On the other hand we see Godfrey receiving his rewards by his daughter being adopted by Marner. The reason for this is because Molly died in the snow on New Year’s Eve, when she was going to tell Squire Cass, what Godfrey had done. This is shown by “It can to me; I’ve a right to keep it” (Ch.13 pg.115). The writer says this to suggest that now Molly is dead and Eppie has been adopted, Godfrey can live a free life again. Godfrey can only now live a free life, is through Marner adopting Eppie. Godfrey can also live a better life because the money he gave Molly was only spent on drugs (Opium) and drinks, not clothes etc…that were needed. Now she is dead Godfrey can now marry the one lady he wants to be with, Nancy Lammeter, a wealth Lammeter member, in Raveloe.
However sixteen years on, when Eppie is grown up and Dustan’s body has been found, Godfrey knows that his pass will soon catch up with him. This is shown through Nancy and Godfrey being unable to have children of there own. Now Godfrey knows that he has Eppie, he must admit to Nancy the truth of his adopted daughter. This is apparent when Godfrey says “When God Almighty wills it our secrets are found out” (Ch.18 pg.162). This example highlights that even though he loves Nancy, he must reveal to Nancy about Eppie, if they want to have a child. But they know that it will be hard getting her back to her true father, after she has been brought up to believe that Silas is her father and not Godfrey.
By contract we see a large difference between the way Godfrey feels about Eppie and the way Marner feels about Eppie. Godfrey believes that because he is the true father, Eppie should go with him and not stay with Marner. For example “But I’ve a claim on you, Eppie-the strongest of all claims. It’s my duty, Marner, to own Eppie as my child, and provide for her. She is my own child-her mother was my wife. I have natural claim on her that must stand before every other.” (Ch.19 pg.168). The writer says this to suggest that because Eppie is Godfrey’s daughter, that she has to go with him. I think that this has brought out a side of anger to Godfrey because he considers that now Eppie knows Marner is her adopted father, it is time to become a real lady and live with him and Nancy. But this reward ends up with Eppie staying with Marner and Godfrey to ensure that “it (Eppie) was well provided for. That was a father’s duty” (Ch.51 pg.133).
A further example of characters who receives their just rewards is Dustan Cass, the second son of Squire Cass. We know how bitter and spiteful he is towards others. This is apparent in the book by “a spiteful jeering fellow” (Ch.13 pg.21). I choose this quotation because it shows us that Dustan is known within the community for being an evil Cass family member. This also helps to tell us that Dunsey, his nickname, only cares for himself and nothing or no one.
Another example to why Dustan is rewarded is through the way he reacts with the public. When we examine his rewards we discover that Dustan doesn’t care or think for others. For example “took one fence too many, and ‘staked’ his horse.” (Ch.4 pg.33) and “saw it was all over with Wildfire” (Ch.4 pg.33). I choose these quotations because they show that Dustan has no care over Godfrey’s horse, plus didn’t really care what happened to Wildfire after the hurt. These quotations also help to bring out the point of how unreliable Dustan is and how he always lies. Dustan is shown to be unreliable through the way he drinks, gambles and blackmails people because of the way Squire Cass treated him.
The next point to why we see Dustan Cass getting his just rewards is through his drinking and gambling. The reason for why he drinks and gambles is because the Cass sons, where shown, to grow up with no idol to follow. I know this because the book says “he had kept all his sons at home in idleness” (Ch.3 pg.24). This example highlights that Squire Cass is a weak father as he could not control his four sons. The outcome of this is punishment for Dustan because of the way he tried several times to get Godfrey, his older brother, in trouble.
However we see Dustan, yet again being rewarded, by blackmailing his brother, Godfrey for money. I know that Dustan blackmails Godfrey because of the way Dustan manipulated his brother into marring Molly. For example “His handsome son was married to that nice young women, Molly Farren, and was very unhappy because he couldn’t live with his drunken wife” (Ch.3 pg.23). From this quotation it tells us that Dunsey has not got his own money, so blackmails his own brother for some money instead. This also can tell us that Godfrey or Dustan were ready to tell Squire Cass, about the secret marriage and child.
