Middlemarch · Chapter
LXVII explained
Lydgate, overwhelmed by debt and professional decline, reluctantly considers asking Bulstrode for financial help.
What happens
Lydgate, overwhelmed by debt and professional decline, reluctantly considers asking Bulstrode for financial help. He finally makes the request, but Bulstrode coldly advises bankruptcy instead. Lydgate's pride and desperation clash as he faces the consequences of his marriage and financial mismanagement.
Themes in this chapter
Money and Economic Pressure
Lydgate's financial crisis drives the chapter, forcing him to beg for help and face the threat of bankruptcy.
Selfishness and Moral Compromise
Lydgate's pride and Rosamond's discontent lead him to consider gambling and ultimately to humble himself before Bulstrode.
Ambition and Frustration
Lydgate's professional ambitions are thwarted by financial ruin and social obstacles, leaving him disillusioned.
Characters to notice
- Tertius Lydgate
Struggling with debt and professional unpopularity, he humiliates himself by asking Bulstrode for a loan.
- Nicholas Bulstrode
Receives Lydgate's request coldly, advises bankruptcy, and shows little sympathy.
- Rosamond Vincy
Her discontent and failed appeals to her father contribute to Lydgate's desperation.
- Mr. Vincy
Refuses to help Lydgate financially, telling him to ask Bulstrode instead.
- Dorothea Brooke
Mentioned as a potential benefactor for the Hospital, but she is unavailable due to travel.
- Sir James Chettam
Accompanying Dorothea to Yorkshire, involved in land matters.
- Lady Chettam
Also traveling with Dorothea and Sir James.
Key passages
“I have slipped into money difficulties which I can see no way out of, unless someone who trusts me and my future will advance me a sum without other security.”
Lydgate admits he is trapped in debt and needs an unsecured loan from someone who believes in him.
Lydgate's direct plea to Bulstrode reveals his desperation.
“My advice to you, Mr. Lydgate, would be, that instead of involving yourself in further obligations, and continuing a doubtful struggle, you should simply become a bankrupt.”
Bulstrode coldly suggests Lydgate give up and declare bankruptcy rather than seek more loans.
Bulstrode's harsh advice underscores his lack of sympathy and Lydgate's humiliation.
“A philosopher fallen to betting is hardly distinguishable from a Philistine under the same circumstances: the difference will chiefly be found in his subsequent reflections.”
Even a thoughtful man who gambles behaves like an ordinary person; the only difference is that he later regrets it more deeply.
Narrator's commentary on Lydgate's self-disgust after gambling.