Feminist Interpretation of "The Mill on the Floss"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains how a feminist critique of "The Mill on the Floss" finds the themes of light and dark, God and the Devil, good versus evil, as well as the Gothic overtones represented most strikingly in Maggie's voodoo doll scene, as symbols of the tragic position of a women, in this case, Maggie, the main character of the story, who does not fit the mold acceptable to society.

From the Paper:

"George Eliot's The Mill On the Floss is arguably one of the most widely read novels of the Victorian period. Although many differ as to just why this is the case, one thing is clear what was once a rather straightforward tragic tale, tinged with the time's popular romantic/gothic influence, has become a bastion of feminist criticism. Although many readers, especially those contemporary to the work's publication, expressed strong disappointment with the fate of Maggie especially at the end of the novel, the advent of feminist criticism brought many readers to begin to strongly identify with the fate, and the message, George Eliot was trying to convey. (Jacobus 62) Maggie Tulliver's representation of the tragedy of intellectual womanhood mired in the doom of repressive Victorian society is particularly satisfying. For these critics, they find the themes of light and dark, God and the Devil, good verses evil, and the gothic overtones (represented most strikingly in Maggie's voodoo doll scene), as striking symbols of the tragedy of the position of Maggie as a woman "out of the mold". Further, even her eventual death is viewed as an inevitable outcome for a woman destined to have "no place" of belonging."

More papers on Feminist Interpretation of "The Mill on the Floss":

• Book Review # 119370 : "Maggie in "The Mill on the Floss"
• Analytical Essay # 63078 : "George Eliot's "The Mill on the Floss"

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