The Golden Mean In Middlemarch

Middlemarch is the masterpiece of the19th century English novelist George Eliot. The novel provides a panoramic view of the social condition and the public spirituality in the mid-nineteenth century Victorian England. Recently, there are some articles focusing on George Eliot’s ambivalent attitudes towards convention, woman questions and religious doctrines and trying to interpret the contradiction with different theories. The writer of this thesis believes that George Eliot’s contradiction is resulted from her reflection on the philosophy of the golden mean. The golden mean asserts a restrained and moderate lifestyle against the paranoid and extreme way of life. The golden mean requires people to think over the situation in their social contacts and to act in the right time with right intensity. It’s important for people to respect the social conventions and to achieve individual development and ambition within the limits of social reality. Besides, the golden mean emphasizes the significance of the sympathy and benevolence in self cultivation and social contact.This thesis, based on exhaustive textual analysis and the research of George Eliot’s letters and biographies, is devoted to demonstrate the philosophy of the golden mean in Middlemarch, and to explore the origins of Eliot’s golden mean. Firstly, the thesis analyzes George Eliot’s idea of the golden mean in Middlemarch, including Eliot’s organic view towards society and social development, Eliot’s conservative and realistic view of woman, and Eliot’s sympathy of ethics. Secondly, the thesis with the analysis of the characterization explores the golden mean in Middlemarch. The writer of this thesis mainly focuses on two categories of characters:paranoid characters and their frustration, moderate characters and their achievement. George Eliot reveals the significance and values of the golden mean through the characterization of characters with opposite personalities. At last, the thesis explores the origins of George Eliot’s golden mean from her disputed life experience and the influences of popular social thoughts in Victorian era:the Positivism and the Humanistic Religion. The golden mean in Middlemarch reveals George Eliot’s reflection on life, society and ethics. It contends a moderate way of life and has great educational value for readers of the past and present.