Silas Marner Moralistic Work Essay Research Paper

Silas Marner: Moralistic Work Essay, Research Paper

Silas Marner: A Moralistic Work

In Silas Marner by George Eliot the moral themes are relative of the current social issues of the Victorian Era and play a crucial formitive role in the development of individual characters. Eliot’s introduction of realism in literature, “an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity” creates the natural appeal of the characters in the novel. “Realism has been chiefly concerned with the commonplace of everyday life among the middle and lower classes where character is a product of social factors” (Realism). Published in 1861 during a time when social, political, and religious movements flourished, Silas Marner focuses on the issues of social class separation, working class conditions, respectable marriages, morals of gentlemen, sexual repression, industrialization, and the loss of faith. These social factors are the basis for each characters personal obtainment or awareness of knowledge which in turn creates a moralistic lesson for each individual.

The characters of Dunstan and Godfrey Cass serve as a significant representation of the idea of the gentlemen in the Victorian Age. With the social classes of England newly reforming and redistributing, the hierarchical order was changing rapidly. The increase in wealth among more and more people and the attainability of rank seemed to change the standards that people imposed upon the Victorian “gentleman”. “Originally, the gentleman was a moral as well as a social category. Embodied in the idea of a gentleman were also gentleness, sympathy, a fine disposition and a fine imagination. A true gentleman was a mirror of desirable moral and social values, a cultural goal” (Werenberg). Despite the Cass brothers’ birth into a noble family they were at first paltry examples of “gentlemen”. Dunstan is so absorbed in his own difficulties he does not consider the consequences of his rash actions. His theft of Silas Marner’s gold is a speedy solution to his problems while requiring little or no effort at all. Similarly Godfrey’s secret marriage to a drunken wife and his pursuit of another woman violates societies strict moral codes. “[Gentlemen] wouldn’t think of using their (so called) power for undeserving goals more than they would endure themselves to forget strict self-control” (Arriaga). Through the brothers’ deceitfulness, scandals, and abuse of power they create a contradictory to the ideal image of the Victorian gentleman. In the end Dunstan’s inevitable death becomes the result of his malicious behavior. Godfrey on the other hand strives for gentility and reaches new heights as a noble and honest man following his confession of his previous marriage to his new wife Nancy. Through Eliot’s manipulation of Dunstan and Godfrey’s character and her use of realism during the novel, she cleverly reveals an important and realistic theme that exposes the true nature of many “gentlemen” during the Victorian age.

Another theme and social issue the Cass brothers along with Silas Marner introduce during the novel is that of social class separation. “Different social classes can be distinguished by inequalities in such areas as power, authority, wealth, working and living conditions, lifestyles, life-span, education, religion, and culture” (Cody). Silas is a depiction of almost all these inadequacies together, while Dunstan and Godrey represent the typical “upper class”. “It came to pass that those scattered linen-weavers (Silas Marner)-emigrants from the town into the country-were to the last regarded as aliens” (Eliot, 4). Marner’s lifestyle and poverty have caused his isolation from the community of Raveloe. Along with his unusual living conditions Marner is scrutinized through his religious persecutions. His excommunication with the church creates a greater separation for himself from the rest of society. Marner’s lack of power and authority makes him a prime target for ridicule, loneliness, and a means of profit. Dunstan sees Silas as a quick and easy solution to his problems and unjustly seizes his small fortune only thinking of himself and not the effect his actions will have on Marner. After the thievery Silas Marner draws further away from the community believing he can trust no one. Similarly Godfrey concentrates on his personal interests and well-being over Marner’s. Feeling envious of Silas Marner’s parenthood, Godfrey and his new wife want the opportunity to satisfy their desire as parents. They have no disregard for Marner’s love for Eppie nor do they consider the best interests of the child simply because they are of the upper class. Their needs come before anyone else’s especially those with lesser social status even if it means harming others along the way. Eliot’s use of characters and their interactions with one another effectively illustrates the use of social class separation occurring throughout the novel and relative of the time period.

Silas Marner is a perfect symbol of the working class and portrays the conditions and separation from society those of the lower classes endured during the eighteenth century. The picture that emerges [of the lower classes] is of men and women who are materially very poor by contemporary standards, who are uncomplaining in their poverty, who lead lives of hard work but rarely expect to find fulfillment from it, and for whom the family, in