The 11 worst couples in literature No. 10. Dr Lydgate and Rosamund Vincy from Middlemarch One of the

The 11 worst couples in literature No. 10. Dr Lydgate and Rosamund Vincy from Middlemarch One of the many gems to be found in George Eliot’s Middlemarch is the genius psychological portraits of Dr Tertius Lydgate and Miss Rosamund Vincy (soon Mrs Lydgate) – including how their marriage faired from early pleasure, through crisis and life-sapping compromise and eventually to Lydgate’s premature death at 50.This is a clear case of two decent people who might have been happy if only they had married someone else. Lydgate’s plan for his future was:    “to do good small work for Middlemarch, and great work for the world”.Self-centred Rosamund does not respect Lydgate’s profession, enjoys things being done her way, and proves disastrous for his work and intellectual ambitions.    ‘He once called her his basil plant; and when she asked for an explanation, said that basil was a plant which had flourished wonderfully on a murdered man’s brains.’Lydgate does not spot that they are not an ideal match partly because he’s looking for a wife that will provide pretty, light relief from his anticipated professional and intellectual toils and partly because Rosamund is a virtuoso at hiding her weaknesses:    ‘… with eyes of heavenly blue, deep enough to hold the most exquisite meanings an ingenious beholder could put into them, and deep enough to hide the meanings of the owner if these should happen to be less exquisite.’Fault is rarely on one side. When Rosamund eventually remarries a wealthy and indulgent older man she considers it her reward for putting up with everything she has had to put up with from Tertius. So our no.10 was not a marriage made in heaven.                                                                                                The Long Victorian -- source link

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