# Mrs. Bulstrode — Middlemarch character guide

> Mrs. Bulstrode in Middlemarch by George Eliot.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mrs. Bulstrode, Bulstrode, Harriet, Harriet Vincy

**First appearance:** 0013-x

## Snapshot

Bulstrode's devout, well-connected wife, whose sincere piety and native worldliness sit side by side, and who wishes to forget that her husband was ever a London Dissenter.

## Who they are

Harriet Vincy married Bulstrode out of thorough inclination, and she believes in him as an excellent man whose lay piety has raised her own position in Middlemarch. Yet she refrains from saying what she thinks when Raffles calls at the Bank, unwilling to imply that her husband's earlier connections are beneath her own family. Her ingenuousness makes her both a comfort and a quiet threat to Bulstrode, who fears losing her high consideration more than almost anything, and her loyalty becomes one of the pressures that will test his hidden past.

## In the story

### [Chapter XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/xvi)

She wishes Rosamond would show a more serious turn of mind and marry a husband with wealth to match her habits.

### [Chapter XXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/xxxi)

Mrs. Bulstrode warns Rosamond about Lydgate's intentions and later speaks directly to Lydgate about his conduct, using the word 'militate' to convey her meaning.

### [LIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/liii)

Glad of the purchase of Stone Court for her husband's health; unaware of his dread.

### [LXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/lxviii)

Anxious about Rosamond's debts and troubled by her husband's perceived hardness toward her family; her remonstrance influences Bulstrode's decision to help Fred.

### [LXXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/lxxiii)

Lydgate briefly allays her anxiety about her husband's faintness at the meeting, showing his continued professional care despite his inner turmoil.

### [LXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/lxxiv)

Learns of her husband's disgrace, undergoes a private crisis, and resolves to share his shame without reproach.

### [LXXXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/lxxxv)

Urges her husband to help Rosamond and Lydgate; grieves over the family's disgrace and her husband's hidden guilt.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/characters/mrs_bulstrode
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/characters