George Eliot's Maggie Tulliver: Paradoxical Growth Bound to the Past or Mythical Leap Unbound by the Past
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Readers of the The Mill on the Floss (1860) still struggle with the novel's tragic ending and its conflict of interpretations. After having painstakingly developed one of the most complex nineteenth-century heroines, Maggie Tulliver, Eliot deliberately chooses to kill Maggie in a controversial flood that is, arguably, artificial and unprepared for within the tightly knit narrative structure of the novel. Thus, not only recent critics but also Eliot herself has had to defend her choice of a flood ending of The Mill. Eliot argues that because characters are not simply made but rather evolve from constant interaction with others and circumstances, the very principle of Maggie's character defies an absolute and definitive end that a plot requires. The seemingly unconvincing tragic flood, then, serves as a means of breaking out of the restrictive form of the novel, thereby allowing Eliot to remain true to her heroine and allowing Maggie to achieve the understanding she most desires. Maggie's death, then, allows Eliot to provide space for hope with a mythical flood that does not artificially end with the novel. It is the purpose of this paper to examine and better understand Eliot's ending, which serves as the author's answer to the impending threats of St. Ogg's and an ending that exceeds the restraints of the novel itself.
Abstract
Readers of the The Mill on the Floss (1860) still struggle with the novel's tragic ending and its conflict of interpretations. After having painstakingly developed one of the most complex nineteenth-century heroines, Maggie Tulliver, Eliot deliberately chooses to kill Maggie in a controversial flood that is, arguably, artificial and unprepared for within the tightly knit narrative structure of the novel. Thus, not only recent critics but also Eliot herself has had to defend her choice of a flood ending of The Mill. Eliot argues that because characters are not simply made but rather evolve from constant interaction with others and circumstances, the very principle of Maggie's character defies an absolute and definitive end that a plot requires. The seemingly unconvincing tragic flood, then, serves as a means of breaking out of the restrictive form of the novel, thereby allowing Eliot to remain true to her heroine and allowing Maggie to achieve the understanding she most desires. Maggie's death, then, allows Eliot to provide space for hope with a mythical flood that does not artificially end with the novel. It is the purpose of this paper to examine and better understand Eliot's ending, which serves as the author's answer to the impending threats of St. Ogg's and an ending that exceeds the restraints of the novel itself.