Worst couples in literature: No.8 Dorothea & Casaubon | Middlemarch

Number 8 in our series: 'Worst Couples in Literature'. Edward Casaubon and Dorothea Brooke from George Eliot's Middlemarch. One of the greatest novels ever written. We don’t have to speculate how this marriage will fare, because it comes to an end before the novel is over. Dorothea (“Dodo”) is a sheltered and intense young woman. Edward Casaubon has been living a certain way for so long he’s incapable of adapting to life with a young wife. Did this marriage ever have a chance? What if Casaubon’s health had stood up better? What if he didn’t have a rival lover, the brooding Will Ladislaw, hanging about like a bad penny? With thanks and acknowledgement to the The Folio Society for the use of illustrations from their excellent collector edition of Middlemarch. And also to the BBC for use of still images from their terrific 1994 miniseries of Middlemarch. NOTE: This video is not sponsored in any way.