Middlemarch

Middlemarch

by

George Eliot

Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode Character Analysis

Mr. Bulstrode is a wealthy banker who was not born in Middlemarch, but rather moved there as an adult. Little is known about his family background, which makes him an object of suspicion. This suspicion is heightened by the fact that he is an evangelical Methodist, which is an unusual and distrusted form of faith in Middlemarch. Bulstrode occupies a number of prominent roles in Middlemarch, including being the founder and financer of the New Hospital, which he hires Lydgate to direct. Bulstrode passionately believes in bringing medical reform to the area and is frustrated by the opposition he encounters. Toward the end of the novel, John Raffles shows up in Middlemarch with a secret about Bulstrode’s past: as a young man Bulstrode was taken in by the Dunkirk family, who made their money from pawning stolen goods. He married the elderly widow Mrs. Dunkirk and deliberately concealed the location of her daughter Sarah so that he would inherit her wealth. Raffles’s attempt to blackmail Bulstrode fails when Raffles dies of alcohol poisoning; Bulstrode accelerated Raffles’s death by neglecting to tell the servant how much opium to give him and by giving in to his pleas for alcohol. However, it never becomes totally clear how guilty Bulstrode is in actually causing Raffles’ death. Despite Raffles’s death, Bulstrode’s secret becomes public knowledge in Middlemarch anyway. Mired in scandal, Bulstrode contemplates committing suicide, but eventually settles for leaving Middlemarch. He is able to get through this terrible period in part thanks to the loyal love of his wife, Mrs. Bulstrode.

Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode Quotes in Middlemarch

The Middlemarch quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode or refer to Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Women and Gender Theme Icon
).
Book 2, Chapter 13 Quotes

‘The standard of that profession is low in Middlemarch, my dear sir,’ said the banker. ‘I mean in knowledge and skill; not in social status, for our medical men are most of them connected with respectable townspeople here. My own imperfect health has induced me to give some attention to those palliative resources which the divine mercy has placed within our reach. I have consulted eminent men in the metropolis, and I am painfully aware of the backwardness under which medical treatment labours in our provincial districts.’

Related Characters: Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode (speaker), Tertius Lydgate
Related Symbols: New Hospital
Page Number: 125
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 5, Chapter 44 Quotes

The immediate motive to the opposition, however, is the fact that Bulstrode has put the medical direction into my hands. Of course I am glad of that. It gives me an opportunity of doing some good work - and I am aware that I have to justify his choice of me. But the consequence is, that the whole profession in Middlemarch have set themselves tooth and nail against the Hospital, and not only refuse to co-operate themselves, but try to blacken the whole affair and hinder subscriptions.

Related Characters: Tertius Lydgate (speaker), Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode
Related Symbols: New Hospital
Page Number: 439
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 7, Chapter 64 Quotes

The business was felt to be so public and important that it required dinners to feed it, and many invitations were just then issued and accepted on the strength of this scandal concerning Bulstrode and Lydgate; wives, widows, and single ladies took their work and went out to tea oftener than usual; and all public conviviality, from the Green Dragon to Dollop's, gathered a zest which could not be won from the question whether the Lords would throw out the Reform Bill.

Related Characters: Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode, Tertius Lydgate
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 719-720
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode Quotes in Middlemarch

The Middlemarch quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode or refer to Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Women and Gender Theme Icon
).
Book 2, Chapter 13 Quotes

‘The standard of that profession is low in Middlemarch, my dear sir,’ said the banker. ‘I mean in knowledge and skill; not in social status, for our medical men are most of them connected with respectable townspeople here. My own imperfect health has induced me to give some attention to those palliative resources which the divine mercy has placed within our reach. I have consulted eminent men in the metropolis, and I am painfully aware of the backwardness under which medical treatment labours in our provincial districts.’

Related Characters: Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode (speaker), Tertius Lydgate
Related Symbols: New Hospital
Page Number: 125
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 5, Chapter 44 Quotes

The immediate motive to the opposition, however, is the fact that Bulstrode has put the medical direction into my hands. Of course I am glad of that. It gives me an opportunity of doing some good work - and I am aware that I have to justify his choice of me. But the consequence is, that the whole profession in Middlemarch have set themselves tooth and nail against the Hospital, and not only refuse to co-operate themselves, but try to blacken the whole affair and hinder subscriptions.

Related Characters: Tertius Lydgate (speaker), Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode
Related Symbols: New Hospital
Page Number: 439
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 7, Chapter 64 Quotes

The business was felt to be so public and important that it required dinners to feed it, and many invitations were just then issued and accepted on the strength of this scandal concerning Bulstrode and Lydgate; wives, widows, and single ladies took their work and went out to tea oftener than usual; and all public conviviality, from the Green Dragon to Dollop's, gathered a zest which could not be won from the question whether the Lords would throw out the Reform Bill.

Related Characters: Mr. Nicholas Bulstrode, Tertius Lydgate
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 719-720
Explanation and Analysis: