Hi guys, I’m back! I’ve been sick and recently had my Year 12 trial exams so I wasn’t able to contribute here. Hope you are all doing well. I’ve just caught up with Rings of Power too and as a diehard Tolkien fan, I’m anxious and excited to see where they will take the show.

Chapter 58 is one of my favourites in the novel with the drama that happens surrounding Rosamond and Lydgate.

Summary:

Chapter 58

Captain Lydgate, Tertius’ relative, visits them and Rosamond was overjoyed due to his social class, despite both her husband and Will hating him. Rosamond’s baby died - believed to be a result of her going horse-riding while pregnant against Lydgate’s wishes. When Rosamond went horse riding as Captain Lydgate asked, she did it without telling her husband. When he found out, he was furious, forbidding her from riding again, but she ignored his wishes and went again. Her horse got spooked and she was thrown from the horse, possibly making her lose her child, but she is adamant that the miscarriage was not caused by her horse riding. Lydgate, although sympathetic, is frustrated by his marriage as he’s also been spending a lot of money due to Rosamond’s extravagant tastes. He’s in *a lot* of debt, and explains to Rosamond that someone is going to take an inventory of their furniture as security. Rosamond was at first furious and horrified, but Lydgate urges the importance and she reluctantly agrees to stay at home.

Chapter 59

In Middlemarch, gossip has spread about how in Casaubon’s will, it was made impossible for Dorothea to marry Will without giving up her property. Lydgate warns Rosamond to never mention it to Will, but she ignores his advice and mentions it to Will, flirtatiously, when they’re alone. Will’s immediately very angry and leaves, insisting they will never marry. Rosamond is jealous and feels depressed after Will leaves.

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If anyone has access to JStor, there’s an article called ‘The Hidden Abortion Plot in Middlemarch’ by Doreen Thierauf, concerning Rosamond. This was one of the first articles I came across when reading around the novel. Happy to PM it if anyone wants to read it.

References:

Our epigraph for Chapter 58 is Shakespeare’s sonnet 93, in which the poet explores ‘what it would be like to be living a life in which the young man's deceiving of him is simply unknown to the poet. Instead of dying at the moment of discovery of falsity, the poet now lives 'like a deceived husband'.