In the beginning of the novel it mentions that Silas is living in Raveloe, a flashback then takes place back to fifteen years when Silas didn’t live in Raveloe but a place called Lantern Yard. This place is where events took place causing Silas to leave Lantern Yard. Silas was part of a religious sect in Lantern Yard. One day during a prayer meeting, Silas suffered from one of his cataleptic fits which would cause him to stand still like a statue for hours. During this time Silas’s best friend, William Dane said that his fits looked like visitations from Satan. When the church money had been stolen both William and Silas were suspects as they were the only two who had been left in the room. The members of the church decided to draw lots to declare who was guilty. Silas agreed to do this as he believed that drawing lots has something to do behind God. He said ‘God will clear me’. Silas was innocent but unfortunately declared guilty by the drawing of the lots. Silas had lost all faith in God and the trust of people as he knew his friend William set him up by stealing the money.
‘Poor Marner went out with despair in his soul – that shaken trust in God and man’.
Silas’s rampant personalities lead him to leave Lantern Yard and move to Raveloe where he weaves to escape his ‘benumbed belief’.
Fifteen years on Silas now lives in Raveloe where he has spent most of his time weaving day and night.
‘He seemed to weave like the spider from impulse without reflection’.
This metaphor means that Silas weaves to escape his pain but also Silas is trapped in his own ‘web’, trapped by the past and what had happened in Lantern Yard. Silas has not spoken to anyone during those fifteen years
The only thing that brought him joy and happiness was his gold coins. Silas is a miser; he would only spend his money on food but not for himself. Every night Silas would take his coins and count them one by one. He is unemotional towards people. When Silas broke his brown pot he had for twelve years he showed emotion as if someone had died. This shows that Silas still has some feelings inside.
‘Silas picked up the pieces and carried them home with grief in his heart’. One night Silas returned home to find that his money is missing.
‘He put his trembling hands on his head and gave a wild ringing scream, the cry of desolation’.
This quote shows that Silas was deeply upset; he felt pain and grief because his money was his only joy in life. He feels empty inside. He feels that he no longer has to work because the though of earning money will only remind him of his loss
‘As he sat weaving, he every now and then moaned low, like one in pain’.
People in the village around him acted kind to him, before they used to ignore him and stare at his strange behaviour, now they greet him and try to cheer him up of the loss of his gold. Silas changed also, normally if someone knocked on his door he would show impatience, but when Dolly Winthrop knocks on his door he would answer it and welcome he into his house
‘Formerly his heart had been locked as a casket with its treasure inside, but now the casket was empty, and the lock was broken’.
Silas has been set free because of the loss of his gold; he no longer depends on it as much as he did before.
As the New Year begins it is also a new beginning as Silas would encounter a big change in his life. On the day of Christmas Eve Silas left his door open, a little girl walked in as Silas was having one of his fits. Silas then out of his fits notices his gold. When he touched it, it was not his gold but the soft golden hair of a little girl. This girl was Eppie. Images of his sister began to fill Silas’s head. As he thinks of the past Silas also thinks of the love of his sister. Silas decides to keep the child and soon Silas begins to change. Unlike the gold which was just an object, Eppie offered Silas love, joy and happiness; she was not something to be worshipped. Since the arrival of Eppie, Silas has forgotten about his gold and in the book it does not mention Silas having more cataleptic fits. Eppie brought Silas away from weaving; she re-awakened his senses with her fresh life. Silas’s faith in God also began to change. Dolly Winthrop told Silas to go church with Eppie.
‘As the child’s mind was growing into knowledge, his mind was growing into memory: as her life unfolded, his soul, long stupefied in a cold narrow prison, was unfolding too’.
This shows me that when Eppie was happy Silas was also happy. Both Silas and Eppie were growing together as one. Eppie has released Silas from his prison and has enriched his life in a way that no gold could ever do. Silas has now learnt to love as he has someone to love of his own. People around Silas has changed, they would meet and greet him. The children were no longer scared of him
‘No child was afraid approaching Silas and Eppie was near him: there was no repulsion around him now’.
‘In the old days there were angels who came and took me by the hand and led them away from the city of destruction’.
The reference of the angel in this quote relates to the bible, the
Biblical language shows the return of faith. Eppie was the angel who set Silas free. George Eliot chose to put this quote at the end of the last chapter because she wants us to know that it is an important message and by putting this quote at the end it makes the quote stronger.
When Eppie and Silas went to visit Lantern Yard it was no longer how it was. There was no Lantern Yard at all. Lantern Yard was describes as a gloomy place because the author wants us to recognize the difference of his life in Raveloe and the one where he used to have in Lantern Yard. Silas Marner’s life in Raveloe is much happier because he has Eppie in his life. Silas Marner feels happy now because he has seen how Lantern Yard is and now knows his present life is much more enjoyable.
‘Since the time the child was sent to me and I have come to love her as myself, I’ve had the light enough to trusten by: and now she says she’ll never leave me, I think I shall trusten till I die’.
The repetition on the word trusten in this quote shows that Silas has restored his trust in man; he has his full trust in Eppie and knows that she will never leave him. The rhyme in this quote also makes it memorable, the rhyming words which are by and die. The garden in the last few paragraphs of the book represents the life that Silas and Eppie have together. This garden also reminds us of the famous garden, the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve lived. This garden represents the strong love of Silas and Eppie and show that there love is still growing and will never die.