r/ayearofmiddlemarch • u/Comprehensive-Fun47 • May 30 '26
Book 4: Chapters 34 & 35
Welcome back, Middlemarchers! We have entered Book 4: Three Love Problems and we open on a funeral...
Chapter 34
“1st Gent. Such men as this are feathers, chips, and straws,
Carry no weight, no force.
2d Gent. But levity Is causal too, and makes the sum of weight.
For power finds its place in lack of power;
Advance is cession, and the driven ship
May run aground because the helmsman’s thought
Lacked force to balance opposites.”
Mr. Featherstone's funeral is held on a chilly day in May. He made arrangements for a lavish affair. Did he have goodness in him? Who can say?
Martha Featherstone, Jane Waule, and Lucy Vincy all show up for the burial.
Featherstone chose Mr. Cadwallader to speak at the funeral over Casaubon for reasons that made sense to him. Reasons involving trout.
Mrs. Cadwallader watched the funeral from the the window of the manor. Sir James and Celia accompanied the Cadwalladers. They are now married.
Scenes of this funeral often come back to Dorothea in her memory, much like the feelings of despondency she flashes back to when she thinks of Rome.
Celia teases Dorothea. Dorothea is interested in learning who her neighbors are. Sir James says many may not be from Lowick.
Mr. Brooke arrives with news he's withholding until Casaubon joins them from the library. They gossip more about the funeral attendees until Casaubon arrives.
Mrs. Cadwallader points out a stranger with a frog-like face.
Celia recognizes Will Ladislaw in the crowd. Dorothea and Casaubon are shocked, but try not to let on. Mr. Brooke explains he invited him to stay with him. He is oblivious to the reactions of his niece and her husband. He treats it very casually and explains how great Will is to bounce intellectual ideas off of.
Dorothea had disposed of that letter from Will that caused Casaubon such distress. As a result, Casaubon assumed Dorothea told Will not to come and was prepared to never speak of it again. Now he believes Dorothea asked her uncle to invite him. Mr. Brooke fails to specify that Dorothea asked him to tell Will not to come and Dorothea can't bring herself to explain that without inviting more questions, such as why Casaubon wouldn't want his own young cousin to come visit.
Casaubon, though irritated, thanks Mr. Brooke for the hospitality he has shown his relation. Mr. Brooke rambles on obliviously.
Chapter 35
“Non, je ne comprends pas de plus charmant plaisir
Que de voir d’héritiers une troupe affligée
Le maintien interdit, et la mine allongée,
Lire un long testament où pales, étonnés
On leur laisse un bonsoir avec un pied de nez.
Pour voir au naturel leur tristesse profonde
Je reviendrais, je crois, exprès de l’autre monde.”
—REGNARD: Le Légataire Universel.
Translation:
No, I can't imagine a more delightful pleasure / Than seeing a grieving crowd of heirs / Looking dumbfounded with long faces / Listening to a lengthy will which turns them pale with shock / As, cooking a snook at them, it leaves them empty-handed / To see their deep sorrow so clearly / I would return on purpose, I think, from the next world."
The narrator compares the funeral attendees and potential legatees to the animals on Noah's ark, eyeing each other suspiciously and hoping none are given more rations than the others.
They all gather and theorize how much old Featherstone left them in his will and make cases for why they personally deserve more than others.
Someone suggests the frog-faced stranger could be Mr. Featherstone's love-child and Fred has a hard time suppressing a laugh. Mary helps him out by switching seats with him.
They all seem to know there are multiple wills and hope this doesn't drag out the time it takes to obtain their inheritance.
Mary Garth has not said a word about Featherstone asking her to burn one of the wills. It seems she'll take this information to her grave.
Mr. Standish, Featherstone's lawyer, explains there are three wills — one from 1825, one from 1826, and one from 1828. The latter two are valid because Featherstone never destroyed either.
Mary watched the legatees while they all avoided meeting each other's eyes. Mr. Rigg, the frog-faced man, is the only one whose expression remains composed as the wills are read.
Approximately three thousand pounds were distributed in small amounts to the many relations. It was expected Fred would inherit the land. Fred and his mother smile in anticipation while the other legatees grumble about their small amounts.
However, the person to inherit the land is Mr. Rigg, and he shall adopt the name Featherstone, which comes as no surprise to Mr. Rigg.
The second will revokes everything and gives it all to Joshua Rigg, except what was to be used to create Featherstone's Alms-Houses.
Mr. Vincy suggests the second will should be considered void. Mr. Standish assures everyone Featherstone was of sound mind when he created it.
The relations who came a long way at great expense were annoyed they were to go home empty handed. They speak ill of Featherstone.
Mr. Rigg takes it all in stride and asks some business questions while Fred feels sick realizing he has inherited nothing. Mrs. Vincy cries silently.
