Ideas Can you have compassion for someone you never agree with?
Oct 24, 2025
In a thought-provoking discussion, Tom Jokinen, a contributor to 'Love and Consequences,' explores George Eliot's moral vision in *Middlemarch*. Fanula Delan, a Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature, highlights how Eliot's characters press for empathy, even for those we dislike. Writer-director Rebecca Shoptaw shares insights on her web series adaptation, discussing the challenges of making complex characters sympathetic. The trio delves into how Eliot’s work encourages readers to expand their moral imaginative scope and grasp the importance of understanding diverse perspectives.
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Sympathy As Multi‑Perspective Practice
- George Eliot makes sympathy central by forcing readers to see characters from multiple viewpoints.
- The narrator invites us to hold conflicting thoughts about the same person simultaneously.
Art Enlarges Moral Sympathy
- Eliot explicitly ties art to enlarging moral sympathy.
- Rebecca Mead says fiction should help readers imagine joys and pains of those unlike them.
Power Of Minor Characters
- Minor, unnamed characters reveal the wider social life and prompt moral growth.
- Dorothea's moment watching a struggling man expands her sense of obligation beyond herself.
