The Mill on the Floss

George Eliot
1860

Introduction

The Mill on the Floss, published in 1860, is based partially on Eliot's own experiences with her family and her brother Isaac, who was three years older than Eliot. Eliot's father, like Mr. Tulliver in the novel, was a businessman who had married a woman from a higher social class, whose sisters were rich, ultra-respectable, and self-satisfied; these maternal aunts provided the character models for the aunts in the novel. Like Maggie, Eliot was disorderly and energetic and did not fit traditional models of feminine beauty or behavior, causing her family a great deal of consternation.

By the time Eliot published The Mill on the Floss, she had gained considerable notoriety as an "immoral woman" because she was living with the writer George Henry Lewes, who was married, though separated from his wife. Social disapproval of her actions spilled over into commentary on the novel, and it was scathingly criticized because it did not present a clear drama of right and wrong. Perhaps the most offended reader was Eliot's brother Isaac, who was very close to her in childhood but who had become estranged from her when he found out about her life with Lewes; he communicated with her only through his lawyer. In the book, Eliot drew on her own experiences with a once-beloved but rigid and controlling brother to depict the relationship between Maggie and her brother Tom.

Author Biography

George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, born November 22, 1819, at South Farm, Arbury, Warwickshire, England. She was the youngest child of Robert Evans and his second wife, Christiana Pearson, and had four siblings, two by her father's first marriage and two by his second. Eliot was her father's favorite child and was brought up to follow his Protestant beliefs. However, in her early twenties, she told her father that although she admired Jesus and his teachings, she rejected the idea that the Bible was of divine origin, and she refused to go to church. This shocked her family and many others, but she refused to attend services she did not believe in. This emphasis on following her own inner promptings rather than social convention would become a marked feature of her character and her life.

After her father's death in 1849, she had little money and little chance of getting married because she did not fit the contemporary ideal of beauty. A meeting with John Chapman, a family friend, led her to write for the quarterly Westminster Review. Through this work, she met the writer George Henry Lewes in 1851. Lewes was married with five children, though separated from his wife, and he and Eliot fell in love and began openly living together, a scandalous act for the times. As a result, Eliot was ostracized by many "respectable" people for most of her life.

In September 1856, Eliot began to write fiction. Her first work, a story titled "Amos Barton," was published anonymously in the January 1857 issue of Blackwood's Magazine. More stories followed, and her first novel, Adam Bede, was published in 1859. It received immediate critical acclaim as "a work of genius" in the periodical The Athenaeum and was called "the highest art" by the writer Leo Tolstoy.

Eliot followed this with the semi-autobiographical The Mill on the Floss (1860), which was highly successful, earning her four thousand pounds in one year, a huge sum for the time. In the next ten years, she published Silas Marner (1861), Romola (1863), and Felix Holt the Radical (1866). From 1871 to 1872, she published her masterpiece, Middlemarch. This was followed by Daniel Deronda (1876) and Impressions of Theophrastus Such (1879).

Lewes died in 1879, leaving Eliot grief-stricken. In 1880, she married John Walter Cross, who was about twenty years her junior, but she died

of a respiratory infection only seven months later, on December 21, 1880, in London.

Eliot's books are notable for their realistic portrayal of preindustrial English society, her interest in scandal and gossip, and her emphasis on political and social reform. They often feature female protagonists who struggle against social convention, but who, in the end, must accept it or be ostracized by their families and friends.

Plot Summary

Book 1: Boy and Girl

The novel begins with a description of the rural area where the action takes place, near the town of St. Ogg's and the River Floss. The narrator reminisces about a February many years ago and begins to tell the story of the Tulliver family.

Mr. Tulliver, who is the fifth generation in his family to own and run Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss, tells his wife that he will send his son Tom to a school where Tom can learn to be an "engineer, or a surveyor, or an auctioneer … or one of them smartish businesses as are all profit and no outlay." His wife advises him to ask her wealthier sisters and their husbands for their opinion, but Tulliver says he will do whatever he wants. However, he does decide to ask Mr. Riley, an auctioneer, who is somewhat educated, for his opinion. The two parents discuss their other child, Maggie, who takes after her father. She is as dark as Tom is fair and is clever but headstrong, uninterested in her appearance and in social niceties. True to her nature, Maggie comes to tea late with her hair mussed up, and when her mother urges her to do patchwork, she refuses. Her mother is bothered by the fact that Maggie is nothing like her and by the fact that she is much smarter than a woman "should" be.

Riley visits Tulliver, who says that he wants Tom to have an education but that it should be in a different field from his own, as he does not want Tom to grow up and take the mill away from him. Maggie, hearing this, is quick to defend Tom, and she distractedly drops the book she has been reading, The History of the Devil, a surprising choice for a young girl. Tulliver explains to Riley that he bought the book without knowing what it was about, because it had an interesting cover. Maggie discusses the book with them, but when she begins to discuss the devil, Tulliver tells her to leave the room. He tells Riley that she is too smart for a woman—unlike her mother, who is not noted for her intelligence. He tells Riley that he chose her as a wife for this very reason.

Riley advises Tulliver to send Tom to the sonin-law of a businessman he knows. This teacher is Reverend Walter Stelling; Riley offers to contact Stelling for Tulliver and says that Stelling can teach Tom anything he needs to know.

Tom is coming home from his current school, but Maggie is not allowed to go out and meet him. Angered, she dunks her freshly brushed hair in water and then beats up a doll she keeps in the attic. Bored, she heads out to talk to Luke, the miller. He is not interested in her clever talk and reminds her that she has forgotten to feed and water Tom's rabbits while he was gone, and they have all died. This upsets her, but she forgets about it when Luke invites her to visit his wife. They have an illustration of the biblical parable of the Prodigal Son in their home, and she is fascinated with it and happy that his father took him back. However, she is upset when Luke reminds her that perhaps the son did not deserve it.

Tom gives Maggie the gift of a new fishing line and promises to take her fishing. The narrator, in introducing him, mentions that his fresh-cheeked, fair, and open appearance belies his character, which is rigid, inflexible, and unmodifiable. When he goes to see his rabbits, Maggie confesses that she has neglected them. He is angered by this and not affected by her remorse. He leaves her alone to cry, but they soon make up. The next day they go fishing together, and she hopes that they will always be close like this.

Mrs. Tulliver plans to invite her sisters and their husbands over to discuss Tom's education. Mrs. Tulliver wants Tom and Maggie to make a good impression on them, while Tulliver does not care what they think. Tom and Maggie, bored with the visit and all the rules imposed by the presence of their rigid relatives, run off with some pastry that their mother has made for the relatives. Tom heads out to see Bob Jakin, a poor boy who is headed to see a rat-catching at a farm nearby. Bob tosses a coin and asks Tom to call it but then will not hand it over when Tom calls it correctly. They fight, and Bob throws a knife that Tom once gave him on the ground to show his contempt for Tom. When Tom does not pick it up, though, Bob takes it back.

Media Adaptations

• The Mill on the Floss was adapted to film in a Carnival Films production, in association with UGC D.A. International and Canal Plus. It was produced by Brian Eastman and directed by Graham Theakston. The film starred Emily Watson as Maggie, Ifan Meredith as Tom, James Frain as Philip Wakem, and James Weber-Brown as Stephen Guest.

The aunts arrive. Mrs. Glegg complains about others being late, refuses to eat cheesecake, because she never eats between meals, and tells Mrs. Tulliver she should have dinner earlier, as her family has always done. Mrs. Pullet arrives in tears over the death of someone who is not related to the family; this elicits Mrs. Glegg's scorn, as she only cares about immediate relatives. Pullet defends his wife and discusses details of the dead woman's will. Mrs. Pullet and Mrs. Tulliver go upstairs to see a bonnet until Mrs. Deane arrives with her daughter, Lucy. Lucy, who is fair, pretty, and well behaved, is contrasted with the wild, dark Maggie. Mrs. Pullet in particular criticizes Maggie's dark, heavy hair. Maggie, who is sick of hearing her hair discussed, goes upstairs and cuts it off but regrets it when Tom laughs at her and the adults discuss her even more.

When Tulliver reveals his plans for Tom's education, Mrs. Glegg is shocked. Mr. Deane says that Wakem, a prominent lawyer, is also sending his son to Stelling. Mrs. Glegg comments that she has lent money to Tulliver, reminding him that he owes her. They argue, and Mrs. Glegg leaves in a huff.

The Tullivers discuss their debt of five hundred pounds to Mrs. Glegg. Tulliver realizes that the only way he can pay it is to ask his brother-inlaw, Moss, to whom he has loaned three hundred pounds, to pay him back. The next day he rides over to Moss's. Moss, who is a poor farmer, is not home, but Tulliver's sister Gritty is. They live in a rundown hovel and have eight children. Gritty speaks admiringly of Maggie and says she hopes Tom will be good to Maggie in the future. This softens Tulliver, reminding him that Gritty is his own sister and he should be good to her.

Moss comes home and Tulliver asks him about the money. Moss says he would have to sell his house and everything he owns to pay it back, but if he must, he will do so. Tulliver says he must, but after leaving them, he thinks twice about it and rides back to tell Gritty that they can forget about the debt. Tulliver is glad he did this and thinks that somehow his example will result in Tom helping Maggie someday.

Maggie visits the Pullets. Maggie and Lucy like each other despite their differences in character; Tom says he likes Lucy more than Maggie. The house is fussy and overly neat, and when Maggie accidentally steps on a sweet cake and spills Tom's wine, her aunt Pullet sends the children outside. Meanwhile, Mrs. Tulliver discusses finances and convinces Mrs. Pullet to ask Mrs. Glegg to forget about the five hundred pounds Tulliver owes her.

Maggie becomes angry at Lucy, who is so perfect and clean and who is getting all of Tom's attention. She pushes her into the mud, and Tom decides that it is only just to throw Maggie in, too. However, he is in trouble, too, because they were not supposed to go anywhere near the mud. In order to save himself, he drops the issue and does not tell the adults on Maggie. Meanwhile, Maggie has disappeared.

Maggie, who has been told often that she looks like a gypsy, runs off to join them. She assumes they will be glad to see her and be enlightened by her education. She finally finds their camp but is not happy there; the gypsies frighten her and steal her silver thimble. One of the gypsy men eventually takes her home on his donkey, and Tulliver pays him for returning Maggie. Maggie regrets her headstrong decision, and Tulliver does not punish her for it.

The narrator describes the town of St. Ogg's, a town that cherishes respectability above all else. The Gleggs live there. Mr. Glegg, a retired wool merchant, spends most of his time in his garden. His wife, who is thrifty like him, is less likable and more prone to arguing. He tells her that she should not make Tulliver pay his debt now, since anyone else who borrows it would not pay as much interest as Tulliver. They argue about this until Mr. Glegg tells her he has left a lot of money to her in his will. The thought of future riches distracts her and pleases her, and she decides to let Tulliver keep the loan for the time being.

Mrs. Pullet tries to convince Mrs. Glegg to let Tulliver keep the money. She succeeds, because Mrs. Glegg has already decided to do so. However, Tulliver has already written to Mrs. Glegg, saying that he will pay the money in the following month. He still needs the money, of course, and he decides to borrow it from a client of his longtime enemy, Lawyer Wakem.

Book 2: School-Time

Tom turns out to be the only pupil of Reverend Stelling, and he is bored without friends. In addition, he is not very bright, so studying Latin and geometry is torture to him. Stelling turns out to be an ambitious man who spends far more than he makes, and he is unable to adapt his teaching to Tom's abilities; Tom is good at business and has common sense. Bored, Tom plays with Stelling's baby daughter and starts to miss Maggie's company.

Maggie visits, and she is very interested in his studies; she shows that she can pick up the topics much more quickly than he can, even though she is a girl. She stays there two weeks and learns Latin and geometry, largely on her own. Despite this, when she asks Stelling if she can study as Tom does, Stelling and Tom both tell her women are too stupid to "go far into anything."

Tom goes home for Christmas, but life at home is unpleasant. His father, who likes to argue and sue people, has a new feud going with Pivart: a new neighbor who lives upstream from the mill wants to use water from the Floss to irrigate his fields. Tulliver feels this is an infringement on his own water rights, and he is sure that Lawyer Wakem is behind it. Meanwhile, Wakem is planning to send his son Philip to Stelling. Even though Tulliver hates Wakem, he is secretly pleased about his son having the same education as Wakem's.

Tom meets Philip Wakem. Philip is deformed as the result of a childhood accident. He is shy, well educated, and proud. Tom is disgusted by his deformity and hates him, until he discovers that Philip is a skilled artist, an ability Tom lacks. They begin to talk, and Philip, who is good at Latin, tells Tom stories about the ancient Greeks and Romans. In return, Tom brags about how he beat up all the other boys at his old school.

Tom continues to do poorly at schoolwork, but he is good at military drills, which he practices with the drillmaster, Poulter. Tom is fascinated by Poulter's combat stories and gets Poulter to lend him his sword.

Philip and Tom get into a fight, and Tom calls Philip's father a rogue. Hurt, Philip cries.

Tom assumes his fight with Philip is over, and he acts friendly. However, Philip will not let the insult go. Maggie comes to visit. She is fascinated by Philip, because she has a "tenderness for deformed things." She also admires his ability in music and drawing.

Tom gets out the sword and swaggers to impress Maggie, but he drops the sword and cuts his foot.

Philip is kind to Tom, telling him the injury will not make him permanently lame. After this they become friendlier. Philip asks Maggie if she would love him if he were her brother, and she says yes, she would, because she would be sorry for him. However, this incident makes her realize that Philip cares for her, and she tells him she wishes he really were her brother. She tells her father how she and Tom have become friends with Philip, and Tulliver advises them both not to get too close.

Maggie goes to a girls' boarding school with her cousin Lucy. In the meantime, her father has begun a lawsuit against Lawyer Wakem, so she cannot be too friendly to Philip. Eventually, he loses the suit and must sell everything he owns, including the mill, to pay for it. What is more, when Tulliver received this news, he fell off his horse and has been out of his mind ever since. Tom and Maggie head home, and the narrator notes that "the golden gates of their childhood … [had] forever closed behind them."

Book 3: The Downfall

Tulliver looks for someone who will buy the mill and let him run it. He is also troubled because he has already scheduled a sale of his household goods in order to raise the money to pay back Mrs. Glegg's five hundred pounds. He decides to send Mrs. Tulliver to the Pullets to ask them to lend him five hundred pounds.

When Mrs. Tulliver asks her sisters for help, they see Tulliver's failure as a sort of divine judgment against him, and they refuse to help. Tom decides the whole thing is Lawyer Wakem's fault and decides that someday he will make Wakem pay for it.

Tom and Maggie get home and find the bailiff waiting in the parlor. He has come to sell all their things. Mrs. Tulliver is upset over the impending loss of her belongings. Her sisters are coming to buy a few things but only the ones they want for themselves; otherwise they will not help. Tom says he will get a job and help the family. Maggie is appalled by her mother's emphasis on things and her lack of caring about Tulliver, who is still out of his mind, and she goes to take care of him.

The following day, all the aunts and uncles gather to decide what must be done. They have no sympathy for Mrs. Tulliver's now-destitute state or her desire to keep some of her old things, and they tell her she must make do with a few meager necessities. Tom tells them that if they were planning to leave money to him and Maggie, they could simply give it out now and save the family. Mrs. Glegg refuses to do so, because she would have less to leave after she died and people might think she was poor when they heard of her small legacy. Maggie, angered, asks why they came to interfere if they do not plan to help. Tom is annoyed by her outburst.

Mrs. Moss, the poorest of all the relatives, arrives and tells the children that she has three hundred pounds but cannot repay it without herself becoming bankrupt. Tom tells the other relatives that Tulliver did not want the money back. Mr. Glegg says that if there is any proof of the loan, the authorities will insist that it be paid back anyway. Tom and Mr. Glegg decide to find the loan note and destroy it, leaving the Mosses free of any obligation.

While they search for the note, Tulliver wakes from his coma and is surprisingly lucid. He tells Tom to take care of Maggie and Mrs. Tulliver, verifies that he does not want his loan back, and reminds Tom to make Wakem suffer for the trouble he has supposedly brought to the family. Then he lapses into unconsciousness again.

