Chapter Detailed Summary and Commentary of Middlemarch - Study Guide by George Eliot

There is another blow in store for Lydgate. Bulstrode, still tormented by Raffles, begins to think of leaving Middlemarch (chapter 67). He tells Lydgate he is giving up the new Hospital, which will be merged with the Old Infirmary. Lydgate will thus have to give up his freedom to carry out his reforms. In desperation, he asks Bulstrode for a loan but Bulstrode just tells him "trial... is a needed corrective". Caleb Garth then visits Bulstrode and tells him Raffles is at Stone Court (chapter 69). Having overheard Raffles' drunken ramblings, he also tells Bulstrode he no longer wishes to work for him. Raffles is an alcoholic and Lydgate is called for. He advises rest and no drink at all.

Bulstrode the good Christian sees the possibility of Raffles' death as a blessed release (chapter 70). Lydgate returns and emphasises again the importance of not administering any alcohol. Wishing to ensure Lydgate's goodwill, Bulstrode offers him a loan of £1000. The housekeeper sits up with Raffles overnight and asks Bulstrode if she can give him some brandy for "support" (chap 70). Bulstrode hesitates and then hands her the keys to the wine cellar. Raffles is dead in the morning.

Bulstrode believes himself miraculously saved. But Raffles has already told his story and it spreads swiftly throughout Middlemarch, the town making links with Raffles' death and Lydgate's sudden deliverance (chapter 71). In a Town meeting about sanitary procedures, Mr Hawley the horse-dealer asks Bulstrode to leave. Bulstrode stands up - sways - and Lydgate cannot leave him to fall. He helps him out of the room. But with this act of "pure compassion" he seals his fate. In the eyes of the town, he is Bulstrode's partner, and the loan is taken to be a bribe.

Book VIII: Sunset and Sunrise. Chapters 72-84

The final book is a series of emotional climaxes. Dorothea tells Mr Farebrother and Sir James they should go to help Lydgate, but the two men dissuade her, unsure of what really happened (chapter 72). Lydgate meanwhile has considered his miserable situation and decides to stay in Middlemarch and try to live it down (chapter 73).

Mrs Bulstrode does not even find out what has happened until she goes and talks to her brother, Mr Vincy (chapter 74). Yet she does not shrink away from her husband. Their marriage has more force with her than that and her sympathy gathers round him. Rosamund also learns of the situation from Mr Vincy but shows no sense of partnership with Lydgate. Instead, she urges him to move to London, displaying her terminal self-centredness, saying: "Whatever misery I have to put up with, it will be easier there" (chapter 75).

Lydgate comes to see Dorothea about the Hospital and she voices her faith in him: the "first assurance and belief" Lydgate has received (chapter 76). She offers to continue supporting the hospital but Lydgate admits he cannot bear the guilt of causing Rosamund further misery and will have to leave Middlemarch. Her pale presence is a "perpetual silent reproach" to him (chapter 77). Dorothea resolves to visit Rosamund and show her that her husband still has some supporters. But she comes into Lydgate's house to find Rosamund's hands clasped by Will Ladislaw. She withdraws with scorn. Dorothea has misunderstood the situation and when she leaves Will turns his fury on Rosamund, who had been playing on his sympathy for her situation (chapter 78). Yet the shock makes Dorothea realise that she was in love with Will all along. Her first keen sense of betrayal makes her wish to withdraw from life but she realises she cannot satisfy her desire to help as an outsider. The next morning she returns to Middlemarch to "make... her second attempt to see and save Rosamund" (chapter 80).

When Dorothea sees Rosamund she tells her of those who still have faith in her husband and tries to persuade her not to carry on the supposed affair with Will for the pain it would cause Lydgate (chapter 81). With this sympathy Rosamund overcomes her resentment and suspicion and jealousy of Dorothea and admits there was nothing between her and Will. Will comes to say goodbye to Dorothea the next day (chapter 83). He believes he cannot ask her to marry him as he has no money and she would have to give up Casaubon's fortune. Yet it is Dorothea who offers her own small income and asks him not to