This edition has been designed to give readers a critical and historical context in which to read the text. The Introduction by Nita. N Kumar places the novel against the background of major theoretical and intellectual debates of the Victorian age, particularly the theories of Darwin, Spencer and Feuerbach. If also provides a review of critical opinion on the novel since its publication. The volume includes critical essays for sustained readings of feminist, autobiographical, narrative and socio-historical aspects of the novel.