question about middlemarch

If you havent read the book and dont want any spoiler than dont read

My question is-
What did Mr. Bulstrode in Middlemarch actually do to earn his fortune that made him a disgrace?

I didnt understand this
thankyou in advance for any comments :smile:

Reply 1

Lidka

Love that novel... :biggrin:

He inherited his wife's estate illegally, by bribing Raffles not to tell her daughter (Will's mother) that she had died and left her money to her.

Google is your friend. :wink:

Reply 2

butterfly_girl_5

Lidka

Love that novel... :biggrin:

He inherited his wife's estate illegally, by bribing Raffles not to tell her daughter (Will's mother) that she had died and left her money to her.

Google is your friend. :wink:

was that what the 'thieving' was about? What ladislaw says to him when he refuses to take his money made it sound as if the actual business itself was immoral- do you know what he actually did to earn money? i didnt understand that

Reply 3

butterfly_girl_5

ok- I think this is the answer-

In his youth, Bulstrode met Mr. Dunkirk, a pawnbroker, at church and befriended him. He became a partner in the business and slowly discovered that they were selling stolen goods

Reply 4

Adstock

Ahem I'm a bit behind on this thread but yes: Bulstrode met Dunkirk & his wife via a Methodist church group; when Dunkirk got ill he invited Bulstrode to help him run the business, which was indeed a pawnbrokers where "questions weren't asked". Dunkirk died, his wife asked Bulstrode to continue to run the business, which he did.

Later he married the widow, who then wanted to leave her money to the daughter who'd run away on discovering the illegality of her father's business (the wife being ignorant of it). Bulstrode tried & failed to find her initially; then she was found, by which time Bulstrode was too comfortable in his position to give it up, so kept quiet.

The wife died a few years later, leaving all the money to Bulstrode, who later went on to marry into the Vincy family & move to Middlemarch.

Ladislaw was the son of the ultimately dispossesed daughter, & being already sensitive about his uncertain heritage, had no intention of allowing Bulstrode to salve his conscience by handing over some of the fortune.

Find all George Eliot books hard to get into, and Middlemarch the hardest so far - always something "easier" waiting to be read. But is there a better author of prose in the English language? I think she's unrivalled.

Reply 5

hobnob

Adstock

Ladislaw was the son of the ultimately dispossesed daughter, & being ~~already sensitive about his uncertain heritage~~ a neurotic, self-righteous git, had no intention of allowing Bulstrode to salve his conscience by handing over some of the fortune.

Find all George Eliot books hard to get into, and Middlemarch the hardest so far - always something "easier" waiting to be read. But is there a better author of prose in the English language? I think she's unrivalled.

I thought Middlemarch was all right to get into, actually. There are a couple of passages during which I nearly gave up (Lydgate and his bloody hospital - give it up, Tertius, no-one but you is interested in the damn thing! :rolleyes:

), but the rest was fine. My personal favourite is still Daniel Deronda, though. And Mill on the Floss was dreadful. I don't think there was a single character in that who I didn't want to smack on practically every page.

Reply 6

Adstock

I quite liked Ladislaw; seemed to be a fair bit of "giving up money for the sake of higher ideals" in the book (eg Dorothea).

Also - that hospital - seemed to be completely forgotten about at the end? Dorothea happy to take over funding of it, and Lydgate to continue, but nothing more said about it after Dorothea obviously ceases to be in a position to help.

Deronda was first Eliot book I read; gets a bit "simpering" in places I thought, but agreed, still my favourite.

Reply 7

hobnob

Adstock

I quite liked Ladislaw; seemed to be a fair bit of "giving up money for the sake of higher ideals" in the book (eg Dorothea).

Yes, but Dorothea is genuinely idealistic (to the point of being downright stupid, e.g. in marrying Casaubon because she believes that's her chance to contribute to scholarship). Ladislaw's "idealism" is much more self-centred and angry-young-mannish. The only real idealist apart from Dorothea is Lydgate, but obviously he also fails quite miserably.

Also - that hospital - seemed to be completely forgotten about at the end? Dorothea happy to take over funding of it, and Lydgate to continue, but nothing more said about it after Dorothea obviously ceases to be in a position to help.

I thought Dorothea was just bailing out Lydgate? I must have misremembered, then. Anyway, my guess would be that she continues to fund the hospital; after all, she isn't really that badly off financially, and she'd be quite happy to live on very little money if it means lots of sick people can get better. Ladislaw wouldn't be particularly happy about it, but at least that way he might be persuaded to grow up, settle down and get a proper job at last instead of continuing to have "becoming famous" as his main career goal. :p:

Deronda was first Eliot book I read; gets a bit "simpering" in places I thought, but agreed, still my favourite.

Yes, Mordechai is a pretty awful character, and the book does have a couple of other weaknesses as well, but I still like it a lot.

Reply 8

Adstock

I've got Adam Bede and Silas Marner lined up next; have you read them? Find I have to read a few "easy" books inbetween tackling a George Eliot; much as I love her writing, reading them straight is a bit much for the Playstation generation..

Reply 9

hobnob

Adstock

Heh, yes, you kind of need to slow yourself down a bit for Victorian novels. :p:

I never got round to reading Silas Marner for some reason, but I've read Adam Bede - it's not bad, but it didn't leave much of an impression with me, I'm afraid. It has a character (Dinah, the methodist preacher) who is insufferably good and therefore incredibly irritating, but she's also quite interesting because she's pretty much the embodiment of Eliot's concept of "sympathy". I don't remember it as being particularly complex, though, so I'd say it'll probably be an easier read than Middlemarch. And it's definitely a lot shorter. :wink: