How does Eliot create sympathy for Marner in chapters 1 & 2 Essay Example

arriving at Raveloe, and. This makes us wonder how, after 15 years; Silas Marner is still such a mysterious, solitary character. We are told that "Marner's inward life had been a history and a metamorphosis".

This statement arouses curiosity in the reader, and offers us the prospect of an insight into Marner's past, and an explanation as to why he currently lives in isolation.Eliot then jumps backwards chronologically to describe Marner's time at Lantern Yard, a strange Religious cult-like sect common at the historical context of the novel; where it is explained to us how he was betrayed so easily by his best friend and all he knew, and how this single act of betrayal left him with nothing. This knowledge into Marner's character helps explain why Silas will be untrusting and a recluse at first entry into Raveloe, but it begs us to ask why he still after 15 years hasn't integrated.Eliot then brings the storyline back to the first arrival at Raveloe, and from then on continues chronologically through Marner's life until the end.

Marner is handed by Eliot the profession of being a weaver, which in those days carried with them a suspicious and unholy air that aroused the attention of the ignorant townsfolk upon arrival. Using the historical context, the reader can understand why Marner, being a weaver, was described as looking like "the remnants of a disinherited race" and as an "alien looking man" to the villagers.He is superstitiously thought to have help from "The Evil One" to do his work typically by the backward people of Raveloe. Weaving would have been solitary work using a loom, which would have

been a strange, foreign machine outside the industrial-revolution time towns and cities.

This helps him immediately be ostracised and explains the immediate difficulty in socialising between the society of Raveloe and Marner, the now known local weirdo. The reader knows that Marner has had it difficult in the past and is now made alone against his choice, therefore inciting sympathy on his part.There are immediately many "mysterious peculiarities" and suspicions developed about Marner's character. He doesn't go to church, he doesn't attend the Rainbow pub, nobody knows where he came from, he treated Sally Oates from illness with the use of herbs, and he suffers from misunderstood cataleptic fits. All of these things establish Marner as associated with the Dark Arts and the Devil.

Eliot describes further the village of Raveloe; and its relation to Marner's already outcast self due to the backwardness of the village. And Raveloe was a place where many old echoes lingered, undrowned by new voices" Eliot describes the place almost akin to the Garden of Eden. This relates to the ease and sanctity of the place among those that lived there. It is described with having "the large church in the wide churchyard", showing the space and ease in the countryside, contrasting to the cramped concealment of Lantern Yard; "orchards looking lazy with neglected plenty" and "where women seemed to be laying up a stock of linen for the life to come".

This gives the image of Raveloe being a place of laziness and plenty, with "purple-faced farmers, jogging along the lanes or turning in at the Rainbow" that are all healthy. This is the perfect place to come to from

a place like Lantern Yard, and Marner should be happy here. But he isn't. Marner is utterly lost in Raveloe, it is so different to the life he left behind and all he knew at Lantern Yard, it being his "fostering home of his religious emotions"."What could be more unlike that Lantern Yard world than the world in Raveloe? " Because of this, it is made more difficult for Marner to fit in. ven as Raveloe seems the perfect place to live, which taunts the reader into promised happiness for any resident and therefore Marner (which at this point the reader cares about).

Everyone finds it hard to adapt to a new place at first because "the past becomes dreamy, because its symbols have all vanished, and the present too is dreamy, because it is linked with no memories". This is important at creating sympathy because it underlines the fact that Marner has nothing and nobody to relate to, not even the surroundings, in Raveloe. For the first time in his life, he is completely alone from both God and a society.Marner's reliance on the world in Lantern Yard and the faith he has in God is shown in where Marner is placed on trial for theft at Lantern Yard by the church elders; right where it all comes crashing down. He is so blinded by faith and innocence that he doesn't see the ill in people, especially to that of his 'best friend' William Dane the betrayer, framing him into theft.

Trials in Lantern Yard were decided by the drawing of 'lots' by the elders. Marner is convinced that "God will clear [him]", is

sure of this because he has been taught that the lots are always right as God decides their outcome.We see that "the lots declared Silas Marner as guilty". We the reader know this as an injustice on such an innocent soul and are immediately stimulated into sympathy because we know Marner to be innocent. Because of this forsaking of belief in God, Marner loses his faith completely, and with his denouncement, "there is no just God", he is forced to leave Lantern Yard.

Marner's physical appearance and ways he is given by Eliot as well as the ways he falls into while at Raveloe are crucial for creating sympathy and image for the readers.Eliot creates sympathy for Marner by comparing him as a weaver several times to that of an animal; especially to a spider. "He seemed to weave, like a spider, from pure impulse...

" This suggests the nature of Marner to be likened to that of a spider, imaging him as being repulsive to his neighbours, like a spider is to most people, but also quite harmless and lonely. Spiders are dark, unremitting creatures that have spindly legs and scurry around, all of this helps the reader feel and develop the character of Marner on another plane of thought into the outcast, misunderstood creature that he is to the villagers.She also uses this comparison to build the case of Marner's life being reduced somewhat; describing that his life had been diminished to the "unquestioning activity of a spinning insect" and he lived his life "unremittingly, never asking himself why," so that he could sit "weaving - looking towards the end of his web,

till he forgot the riddle [of life] and everything else but his immediate sensations. ". Weaving and what it brought to him was an escape from having to live; so it became what he based his life around in Raveloe, at great foreshadowed expense.

