George Eliots Middlemarch is a novel embroidered by social relations, marriages, gender roles and a plain perspective on the Victorian society. Adopting a feminist perspective, Eliot aims at putting forth some matters of gender roles within the time

George Eliot's Middlemarch George Eliot's Middlemarch is a novel embroidered by social relations, marriages, gender roles and a plain perspective on the Victorian society. Adopting a feminist perspective, Eliot aims at putting forth some matters of gender roles within the time and she successfully portrays the state of the society with her complex characters and marriages full of frustration and disappointment. At this stage it would be suitable to analyze the novel from a feminist point of view and to take a closer look at the characters and social relations revealed in the novel. Some of the major themes stated in the novel can be considered as disillusion, gender roles and frustrated love relations and marriages especially with the marriages of some major characters such as Dorothea, Casaubon, Lydgate and Rosamond. Through the details which Eliot uses to portray her characters it becomes possible to deeply analyze the themes mentioned above. Taking a closer look at the novel, it would be suitable to take a closer look at some major characters such as Dorothea. She draws the character of a young lady who is idealist and who stands against the patriarchal law of the Victorian society. She is hungry for knowledge and believes that she can do more in the world other than being just a simple and ordinary woman which the Victorian society asks her to be. As stated in

  • Word count: 3848
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Discuss the recurring theme of sympathy, forgiveness and compassion in The Mill on the Floss.

‘Oh, Tom, it’s very cruel,’ sobbed Maggie. ‘I’d forgive you, if you forget anything – I wouldn’t mind what you did – I’d forgive you and love you.’ Discuss the recurring theme of sympathy, forgiveness and compassion in The Mill on the Floss. George Eliot, writing about 1830’s English society in her novel The Mill On The Floss, puts forth, to the reader the themes of forgiveness, compassion, and sympathy using literary techniques, in The Mill on the Floss; she does this through Maggie’s relationship with Philip, the Tulliver men’s nature and society. Firstly, Eliot presents the themes of sympathy, forgiveness and compassion through Maggie’s relationship with Philip by using narrative methods and language. Throughout the novel the author conveys Maggie’s relationship with Philip as having revolved around sympathy, as seen by her ‘tenderness’ for his ‘deformity,’ because she felt he was more ‘fond’ of her compared to ‘strong’ people. This shows the audience, how Maggie was compassionate and wanted to give love to people who did not receive much attention, which derives from her childhood where she did not receive much kindness, as seen by the phrase, ‘you have always enjoyed punishing me’, when Maggie is being scolded by Tom for being friends with Philip. Her compassion is further reinforced by the fact that she was willing to

  • Word count: 1198
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"Silas Marner is nothing more than a fairy story." Do you think this is a fair assessment of George Elliot's novel?

Silas Marner & Fairy Tale "Silas Marner is nothing more than a fairy story." Do you think this is a fair assessment of George Elliot's novel? In this novel, by George Eliot, 'Silas Marner', there are many fairy tales like aspects. Silas Marner is indeed a fairy tale, but it isn't purely a fairy tale. It also has realistic aspects. Fairy tales always have happy endings and they always represent the power of good over evil. They also have a timeless and universal quality towards them and they often contain some form of magic. In the novel there are many characters that like characters that you would expect in fair tales. However, although there are fairy tale like characters in this novel, there are also those that are more realistic characters. Therefore, it can be said that the characters in this novel are divided into those that are fairy tale characters, and those that are realistic characters. Also, in this novel there are a few characters that are partially fairy tale like characters, and partially realistic. The novel, in that case is divided into three types of characters; fairy tale characters, mixed characters, and realistic characters. Between the three different types of characters, they are also divided into some heroes and some villains. There are quite a few fairy tale characters in this novel. In most fairy tales, there are similar

  • Word count: 1615
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Examine Eliot's Presentation of Parenthood in Silas Marner

Examine Eliot's Presentation of Parenthood in Silas Marner "A child more than all other gifts That earth can offer to declining man Brings hope with it and forward looking thoughts." (Title page) One the title page of the first edition of Silas Marner, George Eliot quotes from Wordsworth's poem Michael. She immediately introduces the significance of parenthood and the powerful emotional effect a child can have on a parent. I feel Eliot uses the parents in Silas Marner to demonstrate the personal rewards that are gained from the efforts of good parenting, and the weak family ties created by indifferent, ineffective parenting. She questions what makes a good parent and also examines the nature versus nurture aspect of parenthood. I think that Eliot believes in the importance of a female influence in nurturing children and illustrates this in her presentation of the Cass family. Squire Cass is a widower of four children whose house "was without that presence of the wife and mother which is the fountain of wholesome love and fear in parlour and kitchen" (P32). I feel that this metaphor describes the significance Elliot places on the involvement of a woman's devotion in a family. She influences the reader to disapprove of the Squire as a parent since in Raveloe "it was thought a weakness in the Squire that he had kept all his sons at home in idleness" (P32) and uses him

  • Word count: 1760
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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'How successfully does George Elliot balance sympathy and criticism in Godfrey Cass?'