Tom visits his uncle Deane, a successful businessman for Guest and Company, and asks for a job. Deane tells him that his fancy education is useless and that he is qualified for nothing. He will try to get Tom a job but cannot promise anything. Back at home, Maggie suggests that she learn bookkeeping so she can teach it to Tom. He thinks this is mighty presumptuous for a mere woman and becomes angry at her.

The Tulliver household is finally sold. A visitor appears later that day: Bob Jakin. He shows Tom the knife Tom once gave him and tells Tom it is the only thing anyone has ever given him. In return, he says, he wants to give the family ten sovereigns that he received for putting out a fire at another mill. Tom refuses the money, but Maggie says that if they ever need help in the future, they will call on Bob.

In the meantime, Deane has found Tom a job in a warehouse. Mrs. Tulliver goes to Lawyer Wakem and asks him not to buy the mill, because it will upset her husband. Instead, she asks him to let Deane's company buy the mill. His company, Guest and Company, is thinking of buying it and letting Tulliver run it. Wakem says he could buy it and let Tulliver run it, but Mrs. Tulliver says her husband would never agree to this. In truth, Wakem never intended to buy the mill, but now he decides it is a good idea to do so.

Wakem buys the mill, and Tulliver, who sees that he has no choice, agrees to run it. Gradually, he becomes strong again, but he chafes under Wakem's ownership. One day he makes Tom write in the family Bible that he has agreed to run the mill for Wakem but that he will never forgive him, that he wishes "evil may befall him," and that one day Tom will make him suffer for it. Maggie says that it is wrong to write such a curse in the Bible, but Tom writes and signs it.

Book 4: The Valley of Humiliation

The narrator discusses the Dodson family and their idea of religion, calling it "simple, semi-pagan," and noting that they worship "whatever is customary and respectable." They are egotistical people who serve their own interests. The Tullivers are similar but have a little more impetuosity and warmth.

Tom is fully employed at the warehouse, but Maggie, at thirteen, is bored, with nothing to do. She is full of energy and drive, qualities considered deplorable in a girl, but the same qualities make young Tom "manly" despite his emotional immaturity.

Bob Jakin drops by one day. He is a traveling salesman, or packman, and he drops off some books he bought as a gift for Maggie. One is a religious book by Thomas à Kempis, which advocates renunciation and asceticism, and this grabs her imagination. She tries to lead an ascetic, spiritual life.

Book 5: Wheat and Tares

Philip Wakem comes to the mill with his father one day. Although Maggie is home, she does not want to see him with his father there, because she cannot be friendly to him in front of his father. She is now seventeen and is stately and very beautiful. On a walk to the woods near her house, she meets Philip, who has been waiting for her. They agree to meet there periodically. He is in love with her, but as yet she does not think of him that way.

Meanwhile, Tom has done well in his work. He gives all his money to his father, saving up to buy back the mill someday. Bob Jakin tells Tom that he can make much more money if he invests in some goods, which Jakin will give to a sailor friend of his to sell on his voyages. Tulliver is unwilling to give up any money, so Tom borrows fifty pounds from Mr. Glegg to invest in the venture. Mrs. Glegg, who has fallen for Bob Jakin's sales talk, also lends him twenty pounds of her own. By the time Maggie meets Philip, Tom has made 150 pounds and plans to pay off the entire mill debt by the end of the following year.

Maggie and Philip meet some more. He draws her and plays music for her, both of which arouse her love of art and beauty. They agree to keep meeting, even though their families would be against it. Philip is deeply in love with Maggie, even though he knows she feels sorry for him because of his deformity.

A year later, they are still meeting secretly. Maggie returns a book she borrowed from Philip, saying she disliked it because the author, like so many others, had the fair-haired girl win over one who was dark, like Maggie. Philip tells her that one day soon she may triumph over her fair-haired cousin Lucy in love. This annoys Maggie, who had been speaking metaphorically and does not like to think of being Lucy's rival. Philip tells her he loves her, but she says she could never upset her father by returning that love.

One day Maggie's aunt Pullet comments that she has often noticed Philip Wakem in a particular spot in the woods. Maggie blushes, and when Tom sees her, he knows she has been meeting Philip. Tom corners Maggie, asks what she thinks she is doing, and says their father would be driven mad if he knew. He makes her promise that she will never see Philip again. She says she would never promise this for Tom, but in respect for her father, she agrees.

Three weeks later, Tom comes home and tells his father that he has enough money to buy back the mill. Tulliver is thrilled and dreams of the revenge he will have on Lawyer Wakem. He goes to dinner with his creditors and tells them he can pay them off. This fills him with pride, and when he meets Wakem in the street, he tells him he will not work for him anymore and knocks Wakem off his horse and whips him furiously. The next morning, Tulliver asks Tom to try to get Wakem to sell him the mill and tells him to take good care of his mother and Maggie. He dies without forgiving Wakem, and Tom and Maggie promise they will always be good to each other.

Book 6: The Great Temptation

Stephen Guest, son of the main partner of Guest and Company, is courting Maggie's cousin Lucy Deane. He is good-looking and a smooth talker, and he is marrying Lucy largely because she fits a description of the perfect wife: good looking, but not too much; thoughtful of other women, but not too much; gentle and "not stupid." When Maggie visits, he is fascinated with her dark beauty and intelligence. He is attracted to her but acknowledges that she is not the sort of woman he would want to marry.

That night, Maggie cannot sleep, because she keeps thinking of how well Stephen can play music and sing and remembering the passionate way he looked at her. When Lucy asks what Maggie thinks of Stephen, however, Maggie says she thinks he is too self-confident. Lucy says that Philip is going to visit the next day, but Maggie says she cannot see him without her brother's permission. Lucy asks why not, and Maggie tells the whole story of her past connection with Philip. Lucy finds this very romantic and decides that she will find a way to bring them together again.

Maggie goes to visit Tom, who is living at Bob Jakin's house. He agrees to release her from her promise not to see Philip but says she will have to live without a brother if she sees him. Maggie says that she does not want to lose her brother, so she will not love Philip but will only be a friend to him. Tom finally agrees that she can see him.

Uncle Deane tells Tom he has done good work and that he and Mr. Guest are going to give him a share in their business. Tom is grateful but suggests that the company buy Dorlcote Mill and let him run it and eventually buy it from them by working off the price. He says that Wakem may be interested in selling it, because the current manager has been drinking too much. Deane says he will investigate.

Maggie, who is now under Lucy's wing and socializing with the high society in St. Ogg's, is enjoying her new leisure. The men and women of St. Ogg's are all fascinated with her: the men because of her beauty, the women because of her unpretentiousness. One of the men is Stephen Guest, who is understood to be Lucy's fiancé. There is a chemistry between him and Maggie, of which Lucy is unaware.

The following day, Philip comes to visit Maggie and Lucy. He and Maggie are nervous about meeting again but secretly glad. Maggie tells him that Tom has agreed that they can be friends but that she is planning to go away to a "new situation." Stephen arrives, and Philip is annoyed by his presence and by the fact that Maggie is evidently swayed by him.

Later, Deane tells Lucy that his company might buy the mill from Philip's father. Lucy says that if he lets her, she will talk to Philip to get him to convince his father to go along with the deal.

Lucy talks about it with Philip. Philip asks his father to talk to him in his room, where there are several drawings he has made of Maggie. His father asks about them, and Philip explains that he would marry her if he could but that he has never been taught a skill that would allow him to support himself and her. Wakem is enraged that his son wants to marry a Tulliver, and when Philip says that Maggie never got involved in the family feud, Wakem says that it does not matter what a woman does; what matters is whom she belongs to. They argue, but in the end Wakem, thinking about his own deceased wife and the happiness she gave him, agrees to sell the mill and allow Philip to marry Maggie if she agrees.

At a bazaar in St. Ogg's, Maggie attracts a lot of attention because of her looks. There is tension between Maggie, Stephen, and Philip. Maggie thinks she would prefer Stephen as a husband, but she is not sure. Lucy tells her that now that Tom will own the mill, there is no reason why she cannot marry Philip. Maggie reminds her that Tom still hates him.

At a dance at Stephen's house, Stephen kisses Maggie, and she is offended at his boldness. The next morning, she is supposed to visit her aunt Moss. Philip arrives before she leaves and asks if they can ever be together again. She says that Tom is the only factor keeping them apart.

