Moving swiftly from locations in London to George Eliot's birthplace in Warwickshire, Fiona Shaw presents a documentary about the gestation of THE MILL ON THE FLOSS, perhaps Eliot's best-known and most successful novel.
The plot was very much based on Eliot's own life. Her heroine Maggie Tulliver, an independent, intelligent woman, falls in love with Philip Wakeham in a relationship heartily disliked by her family. As a result not one of her relatives, especially her brother Tom, wanted to speak to her. This plot-development parallels Eliot's own life, as she fell in love with the writer G. H. Lewes - who was already married - and lost the support of her own family, especially her elder brother Isaac.
The novel has Maggie breaking up with Philip but then becoming involved in an intense affair with Stephen Guest. She is damned as a result, and becomes a social pariah. There is a sort of reconciliation at the end, but only in death as Maggie and Tom are drowned in a storm.
By contrast Eliot was redeemed somewhat following Lewes's death, as she married and eventually reconciled with her brother. Sadly she never got to see him again, as she died before they could meet.
Shaw's main argument was that Eliot focused on the ways in which Victorian women were constrained by convention from expressing themselves. This imprisonment, physical as well as mental, caused psychological damage to many.
The plot was very much based on Eliot's own life. Her heroine Maggie Tulliver, an independent, intelligent woman, falls in love with Philip Wakeham in a relationship heartily disliked by her family. As a result not one of her relatives, especially her brother Tom, wanted to speak to her. This plot-development parallels Eliot's own life, as she fell in love with the writer G. H. Lewes - who was already married - and lost the support of her own family, especially her elder brother Isaac.
The novel has Maggie breaking up with Philip but then becoming involved in an intense affair with Stephen Guest. She is damned as a result, and becomes a social pariah. There is a sort of reconciliation at the end, but only in death as Maggie and Tom are drowned in a storm.
By contrast Eliot was redeemed somewhat following Lewes's death, as she married and eventually reconciled with her brother. Sadly she never got to see him again, as she died before they could meet.
Shaw's main argument was that Eliot focused on the ways in which Victorian women were constrained by convention from expressing themselves. This imprisonment, physical as well as mental, caused psychological damage to many.