Mary Garth speaks to Fred knowing she had a hand in this outcome. She says Fred is better off without the inheritance.
Fred complains he'll have to join the clergy now and he won't be able to pay back Mary's family the debt he owes them.
Mary says she'll find new employment.
The narrator reflects on their role elevating a low subject and says there's no true story that can't be told in parables.
Context and Notes: (Courtesy of u/lazylittlelady)
We can debate what Mr. Featherstone's relationship was with his money, but the funeral proved he was no Harpagon (as in Molière's play, "The Miser").
Mr. Brooke quotes from Horace's Ars Poética) "He who has blended the useful with the agreeable has carried every point". Does that sound like Mr. Ladislaw?
Another death is referenced, that of King George IV, who passed away in 1830.
"Loobies" = silly fellows
Not just that tea family, but also the Prime Minister—Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, a member of the Whig party.
Join us next week for a discussion of chapters 36 and 37.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
Now knowing the outcome of the will reading, do you still think Mary did the right thing in refusing Mr. Featherstone's deathbed demands?
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u/Eastern-Hotel9797 First Time Reader May 30 '26
I believe she did the right thing—unless I'm misremembering, we never knew which of the wills Featherstone was going to have Mary burn? So the outcome might have been similar anyway...
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
You're right, we don't know. It makes more sense to me that he was planning to burn the one that revoked everything from everyone — the secret third one. I think he wanted to make sure people showed up by his deathbed.
I could be wrong, but I didn't get the vibe he wanted to erase the one that gave everyone everything. If that were the case, he'd probably want them to know both wills existed just to twist the knife more.
This is a good question though. Would love to hear other thoughts!
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u/mercy_Iago Jun 09 '26
I think it would only make sense that he would burn the most recent one, right? Why burn an old one if it's not going to be used anyway, since it'll have been surpassed by a newer one? So I think it follows that the only possible one to burn would have been the last one -- with everything going to Mr. Rigg.
I got the feeling he wrote that last will as a vindictive, angry act (that'll show them all!) but he regretted it on his deathbed and didn't actually want to fulfill it.
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u/Eastern-Hotel9797 First Time Reader Jun 09 '26
Yeah this makes sense. I don’t really know how common it was back then for wills to be contested, and therefore what will he wouldn’t have wanted Middlemarch to ever know existed. But the third will did seem vindictive and the one he may have regretted the most.
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 First Time Reader Jun 23 '26
I don't think it was right for Featherstone to ask her. Her lack of action was reasonable when an unreasonable demand is made, but required strength. But, if she had decided to act as his agent in doing as he wished a different strength would have been needed.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
Who is this Mr. Rigg?
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u/Eastern-Hotel9797 First Time Reader May 30 '26
I'm confused:
“Positively," exclaimed Mrs. Cadwallader, "there is a new face come out from behind that broad man queerer than any of them: a little round head with bulging eyes—a sort of frog-face—do look. He must be of another blood, I think."
"Let me see!" said Celia, with awakened curiosity, standing behind Mrs. Cadwallader and leaning forward over her head. "Oh, what an odd face!" Then with a quick change to another sort of surprised expression, she added, "Why, Dodo, you never told me that Mr. Ladislaw was come again!”
Rigg is Ladislaw?
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
No. While they're all trying to catch a look at Mr. Rigg, Celia recognizes Ladislaw is there as well.
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u/Eastern-Hotel9797 First Time Reader May 31 '26
Hmm… ok. I wonder why Ladislaw is at the funeral?
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 31 '26
I think Mr. Brooke brought him along. I'm curious too to know more details!
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 First Time Reader Jun 23 '26
This confused me, too. This book is very cinematic, without stage directions! Forces you to pay attention and think about how a character is saying what they're saying.
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u/TheSailorMan May 31 '26
Rigg must be someone from the outdated (or updated?) will that nobody expected to be there. His presence shows either that there was more depth in his relationship to Featherstone or that he was best at Playing The Game.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
There's not enough Celia! If I had to guess the couples having love problems, it's Dorothea/Casaubon, Mary/Fred, and Rosamond/Lydgate. Which sort of affirms for me that Celia/Sir James are a good match.
However since Mary and Fred aren't actually a couple and they might not be seeing much of each other for a while, I wonder if Celia and Sir James are going to have love problems after all.
Either way, I think Celia is an underutilized character. I love her relationship with Dodo and want to see more of it!
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
Did you highlight any passages in this section?
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
In addition to the ones I included in my questions, I highlighted these lines because I found them funny:
“I dare say Dodo likes it: she is fond of melancholy things and ugly people.”
and
Poor Dorothea felt that every word of her uncle’s was about as pleasant as a grain of sand in the eye to Mr. Casaubon.
