Middlemarch Quotes - Who Said It? Quiz | Literature

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "Souls have complexions too: what would suit one will not suit another."

Answer: Dorothea

Dorothea says this to Celia when they are dividing the contents of their mother's jewelry boxes. Dorothea refuses to wear a cross as a trinket, but superiorly suggests that Celia may wear it without being wicked. This is one of the very few incidents in which the character Dorothea is insensitive to anyone.

She has a few other uncomfortable moments rebuffing the failed suitor Sir James - and then spends the rest of the novel as kind as a boxload of Virgin Marys.

2. "Humphrey finds everybody charming. I can never get him to abuse Casaubon. He will even speak well of the bishop, though I tell him it is unnatural in a beneficed clerygyman: what can one do with a husband who attends so little to the decencies? I hide it as well as I can by abusing everybody myself."

Answer: Mrs. Cadwallader

Mrs. Cadwallader is interrupting a conversation between the disgruntled Sir James and her husband Mr. Cadwallader. Sir James is trying to gain the Rector's support in opposing Dorothea's marriage -on the grounds that she is too young and Casaubon is, well, exceptionable. Mr. Cadwallader is too amiable to be upset by the marriage, and he refuses to join in as Mrs. Cadwallader and Sir James merrily pick apart Casaubon's outrageously boring character:

"He has got no good red blood in his body," said Sir James.

"No. Somebody put a drop under a magnifying glass, and it was all semi-colons and parentheses," said Mrs. Cadwallader.

3. "Well, whether or not, I consider it very unhandsome of you to refuse it. Such doings may be lined with religion, but outside they have a nasty, dog-in-the-manger look...this tyrannical spirit, wanting to play bishop and banker everywhere-it's this sort of thing makes a man's name stink."

Answer: Mr. Vincy

This is said by Mr. Vincy to Mr. Bulstrode when Mr. Vincy is requesting a letter of confidence for his son Fred. Mr. Bulstrode is the sort of person who enjoys other people's discomfort (in an annoying religious sort of way) and he has just spent several minutes admonishing Mr. Vincy. Mr. Vincy finally has enough and loses his temper, unleashing a very fine stream of words that knock Mr. Bulstrode off his high horse. Very satisfying.

4. "Might, could, would - they are contemptible auxiliaries."

Answer: Mary Garth

Mary Garth says this to Fred Vincy, the wastrel, when he provokes her by saying, "When a man is not loved, it is no use for him to say that he could be a better fellow - could do anything - I mean, if he were sure of being loved in return."
Mary loves Fred, but she absolutely has no time for his whining. "On the contrary, I think it would be wicked in me to marry you even if I did love you." She refuses to give him any hope at all until he shapes up. Good for her!

5. "I object to what is wrong, Camden. I say, keep hold of a few plain truths, and make everything square with them. When I was young, Mr. Lydgate, there was never any question about right and wrong. We knew our catechism, and that was enough; we learned our creed and our duty. Every respectable Church person has the same opinions. But now, if you speak out of the Prayer-book itself, you are liable to be contradicted."

Answer: Mrs. Farebrother

Mrs. Farebrother's way of speaking is rather oracular, even on the most small occasions. She has barely been introduced to Mr. Lydgate, before she launches into a diatribe of assertions. Her son Camden is Reverend Farebrother, a rather relaxed cleric, who muses aloud, "My mother is like old George the Third...she objects to metaphysics."

6. "I suspect you of being an adroit flatterer."

Answer: Rosamond Vincy

Rosamond is the best flirt of the whole novel. This quote happens when she is ensnaring Lydgate, which is a really beautifully designed (by Rosamond) courtship. Their marriage however is dreadful - as Rosamond emerges as a monster of selfishness, and Lydgate as a man incapable of opposing her.

7. "I wish every book in that library was built into a caticomb for your master."

Answer: Tantripp

Okay, this one is obscure. Tantripp is Dorothea's personal maid who has an active contempt for Casaubon, who has made Dorothea's life so tense. Tantripp makes this statement to Pratt, Casaubon's butler, just before Casaubon dies in the Yew-Tree walk. Which is pretty creepy.

8. "Ha,ha! That reminds me of a droll dog of a thief who declined to know the constable."

Answer: John Raffles

Raffles is thoroughly deplorable, and just the sort of man to hold incriminating evidence against a man like Bulstrode who wants very much to forget his dishonest past. He is enjoying the torture of Bulstrode in this part of the novel, and it's here that the reader (at least I did) begins to feel some sympathy for Bulstrode.

9. "That signifies nothing - what other men would think. I've got a clear feeling inside me, and that I shall follow;"

Answer: Mr. Garth

Caleb Garth says very little unless he is trying to support some noble action - in this case a plan to help Fred Vincy.

10. "I feel convinced that his conduct has not been guilty; I believe that people are almost always better than their neighbors think they are,"

Answer: Dorothea

Dorothea says this in defense of Lydgate, who, let's face it - looked pretty guilty. It is in line with another of her best quotes, when she is defending Will Ladislaw, "..people may really have in them some vocation which is not quite plain to themselves, may they not? They may seem weak and idle because they are growing. We should be very patient with each other, I think." I just love that one.

Source: Author motheromercy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Bruyere before going online.
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Middlemarch Quotes - Who Said It? Quiz

This quiz is for serious fans of Middlemarch, which is arguably George Eliot's masterpiece of character analysis. Who am I kidding? It's the greatest book I've ever read. Here's the challenge: Match the quote to the character. Good Luck!

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