Eliot’s idea of writing a story of a social misfit who is gradually accepted by society came from suggestions made by the bachelor she lived with and also personal experience. She felt an affinity with the character ‘Silas’ because she was like him in many ways, the main similarity being a social outcast. George Eliot portrays Silas as being a recluse because he is a weaver, and many people in his community look upon this as being paranormal. She echoes her thoughts and feelings of solitude by expressing them through Silas. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) wasn’t a particularly pretty girl while attending boarding school and this made her lack in confidence and so the theme of an outsider comes into place because she went through the same thing as Silas.
The structure of the novel influences the way we perceive outsiders such as Silas Marner because we get a better grasp of the concept Eliot is trying to reveal. The novel is split into two parts, part one opens at 1805, 15 years after Silas has settled in Raveloe, and then there is a flashback to 1790, of his life in Lantern Yard. Part 2 is set in 1821, 16 years after the opening of the novel. The flashback in ‘Silas Marner’ is done to create a sense of sympathy and compassion for Silas and how his life used to be, from the readers. There is such time shifts because Eliot wants to show the life of Silas and how he has changed and gradually become accepted into the community. Silas follows the route of loneliness and misfortune, but ends up leading a life of happiness, while Godfrey Cass goes in the opposite direction, going from having a good life with opportunities to a life of woe. The reason for Eliot’s two very different, but similar in changes in life are because she wanted to give people an idea of how things can go from bad to good and vice versa. She also wanted people to be aware of changes happening around them that could relate to the novel. Part one focuses on how Silas is accepted into the community and part 2 shows how he moves on in life with his new adopted daughter Eppie. Silas Marner is written in third person omniscient narrative (all-seeing/all-knowing narrator). This method is effective because the novel is written in detail with thorough character analysis so we, as readers know exactly what is going on. The narrator knows the different events that are happening all at once so the reader gets a better understanding of the different sides of life.
Silas is portrayed as an outsider because he is a solitary linen weaver, which is seen as an odd profession and he is subject to occasional cataleptic fits which people in his community look upon as being out of the ordinary and start to speculate. The theme of being an outsider is an especially important one brought up in Chapter 1 “In that far-off time superstition clung easily round every person or thing that was at all unwanted”. This portrays Silas Marner as an outsider because he has the ability to cure rheumatism and people see this as some kind of witchcraft so they keep their distance from him for this reason. Another quote linked to being an Outsider is
“In this way it came to pass that those scattered linen-weavers-emigrants from the town into the country- were to the last regarded as aliens by their rustic neighbours, and usually contracted the eccentric habits which belong to a state of loneliness.” This is the history behind him being an outsider, but also because Silas didn’t like to interact with people in the village. The villagers went to church, met up with each other and went to the pub, but Silas didn’t do any of these things because he liked to keep himself to himself. He has a lack of faith in humanity. He spends all day working, his appearance is somewhat strange, he has peculiar looking eyes and never really made an effort to get to know any of his neighbours or people in his community and because of this people regard him with suspicion and curiosity.
The main themes shown through Silas’s character are: being an outsider, which I have discussed above, the Silas versus the community. A lot of the novel’s theatrical force is created by the tension between Silas and the community within Raveloe. He goes from being a member of the community, to being lonely then back again. In the nineteenth century a person’s town or village was very important because it provided people with support. Eliot shows this for example when: the villagers drop in on Silas at his cottage after he has been robbed and the leftovers from he Squire’s feast to the villages poor people.
Another theme is the connection between faith and community, which Eliot shows in her close association of faith. Silas’s regained faith fluctuates from his previous place he lived, Lantern Yard significantly. His former faith was primarily based on the idea of God. When he is unfairly charged with murder, he does nothing to defend himself, leaving everything in God’s hands believing it will clear him of his name. the faith Silas regains through Eppie is different though. He bases his faith on the strength of his and Eppies relationship with each other “Since…I’ve come to love her…I’ve had light enough to trusten by; and now she says she’ll never leave me, I think I shall trusten till I die.” Silas’s belief in faith exists in people, and the goodness in them. Such a faith is inextricably linked to the bonds of community. As Dolly indicates, Silas’s faith is based on helping others and trusting others to do the same in return.
The theme of change also comes up in the novel, which by Eliot’s view is the creation of a multitude of things. Eliot’s main setting is a community of people with very old-fashioned beliefs where change doesn’t occur often. She shows how the community jointly come to accept Silas. He isn’t accepted in the beginning, but as time goes on they gradually do. Eliot shows how people can change over time, Silas from being lonely to having Eppie to look after. Eliot also shows how Silas’s views on how he perceives people and his beliefs change over time. The theme of affection is important because Eliot expresses this through her characters, especially the love for Eppie from Silas and how he grows to love her as if she were his own child. Silas is only Eppie’s adoptive father not biologically linked, but he cares for her just the same and their relationship grows over time. The relationship between Eppie and Silas also comes into this because it links with the theme of change. Eppie has opened a whole new way of life for Silas and it makes him realise how important some things in life are.
