The first way in which Elliot balances sympathy with criticism, is by the use of comparisons; the first main comparison is between the two halves of Godfrey, for on the one side he is good natured, caring and generally a ‘good’ man, as shown in the quote describing the view of the village on Godfrey, ‘But it would be a thousand pities if Mr.Godfrey, the eldest, a fine, good-natured, open-faced young man, went the same way as his wicked brother Dunstan.’ (Page 20). But on the other side we can see that he is selfish and will do anything to stop himself getting into trouble, as shown when he is tempted to whip his brother in order to stop him telling his secret; ‘Her would have liked to spring on Dunstan, wrench the whip from his hand, and flog him to within an inch of his life.’ This quote seems to show the dark, almost animal side of Godfrey, where he will do anything to protect himself and survive. Contrasting these two sides of Godfrey helps bring out our sympathy for him at certain parts and at others Eliot simply writes another such example as above and we criticise him for his actions. This is well used and is balanced well so that different readers have different opinion about what kind of person Godfrey really is.
Another contrast is between the two brothers, Dunstan and Godfrey; this contrast helps us feel sympathy for Godfrey, because although it is clear his love affair with Molly was a mistake that he seems to be paying for, his evil brother seems to be doing what he can to unveil his brother’s secret; not because he thinks everyone should know his brother’s wrongdoing, but because Dunstan merely wants to make some money out of it and to get Godfrey into trouble. As Godfrey says in their conversation about money, ‘It’s my belief you’d sell yourself, if it was only for the pleasure of making somebody feel he’d got a bad bargain.’ (Page 24) On the other hand, a comparison can be drawn between the two brothers which brings out the readers criticism of Godfrey, for the two brothers could be said to be much the same; they are both extremely selfish, and only do things that either help themselves or hinder each other. This may not seem true but if we look at the quote on page 23, it seems that although Dunstan threatens to tell their father about Godfrey’s secret marriage to Molly, Godfrey is just as harsh in his reply when he says, ‘It’s all one. I’ll tell my father everything, and you may go to the devil.’ Therefore this contrast and comparison between the brothers seems to cancel out, again making the balance between sympathy and criticism for Godfrey balanced, leaving it up to the reader to make up our own mind about Godfrey Cass.
Yet another character comparison can be drawn up between the two main female characters Molly and Nancy; for they can be compared because they both used to be beautiful young ladies (‘for Molly had once been among the fairest maidens of the village’ Page 93) and then Molly became addicted to opium; therefore we feel that it is not Godfrey’s fault, for he could never have predicted this. On the other hand, we can see the huge contrast between Molly and Nancy, and it seems that whilst Molly represents Godfrey’s dark past, Nancy represents the bright future that it seems he can’t have due to the former girl. This again makes us feel sorry for Godfrey because he can’t have what he wants so desperately because of his past mistakes that he is too afraid to own up to. This helps gain our sympathy for Godfrey, but at the same time it satisfies our criticism of him because it seems he is suffering because of the poor way he is handling the situation.
Generally, it seems that the main way Elliot creates pity and criticism in Cass is in the sense of on the one hand the huge potential he has; to marry Nancy, become Lord of the Manor and have a happy life, and on the other hand the huge mistakes that it seems he deserves for the way he will not own up to them and accept them as his fault; he may simply end up with shame from the village, no house, and still have Molly as his wife. I would therefore sum up his dilemma with this quote from chapter three of the book, ‘The yoke a man creates for himself by wrong-doing will breed hate in the kindliest nature; and the good-humoured, affectionate-hearted Godfrey Cass, was fast becoming a bitter man, visited by cruel wishes, that seemed to enter and depart, and enter again, like demons who had found in him a ready-garnished home.’
Therefore to conclude I would say that George Elliot successfully achieves a balanced mix of sympathy and criticism in Godfrey Cass, and furthermore leaves the reader to make up their own opinion about Godfrey’s character; in my opinion I would say that he is not an evil man but is too much of a coward to ever end up with a guilt free, true life, and I would therefore say that the ending of the book is just because although he marries Nancy, he is not able to claim his child from Silas and therefore our main character gets a happy ending and we feel that Godfrey’s punishment is just.