Author: George Eliot
Year of Publication: 1861
Genre: The genre is somewhat disputed, but some call it a Fairytale
Setting: Early nineteenth century in Northern England
Themes: Faith or lack thereof ("…there is no just God that governs the earth righteously, but a God of lies, that bears witness against the innocent.”), Family ("The presence of this happy animal life was not the only change which had come over the interior of the stone cottage. There was no bed now in the living-room, and the small space was well filled with decent furniture, all bright and clean enough to satisfy Dolly Winthrop's eye." (2.16.26)), and Isolation ("The presence of this happy animal life was not the only change which had come over the interior of the stone cottage. There was no bed now in the living-room, and the small space was well filled with decent furniture, all bright and clean enough to satisfy Dolly Winthrop's eye.")
About George Elliot:
Book Summary:
Dunsten, a higher up in the community where Silas Marner dwells, leads a life of frivolity and disregard for the well-being of others. This quality first presents itself when he takes his brother’s horse to sell it, and ends up accidentally killing the horse when out on a joyride. This results in Dunsten’s inability to repay his debts to his brother. While returning home after the incident, he recalls the great wealth of the local weaver, Silas Marner, and decides to step into his home. While searching the temporarily abandoned home, he finds a part of the floor that appears different than the rest. He, “In haste...lifted up two bricks and saw what he had no doubt was the object of his search; for what could there be but money in those two leathern bags?” (Elliot 39). He takes the money and flees the weaver’s house into the pitch black night. However, his flight proves unsuccessful. Sixteen years after this incident, his brother, Godfrey, announces, “Dunstan - my brother Dunstan, that we lost sight of sixteen yers ago. We’ve found him-found his body-his skeleton… Dunstan was the man that robbed Silas Marner” (Eliot 161-162). Dunstan dies a thief and his ruin extends into his legacy. Dunstan’s entry into the weaver’s home solidifies his- ruin, and his legacy post mortem.
In the same way that Silas’s open door touches the lives of Dunstan and Eppie, it also touches Silas through giving him hope. In his early years in Raveloe, Silas Marner lives life tethered to his money. He serves it and worships it. He lives every passing day with the sole purpose of increasing his collection of Guineas. So, when Dunstan walks through Marner’s open door and snatches his money from the floorboards, his life screeches to a halt. Marner becomes all-consumed in finding the man who wronged him, and he becomes completely fixated on his loss. The night that Eppie toddles over his threshold, his door stands open because, “ During the last few weeks, since he lost his money, he had contracted the habit of opening his door and looking out from time to time, as if he thought that his money might be somehow coming back to him…” (Eliot 109). However, instead of seeing his money returning to him, Marner receives an altogether different type of gold. A gold that comes in the form of light curls of hair rested on his hearth. The moment Marner begins raising Eppie, memories of the pain felt at the loss of his guineas melts away, and his sole focus becomes raising Eppie properly. Raveloe takes on a new look for Marner as a place to nurture Eppie rather than a place to hoard his guineas until his death. In the words of Eliot, “The disposition to hoard had been utterly crushed at the very first by the loss of his long-stored gold...And now something has come to replace his hoard which gave a growing purpose to the earnings, drawing his hope and joy continually onward beyond the money” (Eliot 131). When Eppie enters Marner’s life through his doorway, she approaches accompanied by joy and hope for Marner that does not hinge on the weight of his bags of guineas.
Year of Publication: 1861
Genre: The genre is somewhat disputed, but some call it a Fairytale
Setting: Early nineteenth century in Northern England
Themes: Faith or lack thereof ("…there is no just God that governs the earth righteously, but a God of lies, that bears witness against the innocent.”), Family ("The presence of this happy animal life was not the only change which had come over the interior of the stone cottage. There was no bed now in the living-room, and the small space was well filled with decent furniture, all bright and clean enough to satisfy Dolly Winthrop's eye." (2.16.26)), and Isolation ("The presence of this happy animal life was not the only change which had come over the interior of the stone cottage. There was no bed now in the living-room, and the small space was well filled with decent furniture, all bright and clean enough to satisfy Dolly Winthrop's eye.")
About George Elliot:
- George Elliot was actually a woman
- She was born into a deeply religious family and was described as pious
- Her mother died when she was 17, so she returned back home to take care of her father
- When back at home she got to know a couple who end up influencing her and turning her away from her Christianity
- She got a job as a magazine editor
- She fell in love with a drama critic who was already married, however this didn't stop them from moving in together.
