George Eliot · English Literature

In 'Middlemarch', Dorothea Brooke’s first husband, Edward Casaubon, is obsessed with completing which doomed intellectual project?

  1. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  2. A New System of Chemical Philosophy
  3. A comprehensive Key to all Mythologies
  4. The Encyclopedia of Victorian Morals and Social Conduct
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Correct answer: A comprehensive Key to all Mythologies

Casaubon's 'Key to all Mythologies' represents a futile, outdated scholarly endeavor that fails to account for modern German Higher Criticism. His failure serves as a foil to Dorothea's youthful idealism and desire for meaningful work.

Difficulty: Medium Question 6 of 20

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