After four days of her visit to Aunt Moss, Stephen visits and asks her to forgive him. She does, and he asks her to marry him. She says no, because he is engaged to Lucy, and he cannot convince her that it would not be wrong. She convinces him that it is time for them to go their separate ways, because she is going away to work.

A few days later, Maggie visits her aunt Pullet, who is having a party to celebrate Tom's purchase of the mill. Aunt Pullet is annoyed that Maggie is going to go away and get a job as a governess, but on the other hand, she refuses to do anything to help her. Lucy gets Tom to take her home from the party and asks him to allow Maggie to marry Philip. Tom refuses to bless their union but says Maggie can do what she wants.

Maggie stays with her aunt Glegg, but Stephen sees her each evening at dinner. They are still interested in each other, although Maggie fights it. Still, she thinks it is harmless if they show their love to each other, because she will soon be leaving anyway. A series of mishaps result in Maggie and Stephen going on a boating trip down the Floss together; although the trip is only supposed to last an afternoon, Stephen does not stop where they had planned to but keeps on going until the tide makes it impossible to return that day. This is crucial, because in their society staying away overnight would ruin Maggie's reputation as a virtuous woman; people will assume that she is loose. Stephen tells her their only alternative is to run away and get married, but Maggie refuses. More mishaps ensue, and Maggie does not get home until five days later.

Tom is angry with her for shaming the family, and he will not let her stay in the mill. Bob Jakin takes her and Mrs. Tulliver in. Bob wonders why Maggie is not married, but he does not ask.

The narrator comments on this state of affairs, saying that if Maggie had gotten married, society would have found it a romantic story. However, since she is not, all the blame falls on her as an unwed woman, and people assume she has been promiscuous and that Stephen then refused to marry her; they do not think badly of him at all, even though the event was his fault. Meanwhile, Stephen has gone abroad and has written a letter to a local clergyman, Dr. Kenn, saying that Maggie is not to blame. The local opinion is not swayed by this. Dr. Kenn thinks Maggie should marry Stephen, but he realizes that Maggie's feelings must be taken into account. He promises to find a job for Maggie.

Aunt Glegg scolds Tom for assuming the worst of his sister; Mr. Glegg takes Lucy's side and is against Maggie; Mrs. Pullet is undecided; and Mrs. Glegg takes Maggie's side and offers to take her in. Maggie thanks her but says she would rather be independent.

Philip writes a letter saying he believes in Maggie's innocence, that she is meant for him, and that he wants to help her in any way he can.

Dr. Kenn has not been able to find a job for Maggie, so he hires her as a governess for his children. However, after a while, rumors fly that he is going to marry her. Lucy visits Maggie, and Maggie tells Lucy that she never meant to deceive her and that Stephen will come back to Lucy eventually. Lucy tells Maggie that Maggie is a better person than she is.

Dr. Kenn finally has to fire Maggie because the gossip about her position in his house has become too slanderous. He tells her it's best if she leaves St. Ogg's. Maggie gets a letter from Stephen, saying he still loves her and wants her, but she resists her desire for him and burns the letter.

Meanwhile, it's been raining for two days, and the river is rising in a flood. Maggie gets into a boat and is swept out in the flood and paddles to the mill, where the water is up to the second story. She rescues Tom, and he finally realizes how paltry and futile their disagreements were. They both drown in the flood, but the narrator notes that, in death, they went down in "an embrace never to be parted: living through again in one supreme moment, the days when they had clasped their little hands in love, and roamed the daisied fields together."

Characters

Lucy Deane

Lucy, Maggie's cousin, is her opposite: as fair as Maggie is dark, well-behaved, quiet, and proper where Maggie is boisterous. The Dodson sisters all consider her to be the perfect little girl, but surprisingly, Maggie likes and admires her instead of hating her. She is not stupid, but neither is she notably intelligent. However, she is kindhearted, innocent, and sweet, never seeing evil in anyone. Even when Maggie and Stephen are obviously interested in each other, Lucy trusts that they are merely friends.

Mr. Deane

Mr. Deane is a shrewd businessman, who is proud of himself and scornful of frivolous learning, such as the Latin and geometry Tom studies; he believes in the value of hard work and useful skills such as bookkeeping. He began as a lowly worker and rose to his present position as a new partner in the firm of Guest and Company. He gives Tom a warehouse job and lends him money, which allows Tom to invest in a scheme that makes enough money for him to buy back the mill.

Mrs. Deane

Mrs. Deane is the third Dodson sister; she values propriety and appearances. Her character is not well defined, but she is respected by all because her husband, Mr. Deane, is a wealthy businessman. At first, her sisters thought she was marrying beneath her, but time has shown her to have been the most successful, at least in terms of marital prosperity.

Mr. Glegg

Mr. Glegg is a retired businessman who did well but who now spends most of his time working in his garden and trying to figure out the puzzling ways of women.

Mrs. Glegg

Of all the Dodson sisters, Mrs. Glegg is perhaps the most rigid and strict; she is obsessed with proper behavior and the way things look. She is the oldest and demands that the other sisters live up to her standards, which are impossible to meet and often senseless. She is the most interested in money of all the sisters and is not noted for her charity or understanding, but in the end she values her family over the opinions of other people. When Maggie is disgraced at the end of the book, Mrs. Glegg offers to take her in.

Mr. Guest

Mr. Guest is the main partner of Guest and Company, a wealthy trading firm. He has recently taken Mr. Deane on as a partner.

Stephen Guest

The son of a wealthy businessman, Stephen is good-looking, self-assured to the point of being somewhat cocky, and rather thoughtless. He is unofficially engaged to Lucy Deane, but that does not stop him from flirting with Maggie and, eventually, trying to run off with her. He does not seem to have much drive and ambition, and his main prospects in life derive from the fact that his father has already made a fortune, which he will inherit. Stephen falls in love with Maggie, but he is thoughtless and impetuous in his courting of her, not stopping to think about the consequences of running away or to consult with her before he takes her down the river. He is selfish but is somewhat redeemed by the fact that he is truly in love with Maggie; when she refuses him, he suffers intensely.

Bob Jakin

Bob Jakin has known Tom since childhood, when they occasionally played together. He grows up to be an amusing talker and canny trader who travels with a pack, selling items door to door. He is generous and kind and, unlike Tom who can carry a grudge forever, never forgets a kindness. He is often kind to others, offering to give Tom all his money, bringing books to Maggie, and setting Tom up with a lucky investment opportunity. After Maggie's disgrace, he and his wife take her in when Tom refuses to.

Dr. Kenn

Dr. Kenn is an Anglican clergyman. He believes that Maggie should marry Stephen after their disgraceful disappearance, but when he talks to her, he realizes the situation is too complex to fit simple rules of right and wrong. He shows kindness in taking her in but is overwhelmed when the tide of social opinion turns against him. In the end, he has to let her go from her post as governess to his children.

Luke

Luke works for Mr. Tulliver, running the mill. He is a simple man, religious and practical, without much use for education. He is not impressed by Maggie when she tries to show him how much she knows.

Gritty Moss

Mrs. Moss is Mr. Tulliver's sister. She is married to a poor farmer; they have eight children, and her kindness and warmth is shown by the fact that despite their poverty, she is still sad over the loss of her twins who died in infancy. She is honest and responsible, and when Mr. Tulliver comes to her asking her to pay back three hundred pounds he lent her, she does not become angry at him but resignedly says that her family will have to sell everything they have, but they will do it.

Mr. Moss

Mr. Moss is a poor farmer who lives with his large family in a decrepit hovel. He works hard but never seems to do well.

Mr. Pivart

Mr. Pivart moves into a farm upstream from Tulliver's mill and gets into a legal battle with Tulliver when Tulliver learns that Pivart will be using river water to irrigate his fields; Tulliver believes this infringes on his own right to use the water in his mill, but he loses the case.

Mr. Poulter

Mr. Poulter is Tom's drillmaster at school. He is fond of recounting war stories and impressing Tom with his military action. Foolishly, he lets Tom have his sword for a week in exchange for a small fee, and Tom wounds his foot with it.

Mr. Pullet

Mr. Pullet is a gentleman farmer who farms as a "hobby"; he is thin and is described mainly in terms of his memory for his wife's many prescriptions and his liking for lozenges.

