In Praise of Middlemarch: Empathy
The novel that’s taught me the most about empathy is undoubtedly Middlemarch. It’s coined “A Study of Provincial Life” but, make no mistake, it is not at all narrow in scope.
George Eliot unravels these 2-page long, scathing diatribes pointing out the personality flaws and shortcomings of the characters. But, in the end, every time, without fail, she would always remind us, “But wait, where is the faultless man/woman?” It serves as a phenomenally refreshing, humbling and human reminder.
All too often, it’s easy to point at someone and say, “Oh, I wouldn’t have done that.” It's not true. Maybe you in your situation wouldn’t have. But if you were that person, with all of their pains and problems, experiences and environment, you would have done the exact same thing. As the titanic Goethe once mused, “One need only grow old to become gentler in one’s judgments. I see no faults committed which I could not have committed myself.”
It’s little wonder Middlemarch is considered the best novel ever written in the English language.