This is a review of George Eliot's "The Lifted Veil."

Essay by lynkovUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, February 2003

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The Lifted Veil

Latimer, the main character, states that he can see his death approaching in one month, September 20, 1850. He can read minds and can see the future. He says that he will die of a heart attack. He ponders upon his childhood informing us that his childhood seemed happier to him than it really was. His father was 45 when he married his mother.

Latimer's mother died when he was seven or so. He didn't feel his father particularly cared for him. Despite Latimer's disinterest in learning, he had intelligent tutors to which he felt other students might have benefited more than he. He considered himself a sensitive boy who craved affection.

He explains to us that while at school in Geneva, his experiences with his mother's passing and an eye affliction were the cause of his psychic powers. His father comes to school to retrieve him.

Once he returns home, he is introduced to Bertha Grant. His brother Alfred, becomes the object of extreme hatred to Latimer. Bertha becomes Alfred's fiancee'. Latimer is infatuated with Bertha, the only person whom he cannot read the mind of. He is jealous of Alfred and loves Bertha.

One day, Alfred is thrown from his horse and killed. Bertha and Latimer are married 18 months after Alfred's death. Bertha became cold and distant towards Latimer. When Latimer's father dies, Latimer begins to see through Bertha's false love for him. He is then able to read her mind.

Mrs. Archer, the new maid at the home, and Bertha develop a strange relationship with one another. Mrs. Archer becomes ill and on her deathbed of perionitis. It is at this same time that Latimer's childhood friend, Charles Meunier, is visiting. Charles convinces Latimer to allow him to perform a blood...