We are introduced to Dorothea Brooke, a twenty year old woman with a sister named Celia. They live with their uncle who is their guardian, Mr. Brooke. Dorothea has a temperament that drives her with an obsession for religiosity. She dresses plainly. “Dorothea knew many passages of Pascal’s Pensées  and of Jeremy Taylor by heart.” Her concern is for the poor. She is an idealist. “Her mind was theoretic.”

I’m keeping a list of words from the novel that I need to look up. So far, here are some.

cygnet: a young swan

coquetry: flirtatious

frippery: fancy

glutinously: like glue, sticky

The society’s attitude toward women in the 1800s is clearly noted in Eliot’s writings. On page 5 we read: “Women were expected to have weak opinions.” As I write this we are getting close to the day we vote for a new President. Donald Trump’s attitude toward women has been a revealing issue during the debates. Perhaps a strong woman like Hillary Clinton has stirred up a certain amount of fear in a good number of white males in our country. The inability to empathize or understand to any degree the patriarchal climate that still reigns in the U.S. is showing itself on social media every day. It is hard to give up power.

Enter the Reverend Edward Casaubon. Fifty years old. “A man of profound learning.” He has wealth and comes from a respectable line of ancestry. He is working on a large book about mythology and religious traditions.

Celia thinks her sister Dorothea is too obsessed with religion. Celia thinks to herself,

Notions and scruples were like spilt needles, making one afraid of treading, or sitting down, or even eating. (17)

Dorothea thinks that ecclesiastical forms and articles of belief are not as important as “that spiritual religion, that submergence of self in communion with Divine perfection.” (21)

I would like to know more about Eliot’s religious background and her thoughts on theology. She seems to have a good understanding of the mystical element in religion.