DIFFERENCE AS TRAGEDY IN THE MILL ON THE FLOSS BY GEORGE ELIOT

VOL. 61, BOOK 1, PART C, 2023, pp. 172 – 186 Full text (En)

Author: Kristina Yasenova

Affiliation: Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv

Abstract
The following text aims to discuss George Eliot’s analysis of human relationships and her mindfulness of the pernicious effect caused by paradigms that condemn differences as mere weaknesses. Through “pragmatization of the imaginary” (Iser) in Eliot’s novel, as well as with some help from representatives of the natural sciences, we may be able to gain a closer understanding of how people’s stages of development and biological traits are often translated into tragic “prisons” of sociality.

Key words: childhood, womanhood, imagination, deviation, tragedy