What Part Does Gold Play in the Lives of Godfrey Cass and Silas Marner?

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English Coursework-What Part Does Gold Play in the Lives of Godfrey Cass and Silas Marner?

George Eliot's 19th century novel explores the lives of the people of Raveloe, especially those of Godfrey Cass and the weaver Silas Marner. Raveloe was a small, sleepy village tucked far away from the advancing industrial revolution. "Raveloe lay low among the bushy trees and the rutted lanes, aloof from the currents of industrial energy" The inhabitants of the village led simple lives and were all traditionally church going. They were highly suspicious of strangers, particularly those from different parts of the country. This reflects the fact that travel was inevitably slower and more arduous than it is today, and any traveller would have been seen as though almost from a different country.

Even though Silas and Godfrey have seemingly nothing in common, leading two very different lives separated by a large gulf in class, they are both linked together by the power of gold, in the literal and symbolic sense. By the end of the novel their paths have intertwined.

The book starts with Silas very much alone, his faith in mankind and God shattered. "Poor Marner went out with despair in his soul that shakes trust in man and God, which is little short of madness to a loving nature" George Eliot describes Silas as "honest" and "simple" and says he is "a good man". He lives within a religious sect in a convent called Lantern Yard in a large soon to be industrialised northern town. When his friend of many years at the sect, William Dane, betrays him by falsely accusing him of the theft of gold, Silas is crushed. At the base of Silas's problems throughout the book is gold. He leaves the sect a broken man, a deep distrust of mankind firmly rooted in him. The weaver travels to Raveloe, a village that is almost the exact opposite of his home town, trying to forget his past life but consumed with a lasting bitterness. "There was nothing here, when he rose in the deep morning quiet and looked out on the dewy branches and rank tufted grass, that seemed to have any relation with that centring on Lantern Yard.." Once in Raveloe Silas goes into a self imposed isolation, afraid of betrayal again. Whilst not being a particularly gregarious person in the first place, quite shy and simple, Silas now loathes having any contact with the people of Raveloe.

Godfrey Cass, the son of Squire Cass and a respected and well liked man in the village is also in a state of uncertainty. He is plagued by fears he may lose his vast inheritance, and without money, for which he has been accustomed to his whole life, he would be destitute, with no means to attain an income of his own. "The disinherited son of a small squire, was almost as helpless as an uprooted tree" He has for several years kept secret a marriage to a woman of much lower class that would surely degrade him in his social groups and have an adverse affect on his attempts to marry Nancy Lammeter. Complicating matters is the fact that Godfrey's scheming brother Dunstan knows of this and is blackmailing his brother extortionate amounts of money to keep quiet. Godfrey is fast running out of money himself and has turned to desperate measures to raise it. Just as in Silas's case, gold is the root of Godfrey's dilemma. Godfrey has already taken rent from one of his father's tenants and given it to Dunstan and now must sell his beloved horse Wildfire to raise money. He is stuck in this position due to his own cowardice, not raising up the confidence to tell his father of the marriage and end his turmoil. He frequently decides to expose what he has done before backing away from it, fearing the consequences. This irresolute behaviour indicates he is not a very strong willed man "But when he awoke in the still morning darkness he found it impossible to reawaken his evening thoughts; it was as if they had been tired out and were not to be roused to further work" This weak behaviour does not endear him to the reader, to whom it is obvious he is an indecisive man with gold controlling his decisions. Godfrey allows Dunstan to take Wildfire to be sold at the end of chapter 3. He gets a good price for the horse but whilst racing it takes a fall, 'staking' Wildfire which leads to the animals quick death. Dunstan walks off unscathed, minus the desperately needed money. Walking home he notices Silas's house unattended
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On arrival in Raveloe Silas's closes himself into his home and begins working feverishly in his loom, not stopping. He takes comfort in the repetitive work, having no time to reflect on his friend's treachery, resembling a spider spinning a web "He seemed to weave, like the spider, from pure impulse, without reflection". George Eliot compares him to an insect as the only human urges he has are to eat, drink and sleep. He does not long for companionship and is more similar to a spider than a human being. It is at this stage he is first ...

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