Mrs. Pullet

Mrs. Pullet, one of the Dodson sisters, is Mrs. Tulliver's sister. Like her sisters, she is insistent on propriety and traditional codes of behavior. She is very careful of her personal belongings and also tends to be somewhat morbid and hypochondriacal.

Mr. Riley

Mr. Riley is an auctioneer, much admired by Mr. Tulliver for his business sense and for his wide circle of acquaintances, who recommends that Mr. Tulliver send Tom to Reverend Stelling for school.

Reverend Walter Stelling

Reverend Stelling is a clergyman who lives far above his means; he is ambitious but not very intelligent. He is unable to adapt his program of Latin and geometry to Tom's needs or to see that Tom, although not bright at these subjects, has other talents. He is shallow and not particularly spiritual despite his position.

Bessy Tulliver

Mrs. Tulliver, like her older sisters, values appearances, propriety, and tradition, but she is not very intelligent. She does not know what to do with Maggie, who is extremely smart and energetic and who does not fit the traditional expectations of female appearance or behavior.

Edward Tulliver

Mr. Tulliver, who is the fifth generation of his family to own Dorlcote Mill, is a hardheaded, stubborn man who remembers every slight and fiercely holds on to grudges. However, he is warm with his family. He is not very bright and has little insight into any character, including his own. He is continually becoming caught up in petty arguments that eventually escalate into lawsuits. He chose his wife because she was not very intelligent, and he is puzzled by Maggie because she is so smart and because she does not fit the traditional ideals of feminine appearance and behavior. He is not very close to his sister, Mrs. Moss, but occasionally he realizes how important family is and tries to be kind to her; this reminds him to tell Tom and Maggie to remain close and take care of each other.

Maggie Tulliver

Maggie is more like her father's family than her mother's. She is impetuous, warm, and highly intelligent, but she is also forgetful and impulsive. She has olive skin and untidy black hair, traits that upset her mother's family, and she is continually bothered by their obsession with her looks.

Unlike Tom, she is not sure of herself, and other people can easily make her feel bad about herself. When her father goes bankrupt, she is so ashamed that she turns to an ascetic life, where she can hide from the world that has been so cruel to her family. However, her sensitivity extends to other people's feelings as well. It leads her to become close to Philip Wakem, because she feels pity for his deformity. Philip, who is as interested in books and music as Maggie is, gets her interested in life again. She reenters the social world, where she meets Stephen Guest, and her urge to avoid hurting either Stephen or Philip by choosing between them leads her to make many mistakes.

Tom Tulliver

Maggie's older brother Tom is very much like his mother's family, the Dodsons. He is bossy and convinced that he always knows what's good for everyone else, traits he displays in childhood and continues throughout the book. He is not very concerned about other people's feelings as long as he's satisfied with himself, and if other people are hurt by his actions, he believes that's their fault for not adhering to the standards he has set. He is ambitious, but not very intelligent; although he studies geometry and Latin, he does not retain them and is more interested in "cutting a fine figure" in front of other people than in learning. He has a very high opinion of himself but does not stop to think how he will impress other people without skills or knowledge, so when he goes to get a job, he is surprised that he is suitable only for the most menial labor.

Like his father, Tom is stubborn and unyielding, and the more other people argue with him, the more tenaciously he clings to his own opinion. He never lets go of a grudge, is not forgiving, and does not comprehend what love or kindness is. When his father tells him to take care of Maggie, he thinks of this purely in the monetary sense, not in the sense of loving her. Just before he and Maggie die in the flood at the end of the book, he realizes that his view of life has been too narrow and that he has not loved her as he should have, but by then it's too late: after this realization, they die together.

Lawyer Wakem

Lawyer Wakem is Mr. Tulliver's archenemy because in the past he has been involved in many lawsuits that brought trouble to Tulliver, who habitually takes others to court. The enmity grows when Wakem is hired by Mr. Pivart to mediate a water dispute, and the case is decided in favor of Pivart. When Wakem buys Tulliver's mill, this brings Tulliver's hatred to a high pitch. However, Wakem is not as evil as Tulliver believes he is: when his son Philip explains that he loves Maggie Tulliver, Wakem remembers his own happy relationship with his deceased wife and tells Philip that he can marry Maggie if she will have him.

Philip Wakem

Philip is the son of Lawyer Wakem and thus an archenemy of the Tulliver family, according to Tom and Mr. Tulliver. An accident around the time of his birth resulted in his having a deformed back; as a result of this injury and his difference from most other people, he is sensitive, kindhearted, and aware of suffering. He is also a talented artist and musician. When Tom injures his foot while playing with a sword, Philip is the only one who understands Tom's fear that he will be crippled forever, and Philip reassures him despite their previous fights. Of all the characters, Philip is the most sensitive to other people and their needs and has the greatest insight into others' behavior. Philip and Maggie have an affinity through their mutual love of books, music, and art, but Philip's isolation, and the fact that he has not been taught any kind of useful occupation, makes him unsuitable as a husband. Indeed, the other characters often consider him effeminate and weak.

Themes

Ordinary People's Lives

At the time of its publication, The Mill on the Floss received critical attention, both good and bad, because it was one of the first novels to consider the lives and problems of middle-class English country people and to present their lives in great detail. Some readers of the time found this fascinating; others were repelled by the amount of time Eliot spent exploring the lives of "common" people. For example, Leslie Stephen, writing in Corn-hill Magazine in 1881, wrote that no other writer had so clearly presented "the essential characteristics [of quiet English country life]" and that she "has shown certain aspects of a vanishing social phase with a power and delicacy unsurpassed." On the other hand, W. L. Collins, writing in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in 1860, wrote that the novel was drawn "from the worst aspect of the money-making middle class—their narrow-minded complacent selfishness, their money-worship, their petty schemes and jealousies."

What all critics agreed on, however, was that Eliot drew a very accurate portrait of middle-class country people. No one in the book is wealthy, with the exception of Lawyer Wakem and Mr. Guest, and the characters' money is derived from their own work, not passed down from upper-class parents. Bob Jakin, the lower-class packman, is vividly portrayed, largely through his entertaining dialogue, but also through his generosity. When Eliot describes the Tullivers sitting down to tea or a conference of all the aunts and uncles, she shows them interacting and lets readers hear their conversation, which is presented with great wit and accuracy and sums them up by noting:

There were particular ways of doing everything in [the Dodson] family: particular ways of bleaching the linen, of making the cowslip wine, curing the hams, and keeping the bottled gooseberries…. Funerals were always conducted with peculiar propriety in the Dodson family: the hatbands were never of a blue shade, the gloves never split at the thumb, everybody was a mourner who ought to be, and there were always scarfs for the bearers…. A female Dodson, when in 'strange' houses, always ate dry bread with her tea, and declined any sort of preserves, having no confidence in the butter, and thinking that the preserves had already begun to ferment for want of the sugar and boiling.

Later, she describes the materialistic and shallow people of St. Ogg's:

One sees little trace of religion [among these people], still less of a distinctively Christian creed. Their belief in the Unseen, so far as it manifests itself at all, seems to be rather of a pagan kind; their moral notions, though held with strong tenacity, seem to have no standard beyond hereditary custom.

Eliot also portrays the life of the countryside: farmers, like the Mosses, working to survive; Luke, the simple miller; housewives buying goods from packmen like Bob Jakin; more prosperous people building up their businesses; and boatmen on the river.

Individual versus Society

Maggie Tulliver is an extremely intelligent and energetic girl who by nature is perpetually at odds with the narrow-minded, conservative, and restrictive culture she lives in. Throughout the book, she is torn between resisting social conventions and obeying them. Even as a child, she does not fit the model of the proper girl: she is untidy, disobedient, hot-tempered, and highly intelligent. There's really no place for her; her mother is embarrassed by her and despairs of ever getting her to behave like other girls, and, as Mr. Tulliver makes clear, most men want to marry a woman who is, if not exactly stupid, at least not intelligent enough to challenge them. Both her parents regard her as somewhat "unnatural" because of her unusual traits.

Maggie's brother Tom is the personification of the family and social values Maggie struggles against. She tries to reconcile her own personal freedom and inner nature with Tom's narrow and controlling ideas about what is right for her and the family. Unlike her brother, she is interested in books and learning and is sensitive to music and art. However, these interests are not much encouraged by her family or others.

