Tertius Lydgate Character Analysis in Middlemarch

Tertius Lydgate is an idealistic, ambitious young doctor who arrives in Middlemarch hoping to positively reform the state of medicine in the area. Trained in London, Edinburgh, and Paris, he is passionate about the latest advances in medical research and hopes to open a medical school attached to the New Hospital, of which he is the director. Lydgate faces bitter opposition to his plans for reform, particularly from the other doctors in Middlemarch. Things get worse when he marries Rosamond Vincy, whom he loves, but who pressures him into spending money he doesn’t have in order to impress others. Tormented by debt, Lydgate accepts a loan from Bulstrode and gets implicated in the scandal surrounding him. Following this Lydgate is forced to abandon the directorship of the New Hospital and move to London. Despite some success there he considers himself a failure because he never realized his excessive ambitions. He dies of diptheria at the age of 50.

Tertius Lydgate Quotes in Middlemarch

The Middlemarch quotes below are all either spoken by Tertius Lydgate or refer to Tertius Lydgate. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

‘The standard of that profession is low in Middlemarch, my dear sir,’ said the banker. ‘I mean in knowledge and skill; not in social status, for our medical men are most of them connected with respectable townspeople here. My own imperfect health has induced me to give some attention to those palliative resources which the divine mercy has placed within our reach. I have consulted eminent men in the metropolis, and I am painfully aware of the backwardness under which medical treatment labours in our provincial districts.’

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Page Number and Citation: 125

Explanation and Analysis:

Of course, he had a profession and was clever, as well as sufficiently handsome; but the piquant fact about Lydgate was his good birth, which distinguished him from all Middlemarch admirers, and presented marriage as a Prospect of rising in rank and getting a little nearer to that celestial condition on earth in which she would have nothing to do with vulgar people, and perhaps at last associate with relatives quite equal to the county people who looked down on the Middlemarchers. It was part of Rosamond's cleverness to discern very subtly the faintest aroma of rank.

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Page Number and Citation: 166

Explanation and Analysis:

When I was young, Mr Lydgate, there never was any question about right and wrong. We knew our catechism, and that was enough; we learned our creed and our duty. Every respectable Church person had the same opinions. But, now if you speak out of the Prayer-book itself, you are liable to be contradicted.'

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Page Number and Citation: 169-179

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The immediate motive to the opposition, however, is the fact that Bulstrode has put the medical direction into my hands. Of course I am glad of that. It gives me an opportunity of doing some good work - and I am aware that I have to justify his choice of me. But the consequence is, that the whole profession in Middlemarch have set themselves tooth and nail against the Hospital, and not only refuse to co-operate themselves, but try to blacken the whole affair and hinder subscriptions.

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Page Number and Citation: 439

Explanation and Analysis:

His troubles will perhaps appear miserably sordid, and beneath the attention of lofty persons who can know nothing of debt except on a magnificent scale. Doubtless they were sordid; and for the majority, who are not lofty, there is no escape from sordidness but by being free from money-craving, with all its base hopes and temptations, its watching for death, its hinted requests, its horsedealer's desire to make bad work pass for good, its seeking for function which ought to be another's, its compulsion often to long for Luck in the shape of a wide calamity.

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Page Number and Citation: 648

Explanation and Analysis:

The business was felt to be so public and important that it required dinners to feed it, and many invitations were just then issued and accepted on the strength of this scandal concerning Bulstrode and Lydgate; wives, widows, and single ladies took their work and went out to tea oftener than usual; and all public conviviality, from the Green Dragon to Dollop's, gathered a zest which could not be won from the question whether the Lords would throw out the Reform Bill.

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Page Number and Citation: 719-720

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Tertius Lydgate Character Timeline in Middlemarch

The timeline below shows where the character Tertius Lydgate appears in Middlemarch. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...bad about Dorothea. The women then observe that Dorothea is having a lively conversation with Tertius Lydgate about cottages and hospitals. (full context)

Lydgate is a young doctor who has a charming, empathetic way of talking to people. He... (full context)

Lydgate is also entranced by “a woman strikingly different to Miss Brooke:” Rosamond Vincy. He does... (full context)

Though he is not their personal doctor, Lydgate got to know the Vincy family very soon after moving to Middlemarch. The family have... (full context)

...Rosamond and Fred bicker until Mrs. Vincy requests that they stop. Mrs. Vincy asks about Lydgate, whom Fred saw at dinner the night before. She notes that Lydgate comes from “a... (full context)