H.Crawford Page 1 07/11/'04 English EW 'How successfully does George Elliot balance sympathy and criticism in Godfrey Cass?' Before I answer this question, I will first ask what we think of Godfrey Cass himself; is he unlucky? Or are his problems his own fault and he deserves what he gets? Well, I think that most readers feel both because whilst we can see they are his problems, at the same type Eliot helps evoke our pity for him and makes us think that they are not necessarily his fault. I think the main word to describe Godfrey is 'coward', for although he is not evil and has no desire to harm anyone, he is not willing to neither take responsibility for his own actions nor give up his desires when they conflict with duty. In fact, his general character seems to be summed up by Elliot's words on page 26 where she says he is full of 'irresolution and moral cowardice'. This idea continues throughout the book, where he will not admit the truth to Nancy, thereby making the situation worse, although Godfrey believes he is making it better because he is not hurting anyone and furthermore nothing is hurting him. It is this theme that Elliot bases her sympathy and criticism around, because on the one hand we can see he isn't really doing the right thing by trying to hide his marriage to Molly, but on the other we can see that he is trying to avoid trouble and hurting

  • Word count: 1198
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The Importance of Belonging in 'Silas Marner'

The Importance of the Theme of Belonging in Silas Marner The theme of belonging is featured frequently, throughout the book, sometimes in more tenuous ways than others. There are many different things in Silas Marner that someone or something can belong to: both abstract and concrete. For example Godfrey belongs to the Cass family which, in turn, belongs to the community of the village. However before one can begin to answer the question of how important belonging is in such situations, it is important to examine how a character or thing can belong to the novel and the outcome of certain belongings along with statements made in the narrative voice by Elliot expressing her opinion on it. Under this topic, the three most relevant sub-topics are belonging to a community and place (these are both heavily linked so can be examined together), belonging to a family or close relationship and also the belonging of possessions. The most blatant example of belonging affecting a character is Silas's changes of attitude to life when he is part of Lantern Yard and Raveloe in different ways. Elliot makes it quite clear when Silas truly belongs to a place and when he doesn't. She shows that Silas is truly part of Lantern Yard by the fact he has close friends (including a girl-friend and William Dane), grew up there, has trust from the other villagers and is part of what makes the village

  • Word count: 1479
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Introduces her four major concerns illustrated in Silas Marner - namely village life

Within the very first paragraph on the book, Gorge Elliot introduces her four major concerns illustrated in Silas Marner - namely village life (of the late 18th century), superstition and belief, alienation and historical change (in this case specifically that caused by industrial revolution and the ending of the Napoleonic Wars). These concerns are closely woven together in the story (and in some cases real life) as can once again be seen in this opening two paragraphs and often can be looked at in relation to one another. Village life was probably Gorge Elliot's primary focus when writing the novel and her anthropological investigations provide us with a fair deal of insight into it throughout the novel. The village of Raveloe is the setting for the majority of the story. The third line, while not introducing us to it per se, introduces us to the general idea of villages resembling it. It is said to be "far away among the lanes or deep in the bosom of the hills". This is an important introduction, physically and psychologically distancing Victorian readers from Raveloe and making it seem totally different from the world they live in. In many ways, this difference is very real. Raveloe is still untouched by the effects of the industrial revolution that created the town Elliot's readers are familiar with. It is Elliot's objective to provide a comparison between Raveloe and

  • Word count: 998
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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'How does George Elliot account for the changes that occur over the course of the novel in Silas Marner's character and his relationships with others?'

H.Crawford Page 1 07/05/2007 English EW 'How does George Elliot account for the changes that occur over the course of the novel in Silas Marner's character and his relationships with others?' In order to answer this question we must first look at what changes do actually occur; firstly there is the main change in the book, which is the change that occurs in Silas Marner himself. This is the main theme of the book, and indeed, this change is divided into two parts; the Silas before Eppie arrives and the Silas after she has arrived. Furthermore this is the first and simple way that we can see that George Elliot has accounted for this change; she has divided the book into two parts according to the above change. Whilst this is the main change in the novel, there are many others, but the important difference to note is that they all revolve around the above change; take, for instance, the change that occurs in the Raveloe village itself; it changes as Silas does, for at first they thought that Silas was strange or even some kind of demon, but then as he changed and 'opened up' so they grew to accept him. Another major change that occurs throughout the book is the change in Godfrey Cass; this change is slightly different to the rest, for two reasons; firstly, whereas most other changes happen gradually, Godfrey's change happens spontaneously when he tells

  • Word count: 959
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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What is Your Response to the Suggestion that Raveloe is the Main Character Of The Novel, Silas Marnerl?

What is Your Response to the Suggestion that Raveloe is the Main Character Of The Novel? Throughout the book, we see that George Elliot has a distinct pre-occupation and interest with presenting the working class rural community in an authentic light. She writes the book as a social anthropologist, studying the more primitive community of the time. She has a large amount of sympathy towards the poor, although she herself was not a member of the working class. Using the story as a vehicle she aims to expose the plight and indignity of the poor in Victorian England, it was her main motive. Therefore, her focus throughout the book is in fact village life; in this case a fictional village named Raveloe. Focusing on the villagers, their attitudes and their way of life acts as a way of also commenting socially and politically on the injustices they face. Raveloe can easily be regarded as the main character as without it, the narrative following Silas has little significance. The village shapes the narrative, being responsible for most of the major areas of interest in the tale. All the individual characters provide interest and together form the character of the town, from characters such as Dunsey to Dolly. The story begins with a sympathetic description of the 'honest folk' of Raveloe. Our first real source of interest in the novel comes from the villager's hostile reaction to

  • Word count: 1523
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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