![]() While it is perhaps natural to be fearful in times of great change, the invocation of “the end of the world” suggests that Vincy has an irrationally negative view of the reform sweeping the country. Vincy’s thoughts show that rather than greeting change and reform with excitement, many Middlemarch residents are horrified. Vincy unsure of “whether it were only the general election or the end of the world that was coming on, now that George the Fourth was dead, Parliament dissolved, Wellington and Peel generally depreciated and the new King apologetic.” The period in which the novel is set is so tumultuous that at one point it is described as having an apocalyptic atmosphere, with Mr. The novel emphatically shows that such closed-mindedness is misguided and dangerous, and that it will ultimately hold Middlemarch back while the rest of the world moves toward a better future. ![]() At one point the narrator refers to the period in which the novel is set as the “ante-reform times.” In Middlemarch, then, this is also an anti-reform era, as most residents remain at least skeptical of-and often staunchly opposed to-the reform and progress taking place. “Reform” also refers to more general changes in the novel, such as Lydgate’s passion for medical reform. In the novel, “reform” has both a specific meaning and a more general one: specifically, it refers to the push for parliamentary reform that centered around the Reform Act of 1832. ![]() Middlemarch is set during a highly tumultuous time in English history, when dramatic developments in politics, science, and industrialization were having a major impact on the country.
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