Middlemarch

Middlemarch

by

George Eliot

Rosamond Vincy Character Analysis

Rosamond is the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Vincy. She is renowned for her extraordinary beauty and practically every man in Middlemarch is in love with her. She is also a talented musician. Rosamond is haughty, shallow, and manipulative. She marries Lydgate in the hope that she will move up in rank through doing so, and she is bitterly angry when her illusions are broken and she realizes Lydgate is poor (and that he despises his high-ranking relatives). Rosamond is deceptive, rude, and uncooperative with Lydgate, repeatedly going behind his back and refusing to make financial sacrifices. She knows she can easily manipulate him and does so often. Throughout most of the novel, Rosamond is adamant that she has done nothing wrong while everyone else is to blame for the great disappointments in her life. An emotional conversation with Dorothea appears to make Rosamond see the error of her ways; however, this change of spirit doesn’t last long. Throughout her marriage to Lydgate she continues to feel resentful of him; after Lydgate dies she marries a much wealthier doctor, which she claims is her “reward.”

Rosamond Vincy Quotes in Middlemarch

The Middlemarch quotes below are all either spoken by Rosamond Vincy or refer to Rosamond Vincy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Women and Gender Theme Icon
).
Book 2, Chapter 16 Quotes

Of course, he had a profession and was clever, as well as sufficiently handsome; but the piquant fact about Lydgate was his good birth, which distinguished him from all Middlemarch admirers, and presented marriage as a Prospect of rising in rank and getting a little nearer to that celestial condition on earth in which she would have nothing to do with vulgar people, and perhaps at last associate with relatives quite equal to the county people who looked down on the Middlemarchers. It was part of Rosamond's cleverness to discern very subtly the faintest aroma of rank.

Related Characters: Tertius Lydgate, Rosamond Vincy
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 166
Explanation and Analysis:
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Rosamond Vincy Quotes in Middlemarch

The Middlemarch quotes below are all either spoken by Rosamond Vincy or refer to Rosamond Vincy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Women and Gender Theme Icon
).
Book 2, Chapter 16 Quotes

Of course, he had a profession and was clever, as well as sufficiently handsome; but the piquant fact about Lydgate was his good birth, which distinguished him from all Middlemarch admirers, and presented marriage as a Prospect of rising in rank and getting a little nearer to that celestial condition on earth in which she would have nothing to do with vulgar people, and perhaps at last associate with relatives quite equal to the county people who looked down on the Middlemarchers. It was part of Rosamond's cleverness to discern very subtly the faintest aroma of rank.

Related Characters: Tertius Lydgate, Rosamond Vincy
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 166
Explanation and Analysis: