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Middlemarch - Prelude and Book One
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message 51:
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Katie
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Oct 11, 2018 05:25AM

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LOVE THIS!

A Hair Shirt....“If someone is wearing a hair shirt, they are deliberately making their life unpleasant or uncomfortable, especially because they feel guilty about something.
In ancient times, men would wear a hair shirt, made of course hair, as a sign of repentance to their deity for wrongs they had done.”
In the quote you posted, the hair shirt is a reference to the cross one bears. For Dorothea, that cross would be her marriage to Casaubon. Mrs. Caudwallder, who wants Dorothea to marry Sir Chettam is saying she wishes Dorothea happiness in spite of her decision in marrying the wrong type of man.
I recently read The Ice-Shirt by William T. Vollmann...A completely different genre, but a lot of talk about hair shirts. It was really good...VIKINGS! :)

You post as much as you want, whatever piques your fancy. This narrative is full of aspects that are both meaningful and memorable. You’re adding another layer to the discussion with these quotes. Having read ahead, it’s nice to come back to the previous threads, back to these moments, rooting oneself further into the prose.

Thank you, I am so behind everyone but hope to catch up. I will have much more time for reading in the next few months, between searching the job market, and hope to be able to join current topics.
I found another marble of wit and knowledge:
"... but pride only helps us to be generous; it never makes us so, any more than vanity makes us witty."

" A woman dictates before marriage in order that she may have an appetite for submission afterwards. And certainly, the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it"

A Hair Shirt....“If someone is wearing a hair shirt, they are deliberately making their life unpleasant or uncomfortable..."
thank you! I thought it must mean, i wish her happiness even though she made the choice I wouldn't, but I had never heard the expression before or heard of a "hair shirt" sounds lovely though... NOT

