The Mill on the Floss

The Mill on the Floss

by

George Eliot

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Stephen Guest Character Analysis

Stephen is handsome, charming, and wealthy—the son and heir to the Guest & Co shipping fortune. He is courting Lucy Deane, and it is generally understood that they will soon be engaged. Stephen feels genuine affection and love for Lucy, whom he considers the ideal wife for him. However, he also finds himself drawn to Maggie’s unconventionality and passion. At first, he tries to deny his feelings for her, but later begins trying to persuade her to marry him. On a boating expedition, he rows the boat to a nearby town with the intention of getting Maggie to elope with him. He is confident of success, so he is astonished when Maggie refuses and returns to St. Ogg’s—showing that his arrogance was misplaced in assuming that Maggie would want to marry him. He flees to Holland after the botched elopement but continues to write to Maggie and even asks again for her hand in marriage. After Maggie’s death, he marries Lucy.

Stephen Guest Quotes in The Mill on the Floss

The The Mill on the Floss quotes below are all either spoken by Stephen Guest or refer to Stephen Guest. 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:
Memory and Childhood Theme Icon
).
Book 7, Chapter 2 Quotes

If Miss Tulliver, after a few months of well-chosen travel, had returned as Mrs. Stephen Guest, with a post-marital trousseau, and all the advantages possessed even by the most unwelcome wife of an only son, public opinion, which at St. Ogg's, as elsewhere, always knew what to think, would have judged in strict consistency with those results.

Related Characters: Maggie Tulliver, Lucy Deane, Stephen Guest
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 453
Explanation and Analysis:
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Stephen Guest Quotes in The Mill on the Floss

The The Mill on the Floss quotes below are all either spoken by Stephen Guest or refer to Stephen Guest. 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:
Memory and Childhood Theme Icon
).
Book 7, Chapter 2 Quotes

If Miss Tulliver, after a few months of well-chosen travel, had returned as Mrs. Stephen Guest, with a post-marital trousseau, and all the advantages possessed even by the most unwelcome wife of an only son, public opinion, which at St. Ogg's, as elsewhere, always knew what to think, would have judged in strict consistency with those results.

Related Characters: Maggie Tulliver, Lucy Deane, Stephen Guest
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 453
Explanation and Analysis: