IV: Maggie and Lucy explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Forgiveness and Redemption

  Lucy's secret visit and her words of comfort to Maggie embody the theme of forgiveness, as she seeks to heal the rift caused by Stephen's betrayal.

• Social Class and Respectability

  The townspeople's obsession with reputation and 'Society' drives their condemnation of Maggie, illustrating the oppressive power of social class and respectability.

• Gender Roles and Limitations

  Women are shown as both the enforcers and victims of moral judgment, while men are portrayed as indifferent or complicit, highlighting the gendered constraints of the era.

Characters to notice

• Maggie Tulliver

  Maggie is isolated and remorseful, haunted by Lucy's suffering, and longs for reconciliation. She receives a secret visit from Lucy and expresses her penitence.

• Lucy Deane

  Lucy, still recovering, secretly visits Maggie to offer comfort and forgiveness, showing her gentle and forgiving nature despite her own pain.

• Dr. Kenn

  Dr. Kenn attempts to defend Maggie and find her employment, but faces resistance from the townspeople who cling to scandal and social propriety.

• Mrs. Glegg

  Mrs. Glegg is mentioned as a source of news about Lucy's recovery and plans, indicating her continued involvement in family matters.

• Stephen Guest

  Stephen is discussed indirectly; Lucy's family hopes he will join her at the coast, and Maggie urges Lucy to forgive him.

Key passages

• “Only those who have known what hardest inward conflict is, can know what Maggie felt as she sat in her loneliness the evening after hearing that news from Mrs. Glegg—only those who have known what it is to dread their own selfish desires as the watching mother would dread the sleeping-potion that was to still her own pain.”

  Only people who have experienced intense inner struggle can understand Maggie's anguish that evening, as she feared her own selfish wishes like a mother fears a dangerous sedative.

  This passage emphasizes Maggie's profound internal conflict and her fear of her own desires.

• “The ladies of St. Ogg’s were not beguiled by any wide speculative conceptions; but they had their favourite abstraction, called Society, which served to make their consciences perfectly easy in doing what satisfied their own egoism—thinking and speaking the worst of Maggie Tulliver, and turning their backs upon her.”

  The women of St. Ogg's were not interested in broad ideas; instead, they used the concept of 'Society' to justify their selfish gossip and rejection of Maggie without guilt.

  This critique highlights how social conformity enables cruelty and self-righteousness.

• “Maggie,” she said, in a low voice, that had the solemnity of confession in it, “you are better than I am. I can’t—”

  Lucy whispered with the gravity of a confession, 'Maggie, you are a better person than I am. I cannot...'

  Lucy's unfinished sentence suggests her own struggle to fully forgive or understand, yet she acknowledges Maggie's moral strength.