Middlemarch book club questions

The reading plan

Meeting 1: Prelude to Chapter 28

1. How much should Celia's doubts matter when Dorothea chooses a husband?
2. What does dividing their mother's jewels suggest about the tension between principles and pleasure?
3. When Dorothea's studies are framed as service, how much room remains for her own ambitions?
4. How should Mr. Lydgate weigh friendship against medical ambition when choosing the Infirmary's chaplain?
5. What might explain Mr. Casaubon's anger when Dorothea asks to help with his scholarly work?

Meeting 2: Chapters 29 to 55

6. What does Mr. Lydgate's view of marriage as support for scientific work leave out?
7. How should Dorothea balance compassion for Mr. Casaubon with resentment of his suspicions?
8. What makes Dorothea's unanswered promise troubling: the demand for obedience, her uncertainty, or both?
9. Does Mr. Farebrother's decision to speak for Fred Vincy seem generous, self-denying, or both?
10. What do you expect Dorothea's choice of useful work over marriage to make possible?

Meeting 3: Chapter 56 to Finale

11. How much weight should family pride carry when Fred Vincy chooses practical work with Caleb?
12. What might justify Rosamond's secret resistance to household cuts, and what makes it unfair?
13. How responsible is Mr. Lydgate for suppressing troubling questions when he accepts financial rescue?
14. Where would you draw the line between Harriet's loyalty and excusing her husband's conduct?
15. What changes when Dorothea turns her own pain into renewed concern for Rosamond?

Themes to talk about

Tips for the host

1. Open each meeting with one question everyone can answer, then go deeper.
2. Anyone who fell behind can catch up with the 15-minute summary.