Middlemarch is deeply concerned with the nature of marriage. How is marriage depicted in the novel? What social factors shape marriage? What makes a marriage happy or unhappy for the characters?

Consider The Key to All Mythologies and the role of knowledge more generally in the novel. What forms does knowledge take in the lives of the characters (e.g. social knowledge, intellectual knowledge, professional knowledge)? How does knowledge relate to some of the novel’s key thematic concerns?

The novel’s characters have widely different experiences with the world of work. What role does work and/or work ethic play in forming and revealing characterization?