take care of household matters and without skill, originality and intelligence of a man. Mr. Tulliver cared deeply for his daughter's future but inadvertently oppressed Maggie through his views of women. This idea is represented in his dialog with Mr. Riley of Maggie's "unnatural" intelligence: "It's a pity but what she'd been then lad-she'd ha'been a match for the lawyers, she would. It's the wonderful'st thing." (Eliot 68) Mr. Tulliver by nature was stubborn, opinionated and led his family to disgrace as a result. However, there is a close bond between him and Maggie for which he had always protected her and favored her over Tom, as much as would permit in that age. Maggie always felt a responsibility to please her father and to never cause him any grievances. She was loyal to him at times that he seemed to not return her affection "How she wished that [her father] would stoke her head, or give her some sign that he was soothed by the sense that he had a daughter who loved him!" (Eliot 371) When her father was in the lowest point of self-ruin and was under the scrutiny of the family, Maggie took upon the position of the protector and loyally defended her protector. "Her father had always defended and excused her, and her loving remembrance of his tenderness was a force within her that would enable her to do or bear anything for his sake." (Eliot 284)
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