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Situational Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Rosamond's Class Status:
Rosamond intentionally chooses to marry Lydgate due to the fact that he comes from a wealthy family (and she believes this could help her move up in rank) but, in an example of situational irony, she and Lydgate quickly end up in debt. Rosamond herself is aware of the irony, as is evident in the following passage:
Rosamond sat perfectly still. The thought in her mind was that if she had known how Lydgate would behave, she would never have married him.
This ironic twist is one of the ways that Eliot shows how women are limited by their gender—if Rosamond were a man she wouldn’t have to marry for financial security and could have made a more informed choice before agreeing to marry the first upper-class man who proposed to her.
This moment also highlights the ways that class status is highly valued in a small-town community like Middlemarch—Rosamond wants to be respected and knows that she could become an outcast if she chose her partner incorrectly. This is, in fact, why she is so upset to learn that Lydgate is in debt, as it leaves her with an uncertain social status in the town in which she has spent her entire life.
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