Middlemarch: Book 4, Chapter 41 Summary & Analysis

The narrator points out that, contrary to popular opinion, it is often “low people” who inadvertently end up having the greatest impact on the world. For example, no one would have expected that Joshua Rigg would play any significant role in shaping life in Middlemarch. As a person, Rigg is even-tempered and takes care over his appearance. He intends to marry a woman with good connections, “in a solid middle-class way.” He grew up in a port town and didn’t receive much education. At Stone Court he is standing with an unkempt man nearing 60, a man who is his total opposite.

The unkempt man’s name is John Raffles, and he is trying to persuade Rigg to give Rigg’s mother some money so she can have comfort in her old age. Rigg replies that it is Raffles who makes his mother’s life miserable, adding that he has not forgotten Raffles kicking him when he was a child and hogging food so there was none for Rigg or his mother. It becomes clear that Raffles is Rigg’s stepfather, and that Rigg hates him. Raffles begs Rigg for alcohol; Rigg reluctantly brings him brandy and a £1 coin.