...it is possible Mary will receive an offer of marriage and asks if Mary likes Lydgate. Mary replies that she can’t like someone who behaves as snootily and dismissively toward her... (full context)

At that moment Lydgate arrives, dreading his encounter with Featherstone, whom he imagines will have backwards views about doctors.... (full context)

Ever since Lydgate arrived in Middlemarch Rosamond has been fantasizing about a future with him. She has always... (full context)

...years ago no one had heard the name Bulstrode in Middlemarch. He is currently with Lydgate in his office at the bank, discussing the New Hospital. Lydgate hopes that having a... (full context)

Lydgate has a charismatic speaking voice, and Bulstrode is moved. He agrees to help finance Lydgate’s... (full context)

...that he wants someone named Mr. Tyke to be appointed chaplain of the New Hospital. Lydgate says that as a doctor he has no opinion on this, but Bulstrode urges that... (full context)

Just as Lydgate disagrees, Mr. Vincy enters. Lydgate leaves, and Vincy immediately brings up Fred, saying that someone... (full context)

...a historian. The narrator explains that they will now deliver a lot of information about Lydgate, who—despite becoming more entrenched in the Middlemarch community by the day—is still something of a... (full context)

Lydgate is 27, an age at which many men begin to give up on their dreams... (full context)

...success in their career, it is surely just as sad as falling out of love. Lydgate is determined not to become “one of those failures,” and so far he is on... (full context)

Lydgate also loves medicine because it is in need of reform. After finishing his studies, Lydgate... (full context)

Lydgate hopes to further stimulate the explosion of medical knowledge that took place at the beginning... (full context)

Lydgate’s singular ambition means that he has difficulty enjoying things in life outside of medicine. While... (full context)

While Laure was in custody Lydgate had many conversations with her. When she was found innocent and released, she fled to... (full context)

Following this encounter Lydgate resolved to have “a strictly scientific view of women.” No one in Middlemarch would believe... (full context)

Lydgate is having dinner at the Vincys’ when the chaplaincy is brought up in discussion. Despite... (full context)

Vincy asks Lydgate about his opinion, and Lydgate replies that he doesn’t know much about the two candidates,... (full context)

Later, Lydgate manages to have a private conversation with Rosamond. They discuss music, and Lydgate says he... (full context)

...further warmth to the atmosphere of the party. After she has finished performing, Rosamond tells Lydgate she expects that he won’t like Middlemarch, as it is very “stupid.” Lydgate says he’s... (full context)

Moreover, Lydgate does not plan to get married for another five years. At home, he reads about... (full context)

Rosamond does not spend much time considering what is going on in Lydgate’s mind. She is happy that he is intelligent, ambitious, and handsome, but the thing she... (full context)

The next day Lydgate goes to see Farebrother in the old parsonage where he lives. The vicar’s mother Mrs.... (full context)

...Farebrother calls him “a zealous fellow” who is not very educated or intelligent. Farebrother invites Lydgate to his study to see his “collection,” despite the protests of the women that Lydgate... (full context)

Lydgate mentions that he doesn’t really have any hobbies outside of medicine, and Farebrother comments that... (full context)

Farebrother comments that it is wonderful that Lydgate has a career he is so passionate about, but that he shouldn’t neglect the issue... (full context)

...At the same time, he thinks the New Hospital will be good for the community. Lydgate asks Farebrother why Bulstrode doesn’t like him, and Farebrother explains it is because he doesn’t... (full context)

As the vote about the chaplaincy approaches, Lydgate remains undecided. He doesn’t really care either way, and thus should logically vote for Tyke... (full context)

Lydgate is torn. He feels he should probably just vote for Farebrother; at the same time,... (full context)

...man they’re voting for into a glass. The group is evenly split; Bulstrode notices that Lydgate has not yet voted, and thus must make the deciding vote. Mr. Wrench declares that... (full context)

...Mrs. Vincy anxiously wonders if she should call Dr. Sprague. At that moment Rosamond sees Lydgate stopping outside the house, and suggests that they invite him in as “they say he... (full context)

Lydgate says Fred must go to bed straight away and be given a nurse; he then... (full context)

...feels that the whole incident of Fred’s illness was actually a way for her and Lydgate to be brought closer together. (full context)

Under Lydgate’s care, Fred gradually gets better, which means that each of Lydgate’s visits gets more pleasant... (full context)

Rosamond doesn’t think about money “except as something necessary which other people would always provide.” Lydgate relishes the time he spends with her, especially because he finds the men of Middlemarch... (full context)

