The Mill on the Floss · Chapter
In the Red Deeps explained
Maggie encounters Philip Wakem in the Red Deeps, a secluded wooded area.
What happens
Maggie encounters Philip Wakem in the Red Deeps, a secluded wooded area. They engage in a deep conversation about duty, desire, and the pain of renunciation. Philip expresses his longing for a meaningful life and his wish to see Maggie, while Maggie struggles with her sense of filial duty and her own suppressed desires. The chapter explores the tension between personal happiness and familial obligation.
Themes in this chapter
Passion vs. Duty
Maggie struggles between her desire for friendship and connection with Philip and her duty to her father, who disapproves of the Wakems. Philip argues for following one's longings, while Maggie insists on renunciation.
Family Obligation and Conflict
Maggie's sense of duty to her father conflicts with her sympathy for Philip. The chapter highlights the tension between individual desires and family loyalty.
Nature and the Individual
The Red Deeps setting provides a natural, secluded space where Maggie and Philip can meet away from society. Nature is depicted as a refuge and a source of solace for Maggie.
Characters to notice
- Maggie Tulliver
Maggie is in her seventeenth year, marked by a resigned sadness and a struggle between renunciation and longing. She meets Philip in the Red Deeps and is torn between her duty to her father and her sympathy for Philip.
- Philip Wakem
Philip returns from abroad and seeks out Maggie in the Red Deeps. He is melancholic, yearning for connection and beauty in life, and expresses his discontent with his lot and his desire to see Maggie regularly.
- Mr. Tulliver
Maggie's father is mentioned as having strong feelings about the Wakems, and Maggie fears that any friendship with Philip would make her father's life harder.
- Lawyer Wakem
Philip's father, who accompanies Philip to the mill yard and is seen by Maggie. His presence prevents Maggie from greeting Philip freely.
Key passages
“I know what there is to keep us apart on both sides. But it is not right, Maggie—don’t you be angry with me, I am so used to call you Maggie in my thoughts—it is not right to sacrifice everything to other people’s unreasonable feelings.”
Philip argues that it is wrong to give up everything for the sake of others' irrational prejudices.
Philip challenges Maggie's sense of duty, advocating for personal attachment over familial obedience.
“Our life is determined for us; and it makes the mind very free when we give up wishing, and only think of bearing what is laid upon us, and doing what is given us to do.”
Maggie believes that accepting one's fate without desire brings mental freedom.
Maggie expresses her philosophy of renunciation, contrasting with Philip's insistence on the importance of longing.
“I have no friend to whom I can tell everything, no one who cares enough about me; and if I could only see you now and then, and you would let me talk to you a little, and show me that you cared for me, and that we may always be friends in heart, and help each other, then I might come to be glad of life.”
Philip pleads for Maggie's friendship as a source of meaning and happiness in his otherwise bleak life.
Philip's vulnerability and need for connection are laid bare, appealing to Maggie's compassion.