by Dean Traylor

Created on: January 03, 2010   Last Updated: February 03, 2010

Life for Maggie Tulliver was predetermined, whether she liked it or not. Her family chose the suitors; the men in her life tried to mold her image; and Victorian English culture set social rules she reluctantly accepted. Her individuality was suppressed for the good of the family and social structure. And, this attempt at a creating a public image eventually killed her.

The tragedy, The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot, is a story about a social outcast who wants to be accepted for who she is. Although she manages to win a few battles here and there, she eventually succumbs to social pressure and is symbolically killed by going over a waterfall. The story may be fictional; however, its real appeal is how close to reality the story really was. The writer, the “male” George Eliot, was in fact Mary Ann Evans – a female writer trying to make a living in a male-dominated profession from a very class-and-gender conscious society.

Evan’s (or Eliot’s) character of Maggie is nothing new to literature. Nor is the action of changing one’s gender in order to write. In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, the main character, Jane was a strong protagonist in a male-dominated society.  Also, instead of identifying herself by her real name, the writer Charlotte Bronte used her initials or her editor’s name.

But similarities between the two protagonists and writers end there. Bronte’s Jane has a happy ending and manages to overcome all her ills to marry into high society. Evan’s Maggie – already in high society – tries too many times to break away from her upbringing and social role, only to lose in the end.

Part of Maggie’s problem was that she had antagonists like her brother Tom. Despite her desire to be herself, Maggie spent a lot of time trying to earn the respect and admiration of her brother.

In reality, Evan’s male antagonist would eventually be her father. Evans came from a strict Anglican family. However, through years of exposure to liberal views on theology and being in contact with radical thinkers of the time such as Charles Bray and Ralph Waldo Emerson, she began to reject her religion and yearn for a broader role in British society. This put her in conflict with her father who was very religious and a “very” Victorian British traditionalist.

To be taken seriously, Mary Ann Evans created the name and male persona of George Eliot. In Victorian England, women were discouraged

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>