...Casaubon should be on the brink of death so soon. He suggests that they call Lydgate, who has recently done an excellent job of treating Lady Chettam. When Sir James tell... (full context)

Casaubon recovers within a few days, but Lydgate remains worried and stresses that Casaubon needs to stop working so hard. Casaubon protests that... (full context)

Lydgate feels he cannot answer, and so he leaves. Dorothea sobs and returns to Casaubon’s study,... (full context)

That evening Lydgate speaks with Rosamond, expressing surprise and confusion about Dorothea’s marriage. Lydgate and Rosamond’s flirtation cannot... (full context)

Mrs. Bulstrode expresses shock at the idea of there being anything between Lydgate and Rosamond, adding that she isn’t prone to gossip. Later, Mrs. Bulstrode tells Rosamond that... (full context)

Following this exchange, Mrs. Bulstrode decides to speak with Lydgate herself. She scolds Lydgate for leading Rosamond on and interfering with her other marriage prospects,... (full context)

However, after ten days Lydgate stops at the Vincys’ with a message for Mr. Vincy and finds Rosamond alone. He... (full context)

...service. Mrs. Cadwallader has persuaded Sir James and Celia to drive her to Lowick. Against Lydgate’s advice, Casaubon has returned to working with the same intensity as always. (full context)

...that their son is so spoiled. Mrs. Vincy tries to appease her husband by mentioning Lydgate’s high-ranking relatives, but Mr. Vincy curses relatives in general, adding: “I don’t want a son-in-law... (full context)

...clear that the couple must marry within one year and preferably sooner. This messes up Lydgate’s plan, but he decides he must accept it. Farebrother assures Lydgate that being married will... (full context)

One evening, Lydgate notices that Rosamond has been crying, and after some prompting she explains that Mr. Vincy... (full context)

Lydgate suggests they marry in six weeks, and while Rosamond doesn’t believe this is enough time,... (full context)

Rosamond objects that these things have nothing to do with her marriage. She says that Lydgate’s high rank means that he will surely end up wealthy and powerful, and adds that... (full context)

Soon after, Rosamond tells Lydgate how much she looks forward to meeting his family members; Lydgate does not share her... (full context)

After returning from his honeymoon, Lydgate goes to Lowick to check on Casaubon. Casaubon’s hard work has always tended to produce... (full context)

Lydgate finds Casaubon taking a walk. Casaubon sees that Lydgate looks thin and sad. Casaubon tells... (full context)

...fact that she rarely leaves Lowick Manor without Casaubon, Dorothea goes into town to ask Lydgate for the truth about her husband’s health. Arriving at Lydgate’s house, she asks to see... (full context)

When Lydgate comes home that evening, Rosamond tells him that Will is totally enraptured by Dorothea. Rosamond... (full context)

Rosamond and Lydgate discuss the reforms needed in Middlemarch, both to improve the conditions of poor tenants and... (full context)

Dorothea says she is glad Lydgate has told her about this, and promises to give £200 a year to the New... (full context)

A rumor spreads that Lydgate intends to let patients at the New Hospital die on purpose so he can use... (full context)

...their disappointment) that the law cannot be used to stop the kind of medical reforms Lydgate is pushing. Mr. Toller declares that it doesn’t matter; patients themselves will object to Lydgate’s... (full context)

When Mr. Trumbull contracts pneumonia, he asks Lydgate to treat him. Lydgate suggests that Trumbull’s “robust” nature means he would be a perfect... (full context)

The New Hospital will be dedicated to fever. Lydgate will be “chief medical superintendent” with final decision-making power. Every doctor in Middlemarch refuses to... (full context)

That evening, Lydgate tells Rosamond about an anatomist named Vesalius who lived in the 16th century. He had... (full context)

...as Farebrother and his female relatives. Yet Ladislaw spends most of his time at the Lydgates’, where he and Lydgate get into debates about political versus medical reform. (full context)

Lydgate refuses to believe that “society can be cured by a political hocus-pocus.” The debate turns... (full context)

The debate with Lydgate has a great effect on Will, who suddenly worries that he is “making a fool... (full context)

...respond. Beginning to panic, she tries to wake him and fails. Casaubon is dead. Later, Lydgate sits with her while she talks hysterically, apparently in denial about her husband’s death. She... (full context)

Lydgate enters and checks Dorothea’s pulse. While speaking with him, Dorothea starts violently sobbing. Lydgate is... (full context)

