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Middlemarch, Chapter 85 summary

Chapter 85 of 88 · Book 8: Sunset and Sunrise · 5 min to read the chapter

In Chapter 85, Bulstrode prepares to leave Middlemarch while hiding the full truth about Raffles’s death from his grieving wife, Harriet. When she asks him to compensate her brother’s family, Lydgate’s rejection of further help leads Bulstrode to propose settling Fred at Stone Court instead.

What happens

  1. The narrator distinguishes innocent victims of public condemnation from people who know they have betrayed their own claims.
  2. Bulstrode fears confessing everything about Raffles’s death because Harriet might judge his actions as murder.
  3. Harriet sends their daughters to school on the coast and asks Bulstrode to help her brother’s family.
  4. Bulstrode explains that Lydgate returns his loan using money advanced by Mrs. Casaubon, which deepens Harriet’s distress.
  5. Bulstrode proposes that Garth manage Stone Court and settle Fred there under a profit-sharing arrangement.
  6. Harriet welcomes the proposal, and Bulstrode asks her to approach Garth with arrangements that exclude direct dealings with him.

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In this chapter

LydgateCasaubonFred

What to notice

Bulstrode recognizes that his involvement obstructs help. Making Harriet the person Garth deals with offers a way to support Fred despite that rejection.

Quick check

Why does Bulstrode ask Harriet to approach Garth herself?

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