Quiet Heroism: The Heroines of Middlemarch and Wives and Daughters

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Literary Studies (MA)

Hofstede, Tove Emily (2014)

Quiet Heroism: The Heroines of Middlemarch and Wives and Daughters

Master thesis | Literary Studies (MA)

This thesis investigates the representation of female heroism in the nineteenth century in the novels Middlemarch by George Eliot and Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. It concludes that both determinist authors imply that female heroism was not possible on the scale of romantic heroes, or able to reach its full potential. However, both writers give their heroines the best possible ending; their actions can influence a small part of the web of causality around them. This quiet heroism is their small but important power.