Silas Marner - do the characters get what they deserve?

Silas' story generally agrees with the idea of a just world because of the fact that he is always good to the world and never commits an unskilful act despite what is going on in his life. His general benevolence is rewarded by the fact that Eppie comes to him thus giving his life meaning again. We know this from when Silas himself says "If you hadn't been sent to save me, I should ha' gone to the grave in my misery". The fact that Silas is recompensed for his suffering demonstrates how the world in the novel is a just one.

Dunsey is the character who most agrees with this statement because we can directly see the link between him making a bad action and him being punished. We see this from when he preys on Godfrey's misfortune by blackmailing him about his secret marriage in order to get him to "sell Wildfire". Dunsey then goes on to use devious tactics in order to try and get the highest price to sell Wildfire when he lies about having "a bid of a hundred and fifty" on the horse. After this Dunstan goes on the hunt where he "got his horse pierced with a hedge-stake", this is his first punishment for his wrong doings. After this he goes on to find Silas Marner's cottage before stealing his gold. He then falls into "into the darkness" of the coal pits. The fact that Dunsey is punished almost straight away for his sins strongly enforces the idea of a just world.

Godfrey's character doesn't particularly agree with the idea of a just world. Throughout his time in the book Godfrey makes several wrongdoings most notably keeping his marriage to Molly Farren a secret as well as not claiming Eppie as his child. The fact that he kept his marriage to Molly Farren a secret was because of his so called "moral cowardice". Because nobody new about this (except for Dunsey) the reader is expecting that when Godfrey eventually tells Nancy that she would have a very angry reaction to the news but instead she is happy because of the fact that she may now be able to have a child after all. The same thing happened to Godfrey because of him denying Eppie as his daughter her whole life. This is shown when after hearing that her mother has been found dead he suggests that Silas should "hand him over to the parish". He gets off very easily for this because as he tells Nancy she is happy because of the fact that she may now be able to have a child after all. The fact that Nancy had a happy reaction to both of these pieces of news make us feel that Godfrey got off very easily and should've been punished more as the only way that he was punished was through his own worry that someone would find out about his secrets.

Essentially the book agrees with the idea of a just world as the characters who do bad are punished for their sins and those that do good are rewarded. There are a few exceptions to this rule though which demonstrate (just like in real life) that the world is unfair.