Dorothea and Rosamond's Roles

Through the progression of the novel, there is practically a role reversal regarding the female roles in the couples as they are first introduced and viewed by their husbands, and as they are further in the novel. To focus in particular on Dorothea and Rosamond’s relationships with Casaubon and Lydgate, Dorothea and Casaubon wound up together through their seeking of ideals: a “great soul” for Dorothea – someone she could learn from and help in his endeavors, she possessing ideas of her own she might like to put into action, meanwhile considering herself to be far separated from “those people” – and Casaubon seeking someone to support him in his work and generally be subordinate. In Lydgate’s case, we are told that “adornment” was considered “the first place among wifely functions” (61). Thus, he came upon Rosamond, the woman he felt viewed matters from the “proper feminine angle” (61).

And so, at first, we see Dorothea as a strong-minded woman, perhaps naïve and condescending, whereas Rosamond appears to be more of a stereotypical woman of the period.

As the novel progresses, however, these roles seem to swap. Despite her unhappiness with Casaubon, she does take on quite the submissive role, waiting outside of the library for him after an argument even. At the end of the novel, where she eventually winds up with Will Ladislaw, she seems to continue this submissive role, aiding him in his work but having little impact of her own.

Then there’s Rosamond: she outrightly defied her husband after he asked her not to ride when pregnant, and wound up miscarrying as a result. Upon initially being told that there was always a chance of accident with horses, she merely responded, “But there is the chance of accident indoors” (361), asserting her refusal to submit. Later in the novel, this independence again asserts itself, when Rosamond sends a letter to Godwin Lydgate requesting money. After Lydgate finds out, receiving a letter back from Godwin, the two begin to quarrel:

"Will you only say that you have been mistaken, and that I may depend on your not acting secretly in future?" said Lydgate, urgently, but with something of request in his tone which Rosamond was quick to perceive. She spoke with coolness.

"I cannot possibly make admissions or promises in answer to such words as you have used towards me. I have not been accustomed to language of that kind. You have spoken of my `secret meddling,' and my `interfering ignorance,' and my`false assent.' I have never expressed myself in that way to you, and I think that you ought to apologize. You spoke of its being impossible to live with me. Certainly you have not made my life pleasant to me of late. I think it was to be expected that I should try to avert some of the hardships which our marriage has brought on me" (412).

Certainly this would not be considered “the proper feminine angle” that Lydgate first sought. For whatever reason, first impressions seem to stick, though, and possibly because of the way Dorothea speaks about herself, continuing to insist that she’s different than most people even after Casaubon died, I can’t help but want to conform Dorothea to an idea of a different, progressively thinking woman.

Is Dorothea a feminist?

The final ten chapters or so offer a huge incite into the world of Dorothea. Her character, as the reader has come to learn about her from the earliest parts of the novel, is someone interested in charity projects and helping the weak. It is significant that the first project she is truly involved in comes by way of taking on Lydgate’s debt to Bulstrode. In the beginning of the novel Dorothea was unable to administer such tasks due to her husband wishes. Some would say during these chapters, Dorothea’s feminist nature comes out. However, on second look it seems that her need to employ charity somehow comes from the rest of the men in the novel. For instance, the three major men in her life all work into her particular form of compassion. In Casaubon, Dorothea does not marry the man she will have the most freedom to mold and change (i.e. Sir. James) instead she marries the older more practiced man that she feels can teach her. In the case of Lydgate, she has inherited money from Casaubon and the first act of charity she feels is dutiful is to take over the debts of a man. She is literally taken on the burden of the opposite gender. While it could be argued that this proves her to be an equal or better than Lydgate, it is surely important to note that her charity comes in the form of a check, money that belonged to her old husband. Her ideas to reform her Uncle’s actions were much loftier. In the end, Dorothea throws away her one chance at serving the public good in order to stand behind Will. Not exactly the feminine fervor one would expect from her.