Maggie, an Anti-type of a Victorian woman - The Mill on the Floss
Maggie, an Anti-type of a Victorian woman
The background of The Mill on the Floss is the Victorian society that is steeped with values of money, pride and prejudice. Women, in such a society with such low values have been considered simply as ornaments that were supposedly, as depicted clearly by the Dodson sisters in the Mill on the Floss, narrow minded, snobbish, materialistic and uncompromising. George Eliot herself has been living in this Victorian society, and has been successful in depicting very clearly the sufferings and pains of an individual female who is not born to live according to such low values; a rebellious woman that is not able to come along with the conventionalities of the Victorian society and so is to be crushed by the holders of such empty ideals.
Maggie Tulliver, as we see her first as a nine year old girl, has been an antitype of a Victorian female. As a little girl, Maggie steeps her self in books much beyond her age, The History of Devil, and Pilgrim's Progress are examples of these early studies. In the Victorian society, women who are supposed to be the ornamental objects of a man-oriented society do not need much reading. They are supposed to stay at home and do embroidery and keep in fashion, rather than go to the real world and learn or study as Victorian men do. She is also very clever unlike the other Victorian women who seem to be foolish and easily tricked as her Aunt Glegg is when Bob Jakin easily persuades her to buy his useless objets. Eliot presents Maggie's great enthusiasm for learning and studying, and we can observe her high intelligence when she goes so far in her imaginative ponderings on whatever she hears or sees,
"I gave Spouncer a black eye, I know; that's what he got by wanting to leather me; I wasn't going to go halves because anybody leathered me."
"Oh, how brave you are, Tom! I think you're like Samson. If there came a lion roaring at me, I think you'd fight him, wouldn't you, Tom?"
"How can a lion come roaring at you, you silly thing? There's no lions, only in the shows."
"No; but if we were in the lion countries-I mean in Africa, where it's very hot; the lions eat people there. I can show it you in the book where I read it."
"Well, I should get a gun and shoot him."
"But if you hadn't got a gun,-we might have gone out, you know, not thinking, just as we go fishing; and then a great lion might run toward us roaring, and we couldn't get away from him. What should you do, Tom?"
Tom paused, and at last turned away contemptuously, saying, "But the lion isn't coming. What's the use of talking?"
"But I like to fancy how it would be," said Maggie, following him. "Just think what you would do, Tom."
"Oh, don't bother, Maggie! ...
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"Well, I should get a gun and shoot him."
"But if you hadn't got a gun,-we might have gone out, you know, not thinking, just as we go fishing; and then a great lion might run toward us roaring, and we couldn't get away from him. What should you do, Tom?"
Tom paused, and at last turned away contemptuously, saying, "But the lion isn't coming. What's the use of talking?"
"But I like to fancy how it would be," said Maggie, following him. "Just think what you would do, Tom."
"Oh, don't bother, Maggie! you're such a silly. I shall go and see my rabbits." (Book I, chapter V, page 30)
However though Mr. Tulliver , he himself , is amused by the intelligence of her daughter, he feels sorry since he thinks that much of intelligence does not befits a woman. He tries to support her clever daughter, however he is still within the bonds of the Victorian society he is living in, and is not able to take himself out of the limits of such sort of thinking. He has the belief that an ideal Victorian woman should be narrow minded and even to some extent dull; he believes a world in which women are clever and men dull is a topsy-turvy world that can be an ironic hint to the world of Maggie and Tom:
"Did you ever hear the like on't?" said Mr. Tulliver, as Maggie retired. "It's a pity but what she'd been the lad,-she'd ha' been a match for the lawyers, she would. It's the wonderful'st thing"-here he lowered his voice-"as I picked the mother because she wasn't o'er 'cute-bein' a good-looking woman too, an' come of a rare family for managing; but I picked her from her sisters o' purpose, 'cause she was a bit weak like; for I wasn't agoin' to be told the rights o' things by my own fireside. But you see when a man's got brains himself, there's no knowing where they'll run to; an' a pleasant sort o' soft woman may go on breeding you stupid lads and 'cute wenches, till it's like as if the world was turned topsy-turvy. It's an uncommon puzzlin' thing." (Book I, chapter III, page 15)
As a result, when they want to make their mind about sending their children to school it is Tom who is supposed to have the good schooling, though he has little interest in studying and is rather slow in learning. So Maggie seems to be an anti-type of a Victorian woman in her intelligence and also her wide range of studies.