Topics for Further Study

• In the book, Maggie is torn between obeying her brother's often selfish wishes and choosing her own happiness. Which do you think is more important: obeying the wishes of parents and family or choosing your own life, even when they disagree with it? If your parents or brother threatened to disown you because of a choice you made, what would you do?
• Research the use of water-powered mills, like the one in the book, to grind grain. When were such mills invented? How did they work? When did their use begin to fade, and why?
• In the book, Maggie is highly intelligent, yet instead of being considered smart, she is viewed as "unnatural" by her father and others. How have attitudes toward women's education and intelligence changed over the years since 1860?
• Tom makes money by investing in goods, which a sailor then sells on his voyages overseas. Investigate seafaring trade practices of the mid-1800s. Was this sort of investment common? Was it risky or a sure thing for Tom to do this?

When Maggie visits Tom's school, she asks Reverend Stelling if she could study geometry and Latin, as Tom is doing. Although it's obvious to the reader that she has a natural gift for learning and is much more intelligent than Tom, Stelling says scornfully that although women "have a great deal of superficial cleverness … they couldn't go far into anything." Maggie is crushed by this comment, and Tom is triumphant. Maggie is also confused because she has been called "quick" all her life and has thought this quickness desirable but now, because of Stelling's remark, thinks that perhaps this "quickness" is simply a mark of her female shallowness and inferiority of mind: she's doomed never to succeed. Eliot writes, "Maggie was so oppressed by this dreadful destiny that she had no spirit for a retort."

Later in the book, Maggie gets into trouble because of her deep desire to love and be loved. No one in her family, least of all Tom, truly understands her or loves her unconditionally, so she is deeply gratified by the attention Philip and Stephen give her. However, she is also conflicted about their attention because her relationship with Philip is considered shameful by her family and, in the case of Stephen, it's considered scandalous by everyone.

By the end of the book, she is so trapped by these conflicting urges—to give in to others, do what they want, and live an unfullfilling life, or to do as she pleases and lose her family and friends—that there is seemingly no way out except death. When she dies in the flood, the conflicts are over, and she is united with her brother again. However, this is not a real solution; if she had survived the flood, it's obvious that her unity with Tom could never have lasted.

Style

Dialect

A notable feature of Eliot's writing is her use of local dialect in dialogue to express her characters' educational and social class. For example, Mr. Tulliver tells his wife, "What I want is to give Tom a good eddication…. I should like Tom to be a bit of a scholard, so as he might be up to the tricks o' these fellows as talk fine and write with a flourish." Mr. Riley, who is an auctioneer and somewhat better educated, does not use dialect when he tells Tulliver, "There's no greater advantage you can give him than a good education. Not that a man can't be an excellent miller and farmer, and a shrewd sensible fellow into the bargain, without much help from the schoolmaster."

Bob Jakin, who is of an even lower class than the Tullivers, uses more marked dialect; for example, when he is discussing a reward he received for putting out a fire, he says, "It was a fire i' Torry's mill, an' I doused it, else it 'ud ha' set th' oil alight; an th' genelman gen me ten suvreigns—he gen me 'em himself last week."

Mrs. Tulliver uses dialect when she says that Maggie seems crazy or stupid, because when she sends Maggie upstairs to get anything, "She forgets what she's gone for, an' perhaps 'ull sit on the floor i' the sunshine an' plait her hair an' sing to herself like a Bedlam creatur.'"

However, Eliot shows the reader that Maggie is actually acutely intelligent. Maggie never uses dialect, even in the beginning of the book when she is very young, is not yet educated, and would be expected to talk like her parents. Her first comment in the book, after her mother asks her to sit and sew, is "Oh, mother, I don't want to do my patchwork." She adds, "It's foolish work—tearing things to pieces to sew 'em together again. And I don't want to do anything for my aunt Glegg—I don't like her." This clarity of expression in such a small child is clearly meant to show Maggie's notable intelligence as well as her difference from her family.

Dialect was often used by writers in Eliot's time, but as Lynda Mugglestone wrote in Review of English Studies, Eliot's use of dialect to characterize speakers is particularly notable for its accuracy, subtlety, and clarity.

Foreshadowing

Throughout the novel, Eliot repeatedly refers to the river, reminding the reader of its power and hinting at the catastrophic flood to come in the final chapters. She describes its many moods and repeatedly cautions that the river has flooded before and may flood again; when the flood does occur at the end of the book, it is almost expected.

In the book's first sentence, Eliot describes the river "hurrying between its green banks to the sea, and the loving tide, rushing to meet it, checks its passage in an impetuous embrace." The contrast between the placid countryside and the power of the river, which runs the mill where much of the action is centered, makes the reader aware that the river is tamed, but perhaps not perfectly.

Later, Eliot mentions "the rushing spring-tide, the awful Eagre, come up like a hungry monster," and describes how Maggie thinks of "the river over which there is no bridge" described in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress as a symbol of death. In addition, in this chapter, Mrs. Tulliver fears that Maggie has drowned when she is late coming home.

Eliot also presents a legend of the patron saint of St. Ogg's, a boatman who operated a ferry on the Floss. One stormy night, a woman carrying a child wanted to cross the river, but no one would take her because of the danger. Ogg ferried her across, and when she reached shore, her clothes became flowing white robes and she was revealed to be the Blessed Virgin. She blessed Ogg, giving him the ability to save many lives when the river flooded. When he died, his boat floated out to sea, but his ghost could still be seen during floods, ferrying the Blessed Virgin over the water. However, Eliot notes that the people of St. Ogg's have largely forgotten this tradition, as well as their faith; they are more interested in money and image. This implies that they have also forgotten how dangerous the river is and in their arrogance assume that nothing can touch them.

Later, Eliot writes that the river "flowed and moaned like an unresting sorrow." This hints at the sorrow to come.

Near the end of the novel, when Stephen has taken Maggie too far down the river to respectably return without being married, he tells her, "See, Maggie, how everything has come without our seeking—in spite of all our efforts…. See how the tide is carrying us out—away from all those unnatural bonds that we have been trying to make faster round us—and trying in vain. It will carry us on…. and [we will] never pause a moment till we are bound to each other, so that only death can part us."

Maggie is swayed by this argument, thinking that she might "glide along with the swift, silent stream, and not struggle any more." This view of the results of marriage sounds more like a description of death than matrimony and foreshadows later developments, when Maggie and Tom are carried away in the flood; instead of being parted by death, as Maggie and Stephen would have been, they are forever united in it.

Historical Context

Education

Schools run by the state did not exist in England until 1870. Before that time, parents could send their children to any of four different types of school: private, endowed, church, and ragged. Anyone could open a private school, and no particular qualifications were required, so these schools varied greatly depending on the skill of the teachers. In The Mill on the Floss, the Reverend Stelling's school is a private arrangement, and as Eliot shows, Stelling is obviously not a very gifted teacher. Endowed schools were provided money by wealthy people, often as charity ventures and usually had more supervision of teachers. The Church of England, as well as other religious groups, also ran schools. Ragged schools were established by the Ragged School Union, founded in 1844, to educate the poor.

Women often did not attend school, but those in the wealthier classes had private governesses who schooled them in ladylike "accomplishments" such as painting, drawing, and music.

Roles of Women

In the mid-nineteenth century, women were expected to marry and have children. Because they were not allowed to enter any jobs other than menial ones, they were dependent upon either their parents or husbands for money. In addition, because money and property were inherited only through males, it was almost impossible for a woman to be single and financially independent even if she had wealthy parents, because her brothers or male cousins would inherit everything from them, leaving her without an income. Those who, like Maggie, did not have wealthy parents and were not married had to find work, but their need to work was regarded as somewhat shameful, both for them and for their families. Maggie planned to become a governess; other work available to women included washing clothes, factory work, farm labor, domestic service, sewing, and prostitution.

Women were considered the property of men; a girl belonged to her father until she married, after which she belonged to her husband. A woman had no legal rights; even if someone committed a crime against her, she could not prosecute. Instead, her husband would prosecute the crime as an offense against his property. Women did not have parental rights, so a husband could take his wife's children and send them to relatives or elsewhere to be raised without her consent. If a woman entered the marriage with an inheritance, it became her husband's when they married, and he could spend it on anything he pleased. Women could not obtain divorces, even if their husbands were abusive or unfaithful, and if they ran away, they could be arrested, brought back to their husbands, or imprisoned.

All of these laws and customs made life very difficult for women who, like Maggie Tulliver, found it hard to fit the mold of quiet and submissive womanhood. Nevertheless, some women did rebel against these strictures; George Eliot, who lived with George Henry Lewes without being married to him, was one of them.

The Industrial Revolution

Beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, new inventions in agriculture, textile spinning and weaving, iron making, and energy generation led to immense changes in the economy and society. By the mid-nineteenth century the Industrial Revolution was transforming England from a rural economy and culture to an urban one based on factories and industry. The growth in factories led to more jobs for working-class people, but it forced them to move to the cities, where the factories were located. This resulted in a population drain in rural areas and unhealthy overcrowding in cities, where sanitation, housing, and medical facilities were often inadequate for the growing masses of workers. Because there were so many potential workers, employers paid very low wages, did not pay sick or injured workers, and fired anyone who complained. Children as young as six years of age worked long hours in the factories, side by side with adults, but received much lower wages. In addition, because parents and children of poor families often worked, children received little or no supervision and family life suffered. In the countryside, the old system of village and church community began to break down as people moved to the cities to find work.

The Industrial Revolution resulted in a huge growth in the goods that were available to poor and middle-class people, because factory production made textiles, pottery, and other items affordable. In addition, the boom in jobs meant that some people were able to learn useful skills, get some education, save money, and become members of the expanding middle class.

Compare & Contrast

• 1860: Most professions are closed to women, who are expected to marry and have children. Those in the poorer classes must do menial labor, and any money they make is legally their husbands' property.
  Today: Women can choose almost any career they desire, including professions such as law and medicine; they can join the armed forces and can expect to see combat; and they are free to enter traditionally male-dominated fields, such as business, construction, and many others.
• 1860: Women are given less education than men, or are educated in vastly different subject areas than men, and are not allowed to attend universities.
  Today: Women and men have equal educational opportunities.
• 1860: Women do not have the right to vote.
  Today: The Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote, was passed in 1920.
• 1860: When a woman marries, all her property becomes her husband's, and in her wedding vows, she must promise to obey her husband in all things.
  Today: Women retain legal access to their own property after marriage, and the word "obey" is not a requirement in wedding vows.

Critical Overview

In an 1860 issue of the Saturday Review, a reviewer commented that The Mill on the Floss, in comparison to Eliot's earlier novel Adam Bede, "shows no falling off nor any exhaustion of power." The reviewer also compared Eliot's "minuteness of painting and a certain archness of style" to the work of Jane Austen and the "wide scope of her remarks, and her delight in depicting strong and wayward feelings" to the work of Charlotte Brontë. According to this reviewer, Eliot's greatest achievement in the novel is that "for the first time in fiction, [she has] invented or disclosed the family life of the English farmer, and the class to which he belongs." By using local dialect, vivid characterization, and occasional comedy, Eliot engenders trust in the reader. In addition, the reviewer commented, she "is full of

meditation on some of the most difficult problems of life," such as the destinies, possibilities, and spiritual situation of all her characters. However, the reviewer disliked Eliot's emphasis on painful circumstances, her occasional overemphasis of moral issues, and her occasional discursiveness.

In that same year, a reviewer wrote in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine that the novel was "incontestably superior" to Adam Bede, because readers are brought to know the characters so intimately that they cannot help reading steadily to the end of the story. The reviewer noted, "And the interest, when once fairly started, though not rapid, never flags." The reviewer praised Eliot's characterization, use of middle-class protagonists, and her unobtrusive moral message.

I. M. Luyster wrote in Christian Examiner in 1861 that "since half the book is devoted to the childhood of the principal characters, it loses with some readers a portion of its interest as a romance." He also objected to Eliot's occasional use of "gratuitous vulgarity, for which the author is solely responsible," which, he noted, was "a great blemish, especially in a woman's book." However, he wrote, this vulgarity seldom appears in The Mill on the Floss and then only in some of the characterizations.

Leslie Stephen wrote in 1881 in Cornhill Magazine that Eliot was "one of the very few writers of our day to whom the name 'great' could be conceded with any plausibility."

By 1901, however, Eliot's reputation had declined. In Victorian Prose Masters, W. C. Brownell wrote that this was probably because turn-of-the-century readers were not interested in Eliot's psychological analysis of characters, and he remarked, "We have had a surfeit of psychological fiction since George Eliot's day." Thus, even though Eliot was "at the head of psychological novelists," her work did not garner the praise it deserved. He summed up, "No other novelist gives one such a poignant … sense that life is immensely serious, and no other … is surer of being read, and read indefinitely, by serious readers."

In Reference Guide to English Literature, Walter Allen wrote that Eliot "is probably over-rated" in England but remarked that "in critical estimation she leads all other Victorian novelists and is seen as the one nineteenth-century English novelist who can be mentioned in the same breath as Tolstoy."

Lettice Cooper, in British Writers, wrote that the book "has both the strength and the weakness of an autobiographical novel. There is no more vivid picture in English fiction of the sorrows and sufferings of a child." The book's weakness, according to Cooper, is that in depicting Maggie, Eliot did not have enough objectivity about Maggie's character, but at the same time, this gives her portrait of Maggie increased "freshness and intensity." However, Cooper praised the novel's "superb setting of English family life, narrated … with humor and shrewd observation." She also noted, "The Dodsons are the very marrow of the English middle class of the last century, a tradition that still survives."

Criticism

Kelly Winters

Winters is a freelance writer. In this essay, Winters considers the conflict between self-realization and acceptance in Eliot's novel.

In Studies in the Novel, June Skye Szirotny commented that, of all Eliot's works, only in The Mill on the Floss does she "explore the conflict between self-realization and acceptance that makes for the ambivalence at the heart of all her fiction—ambivalence that she will set herself to resolve in the rest of her fiction."

This ambivalence runs, like the River Floss, throughout the novel and is the heart of Maggie's conflict with her family and society. It is made worse by the fact that "acceptance" or "love" is rarely given freely by the other characters in the book; it is always conditional. In effect, her family lets Maggie know that "[o]nly if you behave as you're supposed to will we love and accept you."

When Maggie can't or won't behave as her family wants her to, they label her as "unnatural" and threaten to stop loving her. When Mrs. Tulliver insists that Maggie curl her hair, Maggie douses her head in a basin of water, putting an end to the question of curls. Her mother threatens that if her aunts hear about this, "they'll never love you any more." When Tom finds out that she has forgotten to feed his rabbits, he says, "I don't love you, Maggie" and becomes cold to her. In fact, whenever she does anything that displeases him, either he tells her he doesn't like her any more and that he likes someone else (usually their cousin Lucy) instead or he simply walks away from her. Later in the book he goes farther, saying he will hate her if she doesn't do as he says. Arrogantly, he tells her, "You might have sense enough to see that a brother, who goes out into the world and mixes with men, necessarily knows better what is right and respectable for his sister than she can know herself. You think I am not kind; but my kindness can only be directed by what I believe to be good for you." In other words, his love is conditional; he will only love her if she obeys him. In addition, it is purely self-serving; in the first section of the book, Eliot makes this very clear when she comments:

Tom, indeed, was of [the] opinion that Maggie was a silly little thing—all girls were silly…. Still he was very fond of his sister, and meant always to take care of her, make her his housekeeper, and punish her when she did wrong.

In fact, there is almost no one in the world who loves Maggie as she is, rambunctious behavior, intelligence, and all; everyone around her is constantly trying to mold her and withdrawing from her when they are unable to do so. Only Bob Jakin, who chivalrously brings Maggie gifts and takes her in after her disastrous boat ride, and Lucy, who kindly schemes to bring her and Philip together, have no self-serving motives when it comes to Maggie. They are truly her friends and are only interested in helping her find happiness.

However, her family has a big impact on her, and these two friends can't make up for her family's lack of understanding. Because of her family's attitude toward her, Maggie lives under a constant threat of disapproval and abandonment. This is especially hard for her because she has a loving nature; she is described as being "as dependent on kind or cold words as a daisy on the sunshine or the cloud." Because of her strong need to be loved and her sadness when any love is withdrawn, she is often willing to do anything to gain approval from Tom and others. Eliot comments at the beginning of the novel:

It is a wonderful subduer, this need of love—this hunger of the heart—as peremptory as that other hunger by which Nature forces us to submit to the yoke, and change the face of the world.

