Middlemarch Chapter 70 Summary

Summary

Bulstrode keeps watch over the drunken, raving Raffles after Lydgate departs, searching his pockets for proof of travel and finding a recent inn bill that comforts him that Raffles has been away from Middlemarch. Raffles remains restless, imploring Bulstrode against imagined revenge and refusing food; Bulstrode, exhausted and anxious, follows Lydgate’s instructions about opium and denial of alcohol. Through the night Bulstrode experiences a fierce internal conflict: he prays and resolves to obey medical orders while also being haunted by the consciousness that Raffles’s death would remove a threat to his reputation—an idea he strives to separate from his intention.

In daylight Lydgate returns, and after a brusque exchange Bulstrode unexpectedly offers to advance a thousand pounds to relieve Lydgate’s debts; Lydgate gratefully accepts. Bulstrode continues to oscillate between nervous watchfulness and secret relief as Raffles slips into a deep narcotic sleep and then an irreversible stupor. Mrs. Abel’s appeal for brandy and Bulstrode’s inward hesitation culminate in her finding both a little brandy and the emptied opium phial; Raffles dies before Lydgate can re-examine him. Lydgate and Bulstrode ride back to Middlemarch together, and Lydgate later tells Farebrother that Bulstrode has lent him a thousand pounds, leaving Farebrother reassured while Lydgate feels uneasy about his new personal obligation.

Key events

1. Bulstrode inspects Raffles's pockets and finds a recent inn bill
2. Bulstrode sits up all night administering Lydgate's directions and resisting giving brandy
3. Bulstrode wrestles inwardly with secret relief at the thought of Raffles's death
4. Lydgate returns and Bulstrode offers a £1,000 loan, which Lydgate accepts
5. Raffles sinks into a deep opiate sleep and dies; Bulstrode conceals the opium bottle
6. Lydgate recounts the loan to Farebrother, who is relieved for him

Analysis

This chapter deepens Bulstrode’s moral complexity by staging an extended internal temptation: the tension between his pious self-image and a covert desire for liberation from scandal. Eliot uses close third-person access to Bulstrode’s mind, letting private prayer and rationalizations reveal self-deception and the reworking of conscience under stress. The physical particulars—pockets, bills, bottles, the opium phial—function as concrete symbols of evidence, temptation, and culpability. Raffles’s delirium acts as a narrative engine that forces Bulstrode into difficult choices about care, truth, and responsibility; his intermittent magnanimity toward Lydgate complicates his moral portrait, showing how self-interest may be masked as benevolence.

Structurally the chapter pivots the plot: Raffles’s death removes an immediate threat but leaves a residue of doubt and potential guilt that will affect Bulstrode’s inward life and relations. Lydgate’s loan acceptance marks a turning point in his professional fortunes while introducing a new personal obligation that unsettles him. Eliot’s restrained dramatization of ethical temptation—focusing less on external action than on interior rationalization—foregrounds central themes: conscience versus self-preservation, the social consequences of scandal, and how private motives shape public conduct.

Important quotes

““Our deeds still travel with us from afar, And what we have been makes us what we are.””

NarratorChapter epigraph that frames the theme of past actions shaping present character and guilt.

““You can give me a note of hand for this, Mr. Lydgate,” said the banker, advancing towards him with the check.”

NarratorBulstrode’s offer of a thousand pounds to Lydgate, presented as a generous act that also creates a binding personal obligation.

““It was true,” said Lydgate, with an air of freedom, as if he did not mind talking about the affair now.”

NarratorLydgate acknowledges the execution had been in his house; his relief after the debt is paid shows a lift in spirit despite lingering unease about the loan’s source.

Characters in Chapter 70

• John Raffles
• Peter Featherstone
• Rosamond Vincy
• Mr. Vincy
• Mr. Brooke
• Tertius Lydgate
• Mrs. Bulstrode
• Mary Garth
• Nicholas Bulstrode
• Camden Farebrother
• Joshua Rigg
• Celia Brooke
• Caleb Garth
• Mrs. Vincy
• Sir James Chettam
• Fred Vincy
• Edward Casaubon
• Will Ladislaw
• Mr. Hawley
• Dorothea Brooke
• Mrs. Abel
• Mr. Robisson
• Mr. Spicer