...she doesn’t know if it will be possible to do this now. She speaks with Lydgate, who recommends Farebrother instead of Tyke as Casaubon’s successor. Dorothea says she’d be happy to... (full context)

...eventually Mr. Vincy tells her to cheer up. Fred, however, is not their only problem: Lydgate has been getting into debt, and the Vincys expect that Rosamond will soon ask them... (full context)

...this is thought to have been caused by her going horse-riding during her pregnancy, against Lydgate’s wishes. This all took place during a visit from Captain Lydgate, a relative whom Tertius... (full context)

Rosamond believed Will was jealous of Captain Lydgate and secretly found this delightful. Tertius accused Rosamond of wishing he was more like his... (full context)

...her lose the baby. Rosamond maintains that the ride did not cause her miscarriage. While Lydgate is outwardly full of sympathy for his wife, he is also frightened by how easily... (full context)

...mounting. He approaches the silversmith, Mr. Dover, who agrees to take on the bill for Lydgate’s furniture in exchange for certain items Lydgate had previously bought—in particular, an amethyst necklace worth... (full context)

Lydgate thinks about Laure and wonders if Rosamond would ever kill him. He begins by saying... (full context)

Furious, Rosamond leaves the room and returns with her jewelry box. She says Lydgate can return whatever he wants and that she will go to her parents’ house the... (full context)

...disapproving of his decision not to enter the church and instead work for Mr. Garth. Lydgate, meanwhile, believes that there is something between Dorothea and Will, and that if true, this... (full context)

At Mr. Toller’s Christmas dinner party, he and Farebrother discuss Lydgate, who is very busy at the New Hospital these days, preparing a new cholera ward.... (full context)

...goes to a party at the Vincys’. All the Vincy children are there, along with Lydgate and Mary Garth. Mrs. Farebrother comments that Lydgate spends a lot of time away from... (full context)

Farerbrother approaches Lydgate and says he heard from Mr. Brooke that Lydgate was responsible for persuading Dorothea to... (full context)

Lydgate is over £1000 in debt and has no way to supplement his rather meager income.... (full context)

Rosamond angrily points out that Bulstrode should pay Lydgate for his work at the New Hospital, but Lydgate says he agreed to do it... (full context)

Furious, Lydgate walks out of the house. He feels bitterly disappointed in his marriage, and particularly in... (full context)

After this visit, Rosamond stops at Mr. Trumbull’s office. Trumbull says that Lydgate came by that morning, and Rosamond pleads with him to halt the plans to give... (full context)

That evening, Rosamond—who is in a surprisingly happy mood—tells Lydgate that she went to Mrs. Plymdale’s and learned that Ned already has a house. She... (full context)

The morning of the Vincys’ New Year’s Day party, Lydgate says he is going to Trumbull’s office, and Rosamond admits that she told Trumbull not... (full context)

Lydgate does not mention his plan to go and see Sir Godwin to Rosamond. One morning... (full context)

Once they have both read the letter, Lydgate furiously tells Rosamond that he hopes it is clear how she has ruined things, and... (full context)

Lydgate no longer has the capacity to carry out medical research and experiments. He has never... (full context)

...Fred is tempted to bet the £10 he has brought with him. At this point Lydgate has won £16, but Hawley’s arrival disturbs his lucky streak, and Lydgate begins “losing fast.”... (full context)

The day after losing at billiards, Lydgate feels repulsed by his own actions. He has learned that Rosamond has already asked Mr.... (full context)

...to the coast. Given this, he plans to withdraw from the New Hospital, which leads Lydgate to believe that Bulstrode must have lost a lot of money. Bulstrode says that Dorothea... (full context)

Lydgate suggests that he can go and talk to Dorothea and Bulstrode agrees, although he adds... (full context)

...and in part to satisfy Mrs. Bulstrode, who wanted her husband to help Rosamond and Lydgate with their debt. Busltrode stresses that he couldn’t help his wife’s married relatives, but that... (full context)

...there is a “very ill” man at Stone Court—Raffles. Horrified, Bulstrode asks Caleb to call Lydgate. Caleb then apologetically says that he must stop working for Bulstrode as a result of... (full context)

...he only revealed all to Caleb in the midst of a hallucination. Bulstrode then calls Lydgate to attend to Raffles’s health, explaining that Raffles’s illness has affected his mental capacity. After... (full context)

Raffles is suffering from alcohol poisoning, and Lydgate imagines that Bulstrode is taking care of him as an act of charity. Lydgate gets... (full context)

