“Silas Marner” is a story of redemption through love. Show how Silas is redeemed, but Godfrey’s loss is permanent.

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“Silas Marner” is a story of redemption through love. Show how Silas is redeemed, but Godfrey’s loss is permanent.

Silas Marner is a story set in the past, set in the city and the countryside. In the beginning of the story Silas suffers for a crime he did not commit. Silas is trailed even though it was his best friend William Dane, who set him up so he could steal Silas’s wife to be Sarah. He is trailed by the drawing of lots. Only God would prove whether he was innocent or guilty. The lots showed that Silas was guilty and he was banished from the church in Lantern Yard. After that Silas loses his faith in God and in his fellow human beings, and moves to Raveloe. Here he becomes deeply obsessed with his work. An example of this is.

“His first movement after the shock had been to work in his loom; and he went on with this unremittingly.”

Godfrey on the other hand is the complete opposite to Silas. He deals with problems he knows about only when they confront him. He is weak willed the opposite to Silas. Godfrey is also frightened that anyone will find out about his past, where as Silas does not care who knows about his past. George Eliot shows this contrast throughout the play and this helps to keep the readers interested.

    In some ways though Silas and Godfrey are not so different. Even though Silas lives in a small cottage next to the Stone Pits and his cottage is tiny compared to the size of Godfrey’s huge house. Silas is not very wealthy at all a though and cherishes what money he has, Godfrey is extremely rich. The food that Godfrey eats is beautiful and very expensive where as Silas eats very poorly. Godfrey never has to do anything for himself he has servants to do everything and he also attends a lot of parties and has a very relaxed and laid back lifestyle. On the other hand Silas has to do everything for himself and has to earn every penny he makes he never goes to parties or has fine food. A reflection on these different lifestyles is the way they talk Godfrey Talk’s poshly where as Silas talks in common slang. A couple of examples of this are.

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“But shell be my little un said Marner rather hastily

Shell be nobody else’s.”

Compared to.

“It’s just with your talk of me selling Wildfire in that cool wag-the last thing ive got to call my own and the best bit of horseflesh ive ever had.”

You can see the way they speak is totally different. But they both have a major loss. Silas’s misfortunes are fixable he can redeem himself. On the other hand other hand Godfreys are permanent and he is constantly in fear. He is frightened that Molly will tell everyone he is married to her a ...

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