Unlike the rest of Victorian women, Maggie also shows unconventionality and rebelliousness in her character. As a child she appreciates very unconventional books and during her talks with Mr. Riley we can see her great interest in magicians and witches or in brief any weird and unconventional character in the books. She also enjoys reading Pilgrim's Progress, because "there is a great deal about devil in that". (Book I, chapter III, page 14). Her interest with Devil depicts her rebelliousness just like Satan and she is like devil outcasted by her society. She is both unconventional in her great deal of studies that is not expected of an ideal female Victorian and also in the choice of her books. Her unconventionality can also be observed when Maggie refuses to do the embroidery like the other girls of her age, or when she does not let her mother to curl her hair, and is moving all the time with her untidy black hair around her. Unlike the other her female contemporaries she is not looking sentimental and she is rather a tomboy. Maggie's rebelliousness is best depicted when she cuts her hair down as a little girl by herself when criticized by her aunts for her untidy hair at the family party. She is a rebellion as "she didn't want her hair to look pretty" but "she only wanted people to think her a clever little girl" (Book I, chapter VII, page 57) . In other words her values do not match those of her contemporary female Victorians; her standard is not beauty but cleverness and intelligence. Here the pressures of male oriented society can be observed more clearly; Unlike Tom who is given more freedom and choices, Maggie is strictly restrained by the elders. They even judge her appearance and intelligence that are her innate features. Her mother and her aunts judge her for her black complexion that is not in accordance with the standard of beauty expected by them and continuously call her a gypsy that later on leads to her escape to gypsies:
"She's more like a gypsy nor ever," said aunt Pullet, in a pitying tone; "it's very bad luck, sister, as the gell should be so brown; the boy's fair enough. I doubt it'll stand in her way i' life to be so brown." (Book I, chapter VII, page 61)
Maggie has her own standard of behavior that is in contrast with the conventional standards of other Victorian women in the society (these characteristics can be applied to male Victorians as well). She does not judge people according to such faulty values and standards. She loves people whenever she finds them deserving her love and care. When she sees Philip for the first time at Mr. Stellings' she starts to like him, though she knows that her father is an enemy to her father; she even tries to persuade Tom that he is a good boy and bad fathers might have good sons as she has read examples of them in the books. Even later on when she sees Philip again after she is grown up, unlike Tom who insults Philip for the sake of their father's enmity, she keeps him as a friend. While the other Victorians of her society judge people by their fathers and also their backgrounds. Especially the other females of her day have simply a feeling of pity for a physically deformed person like Philip:
"There's that mismade son o' Lawyer Wakem's, I saw him at church to-day. Dear, dear! to think o' the property he's like to have; and they say he's very queer and lonely, doesn't like much company. I shouldn't wonder if he goes out of his mind..." (Book V, chapter V, page 319)
Maggie, also does not judge others or even herself by the measure stone of money as the rest of her female contemporaries do. She talks very easily and indifferently about her poverty with Lucy after she goes to visit her. She likes her poor aunt Moss in spite of her poverty. And she does not have love for her snobbish aunts though by being kind and pleasant to them she can give them the chance of receiving a greater amount of inheritance from them. However, the rest of Victorian women, have a great love for collection of expensive objects and have too much care for money. For example her mother is all the time thinking about her chinas and silvers and all the objects of her dowry with her name on them, while we never hear her boasting with her possessions even as a child or even never see she is looking forward to having any valuable object or thing. Even when their house objects is put in to auction; she reprimands her narrow minded mother who is thinking about loosing her possessions rather than about her poor husband who is in bed. The only objects that she is sorry for their loss at the time of auction are her books.
Unlike the rest of Victorian women who always need to be dependent upon a man for financial support of their lives, she likes to be independent. When the Tulliver family looses the Dorlcore mill after Mr. Tulliver's death, Maggie decides to keep on herself and rather than joining her aunt Pullet for a happy and provided life, she goes to another village to teach and earn her own bread.
The Victorian women, as the Dodson sisters present, have been also very prejudiced. They have great care for the names. As we see the Dodsons are all the time boasting with their name and their family prestige. They are so sorry of their sister's marriage with Mr. Tulliver, who they consider to be much below them. They always have greater respect for those of a richer and more prestigious family. As we see near the end of the novel after Maggie goes back to st. Ogg's, when Stephen writes a letter, explains all that has gone among them and accepts the responsibility, people still take Maggie as guilty, since Stephen is from a rich and well known family. However; Maggie is a humble character, who judges every body simply for the sake of themselves. Even when she starts to get impressed by Stephen there is no sign that this is due to his family or social status. She is not prejudiced and never is fond of names.
The Mill on The Floss shows George Eliot's strict criticism on the Victorians and their male oriented society in which many women similar to Maggie are to suffer. However, it should be noted that the object of her criticism has not been solely the Victorian masculines, but mostly the Victorian women who have been behaving in accordance with those ideals and are even judging the others by prejudice and financial position.
Bibliography
Pinion. F.B, 1989; A George Eliot Companion
Casey. Floyd W, 1965; Monarch Notes: George Eliot's the Mill on the Floss