Disease Metaphors andAttempts at Healing in Middlemarch

Abstract

Middlemarch is a representative work of George Eliot during the Victorian age. In this novel, the descriptions of diseases and medical treatments profoundly reveal the maladies of British society and the individual fates of its characters. This paper uses disease metaphor as its entry point, analyzing the symbolic significance of cholera, the deaths of Casaubon and Featherstone, and pointing out the power imbalances and social dysfunctions they had represented. It focuses on exploring the significance of Lydgate and Dorothea's medical practices through the lens of illness and treatment, delving into the development deilemmas faced by science and rationality within the conservative Victorian society. Furthermore, it discusses the awakening of female consciousness embodied in Dorothea's self-healing journey.