- He pushed her to write fiction
- In 1880 she married a man 21 years younger than her after the death of her previous husband
Book Summary:
Dunsten, a higher up in the community where Silas Marner dwells, leads a life of frivolity and disregard for the well-being of others. This quality first presents itself when he takes his brother’s horse to sell it, and ends up accidentally killing the horse when out on a joyride. This results in Dunsten’s inability to repay his debts to his brother. While returning home after the incident, he recalls the great wealth of the local weaver, Silas Marner, and decides to step into his home. While searching the temporarily abandoned home, he finds a part of the floor that appears different than the rest. He, “In haste...lifted up two bricks and saw what he had no doubt was the object of his search; for what could there be but money in those two leathern bags?” (Elliot 39). He takes the money and flees the weaver’s house into the pitch black night. However, his flight proves unsuccessful. Sixteen years after this incident, his brother, Godfrey, announces, “Dunstan - my brother Dunstan, that we lost sight of sixteen yers ago. We’ve found him-found his body-his skeleton… Dunstan was the man that robbed Silas Marner” (Eliot 161-162). Dunstan dies a thief and his ruin extends into his legacy. Dunstan’s entry into the weaver’s home solidifies his- ruin, and his legacy post mortem.
In the same way that Silas’s open door touches the lives of Dunstan and Eppie, it also touches Silas through giving him hope. In his early years in Raveloe, Silas Marner lives life tethered to his money. He serves it and worships it. He lives every passing day with the sole purpose of increasing his collection of Guineas. So, when Dunstan walks through Marner’s open door and snatches his money from the floorboards, his life screeches to a halt. Marner becomes all-consumed in finding the man who wronged him, and he becomes completely fixated on his loss. The night that Eppie toddles over his threshold, his door stands open because, “ During the last few weeks, since he lost his money, he had contracted the habit of opening his door and looking out from time to time, as if he thought that his money might be somehow coming back to him…” (Eliot 109). However, instead of seeing his money returning to him, Marner receives an altogether different type of gold. A gold that comes in the form of light curls of hair rested on his hearth. The moment Marner begins raising Eppie, memories of the pain felt at the loss of his guineas melts away, and his sole focus becomes raising Eppie properly. Raveloe takes on a new look for Marner as a place to nurture Eppie rather than a place to hoard his guineas until his death. In the words of Eliot, “The disposition to hoard had been utterly crushed at the very first by the loss of his long-stored gold...And now something has come to replace his hoard which gave a growing purpose to the earnings, drawing his hope and joy continually onward beyond the money” (Eliot 131). When Eppie enters Marner’s life through his doorway, she approaches accompanied by joy and hope for Marner that does not hinge on the weight of his bags of guineas.
As well as affecting Dunstan, Marner’s home affects the life of a young girl named Eppie. Eppie enters the story in the arms of her opium addicted mother. While on the way to a ball put on by the local wealthy class, Eppie’s mother takes one last draught of opium and dies in the snow. Retreating from her mother’s limp arms, Eppie’s eyes, “ were caught by a bright glancing light on the white ground” (Eliot 109). This light proves to be worth chasing due to the fact that it leads to Silas Marner’s hearth. The small child wanders into his home undetected, and sits by the fire. When discovered by Marner, she immediately becomes a part of his home and heart, and grows under his fathering. Their relationship increases in warmth and respect as Eppie increases in stature. When Eppie’s biological father enters her life later on, Eppie desperately proclaims to Marner that, “ If it hadn't been for you, they'd have taken me to the workhouse, and there’d have been nobody to love me” (Eliot 165-166). Her upbringing under Marner’s roof creates a refuge for her that would not have existed if she would have continued under the parenting of her opium addicted mother
In the same way that Silas’s open door touches the lives of Dunstan and Eppie, it also touches Silas through giving him hope. In his early years in Raveloe, Silas Marner lives life tethered to his money. He serves it and worships it. He lives every passing day with the sole purpose of increasing his collection of Guineas. So, when Dunstan walks through Marner’s open door and snatches his money from the floorboards, his life screeches to a halt. Marner becomes all-consumed in finding the man who wronged him, and he becomes completely fixated on his loss. The night that Eppie toddles over his threshold, his door stands open because, “ During the last few weeks, since he lost his money, he had contracted the habit of opening his door and looking out from time to time, as if he thought that his money might be somehow coming back to him…” (Eliot 109). However, instead of seeing his money returning to him, Marner receives an altogether different type of gold. A gold that comes in the form of light curls of hair rested on his hearth. The moment Marner begins raising Eppie, memories of the pain felt at the loss of his guineas melts away, and his sole focus becomes raising Eppie properly. Raveloe takes on a new look for Marner as a place to nurture Eppie rather than a place to hoard his guineas until his death. In the words of Eliot, “The disposition to hoard had been utterly crushed at the very first by the loss of his long-stored gold...And now something has come to replace his hoard which gave a growing purpose to the earnings, drawing his hope and joy continually onward beyond the money” (Eliot 131). When Eppie enters Marner’s life through his doorway, she approaches accompanied by joy and hope for Marner that does not hinge on the weight of his bags of guineas.