Middlemarch

Contemplating Abandonment of Middlemarch

Lydgate delays reaching out to Bulstrode day after day, paralyzed by his repugnance for the humiliating act of asking for help. In his hesitation, he begins to seriously consider Rosamond’s long-derided suggestion that they abandon Middlemarch entirely, wondering if he could sell his failing practice to fund a fresh start elsewhere. He rejects the plan as a contemptible abandonment of his professional work and a betrayal of his ambitions, but worries that if they stay, Rosamond’s discontent and his own lack of monetary success will leave them trapped in misery.

A Consultation on Health and Fears

Bulstrode unexpectedly summons Lydgate to the bank for a medical consultation about his own declining health: he is anxious about a nervous affliction he fears could turn into insanity, and worried about a potential cholera outbreak in the region. Lydgate realizes this moment, with Bulstrode preoccupied by his own fears and receptive to medical advice, is the perfect opportunity to make his request for help.

The Withdrawal from the New Hospital

During the consultation, Bulstrode announces he is withdrawing entirely from active management of the New Hospital (and all his business and property holdings) due to his declining health, and will cut off his personal financial support for the hospital. He proposes merging the New Hospital with the older town Infirmary to share operating costs, a plan that will dismantle Lydgate’s independent, innovative medical work at the institution. Lydgate is furious, but restrains himself from expressing his anger and disappointment.

Mrs. Casaubon as a Potential Patron

Bulstrode reveals he has already met with Dorothea Casaubon about the hospital’s future, and she has expressed willingness to potentially take over his financial support for the institution, though she is traveling to Yorkshire to finalize land purchase decisions that will impact her available funds, and wants to consult with Lydgate directly before making a final commitment. Lydgate is cautiously hopeful this could save his professional work at the hospital.

A Humiliating Request and a Cold Refusal

Seizing the opportunity while Bulstrode is still present, Lydgate directly asks for a £1000 interest-free loan to cover his debts and secure his family’s financial standing, explaining that Rosamond’s father has refused to provide any support. Bulstrode responds with cold indifference, advising Lydgate to declare bankruptcy as a necessary, corrective trial, and refuses his request entirely, leaving Lydgate humiliated and without any clear path forward for his finances or professional ambitions.

CHAPITRE LXVIII.

The chapter opens with an epigraph from Daniel’s Musophilus, questioning whether virtue holds any advantage over vice if both achieve similar ends through similar means, and affirming that the directest course proves most successful in the grand volume of the world’s deeds.

The Return of Raffles

Bulstrode’s certainty that Raffles would return to Middlemarch unless dead had been justified. On Christmas Eve, Raffles reappeared at The Shrubs. Bulstrode received him at home, attempting to prevent his communication with the rest of the family, but could not entirely prevent the circumstances from compromising himself and alarming his wife. Raffles proved more unmanageable than before, his chronic mental restlessness and habitual intemperance quickly shaking off every impression from what was said to him. He insisted on staying in the house, and Bulstrode weighed two sets of evils, concluding this was not a worse alternative than allowing him to go into the town.

Bulstrode’s Torment and Extortion

Bulstrode was more tortured than the coarse fibre of Raffles could enable him to imagine. He told his wife he was simply taking care of this wretched creature, implying without direct falsehood that there was a family tie and signs of mental alienation in Raffles which urged caution. He sat in agony of fear lest Raffles should be overheard in his loud references to past facts. Underneath Raffles’ noisy joking was a cunning calculation—a cool resolve to extract something handsomer from Bulstrode as payment for release from this new application of torture. However, his cunning had overcast its mark, pushing the torture too far and producing an effect not in his plan.