Overview of Podcast: 

• The second of this two part podcast series looks in-depth at George Eliot's writing of Tetruis Lydgate as a critique of the Victorian Medical system and a medium for presenting ideas of reform.

Topic #1 

• Lydgate, a young surgeon. Not considered a doctor due to not graduating with a medical degree (Brown 297). Despite this he pushes beyond the expectations of a medical professional (Eliot 84, 137, 139 &149)(Carpenter 10)(Logan 204)(Meegan 54).
• Cholera is a deadly opposition to Lydgate. He comes to Middlemarch to protect the people from the onsetting pandemic (Eliot 154) (Farr 88).

Topic #2

• Limitations of the British healthcare system and the first wave of Public Health(Crook Ch.1)(Savies 1889-1890). 
• George Eliot critiques the public health system and supports the new wave (Carpenter 9)(Hamlin 1). 
• George Eliot uses Lydgate to offer a new form of practicing medicine and challenge the old ways (Bane 155)(Eliot 116, 117 & 162).

Topic #3

• Culmination of Industrial revolution, pandemics, and need for changes within the medical system (Eliot 519). 
• New Poor Law as a catalyst for change (Price 7, 9, 24 & 27). 
• Doctors began to offer more well rounded forms of care as seen in through Lydgate and Mr. Hachbutt (Eliot 420). 

Topic #4

• Stresses of being a doctor in times of change (Eliot 609)(Logan 197). 
• Eliot's ability to write such realistic characters (Logan 197).
• Stress, lack of success as a medical professional, and finical needs resulting in Lydgate's demise (Eliot 669)(Furst 25).
• Link to Voyant graph that shows the collocation between Lydgate and Bulstrode. https://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=98a34c358f64760f5747e35a0ef1c9cd&query=bulstrode&query=lydgate&chartType=bar&labels=true&view=Trends 
• Lydgate shows the rise of the middle-class through becoming well known for his research on Gout (Eliot 781) (Price 25).

Works Cited: 

Brown, P. S. “The Providers of Medical Treatment in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Bristol.” Medical  History, vol. 24, no. 3, Cambridge University Press, 1980, pp. 297–314, doi:10.1017/S0025727300040333.

Eliot, George. Middlemarch. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996. 

Furst, Lilian R. Medical Progress and Social Reality A Reader in Nineteenth-Century Medicine  and Literature. State University of New York Press, 2000.

Logan, Peter M. “Conceiving the Body: Realism and Medicine in Middlemarch.” History of the  Human Sciences, vol. 4, no. 2, Sage Publications, 1991, pp. 197–222,  doi:10.1177/095269519100400202.

Price, Kim. Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain: The Crisis of Care Under the English  Poor Law, C. 1834-1900. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.

Voyant. https://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=98a34c358f64760f5747e35a0ef1c9cd&query=bulstrode&query=lydgate&chartType=bar&labels=true&view=Trends 

Overview of Podcast:

This episode offers an introduction to George Eliot and Middlemarch as a way of providing background information on the author and text that are focus of this mini-two part podcast series.

Thesis Statement/Driving Question: 

• George Eliot engages with the burgeoning field of medical science with a critical lens through her character Tertius Lydgate, a young medical professional that challenges the inadequate norms of the early Victorian Medical profession with new forms of treatment, care, and the progression of knowledge which reflects the progression seen during George Eliot’s own lifetime.

Topic #1: Bibliographic Information on George Eliot 

• Born on November 22, 1819 and passed away on December 22, 1880.
• George Eliot was a pseudonym, birth name was Mary Ann Evans (Jung 763).
• Life partner, George Henry Lewes's son died from spinal tuberculosis (Carpenter 10). 

Topic #2: Overview of the history of Middlemarch and Victorian Soceity  

• Published in eight instalments from 1871-1872, each instalment called a book.
• BBC did a global survey on best British texts, 47% of respondents named Middlemarch as their number one choice (Gorra).
• Kim Price notes, "in 1841, 1,830 eligible candidates applied for a vacant medical officer position in Lambeth; however, 320 had never been examined in surgery, 323 had never taken an exam in general medicine and further 233 were completely unqualified” (Price 27).

Works Cited: 

Carpenter, Mary Wilson. Health, Medicine, and Society in Victorian England. Praeger, 2010.

Eliot, George. Middlemarch. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996.

Gorra, Michel. “The 25 greatest British novels.” BBC Culture. Dec 4, 2015. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20151204-why-middlemarch-is-the-greatest-british-

Jung, Daun. “Critical Names Matter: ‘Currer Bell,’ ‘George Eliot,’ and ‘Mrs.Gaskell.’” Victorian Literature and Culture, vol. 45, no. 4, Cambridge                     University Press, 2017, pp. 763–81, doi:10.1017/S1060150317000201.

Price, Kim. Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain: The Crisis of Care Under the English Poor  Law, C. 1834-1900. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.