Middlemarch’s engagement with web and net metaphors, and
how web and net forms intersect with cultural concerns during the Victorian period. For example, the text
references the arrival of the railroad in Middlemarch and its influence on small-town life. Lydgate is also
occupied with anatomical structure [“the more keenly
he felt the need for that fundamental knowledge of structure…†(147)] which, by the time of Eliot’s writing, is
obsolete, replaced by more systemic models of the body. Discuss the use of web and/or net forms in this novel.
Construct a thesis that connects the
“webs†of Middlemarch on the level of plot structure or genre to larger cultural forces that Eliot incorporates in
the text. Support your thesis with evidence from the novel, as well as evidence from outside sources. Use at
least three outside sources besides the novel Middlemarch by George Eliot.
Sample Solution