Dorothea's Illusion And Bildung In Middlemarch

As an important 19th century writer, George Eliot has always been appealing to feminist critics. Dorothea as the leading heroine in Eliot's Middlemarch has long been a controversial focus for George Eliot's study. Feminist critics are disappointed and not satisfied with Dorothea's transformation from the heroine with great ambition and noble ideas to a young lady content with her role as a wife and a mother in a trivial domestic sphere. Feminist critics think that George Eliot does not point out a better way for Dorothea by soft-pedaling on her noble ambition and categorize Dorothea as a failure concerning women liberation.This thesis holds that George Eliot presents a process of Dorothea's self-fulfillment as a common girl. As a female writer, she not only discloses the women question, but also provides a practical way for women to pursue self-fulfillment. This thesis mainly analyzes Dorothea's developing trace from the sainthood with vague ideal to the womanhood, explores Dorothea's growing consciousness and her self-fulfillment, and shows that her development is a true reflection of women's growing consciousness. The seemingly unsaitisfying ending of Dorothea is the result of her new awareness of herself and sympathy towards other people. Meanwhile, in Dorothea, George Eliot strides a step further in female bildungsroman, which provides new points for us to further study other female writings.