How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
Rosamond, in fact, was entirely occupied not exactly with Tertius Lydgate as he was in himself, but with his relation to her; and it was excusable in a girl who was accustomed to hear that all young men might, could, would be, or actually were in love with her, to believe at once that Lydgate could be no exception. (2.16.60)
Rosamond's hopes and dreams are to make everyone in love with her. She is the center of her own little world and wants to be the center of everyone else's, as well. She's more concerned, therefore, about Lydgate's "relation to her" than about his inner life or his hopes and dreams.
Quote #11
[A mirror] will be minutely and multitudinously scratched in all directions; but place now against it a lighted candle as a centre of illumination, and lo! the scratches will seem to arrange themselves in a fine series of concentric circles round that little sun. It is demonstrable that the scratches are going everywhere impartially, and it is only your candle which produces the flattering illusion of a concentric arrangement […] these things are a parable. (3.27.1)
Rosamond might be the center of her own little world, but, here, the narrator suggests that everyone is the center of his or her own little world. She compares the tendency that most people have to assume that everything revolves around themselves to the way the tiny scratches on a mirror appear to form perfect concentric circles around a light source. (This is true! Try it at home.)