“One can begin so many things with a new person!"

[cassielsander]

I recently read George Eliot's Middlemarch, and reviewed it on Goodreads. I found it a very interesting & enjoyable slice of English realistic romance despite it occasionally getting very verbose about things already established

Comments

[seldonp38]

Sir James Chettam / Mr. Elton (Emma)

I don't see the similarities.

[cassielsander]

That's one of the less perfect parallels, but here goes: He puts a bunch of effort into pleasing Dorothea, who thinks he's wooing Celia, when in fact he's trying to woo Dorothea herself, much as Elton->Emma->Harriet. Then once that's resolved, he shows himself disapproving of the heroine and very much a snob. The way the second half of this manifests is a lot less close than the first, but I work with what I have.

It's very possible I'm missing a closer parallel. At first I had Rushworth, from Mansfield Park, but he's not very memorable.