The final point to why we can see Dustan receiving his just rewards is through his punishment of death. The reason to why he died is because he stole Marner’s gold. I know this because the novel says “So he stepped forward into the darkness” (Ch.4 pg.35). The writer suggest that Dustan thought that after he stole Marner’s gold, he wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt for the rest of his life. So instead he decided to kill himself, by falling into the stone pits outside Marner’s home, because it meant that he didn’t have to live with the guilt. However looking at the language the author uses, it shows that that the word ‘darkness’ could mean many this. The reason for this is because the word ‘darkness’ in the book means that Dustan is walking out into the night. But it could also make us think about will happen to Dustan after he has gone into the distance.
In the novel we can examine more characters who are rewarded. Another character who we see being rewarded is Squire Cass, a feckless widower. We see Squire Cass being rewarded through his behaviour of his children. The reason for the behaviour of his children is because they had no role models to follow when they were younger. This is apparent in Ch.3 pg.24 “he had kept all his sons at home in idleness.” The writer says this to suggest that Squire was weak and couldn’t stand up to his own children. The one problem that Squire had was to stop his children from growing up to be useless children. All Squire wants is for his children turn out to be well behaviour young men. The quote also shows that Squire hasn’t made his children learn the meaning of money through working for it, not like Silas who works for his money.
A further example of how we see Squire Cass receiving his rewards is in sixteen years later, when Eppie is a young woman. Squire is being rewarded for the disappearance of his second son, Dustan. This is because sixteen years ago Dunsey stole Marner’s money and then suddenly disappeared. This is shown by “It was no matter what became of Dunsey” (Ch.3 pg.24). This shows us that the community of Raveloe knew that the way Squire had treated Dustan; it was no wonder why he had turned out that way. But over sixteen years Squire Cass had not believed that the disappearance of Dustan had anything to do with him and for the way Dustan was evil and selfish within Raveloe.
However we can see Squire Cass again being rewarded through a gap of sixteen years, when Godfrey and Nancy have got married and now can’t have any children. Even though we know that Marner has adopted Godfrey’s child, Eppie. The reason why I know that Godfrey and Nancy can’t have children is that the book saying “to pass for childless once, Nancy. I shall pass childless now against my wish” (Ch.20 pg.174). I choose this quotation because it now shows us that, thanks to the way Squire Cass treated his son’s, with no role model to follow when they were younger, now means Squire got punished for it by having no grandchildren. Although if Nancy and Godfrey did have children, it may have changed the way Squire Cass treated his family and the society of Raveloe. Having grandchildren could have made him become a better man.
The final character we see gaining their rewards is Molly Farren, Godfrey’s secret wife. The first point to why it appears Molly gets rewarded is trough the secret marriage to Godfrey Cass. For example “he had not measured this wife with who he had lived so long” (Ch.18 pg.163). This quotation shows us that before Godfrey and Molly got married, they didn’t really think of what will happen years on, when Molly started drinking. This quotation meant that the marriage would have to be kept a secret because of their different social equivalent as each other.
We can examine further how Molly gains rewards by her opium addiction. The reward she receives is death. But she also makes sure before her death Eppie didn’t touch the drug. This and Molly’s drinking and drug taking are shown by “Expect in lingering mother’s tenderness that refused to give him their hungry child” (Ch.12 pg.107) and “She did not feel that the bed was cold, and did not heed whether the child would wake and cry for her.” (Ch.12 pg.108). These examples highlights that because of the money Godfrey gave her, she decided to spend it all on drinks and drugs, instead of the things she needed to help bring Eppie up. Through these quotations they suggest that Molly did deserve to died, because on the one hand she was show as a bad mother for her drug addition and her drinking. But by contrast Molly was also shown as a good mother because she made sure that her daughter didn’t drink or took drugs.
In conclusion we can see that the characters through out the novel who were rewarded were because they chose to do good to be selfless people,. This meant that they were a character who chose to do well, so then they were shown as selfless people. However the characters that chose to neglect their duties or do wrong were punished for it. These characters were shown as selfish within the religious community, in the industrial revolution. Although throughout the book we saw examples of rewards and punishments on different characters. We see that Marner and Godfrey are selfless and Dustan, Molly, Squire Cass and again Godfrey are shown as selfish. By contrast the author could pick which characters were selfless and which characters who were selfish, so George Eliot could deliver the ‘just rewards’ throughout the book.