Once Lydgate leaves, Bulstrode goes through Raffles’s pockets, where he finds a few bills and pennies. When... (full context)

Lydgate returns and observes that Raffles’s condition has deteriorated, but says that he still expects him... (full context)

...goes to see Raffles, who is asleep and seems very close to death. That afternoon Lydgate comes and witnesses Raffles die. He and Bulstrode go into Middlemarch together, discussing cholera and... (full context)

...in attendance. Bambridge is shocked; Hopkins explains that Raffles died at Stone Court and that Lydgate attended to him. The crowd grows larger as more people come over to listen. Bambridge... (full context)

...“cursed alien blood,” grows as a result of the story. Meanwhile, gossip also spreads about Lydgate suddenly being able to pay his debts thanks to a loan from Bulstrode. The excitement... (full context)

...other Middlemarch doctors interview the servant who tended to Raffles in order to determine if Lydgate colluded in his death. The townspeople conclude that even if Bulstrode merely paid Lydgate to... (full context)

...weeks as a vacation. There is a town meeting about cholera and sanitation; Bulstrode and Lydgate go together, and when they enter the hall Lydgate feels “a peculiar interchange of glances”... (full context)

...Bulstrode to leave the meeting. Bulstrode goes to leave; seeing that he can barely walk, Lydgate helps him out. (full context)

Lydgate himself now believes that Raffles’s death is suspicious and that the £1000 Bulstrode gave him... (full context)

Farebrother tells Dorothea not to approach Lydgate herself, as this will insult his pride. Dorothea remains desperate to find proof of Lydgate’s... (full context)

Lydgate takes Bulstrode home from the meeting, leaving him in the care of Mrs. Bulstrode. Lydgate... (full context)

Even if Lydgate could find some way to prove his innocence, he knows that the damage done to... (full context)

...is happening, although she senses that something is terribly wrong with Mr. Bulstrode. She asks Lydgate about it, but he gives a vague answer. She then goes to see Mrs. Hackbutt,... (full context)

Even after Lydgate’s debts are paid, Rosamond remains unhappy. She is terribly disappointed with her marriage, and to... (full context)

Every person Rosamond invites says they can’t come. Lydgate finds out and demands that Rosamond stop inviting people over. Rosamond is angry, but doesn’t... (full context)

Back at home, Rosamond is furious not only at Lydgate’s involvement in the scandal, but also that he didn’t tell her about it. Lydgate immediately... (full context)

Dorothea invites Lydgate to Lowick Manor. She has become very excited about the idea of helping him. When... (full context)

Lydgate says that he doesn’t want to “bear hard on Bulstrode,” because despite everything he is... (full context)

Lydgate finishes by saying that it has since emerged that Raffles was given more opium than... (full context)

Dorothea suggests that Lydgate stay and keep up his work at the New Hospital while waiting for the rumors... (full context)

Dorothea asks if she can go and try to persuade Rosamond to stay. Lydgate agrees that she should visit her, saying that it would please Rosamond to hear that... (full context)

...is totally ruined. Will leaves, and when Rosamond tries to stand up she faints. Later, Lydgate finds her in bed still in her clothes. He embraces her while she sobs. (full context)

After tending to Rosamond, Lydgate reads Dorothea’s letter. Will arrives and Lydgate tells him that Rosamond has had a “nervous... (full context)

Dorothea arrives and asks Lydgate, who clearly has no idea what happened the day before, if she can see Rosamond.... (full context)

...that Mr. Farebrother, Mr. Brooke, and Sir James all know and believe the truth about Lydgate’s involvement in the Bulstrode scandal. She then stresses that Lydgate desperately wants to make Rosamond... (full context)

...he couldn’t explain the truth to her. Dorothea is stunned, but focuses on comforting Rosamond. Lydgate enters and asks if Dorothea wants a carriage, as it has started raining. However, Dorothea... (full context)

Mrs. Bulstrode thinks about it and asks if they could help Lydgate and Rosamond, who are also leaving the area. However, Bulstrode explains that Lydgate will not... (full context)

...the furniture at Stone Court, where they possibly still live at the time of writing. Lydgate dies at the age of 50, leaving Rosamond and their children well provided for through... (full context)

After Lydgate dies of diphtheria, Rosamond marries an older, wealthier doctor, who is fond of her and... (full context)

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Tertius Lydgate Character Analysis

Tertius Lydgate Quotes in Middlemarch

Tertius Lydgate Character Timeline in Middlemarch

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