Eppie is a fairytale character in this novel. Eppie is an idealised character. She is a good example of a fairy tale character. She is perfect and an ideal character; she is too perfect to be real, and is therefore a fairy tale character. She can be described as a ‘rustic princess’ like ‘Perdita’ in ‘A Winter’s Tale’. Eppie is quite a symbolic character. She is like a fairy tale princess and she gives her father Silas a reason for living. She is very innocent and good, she shows ideal filial love and warmth, and she is a very faithful and loyal person. They way that Eppie acts in this novel and the way that she does things, gives you an impression that she is in fact a proper princess. Eppie speaks like a princess with a university education (when she gives a speech to her actual father, Godfrey), even though she is actually un-educated. She is perfect in many ways, but she is not real. She symbolises an ideal and beautiful character that in reality does not exist. She is entirely fairy tale and she does not have any realistic aspects at all. Aaron is another fairytale character, but we do not know much about him. He is a fairytale prince or the ‘rustic prince’. Like Eppie, he is a good character and the actions that he performs are actions that resemble actions of a prince from a typical fairytale.
William Dane and Dunstan are also fairy tale characters in this novel. Although William Dane and Dunsey are fairytale characters, they are not like Eppie and Aaron. They have a thing in common that they are both fairy tale villain characters. Villains are people that are people that are bad or evil minded. Dunsey is a one dimensional fairy tale villain in this book. He is a character that enjoys making others suffer and be miserable. William Dane is a similar character to Godfrey’s brother Dunstan, although he not involved a lot throughout the book. Though, when he is involved in some actions in the book, you can see that he is a fairy tale villain. This is shown when he betrays his friend and does a typical villain like thing: ‘In William Dane’s finding the well-known bag, empty, tucked behind the chest of drawers in Silas’s camber! On this William exhorted his friend to confess’. Dunsey’s brother, Godfrey, can’t be called a villain because he helps Silas to look after Eppie by providing him with money.
Although there are these fairy tae characters in this novel, there are also those with different aspects. For example Silas himself and Dolly Winthrop have quite a few different aspects. They both are similar characters to each other. They are both partially realistic and partially fairy tale. In parts of the novel, they behave as typical fairy tale characters, and in part of the book they behave as realistic characters.
Silas is a mixed character in this novel, which means to say that he is partly a real character and partly a fairy tale character. He has some obvious fairy tale aspects. In his appearance, he closely resembles a gnome. In this novel Silas is also referred to as ‘Rumple Stiltskin’. In this novel he is an unlikely hero and he also has many realistic aspects about him. Also his personality is neither fascinating nor dynamic. He is short, skinny and physically feeble. Silas shows quite a bit of realism throughout the entire novel. When Eppie turns up in his life, it is like a ‘revelation’. The mysterious arrival of the child (Eppie) seems almost supernatural to Silas: “It’s come to me”. The arrival of Eppie is of great significance to Silas, and his life starts changing for the good. This shows his realistic aspects, as they are like feelings that real humans would have. Silas has a great affection towards Eppie in this novel: “The child was sent to me, their dealings with us- their dealing.” The Lantern Yard episode encourages us to sympathise with Silas’s plight at the beginning of the novel but some of his aspects are repellent. He works like an insect, he is a miser and his lack off generosity is not very nice. In the book, Silas’s skills and interest show another realistic aspect to his character, when he treats Sally. This shows that Silas is someone who cares and has emotions like real human characters rather than fairytale characters. Also, Silas has like a ‘magic wand’ and him being in an epileptic fit is like being touched by ‘the invisible wand of catalepsy’. This shows that there are fairy tale aspects to Silas as well.
Dolly, like Silas, is another mixed character in this book. She has both fairy tale and realistic aspects in this novel. Her physical looks are unimportant, in contrast to Nancy with her care of external appearances. In this novel she behaves and acts as a fairy godmother to Eppie, just like in the fairytale: ‘Cinderella’. She is however, Eppie’s actual godmother. Dolly Winthrop is very similar to Silas, in the sense that they are both mixed characters. She is fully rounded just like Silas is. She is a practical, sensible, kind and patient woman. She is also very religious and she refers to god as ‘them’. In a sense Silas and Dolly are like a ‘husband and wife’.
Finally there are also the fully realistic characters in this book. These are the characters that do not have any fairy tale like characteristics at all. The realistic characters in this novel include Godfrey Cass, Nancy and also Molly. These characters all behave and act like real human being characters.
Godfrey Cass is Dunsey’s brother and is a fully rounded realistic character. Although he is not a fairy tale villain like his brother, he still has his bad sides as well as his good sides. Godfrey is egoistic and cares largely about himself, in contrast to Silas who becomes humble. Godfrey is a good person really on the inside, as he does help Silas to look after his daughter Eppie by providing Silas with some money. He also does bad things such as not look after his wife Molly, whom he does not love.
Another realistic character is Nancy, who is a completely realistic character. We are given full portrait of her character, appearance, behaviour, strengths, and limitations. Nancy has, ‘high veracity’, ‘refined personal habits’. Although Nancy is not bad, she still ends up getting punished in the end. This shows that she is a realistic character. She is a level headed and practical character. Nancy changes in the book from being a positive woman to being unhappy at not having a child and she is trying to make her husband happy about it. This is something else that shows some realistic aspects like humans in her character.
Another fully realistic character in this novel is Molly. She is a realistic character in this novel with a very small part. She is hardly mentioned in the novel, but she is the drunkard who Godfrey is married to at the start, and she is Eppie’s natural mother. She is a character who is addicted to drinking and she is also depressed. This shows some realism in her character, as many human beings are addicted to drinking.
The two themes of fairy tale and realism are present throughout the book. The characters in this book are clearly divided between those that are realistic characters and those that are fairy tale characters. This novel by George Eliot is quite similar to ‘A Winter’s Tale’. There is good balance in the book between the two aspects of fairy tale and realism.