Silas Marner
This essay discusses the changing role of money in Silas Marner's life.
Money is a very important theme throughout this novel. The conclusion explains money doesn't necessarily make people happy. The author, George Eliot teaches this point through its characters:
The Cass family have money but they never seem satisfied. Dolly Winthrop is poor, but happy in a fatalistic way and Silas Marner in his days at lantern yard saw faith as more important than money.
The novel appears to argue that some things such as happiness, trust and faith are more valuable than money and wealth.
The story of Silas Marner starts with Silas being a good, honest man. He is a very religious man, who in Lantern Yard was involved in a religious community.
His little savings amounted to "three pounds five of my own" and "a large proportion of his weekly earnings had gone to piety and charity." This suggests that Silas was more concerned with faith in his God, then in money.
Silas was accused of stealing money, which belonged to the church. Silas was astonished but unafraid, "God will clear me," and invited the church to search his home. His friend William Dane found the empty moneybag in Silas's room but still he trusted in God "God will clear me."
Silas suddenly realises that William Dane has betrayed him but he still puts his trust in god, Silas says for the third time, "God will clear me". God, however, doesn't clear him.
Lots are drawn and Silas is found guilty. Silas was "bruised" by William's deceit and began to lose his faith in God. He says, "There is no just God that governs the earth righteously, but a God of lies." For a, previously deeply religious man this represents the depths of despair.
At the end of chapter one, Silas is hurt, disillusioned lonely, bitter and unhappy. Silas is in anguish having lost all faith in man and God. He is left with nothing except his work.
In chapter two we find out that Silas has been living in Raveloe for fifteen years, since he was young man. He did not invite any guests into his home, made no effort to befriend other villagers, and did not pursue any women. He is welcome in the town because he is the only local linen - weaver.
Silas' life ...
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At the end of chapter one, Silas is hurt, disillusioned lonely, bitter and unhappy. Silas is in anguish having lost all faith in man and God. He is left with nothing except his work.
In chapter two we find out that Silas has been living in Raveloe for fifteen years, since he was young man. He did not invite any guests into his home, made no effort to befriend other villagers, and did not pursue any women. He is welcome in the town because he is the only local linen - weaver.
Silas' life grew more emptier "he hated the thought of the past, there was nothing that called out his love and fellowship towards the strangers he has come to live amongst. The future was dark, for there was "no unseen love that cared for him."
Silas prospers in Raveloe. He becomes very rich; he weaves the best cloth in the neighbourhood. He receives five guineas for a tablecloth and for the first time he keeps these earnings all for himself. No longer having to share them with the church. He has been reduced to, " the mere function of weaving and hoarding." This means that his job has overtaken everything in his life.
He works sixteen hours each day, counting his earnings like a man marking off days of imprisonment on a wall. He enjoys the physical presence of the gold coins and handles them joyfully "bathes his hands". He keeps them in the floor beneath his loom, in an iron pot and only pulls them out at night. When the iron pot overflows, he begins keeping the money in two leather bags. He lives this way for fifteen years, until a sudden change alters his life one Christmas.
We can only understand how devastating the loss of his gold is, if we understand how important the gold is to him, it replaces everything he has lost. He doesn't want the gold for what it can buy, he actually loves the coins themselves. In fact he spends as little as possible on himself because he can't bear to part with his beloved coins.
Indeed, money allows Silas to have the same reverence and admiration for the symbolic representations without requiring any human component. Money becomes to Silas Marner what the amulets of his religious sect once were. Once the last trace of his need for human fellowship is cast away by his banishment from the sect, he find himself seeking the same spiritual edification from his gold coins.
In chapter three we are introduced to the second plot, which revolves around Godfrey Cass. The Cass family are rich and powerful. Dunstan, the evil son of the squire, is blackmailing Godfrey who secretly married Molly Farren. She turned into a drunken, drug-taking wife. If this secret comes out then Godfrey will lose his inheritance. Nancy Lammeter is Fodfrey's new interest; he cannot court her while he already has a wife.
The story of Silas merges with the plot of Godfrey Cass. Godfrey has agreed to sell his horse, Wildfire, to raise the blackmail money. Dunstan arranges a sale yet foolishly kill's the horse. As he is returning to Raveloe without the horse or money he passes Marner's cottage. Dunstan enters to see the cottage is empty; he finds the bags of gold and goes back into the dark misty night. George Eliot says, as Dunstan leaves the cottage, that he "stepped forward in to the darkness." This is a metaphor for going to hell.
Silas returns to his cottage and before dinner he decides to get out the gold. To his horror he finds that it is missing. He is filled with terror but cannot believe the gold has really gone. He spends hours searching and hoping that it might turn up. It doesn't!
When he finally accepts that it has gone, he lets out, "a wild, ringing scream, the cry of desolation." He, "totters" towards his loom almost insane. He is so devastated he can hardly walk. His purpose in life has been destroyed. This loss is described as, "the withering desolation of a bereavement." Silas decides it is a thief and suspects Jem Rodney. Silas chooses to walk to the village. He goes to the Rainbow to notify the villages of robbery and depends on the Squire and others to help him recover his money.
The villagers are surprised by the appearance of Silas who enters the pub stating his loss. Jem Rodney denies the charge and Silas apologises, as he knows about being wrongly accused. The men are helpful and suggest that there must be some clues to track down the thief. Mr Dowlas and Mr Snell go out into the dark to help Silas. He doesn't realise it yet, all he cares about in his lost gold, but the loss has aroused the sympathy of the people of Raveloe and made him less frightening.
In chapter ten Silas if filled with grief and pain, as he is still without money. Eliot refers to his "withering desolation" as if he is shrivelled up by despair. She refers to the loss felt by Silas as someone whose loved one has died.
The attitudes of the villagers are changing as they try to comfort him by visiting his cottage and bringing gifts. Visits from Mr Macey, Dolly Winthrop and Aaron show the concern. Silas is asked to attend church. We see Silas slowly becoming a part of the community. His loneliness and isolation are over; he is no longer an outsider.
At the end of the chapter Silas, despite the increased friendliness of the villages is left alone and feels like life has nothing further to offer.
In chapter eleven it is New Year's Eve and a party at the Red House is organised. Everyone comments on the beauty of Nancy. The Squire is hoping Godfrey will show her affection, he wants to but he is already married.
While Godfrey is enjoying himself at the party, Molly is on her way to the red house to disclose the secret marriage. She feels that she has been neglected. Molly is carrying her child. Molly takes some of the drug and falls in the snow. The child toddles towards Silas's cottage, she is attracted into his home by the bright glow of his fire. Silas is having a cataleptic fit and fails to notice the child enters the doorway.
When he wakes he thinks his gold has returned. He looks at her and, "it seemed as if there were gold on the floor in front of the hearth". But, "instead of the hard coin.... his fingers encountered soft warm curls." The Author contrasts hard coins and soft curls. When he realises that the child is real, he is filled with wonder and begins to remember feelings of tenderness which he has known before he was betrayed at Lantern Yard.
When the child wakes the instinctively cares for her and there is an immediate bond. His gold is forgotten about because, from the start, Eppie fills the empty places in his life.