Despite the depiction of Lydgate as an intelligent and self-made bachelor who escaped freedom and independence from Middlemarch, near the end of Book II, he voted for Tyke as the new chaplain in support of Mr. Bulstrode instead of his genuine preference. Regarding the following passage, how do we make sense of Lydgate’s decision considering the importance of the “web” in Middlemarch? How does such action reflect and affect the dynamic between Lydgate and Middlemarch?

The relevant passages are extracted from chapter 15, 17 and 18:

Not only young virgins of that town, but gray-bearded men also, were often in haste to conjecture how a new acquaintance might be wrought into their purposes, contented with very vague knowledge as to the way in which life had been shaping him for that instrumentality. Middlemarch…counted on swallowing Lydgate and assimilating him very comfortably.

        “Either you slip out of service altogether and become good for nothing or you wear the harness…”

        The affair of the chaplaincy remained a sore point in his memory as a case in which this petty medium of Middlemarch had been too strong for him.

At the end of chapter 15, it points out the underlying rule in Middlemarch in which people of all ages are quick to judge strangers by their cover and hearsay and they value them based on the compatibility of the newcomers’ instrumentality to their own purposes. The word “wrought into” means “worked into”, which connotes more vividly their intention to actively mold newcomers into their desired state as to fit different specific purposes. Such collective act and common understanding among Middlemarchers towards strangers constitute the web of Middlemarch that is built on interpersonal connections and feeding into the power brought by them. 

Revolving Lydgate as the central character in this book, his instrumentality varies in respect to different stakeholders: to Rosamond, he is a perfect candidate for husband given his family background and quality of aristocracy; to Mr. Featherstone and Mr. Bulstrode, he shares a similar interest of making reform in the hospital and is worthy of political power; even to Mr. Farebrother, he is considered a “circumnavigator holding the same belief in the antipodes”. 

All the “agenda” within different people concerns extending interpersonal branches to one another which forms and reinforces the web of the Middlemarch community. This is contrary to the premature assumption of Lydgate that the country should be free from “empty bigwiggism and obstructive trickery - it turns out that provisional people can also be complicated and keen on politics and power play. In fact, the web is so powerful such that it would “swallow” and “assimilate” Lydgate. The personification of Middlemarch who would eat up Lydgate “comfortably” further implies the deep-embedded foundation and overwhelming force of the web such that it takes no effort at all in consuming an individual. This, on one hand, paints the unbalanced power dynamic between individualism and community power, on the other acts as a parallel to the people in that town who are ready to take Lydgate into their own hands. 

Indeed, Lydgate has no choice but to submit himself to this web for the sake of his medical practice and cause for reform. He has to side with Mr. Bulstrode for his support and power in town. In doing so, he has surrendered himself to the petty politics and earned himself standing in Middlemarch. This marks the first swallowing attempt of Middlemarch through Mr. Bulstrode, as well as the first assimilated act conducted by Lydgate himself. 

Out of the unbalanced power dynamic, one can also extract the inseparable connection between individualism and community interdependence: unless a person can be as powerful to build a community, one cannot escape the complexities and pettiness in a collective group, even in a town such as Middlemarch. This resonates with Mr. Farebrother’s advice that one either gives up one’s work or one must wear the harness and Lydgate’s vote is testament to that. However, the aftermath of this act creates an unbearable impact on him: it remained a sore point in his memory and a reminder that he can no longer bear the weight of petty politics. “Too strong for him” shares the same pattern as Mr. Farebrother’s reply to him “The world has been too strong for me” at the end of chapter 18. Here, it may foreshadow Lydgate’s fate that as the story unfolds: He may leave the position he is good at, just like Mr. Farebrother does. What we are certain for now is that his life and career will be closely tied to Mr. Bulstrode and there will come more struggles within Lydgate in compromising his individualist assertions and conformity to the web, which makes us eager to ponder on the future development of Lydgate in this unequal and complex web.