Middlemarch Ch. 82: The Weight of Second

George Eliot

The Weight of Second Chances

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Summary

The narrator recalls Will's self-exile as a melting resolve, philanthropic excuse about Bulstrode's money for a Far West scheme, and hunger for Dorothea's voice that brings him to Middlemarch expecting humdrum familiarity instead of scandal and the drawing-room catastrophe he cannot undo.

Instead the visit becomes the fatal epoch: explosive scandal, rage at Rosamond, sympathy for Lydgate he cannot avoid, and a morning flight on the Riverston coach followed by return and dread of evening at the house where he has done harm and cannot undo his cruelty with a single honest sentence.

Eliot credits Dorothea's walk to Rosamond with saving three lives at the hearth while Will still does not know what passed between the women or that Rosamond will slip him a note clearing the tableau. Rosamond's note brings gladness mixed with burn and doubt whether Dorothea can ever meet him again in their lily world.

Will stands between cruelty given and mercy received, unable to name love yet unable to leave Middlemarch while scandal still clings to his parentage and Bulstrode's name. Dorothy should read LXXXII as the hinge where private confession and public scandal cross before the Lowick storm, Miss Noble's message, and Dorothea's kiss in the lightning.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Seeing Who Changed the Room

Running away rarely removes the scene you must still enter. Will Ladislaw takes the Riverston coach to escape Middlemarch after the fatal day, returns, and reads Rosamond's note that she told Dorothea the truth, while the narrator says Dorothea's fellowship visit saved three at the hearth.

Before you judge your return a failure, ask whose hard kindness already changed what you are walking into.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Will Ladislaw

He had packed a western scheme and a reason about Bulstrode's money, and he expected a humdrum return. He finds scandal and a drawing-room that leaving cannot delete. Exile was a melting resolve, not a plan. Distance felt like integrity. It did not remove the room he still has to enter.

Continue this thoughtLives That Do Not Become Monuments

Coming Up in Chapter 83

Will and Dorothea will face each other in the garden with rain between them, and the town's last judgments will close around the Finale Two mornings after Dorothea's visit to Rosamond, Dorothea feels restless strength she cannot channel into political economy or map study; Miss Noble arrives with Will Ladislaw's plea to see her, and Dorothea agrees despite Casaubon's prohibition seeming to dwell in.

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Original text

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Chapter 82

The Weight of Second Chances

CHAPTER LXXXII. “My grief lies onward and my joy behind.” —SHAKESPEARE: Sonnets. Exiles notoriously feed much on hopes, and are unlikely to stay in banishment unless they are obliged. When Will Ladislaw exiled himself from Middlemarch he had placed no stronger obstacle to his return than his own resolve, which was by no means an iron barrier, but simply a state of mind liable to melt into a minuet with other states of mind, and to find itself bowing, smiling, and giving place with polite facility. As the months went on, it had seemed more and more difficult to him…

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The Weight of Second Chances

Summary

Why This Matters