit. She bursts out indignantly, and both are upset. Soon after, Casaubon has a sort of attack of breathlessness and faintness. Guilt and repentance overcome Dorothea. Sir James Chettam, who is on a visit with Celia, sends for Lydgate.

The Casaubon-Dorothea marriage is an accepted failure and is a trial to both parties. While the author clearly identifies with Dorothea, she is also skillfully drawing out the character of Casaubon to near-tragic stature. Her approach is tolerant towards his human error in not wanting to let life pass him by, but in not having the capacity to participate in it intensely. Although at the start of the novel, her approach to him is ironic, here towards the close of his life, she handles Casaubon with empathy. His illness also creates an opportunity for the two chief protagonists Dorothea and Lydgate, to come into close contact. This relationship, like DorotheaÂ’s later connection with Chettam, is a mature friendship with no sexual undertones. In this, George Eliot is much ahead of her age.

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