# Mrs. Cadwallader — Middlemarch character guide

> Mrs. Cadwallader in Middlemarch by George Eliot.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mrs. Cadwallader, Cadwallader

**First appearance:** 0006-iii

## Snapshot

The rector's wife, a thin, well-built woman with a turn of tongue that lets you know exactly who she is, and who treats local politics as her personal theatre.

## Who they are

Mrs. Cadwallader moves through Middlemarch society with companionable jokes and pared-down prices, giving neighborliness to both rank and religion while keeping everyone slightly on edge. She corners Mr. Brooke in his own library to accuse him of brewing bad politics with Casaubon, foretelling that he will make a Saturday pie of all parties' opinions and be pelted by everybody. Her gossip is not idle: she names the town's pretensions out loud, and her running commentary shapes how the reader sees Brooke's fecklessness and the marriage plots forming around Dorothea.

## In the story

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/vi)

The diplomatist of Tipton and Freshitt, she is irritated by Dorothea's engagement and quickly schemes to match Sir James with Celia.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/viii)

Enters the conversation and reinforces her husband's stance, adding witty and critical remarks about Casaubon's character.

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

Comments on Mr. Brooke's tendency to treat Middlemarchers, preferring the farmers at the tithe-dinner.

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

Observant and dryly witty; comments on the funeral attendees and the social scene.

### [XXXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/xxxviii)

Criticizes Ladislaw as a 'Byronic hero' and 'amorous conspirator'; jokes about using leeches to scare Brooke about election expenses.

### [LV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/lv)

Engages in provocative conversation about second marriage, citing Mrs. Beevor's case. Argues that a good second husband is preferable to an indifferent first.

### [LXXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/middlemarch_se/chapters/lxxxiv)

Offers caustic commentary on the situation, suggesting that Casaubon's actions made Ladislaw tempting.

## Links

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