Maggie Tulliver
The Mill on the Floss: Character of Maggie Tulliver
1. Meet Maggie
‘Everybody in the world seemed so hard and unkind to Maggie; there was no indulgence, no fondness such as she imagined when she fashioned the world afresh in her own thoughts. In books there were people who were always agreeable or tender, and deligted to do things that made one happy, and who did not show their kindness by finding fault. The world outside the books was not a happy one, Maggie felt: it seemed to be a world where people behaved the best to those they did not pretend to love, and that did not belong to them. And if life had no love in it, what else was there for Maggie?’
Maggie Tulliver is a fantastically well-written heroine - intelligent, imaginative, compassionate and just reckless and headstrong enough to be an excellent source of drama throughout the novel.
As a child Maggie is highly intelligent, but likely to be forgetful. She acts rashly without considering consequences. She cannot abide criticism or harsh judgments on her. By the same token, she never judges others harshly. She has none of Tom's arrogant self- righteousness. She is easily convinced that she has done wrong, despite the injury this causes to her sensitive soul. She is somewhat vain about her cleverness, but as this is never recognized by the people around her, it never turns into conceit.
For Maggie, as for Tom, the bankruptcy is one of the most important events of her life; but it affects her in a different way. While it feeds Tom's ambition, it drives Maggie to renunciation of the world which treats her so harshly. At first this takes the form of simple helping around home and giving up of childish self-indulgence; but the discovery of Thomas à Kempis, which recommends abandoning one's cares for oneself and focusing instead on unearthly values and the suffering of others, gives method and meaning to her renunciation. Nevertheless hers remains basically a childish revolt, a hope of avoiding pain by
1. Meet Maggie
‘Everybody in the world seemed so hard and unkind to Maggie; there was no indulgence, no fondness such as she imagined when she fashioned the world afresh in her own thoughts. In books there were people who were always agreeable or tender, and deligted to do things that made one happy, and who did not show their kindness by finding fault. The world outside the books was not a happy one, Maggie felt: it seemed to be a world where people behaved the best to those they did not pretend to love, and that did not belong to them. And if life had no love in it, what else was there for Maggie?’
Maggie Tulliver is a fantastically well-written heroine - intelligent, imaginative, compassionate and just reckless and headstrong enough to be an excellent source of drama throughout the novel.
As a child Maggie is highly intelligent, but likely to be forgetful. She acts rashly without considering consequences. She cannot abide criticism or harsh judgments on her. By the same token, she never judges others harshly. She has none of Tom's arrogant self- righteousness. She is easily convinced that she has done wrong, despite the injury this causes to her sensitive soul. She is somewhat vain about her cleverness, but as this is never recognized by the people around her, it never turns into conceit.
For Maggie, as for Tom, the bankruptcy is one of the most important events of her life; but it affects her in a different way. While it feeds Tom's ambition, it drives Maggie to renunciation of the world which treats her so harshly. At first this takes the form of simple helping around home and giving up of childish self-indulgence; but the discovery of Thomas à Kempis, which recommends abandoning one's cares for oneself and focusing instead on unearthly values and the suffering of others, gives method and meaning to her renunciation. Nevertheless hers remains basically a childish revolt, a hope of avoiding pain by