Dunsey and William Dane are also fairytale characters. However, they are the villain characters. They are the fairytale villains. William Dane is a similar villain to Dunsey even though he is hardly in the book and speaks much. We can’t say that Godfrey is a villain because he helps Silas to look after Eppie by providing him with money.
However even though there are fairytale characters, Silas and Dolly have many different aspects. They are partly fairytale and realistic characters. Part of the way they behave is real and the other fairytale. In any book the stories might be different but all the fairytale characters are similar.
Silas has many different aspects; he is part real and part fairytale. He is an unlikely hero and his personality is by no means dynamic or fascinating. The treatment he receives in Raveloe makes us symphonise with him. In the novel he is referred to as the miser ‘Rumple stiltskin’. In his appearance he closely resembles a gnome, as he is short, skinny and physically feeble. But on the other hand he has lost his faith in God and mankind because of his ill treatment. Although we symphonise with him, some of his characteristics are repellent. He works like an insect, he is a miser and his lack off generosity is not very nice. His interest and skill in herbs introduces another aspect to his character because when he treated Sally Oats it shows realism as he cares and has emotions. Moreover there is like a ‘magic wand’ in Silas. Him being in an epileptic fit is like being touched by ‘the invisible wand of catalepsy’ which shows that he is not realistic but a fairytale character.
Dolly is the other partly realistic and fairytale character. She behaves as a Godmother to Eppie like in the fairytale book ‘Cinderella’ and she is a fully rounded person. But in fact she is a godmother. She is very positive, down to earth, practical and very deferential. She is not a ‘Lord’ but a humble person as she allows people to be better than her. In sense Dolly and Silas are like ‘husband and wife’. They are both deferential. Dolly is very generous with time and is keenly aware of her responsibilities. She is very much respected as she can offer help to others. She is mild-mannered, patient, kind, very dutiful and religious as she talks to God as ‘Them’. However she can’t read and write. She is illiterate but can speak in a very practical way. Silas eventually comes to resemble Dolly.
On the other hand in the book there are realistic characters. These are Godfrey Cass, Nancy and Molly. They behave like a real person would behave as they have the real qualities. They have no fairytale qualities in them.
Godfrey Cass is presented as a fully rounded individual realistic character. We know his good side and his bad side, his strengths and his weaknesses. By this contrast we can say that he is a realistic character as even though he might be a bad person really inside he is a kind, open character as he provides Silas with money to look after his daughter Eppie. For all the bad activities he has done, in the second part of the book he is left with a childless marriage and in return Nancy is punished with him too as she too cant have a child. All of these qualities make Godfrey a real character.
Like Godfrey, Nancy is entirely realistic. We are given a full portrait of her character, her appearance, her behaviour, her limitations and her strengths. She speaks in a local accent however she is not very bright. She does what other people tell her to do and she is unromantic and sensuous. Moreover she is level headed and practical. However Nancy changes in the book like Godfrey. She begins by being a positive person but in the second part she is unhappy because she can’t have a child. Also she changes by becoming more serious and more religious. Even though she hasn’t done anything bad she still gets punished and because of this we can then say that she is a real character.
Molly also is a realistic character. She isn’t mentioned much in the book but we do know a little about her. She is a drunkard who always used to drink. She has a child called Eppie. She is always very depressed and addicted to drinking. All these qualities tell us that she is a real character as she has emotions and would behave like any other person would in this situation.
The thesis of fairytale and realism is continued throughout the book. We could say there is pattern in the book where the characters are balanced between fairytale and reality. It is similar like ‘ A Winter’s Tale’ where there is loss, evil and deceit in the first part and gain and good in the second part. However this is not the case for Nancy as she is good throughout the book and is still punished by having a childless marriage.
