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Difficulty: EasyCharacter Relationships and Conflict

Read the following passage from George Eliot’s 1871 novel *Middlemarch* carefully before choosing the best answer.

Dorothea had entered into a new chamber of her life, and it was filled with shadows. She had not yet lived through three months of marriage, and the larger part of her life seemed to lie behind her in a sad, sunny land. Her husband’s intellectual interests, which she had once imagined as a portal to a grander world, now appeared to her as a series of gloomy vestibules leading to nothing. Mr. Casaubon, on his part, was beginning to feel that his young wife's devotion was not without its burdens. Her intense questioning and eager desire to share in his studies did not soothe him as he had expected; instead, they acted as a constant reminder of his own unfinished work and the doubts that secretly haunted him. Her presence, far from being a light in his dark library, was beginning to feel like a judging eye. A silence, heavy with unspoken disappointment, had grown between them, rendering even their smallest daily interactions fraught with an unacknowledged tension.

In the passage, the conflict between Dorothea and Mr. Casaubon is best described as arising from which of the following?

  1. A
    a dispute over the physical discomforts of their new home and his dark library
  2. B
    Mr. Casaubon’s active hostility toward Dorothea’s desire to pursue her own independent education
  3. a mutual realization that their initial expectations of marriage and of one another have gone unfulfilledAnswer
  4. D
    Dorothea’s verbal confrontation of Mr. Casaubon regarding his failure to complete his research
  5. E
    Mr. Casaubon’s resentment of Dorothea’s belief that she is intellectually superior to him

Answer

a mutual realization that their initial expectations of marriage and of one another have gone unfulfilled
The correct answer is correct because the passage details the disillusionment felt by both characters. Dorothea realizes that her husband's intellectual pursuits do not lead to a grander world as she had hoped, but are instead like 'gloomy vestibules leading to nothing.' Meanwhile, Mr. Casaubon feels that Dorothea's devotion is a burden rather than a comfort, as her eager questions remind him of his own unfinished work and secret doubts. This shared, unfulfilled expectation forms the core of their conflict.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze Dorothea's perspective as described in the first half of the passage.
Dorothea is disillusioned because her marriage and her husband's intellectual pursuits, which she hoped would expand her world, now feel dark and empty.
To identify the first source of tension in the relationship.
2
Analyze Mr. Casaubon's perspective as described in the second half of the passage.
Mr. Casaubon is frustrated and anxious because Dorothea's eager interest reminds him of his own intellectual shortcomings and doubts rather than soothing him.
To identify the second source of tension in the relationship.
3
Synthesize the two perspectives to determine the overarching nature of the conflict.
Both characters are suffering from the disappointment of their unmet expectations of the marriage and of each other.
To select the option that accurately reflects this synthesized understanding of the mutual conflict.

Key Concept

Analyzing how character interactions and internal expectations generate interpersonal conflict in longer fiction.
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Topics

Character Relationships and Conflict

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