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16/Introduction
ofcontemporaryliterarytrendsandfashions.4Iwouldcontend
therefore,thatEliot’sdeploymentofliteraryconventionsin
hernovelswasquiteself-consciousandmeanttoengagethe
readers’interestandsubsequentlysubverttheirexpectations.
Interestingly,theveryplotelementswhichreviewersandcritics
foundtobeobjectionableordoubtfulturnedouttobeborrowings
fromromanticconventions.ThemarriageofDorotheaand
LadislawinMiddlemarch,whichIdiscussindetailinChapter
2,isaperfectcaseinpoint.Thisplotelementhasantagonized
thenovel’sfeministcriticsfordecadesandhasbecomethe
recognizedcruxoftheircriticism(Hardy1985:113).Isuggest
thatthismotif,andothervitalplotelementsinGeorgeEliot’s
novels,shouldbeanalysedinrelationtoapplicableconventions.
InthecaseofMiddlemarch,theunionofDorotheaandLadislaw
isanexampleofEliot’sunorthodoxandcomplexdeploymentof
thetwosuitorsformula–afactwhichundoubtedlyshouldbe
takenintoaccountinanalysesofthenovel.
ApartfromNewHistoricism,thewritingsoffeminist
criticsprovideanothertheoreticalinspirationformyresearch,
especiallyElaineShowalter’sclassicALiteratureofTheirOwn:
fromCharlotteBrontëtoDorisLessing(1979)andtheworksofNina
Auerbach,GillianBeerandSallyMitchell.Inmystudyofthe
femalecharactersandtheirroles,IwasalsoinfluencedbyIlona
Dobosiewicz’sAmbivalentFeminism:MarriageandWomen’sSocial
RolesinGeorgeEliot’sWorks(2003).ProfessorDobosiewicz’s
recentchapteronGeorgeEliot’sreceptioninPoland,published
inanimportantvolumeontheauthor’sreceptioninEurope
(Dobosiewicz2016)alsocontainsawealthofusefulinformation.
Despitebeingpublishednearlyhalfacenturyago,Barbara
Hardy’sobservationsonEliot’sfemalecharactersandheruseof
ironyinherseminalTheNovelsofGeorgeEliot(1959)havelost
noneoftheirrelevance.Hardy’smorerecentcontributionsto
Eliotscholarship,GeorgeEliot:ACritic’sBiography(2006)and
Middlemarch:criticalapproachestothenovel(2013)arealsovery
thought-provoking,testifyingtothecontinuedappealofGeorge
4
ThebestevidenceofthisclaimisEliot’scriticalessayHSillyNovelsbyLady
Novelists”(1856),whichIanalyseindetailinChapter1.
