Passage chosen from Middlemarch Book II, Chapter 16: 

“If you think it incredible that to imagine Lydgate as a man of family could cause thrills of satisfaction which had anything to do with the sense that she was in love with him, I will ask you to use your power of comparison a little more effectively, and consider whether red cloth and epaulets have never had an influence of that sort. Our passions do not live apart in locked chambers, but, dressed in their small wardrobe of notions, bring their provisions to a common table and mess together, feeding out of the common store according to their appetite.”

(Chapter 16, p.196)

Question inspired from this passage: 

How does marriage function as a power structure that subjugates the individual self?

The world that we live in is a web where power forever exists, and we as humans who live in a society are consistently trapped within it. As how Foucault puts it, we are never “outside” of power (141). Marriage acts as one of these webs, a power structure that exists within society, where it is not only used by the individual as a tool to gain more power but also to sustain control over another individual. In Book Two of Middlemarch, there seems to be a conflict between the characters’ ideal towards marriage and the actual reality of the romantic relationship itself, more specifically, between that of Lydgate and Rosamond. Both characters attempt to gain power through marriage. However, the more they think they are in control of their social lives, the more they are actually losing control of the private self. 

To some, marriage can be a means for people to gain control over their social lives. In the 18th-19th century, marriage was patriarchal in the sense that men are commonly the dominant beings within the public sphere, where they thrive in the domain of their work and contribute to society. Women, on the other hand, belong to the domestic sphere, where they dedicate themselves to childcare or housekeeping. However, for both Lydgate and Rosamond, they are trying to get out of their respective spheres and try to gain a sense of fulfilment by achieving what they cannot achieve within their own realms. Eliot writes that “red cloth and epaulets” (196), insignia of rank by armed forces, had an influence on their relationship. Rosamond wants to get married to Lydgate so that she can climb up the social ladder in Middlemarch. Lydgate, on the other hand, fuels his own ideal that a woman’s love alone was enough to sustain the relationship in the long run. Eliot plants the assumption within the reader’s minds that Lydgate is a “man of family” who “could cause thrills of satisfaction which had anything to do with the sense that she was in love with him” (196). However, this also shows that Lydgate yearns to balance both his private and public life. The term “man of family” suggests that a man would be able to focus on advancing his career and thus achieve a perfect life when he has control over his household. Both Lydgate and Rosamond are obsessed with being in control of what they do not have control over. Their “passions” lie in how they are desperate to get out of their socially allocated realms through getting married to the opposite sex.

Yet, this is only an illusion of control, when in reality it induces the individual to internalize these power structures and compromise their sense of self. Their obsession with breaking through these gender power structures disconnects them from their own identity. Eliot implies in this paragraph that “passion” does not “live apart in locked chambers”, rather, “mess together” while “dressed in their small wardrobe of notions” (196). The domestic references that Eliot uses suggest the aftermath of marriage, how two people must learn how to sustain a household together as they become committed to a marital relationship. The use of the words “common table” and “common store” also implies that the passion the characters feel are directly correlated to the communal aspect of marriage, such as how Lydgate wants to have a wife, or how Rosamond wants to climb up the social ladder in Middlemarch by marrying Lydgate. Yet, these social ambitions seem to contradict with the characters’ personal sense of self. Lydgate’s obsession with finding a woman in love with himself leads him to become engrossed with locating a gap within his identity - that he is in need of a woman in order to feel like a complete “man”. This “passion” is more of a glorified sense of emptiness that drives him to piece together this fragmented identity by marrying a woman. It has an “appetite”. It has a sort of hunger that requires it to be filled. His passions do not exist separate from his social life, rather, they are directly eradicating his sense of self by making him focus on what he lacks, rather than what he has. He only feels fulfilled if he has a wife by his side. Like a temporary sense of fulfillment after eating, Lydgate imagines himself to be a more powerful man, a “man of family”, as long as Rosamond loves him back. However, this sense of power is illusionary.  Instead of truly being empowered by marriage, Lydgate has, instead, only locked himself in a vicious cycle where he is fuelling his passions of being in control of the domestic sphere, while in fact he is merely reinforcing the emptiness he feels within his sense of self.

Works cited: 

Eliot, George. Middlemarch. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965. Print.

Foucault, Michel. Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977. Vintage, 1980.