Middlemarch opens with a very concise prelude commenting on the life of Saint Theresa. The prelude almost puts Saint Theresa on a pedestal, when the narrator compares other women to her by calling them “Many Theresas”.  In many ways, the narrator sees Saint Theresa as an ideal woman, sharing about her life and her motivations as if she was a legend. Interestingly, the prelude gives us a hint that there may be a character in this story as prominent and selfless as Saint Theresa.

Chapter 80 in particular helps us understand how far Dorothea has come in her characterisation and could be looked upon to see how the prelude foreshadows Dorothea’s ending. The epigraph of Wordsworth’s Ode to Duty is praising a person who is willing to put their duty to others above everything personal. The subject of the epigraph “preserve the Stars from wrong”, which is reflective of what Dorothea does too. She has the “clearest consciousness” after waking up the day after she sees Rosamond and Will Ladislaw together, and decides to no longer fight with her “grief”, but instead to go “save Rosamond”. Having a “rapturous consciousness of life beyond self” is also emphasised upon in the prelude. Dorothea is shown to “bury a private joy” just so she could help out people because she realises there is no use dwelling upon her personal misery. This is reflective of Saint Theresa’s quality too, as Saint Theresa puts her own self after the others. It gives Dorothea a selfless purpose in her life and makes readers think of her as a superior form of being in this novel too as many other characters like Rosamond and Mr Raffles are constantly seen to be motivated by their selfish desires. It comes full circle with how the narrator holds Saint Theresa above and beyond other women.

Saint Theresa is also shown to be compassionate towards other people, as she ends up finding “her epos in the reform of a religious order”. While the prelude acknowledges that the “later-born Theresas were helped by no coherent social faith”, one could argue that Dorothea too finds her sense of comfort by helping the people of the community. She is seen wanting to improve the cottages so that the tenants can live a better life, and dedicates a lot of time to improve their lives. She is also seen casually walking “straight to the schoolhouse” and “giving eager attention to their small details and repetitions”. To Dorothea, the well-being of people means a lot to her. This is also reflected through how she is willing to invest in New Hospital so that the patients can carry on receiving their treatment. Saint Theresa herself was known to look after people who were ill, so this draws a direct parallel between the two women. Dorothea is shown to grow back into her independent manners in the final few chapters of the novel. In fact, if it weren’t for Dorothea’s intervention in Middlemarch, the people would still have been struggling to restore some order in their community. She agrees to pay off the debt that looms on Mr Lydgate’s head, which helps restore Mr Lydgate’s reputation a little in Middlemarch, and at the same time, she tries to temporarily salvage Rosamond and Mr Lydgate’s marriage. This suggests that Dorothea was able to bring some sense of normality and peace back into Middlemarch, and if it weren’t for her, the people of Middlemarch would constantly be in chaos. In some ways, Dorothea interfering with the people of Middlemarch is her own “religious order” as she finds solace in not only helping out certain individuals she is close to but also larger groups of people in general.

The narrator draws parallels between Dorothea and St. Theresa to remind the readers that Dorothea is the protagonist of this novel. Though Dorothea seems to be going through a series of lows in the middle of the plot, Eliot often reminds us of the core of Dorothea, that is, a strong independent woman with a passion for pursuing intellectualism and using that power and status to help the needy or the less fortunate. Due to the selfless nature Dorothea possesses, she is seen as a character that is morally superior to others, much like how St. Theresa is considered a revered woman in the narrator’s eyes.