The Ethics of Sympathy and the Aesthetics of Spatial Composition in Middlemarch by George Eliot

Abstract

This paper aims to understand how the leading heroine Dorothea's spaces reflect her inner life, especially her life shot through by feelings of pity and concern for someone else's misfortune. In the ever-changing times and spaces, the inner side of a person is a space in which numerous relationships continue to be combined, reconstructed, and balanced. In Middlemarch, an understanding of this space is best obtained through an analysis of the nature of the space where Dorothea is located. Her space as the material background is a place where her mindset is revealed through the presentation of her perceptions of it. This paper focuses on how Dorothea's social perceptions change in the process of growing from a self-centered person to an altruistic one who cherishes community life, based on a sympathy that supposes a moral faculty. To look into this, visual metaphors using light/darkness, together with ways Dorothea's space is constructed, are examined in detail. Attention is also drawn to conflicts in terms of visual perceptions (and attendant understanding) that occur between Dorothea and other characters, inclusive of the narrator. Certainly, these conflicts between different perceptions are not surprising because they arise from essential differences between members of the community, and yet, despite these differences, Dorothea tries to form sympathetic solidarity with others, which manifests itself in the author's compelling composition of her spaces. It is argued that, as illustrated in Dorothea's life story, understanding differences and forming a sympathetic solidarity are prerequisites for the spread of altruism or loving-kindness, which is deemed as the best possible way to keep egocentric society in harmony. © 2022 English Language and Literature Association of Korea. All Rights Reserved.