Authority figures in Middlemarch turn out to be not what they seem. One example is Casaubon. Dorothea marries him with the idealistic dream of supporting a great man. She soon finds out he is not the intellect she thought and realizes that he will never write his planned grand book. He also turns out to be not much of a human being: he is petty, jealous, and expects Dorothea to function as his secretary. He is unable to see past her gender to her true worth. He has much authority over Dorothea as her husband, but he is clearly the lesser person of the two. Through Casaubon, Eliot critiques Victorian patriarchy, which overvalued men and undervalued women.
Bulstrode is another authority figure who turns out to be not what he seems. He is a banker, head of the board of the fever hospital, and a general "big man" in the community. He pretends to piety, but is a corrupt person covering up many secrets. Of course, he is being blackmailed. He has to leave town in disgrace when he is exposed. Through him, Eliot critiques Victorian hypocrisy.
Good-hearted people in the novel, such as Will and Dorothea, suffer because the authority figures in their lives are not what they seem and do not behave well.
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