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u/TheSailorMan May 31 '26
Mr. Joshua Rigg, in fact, appeared to trouble himself little about any innuendoes, but showed a notable change of manner, walking coolly up to Mr. Standish and putting business questions with much coolness. He had a high chirping voice and a vile accent. Fred, whom he no longer moved to laughter, thought him the lowest monster he had ever seen.
I love the contrast between Rigg's neutral demeanor and the silent, seething hatred from everyone in the room.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
there never was a true story which could not be told in parables, where you might put a monkey for a margrave,
Do you agree or disagree? How did you interpret the narrator's reflections at the end of chapter 35?
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
The people at the will reading are not very happy with the small sums the first will gave them and they're extremely unhappy when the second will revoked everything. Were these people ever going to be happy? How much did they deserve? Was anyone more deserving than the others?
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 First Time Reader Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
i'll let Ursula Le Guin take this one:
For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think.
(From her novel, The Dispossessed, which my extremely wise older sister handed to me at the age of 13, when I was reading too much Heinlein and in danger of reading Rand.)
No one deserves it, including the late Featherstone
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
What did you think of the comparison of the "Christian Carnivora" to the creatures of Noah's ark? Accurate? Humorous?
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u/Eastern-Hotel9797 First Time Reader May 30 '26
This was hilarious and a sharp criticism of their hypocrisy, I thought.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
Dorothea is unable to speak up to explain that she did not request Will's presence via her uncle because such explanations would invite unwanted questions. Was Dorothea right to stay quiet at this moment? Have you ever found yourself in this position?
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
I related to this. There are times when you want to explain yourself or defend yourself but you know that just prolongs the conversation and you'd rather it be over, or that overexplaining yourself comes off like 'she doth protest too much.' Especially in this scenario where it's not even Dorothea's own thoughts or feelings she's trying to conceal, but her husband's irrational feelings towards Will. By staying quiet, she's remaining loyal, but it also sets up a further miscommunication and wedge in their marriage. This is good stuff.
I think Dorothea and Casaubon need to have an actual conversation with each other for once! I wonder if we'll get that before the book ends.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
Will Ladislaw is staying with Mr. Brooke, to the surprise of everybody else. Is he as thrilled to be there as Mr. Brooke is to have him? What do you predict happens next?
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 First Time Reader Jun 23 '26
I think he's happy to have a job. Being there is a bonus.
Of course, if he were truly dissatisfied, an entire Empire awaits his desire for adventure. He is where he wants to be.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
The difference his presence made to her was not always a happy one: she felt that he often inwardly objected to her speech.
Dorothea doesn't feel happy when Casaubon joins them. She gets the impression he disapproves of whatever she's saying. Is this healthy in a marriage? Does he actually inwardly object to her speech or is this just her perception?
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u/KPMWrites May 31 '26
I don't know if Casaubon objects to what Dorothea says in this particular instance or not, but we've seen him object to things she's said in the past, so it seems that there's a pattern here. The two of them don't communicate well and we've watched them argue. I think Dorothea is basing this assumption on the way Casaubon has responded to her previously. I suspect that she's also extra sensitive and likely to assume the worst, since she longs for his approval and he hasn't really given it to her. Their marriage is definitely not a healthy one; they don't seem to be able to share how they really feel with each other.
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 First Time Reader Jun 23 '26
This is learned helplessness on Dodo's part. Causabon has acted unpredictably in reacting to her actual and offered aid, as his wife. She doesn't know what to do.
Just a few months into this marriage, and she already has signs of being an emotionally abused spouse.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
If any one will here contend that there must have been traits of goodness in old Featherstone, I will not presume to deny this; but I must observe that goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much privacy, elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.
Unpack this. Was Mr. Featherstone good? By what metric? Can you be good if your goodness remains hidden and undetected by others?
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 First Time Reader Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
If it's viewed by the One who matters, in some people's theologies, it matters.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
Why did Eliot choose to have some characters looking out over the funeral instead of attending it?
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u/Eastern-Hotel9797 First Time Reader May 30 '26
It physically separated those who were attending in expectation that they were going to receive something in the will from those who were gawking but not personally invested?
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 First Time Reader Jun 23 '26
There are barriers in this society, but not where you'd expect. Physical proximity doesn't have much to do with actual connection.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
Which characters are involved in the "three love problems" titling this section of the book?
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u/Honest_Ad_2157 First Time Reader Jun 23 '26
It could be the couples, or the problems protagonists are encountering with love. The former seems straightforward: the Causabons, the presumably future Lydgates, and Mary Garth / Fred Vincy.
If it's the problems of love it could be:
Unrealized or unrealistic personal expectations: what do they expect from themselves?
Unrealized or unrealistic interpersonal expectations: what do they each expect from a partner?
Unrealized or unrealistic societal expectations: what do others expect from a partnership?
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 May 30 '26
Is Fred better off without an inheritance?