In George Eliot's novel Middlemarch, a successful and happy marriage between two characters involves the willingness to work on their relationship together. Each character should present a broad perspective, which includes the ability to know and understand how the other person feels. In the Finale, Eliot writes that marriage “is still the beginning of the family epic – the gradual conquest or irremediable loss of this complete union” (511). In other words, marriage is a shared effort whose goal is the unity of two distinct people. In Eliot's Middlemarch, this slow progression is seen in the marriage of Mary Garth and Fred Vincy. Before marrying him, Mary forces Fred to choose a career that suits him and to develop as a person. A hostile marriage, like that of Rosamond Vincy and Tertius Lydgate, will develop if either partner refuses to communicate and work on their marriage. The couples who are still happy together at the end of the novel, such as Fred Vincy and Mary Garth and Will Ladislaw and Dorothea Brooke-Casaubon, have come to know themselves and their companions. Through the couples of Middlemarch, George Eliot illustrates that marriage is a journey that requires both work and an ever-changing perspective of oneself and one's partner. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay When Dorothea Brooke meets Edward Casaubon, she completely loses her own state of being in order to serve him more deeply. However, Casaubon acts with little or no respect towards Dorothea's desires. Because of Casaubon's supposed wisdom and intelligence, Dorothea hopes that his influence will help her become more educated and find higher goals in life. Her only desire is to be his assistant. She depends entirely on him for her contentment and self-esteem. When Casaubon excludes Dorothea from her studies, she finds herself in exile with nothing to live for. As the courtship between Dorothea and Casaubon is short-lived, Eliot implies that brief courtships provide an unstable basis for marriage. A mortal companion whose nature you only know through the brief incomings and outgoings of a few imaginative weeks called courtship, may, when viewed in the continuity of marital companionship, reveal itself as something better or worse than what you have preconceived, but will certainly not appear quite the same (125). Instead of knowing each other through face-to-face communication, the marriage between Dorothea and Casaubon is finalized through letters. After marrying Casaubon, Dorothea begins to question whether he is “worth living for” (265). Previously, she had the drive and desire to improve the world by building more suitable homes for farm workers. However, men have the money, land and power necessary to carry out this construction. Yet Casaubon, involved in his own projects, refuses to work alone with Dorothea, even if it would strengthen the happiness and solidarity of their marriage. Indeed, Casaubon is so busy with his studies that he even ignores her on their honeymoon. He is surprised that "although he gained a charming and noble-hearted maiden, he did not gain pleasure, which he also regarded as an object to be found by research" (54-55). In one of their conversations, Dorothea states that Casaubon speaks to her “as if I were something you had to fight against” (178). Casaubon responds ignorantly, claiming that he has “neither the leisure nor the energy for this kind of debate” (178). The “debate” that Casaubon speaks of consists of lendingpay attention to Dorothea's needs and opinions. He neglects to put any work or effort into understanding Dorothea's personality better. Just as Casaubon views Dorothea as an object, Lydgate and Rosamond view themselves as objects to be acquired. Rosamond "was tired of the faces and figures she had always been accustomed to with the various irregular profiles and gaits...distinguishing those young men of Middlemarch whom she had known as boys" (62). Lydgate is a novelty to her and something she wishes to obtain. Lydgate sees Rosamond as a plant, and "that by marrying her he could give her a much-needed transplant" (218). thing than an object, predicts their ultimate insensitive treatment of each other. Due to their inadequate courtship and their mutual decision not to attempt to understand each other, the marriage between Lydgate and Rosamond is doomed to unhappiness. never gains her husband's respect. She tells Dorothea that "Tertius is so angry and impatient if I say anything" (490). Her happiness diminishes because she is not allowed to express her views without being insulted. Financial problems cause a rift in their marriage because Rosamond and Lydgate neglect to work together and resolve the problem. Shortly before Lydgate's death, he described Rosamond as "a basil plant", saying that it "flourished wonderfully on the brain of a murdered man" (513). Clearly, Lydgate believes that Rosamond is detrimental to his intellectual progress. Unlike the marriage of Lydgate and Rosamond, that of Dorothea and Will Ladislaw begins with a long and well-developed courtship. This courtship includes several events. During their first meeting, Dorothea meets Ladislaw while he is painting. She comments that the paintings are like “a Greek phrase…which means nothing to me” (51). Ladislaw “took his words as a secret judgment and was certain that she found his sketch detestable” (51). An important part of Dorothea and Ladislaw's successful marriage is that Dorothea is allowed to progress as a person and broaden her perspectives before marrying him. For Dorothea, charity is something she does to feel good about herself, even more than for the sake of others. Later, she recognizes the life that lives outside her own. She became an anonymous supporter of the New Hospital. After seeing Ladislaw and Rosamond together, Dorothea experiences a night of sorrow. However, "she now began to deliberately relive that morning yesterday, trying to dwell on every detail and its possible meaning" (485). She wonders, “Was she alone in that scene?” Was it just his event? She forced herself to think that this was connected to the life of another woman” (485). She rises above her previous view that this was her world. Dorothea's new perspective allows her to accept that Ladislaw has his own motivations and connections outside of their relationship. Dorothea and Ladislaw have a thriving marriage because they both work on their relationship and found acceptance in each other before marriage. Ladislaw allows Dorothea to be self-oriented and has her own interests such as writing. They both willingly agree to lose their status and wealth and move to a house in London. The devotion between the couple is undeniable. Dorothea abandons her money, her external respectability and her public opinion. Will Ladislaw makes public declarations of his love for her. He claims that “no other woman exists alongside him. I would rather touch her hand if she were dead than touch the hand of.