Organic Theory As Revealed In Middlemarch And Its Embodiment In The Narrative Method

There is a breadth of knowledge of contemporary social and scientific theory in George Eliot's writing. Among multitudinous scientific thoughts, I focus my study on organic theories. Critics from the Victorian era onwards have spoken of George Eliot's organic conception of society. As David Carroll observed, "it is a commonplace of criticism that George Eliot's thinking is pervaded by ideas of the organic, whether she is writing about the psychology of character, society, religion or art". But few critics have defined this conception of organic society with any precision, and fewer still have traced its connection to nineteenth-century science theory.Organic theories did not merely filter through into the metaphors and images of her work. They also permeated through the language, structure, and fictional methodology of Middlemarch. George Eliot examined different aspects of the social, moral, and psychological issues which were raised by organic theories, and employed organic theories to achieve narrative resolution.The first chapter illustrates an overview of scientific concerns in Middlemarch while the second chapter comes to examine the key tenets of organic theory in nineteenth-century. The third chapter demonstrates George Eliot's exploration of the implications of Lydgate's method through the plot and structure of Middlemarch. The fourth chapter analyzes the way the idea of labyrinth structures a frame-work for Middlemarch.Building on thematic studies of organic theory, I trace in my thesis Eliot's exploration of social implications of organicism and narrative method in Middlemarch.