Maggie clashes spectacularly with her brother in a particular scene. In some ways, Eliot’s novel uses and then subverts the traditional structure of a bildungsroman to condemn the strictures placed on young women in Victorian society. Half of the major characters have a fatal flaw that drives them inexorably to their doom. This semi-autobiographical aspect of the story only serves to heighten the tragedy of it, for it is a tragedy. George Eliot supposedly drew heavily on her own childhood and relationship with her brother in writing The Mill on the Floss. Things are further complicated when her beloved cousin’s fiancé Stephen, begins to develop an obsessive love for Maggie. However, upon discovery of this blossoming romance Tom commands her not to see him again. Maggie and Philip bond over their shared passion and love of reading. She seeks acceptance elsewhere and is drawn to the hunchbacked Philip, son of the man who will take everything from her family. She has a close relationship with her cold, dutiful brother Tom whose approval she craves almost pathologically. Maggie Tulliver is an intelligent, passionate and non-conforming woman stifled by her life in a Victorian rural community.

The Mill on the Floss is a frustrating picture of a young woman caught between the constricting ties of family and her desire to forge ahead to find her independence. Instead, I will try to view it as its own entity. I have not read the book and so I cannot say if the film is a good adaptation or not. The Mill on the Floss is an adaptation of the novel by George Eliot. Classic Review: The Mill on the Floss (1997)

The mill of floss