Maggie loves Tom far more than he loves her, and she falls into despair when he does not approve of her. He, on the contrary, does not care what she thinks of him; it would never even occur to him to wonder what's on her mind.

Eliot writes that Tom was the one person of whom Maggie was most afraid:

… afraid with that fear which springs in us when we love one who is inexorable, unbending, unmodifiable—with a mind that we can never mould ourselves upon, and yet that we cannot endure to alienate from us.

She is thus placed in a no-win situation: if she does as he wants, she will be miserable; if she goes against him, she will suffer through losing him.

In addition to her fear of losing Tom's love, Maggie also has a hearty dose of self-blame; she blames herself for the estrangement and strife between her and Tom, even though, to the reader, he appears to be largely responsible for it because of his narrow-minded and controlling nature. Maggie has been taught to see herself as selfish when she seeks love and companionship with Philip, simply because her family would be upset to know she was associating with a Wakem. They demand that she sacrifice this chance for love, or even friendship, so that they can remain strong in their feud with the Wakem family. Like Tom, they never consider how this will affect her. Interestingly, Maggie never becomes angry at Tom or her family for trying to run her life or preventing her from seeing Philip; she simply assumes that they are right and she is wrong.

When Maggie goes down the river with Stephen, few people are sympathetic to her. Although she is actually blameless, she is vilified for shaming her family and Tom. Few people are particularly interested in finding out whether or not she is actually guilty of any illicit behavior. For example, Eliot writes that as Tom awaits news from her, he assumes she is guilty without knowing any facts:

His mouth wore its bitterest expression, his severe brow its hardest and deepest fold…. Would the next news be that she was married—or what? Probably that she was not married; Tom's mind was set to the expectation of the worst that could happen—not death, but disgrace.

It is fascinating to note that Tom believes that "disgrace" would be worse than death; in effect, he would rather have Maggie die than have her be disgraced. Disgrace would reflect badly on him and his family, whereas death would not. This is yet another example of his extreme selfishness and rigidity.

When Maggie does return, Tom will have nothing to do with her, telling her she has disgraced the entire family and that she has been "a curse" to her best friends. He then disowns her, saying, "You don't belong to me," and he won't listen to her explanations and apologies. Although he says he will provide for her, he will not allow her to associate with him or to come under his roof.

This rejection is what Maggie has been dreading for her entire life. Typically, she does not defend herself; Eliot explains her behavior by saying she is "half-stunned—too heavily pressed upon by her anguish even to discern any difference between her actual guilt and her brother's accusations, still less to vindicate herself." Instead, she says weakly, "Whatever I have done, I repent it bitterly," and she apologizes. However, Tom will have none of it. "The sight of you is hateful to me," he tells her.

When a massive flood carries part of the mill away and leaves Tom stranded in their old house, Maggie is the only person who shows up to save Tom. For the first time in his life, he realizes that he has underestimated her and their relationship. Eliot writes that he was "pale with a certain awe and humiliation." It is the first time in the story that he has been deeply beaten or humiliated by anything. He calls her by his childhood nickname for her, "Magsie," and they come to an unspoken forgiveness and understanding, similar to the one they shared as children. They are close again, allies in the fight against the flood, instead of the adversaries they had become.

When a giant mass of debris rushes toward them on the fast-flowing river, their boat is smashed and driven under, and they both drown as they are holding each other "in an embrace not to be parted: living through again in one supreme moment, the days when they had clasped their little hands together and roamed the daisied fields together."

This "solution," with which Eliot wraps up Maggie's problems with her brother, her family, and society, is false, because it depends on Maggie's death. If Maggie and Tom had lived through the flood, he might have retained his new respect for her, but it's likely that he would not have. By nature, Maggie simply could never get along with Tom, no matter how self-sacrificing she tried to be; Eliot makes this very clear throughout the novel. Suppose Maggie had lived: what then? Would she have become Tom's housekeeper, as he had planned when they were children? If so, she would never marry, never have children, and would remain a servant to him for the rest of her life. This was Tom's dream, but was never hers. She could not marry Philip, or Stephen, and society's gossip and slander about her character would still remain, even though Stephen has written a letter explaining that she was not guilty of any misdemeanor. Victorian society was strict and unforgiving of girls and women who became involved in any scandal; as Eliot notes, even when she became a governess to Dr. Kenn's children, everyone in town slanders her, despite the knowledge of Stephen's exonerating letter. As Dr. Kenn tells her, "There is hardly any evidence which will save you from the painful effect of false imputations." He also advises her that human nature being what it is, people will never believe she is innocent.

Maggie's story is destined to be tragic: because of her perhaps mistaken love for her brother and her deep regard for her family, she stunts herself. When Maggie dies in the flood, she and her brother are united in a way they haven't been since childhood. However, it is not an adult connection of equals but a return and regression to a time when they were so young and their experiences so limited that they had no reason to quarrel. What Eliot does not do, and perhaps cannot do, given the society she lived in and her own struggles against slander and gossip, is provide an ending to the story in which Maggie lives through the flood and has a happy and productive life. Throughout the book, Maggie struggles with balancing self-realization and acceptance, but the ending of her story, instead of leading her to a solution of that problem, is a simple regression to a time when these problems did not exist.

Source: Kelly Winters, Critical Essay on The Mill on the Floss, in Novels for Students, The Gale Group, 2003.

Sources

Allen, Walter, "Eliot, George," in Reference Guide to English Literature, 2d ed., edited by D. L. Kirkpatrick, St. James Press, 1991.

Brownell, W. C., "George Eliot," in Victorian Prose Masters: Thackeray—Carlyle—George Eliot—Matthew Arnold—Ruskin—George Meredith, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1901, pp. 99–145.

Collins, W. L., "A Review of The Mill on the Floss," in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, May 1860, pp. 611–23.

Cooper, Lettice, "George Eliot," in British Writers, Vol. 5, British Council, 1982, pp. 187–201.

Levy, Emanuel, "The Mill on the Floss," Movie review, in Variety, June 2, 1997, p. 55.

Luyster, I. M., "The Eliot Novels," in Christian Examiner, March 1861, pp. 227–51.

Mugglestone, Lynda, "Grammatical Fair Ones: Women, Men, and Attitudes to Language in the Novels of George Eliot," in Review of English Studies, February 1995, p. 11.

"A Review of The Mill on the Floss," in Saturday Review (London), April 14, 1860, pp. 470–71.

Stephen, Leslie, "George Eliot," in Cornhill Magazine, February 1881, pp. 152–68.

Szirotny, June Skye, "Maggie Tulliver's Sad Sacrifice: Confusing but Not Confused," in Studies in the Novel, Summer 1996, p. 178.

Tufel, Alice L., "A Hundred Conflicting Shades: The Divided Passions of George Eliot," in Biblio, November 1998, p. 20.

Wiesenfarth, Joseph, "George Eliot," in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 21: Victorian Novelists Before 1885, edited by Ira B. Nadel, Gale Research, 1983, pp. 145–70.

Further Reading

Bodenheimer, Rosemarie, The Real Life of Mary Ann Evans: George Eliot, Her Letters and Fiction, Cornell University Press, 1996.

Bodenheimer uses Eliot's own writings, particularly her voluminous correspondence, to explore her life and work.

Giobbi, Giuliana, "A Blurred Picture: Adolescent Girls Growing Up in Fanny Burney, George Eliot, Rosamond Lehman, Elizabeth Bowen and Dacia Maraini," in Journal of European Studies, June 1995, p. 141.

Giobbi examines adolescent female characters in the work of several women writers and discusses their path to maturity.

Hughes, Kathryn, George Eliot: The Last Victorian, National Book Network, 2001.

In this combination of biography and critical work, Hughes examines Eliot's phenomenal celebrity in her own lifetime, as well as the Victorian society that nurtured it.

Ludwig, Mark, "George Eliot and the Trauma of Loss," in Essays in Literature, Fall 1992, p. 204.

Ludwig discusses the repeated portrayal of traumatic loss in Eliot's novels.