Dystopian thoughts on a Utopian Novel

As we continue to read Millennium Hall I keep noticing two things, the first of which is the fact that dystopian situations inextricably lead the women in the story to crave utopia. Miss Melvyn /Mrs. Morgan's situation becomes utterly dystopian from the moment that she is obliged by her age to return to the residence of her father and step-mother.  Lady Melvyn is so totally the stereotypical wicked that it is no surprise when she digs deeper and deeper into her seemingly endless store of malicious plots in order to make life miserable for her step-daughter.  From the moment that Miss Melvyn's step-mother sets out to remove any competition for her father's attention, the situation rapidly grows darker, until the young woman finds herself in lost in what can only be called a dystopian setting.  The home where her unloved and unwanted husband, Mr. Morgan, resides is described by the author as being old and filled with old furnishings.  It was dreary, and even the roads and the very soil were bad.  The house and its environs are like a scene from a bad dream, nothing good grows there, nothing is pretty, nothing pleases the eye, it is a dystopian environment.  When the author then goes on to describe the character of the sister-in-law, whose nature is petty and mean spirited, and then concludes the portrayal of Mrs. Morgan's husband with his selfishness and greed, truly there is no doubt that this is dystopia.

Miss Mancel's situation had a much smaller share of turmoil, yet the younger woman certainly endured her own bleak period of emotional dystopia when her love for Sir Edward became first an impossible situation in spite of his sharing her feelings, to the tragedy of his death at the moment when it looked as if they were going to be able to be wed after all.

Even though we haven't yet read the story of Lady Mary Jones, because of the way that Mrs. Morgan, and to a lesser extent Miss Mancel have been portrayed, it seems quite likely that Lady Mary's story will likewise contain some dystopian elements and situations. This brings me to my second point.

Although the stories of the first two ladies are circumstantially different in a great many ways, the fact that they, along with what appears to be the greater part of the Millennium Hall population, are refugees from tragic situations that all have some degree of dystopian themes makes the plot of the novel feel rather predictable to this point. Apparently thus far, Scott's formula is to put a young woman into a situation where she is bound to suffer some extremely emotional and perhaps even physical distress that she seemingly cannot avoid.  Then leave her there for a length of time that taxes her to near destruction.  Finally, just as she is on the verge of utter ruin grant the young woman freedom through the death of the person who holds them captive in some way.  Of course then the woman, being thankful for her salvation at the hands of 'providence' decides to join or create a utopian community to spend the rest of her life doing good deeds in order to thank her savior for his intervention.  If this turns out to be the formula for the remainder of the novel it will be quite disappointing.  Because if the back stories of the principal members of this utopia are so predictable then the best part of the novel, according to critics, is certainly less interesting than reviews suggested it to be, and we are left with a cliché set of rags to riches fairy tales where the happy ending fairyland is an idyllic, but rather boring place where women learn to become saints. 

I hope there is more to this novel than it has contained thus far.  Utopian novels may be notorious for their shallow plots (if they have one at all), but this story has the potential to be more than it is so far, I hope to see it turn the corner so to speak and give us something to really think about in the end!