Ever heard that nursery rhyme about how girls are made of "sugar and spice and everything nice," and boys are made of "frogs and snails and puppy dog tails"? Well, those stereotypes just won't quit. In Middlemarch, Eliot's female characters are up against a lot of oppressive notions concerning what men and women are supposed to be like.
Dr. Lydgate supposedly choses his mate, Rosamond, based on a scientific view of what a woman should be. With that in mind, in what ways was the science of the Victorian Age sexist and heteronormative?
Berlant and Warner tell us that "by heteronormativity we mean the institutions, structures of understanding, and practical orientations that make heterosexuality seem not only coherent—that is, organized as a sexuality—but also privileged."
What "structures of understanding" do you see being influenced by heteronormativity in Middlemarch, aside from the sciences? So much privilege, so little time (to tear it all down)…