An Analysis of the Protagonist of George Eliot’s Novel The Mill on The Floss

Pages:126-127
Suman and P.P. Khatri (Department of English, Singhania University, Pacheri Bari, Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan)

Mary Ann Evans born in Warwickshire in 1819 published all her work under the pen name ‘George Eliot’ because of the prevailing attitudes to women during her lifetime. Her third novel “The Mill on the Floss” was written in the years of 1859 and 1860. Although the plot is set in 1829, the work displays the attitudes of the Victorian era in which the author lived. When the novel appeared, at the beginning of April, it gained instant popularity and sustained or increased George Eliot’s reputation with the most thoughtful readers. In respect to the protagonist Maggie Tulliver, it is a highly interesting book: George Eliot has taken herself for a heroine so that the first two volumes come close to a spiritual autobiography. The story of a close relationship between brother and sister from childhood through adolescence mirrors the similar childhood relationship between Eliot and her own brother. The scenery also represents parts of the environment of her own childhood. Maggie Tulliver nine years old when the novel begins and 19 when she dies in the last chapter of the novel is a very complex and interesting character, who offers much potential for detailed analysis. She is not the ordinary “Victorian girl” and does not represent the image of the “angel in the house” but differs in many ways. What are the main conflicts Maggie has to deal with in childhood and what impact do they have on her reactions and choices in later life? Could Maggie’s fate have been avoided or was a “life in disgrace” the only option she had?