What was George Eliot’s purpose in writing Silas Marner Essay Example

miserly life represented by Silas' gold is described as "a clinging life" similar to that of ivy clinging to a tree. When Silas' "tree" of gold was stolen, he could no longer sustain the parasitic way in which he so unnaturally derived happiness from his money. He felt the "withering desolation of... bereavement", just as vines of ivy would wither away with the felling of their tree. Through this use of harsh natural imagery, Eliot shows Silas' loneliness, with the whole natural world seemingly against him.

As a result of Raveloe's strong connection with nature, he rarely steps outside his stone cottage and even more infrequently goes to the village: he finds himself weaving "sixteen hours a-day". This sustained close work at the loom for fifteen years in Raveloe causes Silas to become shortsighted and have "blurred vision", which represents his narrow view of the world. It also causes him to mistake Eppie's hair for "gold on the floor in front of the hearth".

At this point, his narrow view of life comes into conflict with the person who will bring him the most happiness he has ever had and broaden his vision more than he can comprehend. As a result, he can only relate the child to the thing that he imagines would make him happiest: his gold. As Eppie grew up, Silas spent increasingly more time outdoors and thus, less time staring closely at his loom. "His soul, long stupefied in a cold, narrow prison, was unfolding" and he finds himself thinking of "Raveloe life entirely in relation to Eppie", showing a strong consideration for another human being.

This transformation of Silas' "soul" results in him

completely changing his attitude to nature, and Eliot's narrative again provides description that illustrates this: And when the sunshine grew strong and lasting, Silas might be seen in the sunny mid-day... strolling out... to carry Eppie beyond the Stone-pits to where the flowers grew, till they reached some favourite bank where he could sit... [Chapter 14] Certainly before finding Eppie, Silas would never have had a "favourite bank" or have been seen "strolling... where the flowers grew".

Eppie's very name, Hephzibah, is Hebrew for "God's delight in her", just as Silas begins to delight in, and develop respect for, the natural world. Without a fear of the world around him, Silas freely interacts with the Raveloe community and even regains the communal practice of religion from which he had been absent for years since his betrayal in Lantern Yard and being convinced that "there is no just God... but a God of lies". From virtually having no trace of spirituality, Silas is inspired by the miracle of Eppie and comes to believe that "God gave her to" him.

Certainly this is something Silas would not have thought of back at Lantern Yard where religion for him was simply the way the "minister... held the book in a long accustomed manner" and the utterance of "phrases once... familiar". The former routine of religion changes into true faith. In loving God the way he does now, he loves Eppie. In fact, after his return to Lantern Yard in Chapter 21 he says that he is rather satisfied with the changes he found and since Eppie came to him he's "had light enough to trusten by".

Eppie has had such an

effect that he not only loves her, but has been able to find love in his heart to be able to forgive the injustice he suffered in his native town: he has effectively come to love his enemy, as the Bible teaches. By unjustly forcing Silas from his industrial home-town and moving him to an unfamiliar agricultural village like Raveloe, Eliot shows that even a man as bitter and isolated as Silas can love others, despite his initial experience of betrayal and a "shaken trust in God and man".

Eliot uses natural imagery to remove the industrial layers of society familiar to her contemporary reader, in order to expose pure human kindness, and because it is a child who entered Silas' life, there is only the possibility of pure love, unblemished by lust. Ironically, it is this kindness and pure love possessed by human beings that separates us from the natural, and perhaps animal, world. To be truly happy and to avoid a hollow life, as Silas had, we must look through the confusions of modern living, like money, and find love in those around us.