The cataleptic fits that Marner suffers from are greatly misunderstood due to lack of medical knowledge, and they are seen as something attributed with the Devil. Jem Rodney, one of the regulars at the Rainbow, finds Marner during a fit, and described his eyes as being "set like a dead man's". Even to Eliot's contemporaries, these fits would have been looked upon with great suspicion, perhaps even being seen as "visitations" of God knows what.In Lantern Yard they were generally accepted, revered even, but his fits were used against him by his betrayer, William Dane, who claimed that "this trance looked more like a visitation of Satan than a proof of divine favour". In knowledge that Marner has never claimed his fits be attributed with any form of visitation, divine or otherwise, as well as he has no control over these fits the audience is provoked into further sympathy. Dane persuades the rest of the cult that not only Marner is a thief, but also that is he is a religious undesirable.

We today are further provoked to sympathy because we are more aware of the nature of fits.Marner also has knowledge of herbs, and manages to treat Sally Oates and relieve the symptoms of a heart disease, and due to lack of medical knowledge and awareness, this is seen with tight suspicion: "The occult character of the process was evident" Again

this is another attribute of Marner's to help liken his character to that of the Devil. Marner is compared to the "Wise Woman of Tarley", who was known in the area for granting "charms, as well as 'stuff'", and occultist-like 'cures'. The people of the village believe he is "of the same sort" and arrive at his door asking to "charm away the hooping-cough" and other illnesses.This was an opportunity for Marner where he could have used the attention of the village in order to forge relations and regain some form of proper social contact, "rescue[ing] him from the insect-like existence into which his nature had shrunk".

Marner, blinded by his unremitting innocence, will not have the people believe he has the power to charm away illnesses. The people of Raveloe refuse to believe Marner, and Eliot uses Marner's simple act of honesty against him, to further isolate him. Eliot creates sympathy in even the most simple of things.In his appearance development he is described with a "deer like gaze" and "large prominent eyes". These descriptions suggest that Marner is a venerable, nai?? vely innocent creature, with deer being a known pray. Marner does not see the evil in people.

This is then contrasted with William Dane's "narrow slanting eyes", which associates with being predatory. This contrasting of description underlines the point of making William Dane the hunter and Silas Marner the deer. As Marner weaves away the days, he is spurred on by the amount of time he has on his hands and the concept of gaining money.He had never had money to manage himself before, as in Lantern Yard everything financial is hinted

to have been heavily controlled. Marner's character gains great companionship in gaining coins, and falls in love with them; truly believing that they love him back.

He treats his coins as though they are his "unborn children"; "begotten by his labour" (the use of the word labour further underlines the point of parenthood). Earlier chronologically, his brown pot had been his "most precious utensil" and had been his "companion" for several years. Marner also feels that his look is "conscious of him", testament to his loneliness with weaving.George Eliot heavily personifies Marner's treasured possessions to emphasise their importance to him and the scarcity of life he possesses. This is also used to build contrast with his extreme lack of human contact.

Eliot uses authorial intervention to guide the reader into what she intended them to think, and to also entwine her personal experiences relevant to the story into the novel. "I once said... " By using authorial intervention, Eliot can explain points she has made and get away with it.

This can be used to guide the audience's imagery and opinion into better grasping the author's views.Eliot changes the points of view and the objectiveness of the narrative several times in the novel; for example, she uses psychological insight of Dunsey when he steals Marner's money. She takes us through his thought processes from him planning on asking to borrow the money, to realising Marner isn't home, and assuming he is dead; all in a matter of seconds. She changes the language sometimes to give the impression of a different point of view. For example into one of the villagers in the description of how

Marner is found to have cured Sally Oates, Eliot states that "Silas Marner must be a person of the same sort.

.. and then uses speculative language that the reader knows to be wrong. The rule of three is used to emphasise the stages that Marner goes through in achieving his ultimate goal. Marner is only 'normal' and 'ascended' again once he has Eppie, who is the manifestation of emancipation and forthgiving love. Eppie loves Marner back as a father, and this love is different from Lantern Yard and the coins.

Marner has been allowed to finally grow into a whole human in proper wholesome love with Eppie. He learns responsibilities, and the trust in what he loves.When Eppie is threatened to be taken away, the reader expects her to be; the reader knows what kind of luck (or maybe fate? ) Marner has in such situations and knows how vulnerable he is ("You might as well take the heart out o' my body"). Marner resigns in that he has no control over what is going to happen, he has learned. He trusts Eppie into making the decision, and for once, a love of his loves him back, chooses to stay with Marner. The answer to Godfrey as he asks Eppie whether she would like to leave Marner is forlorn but different.

Marner has faith. "Eppie my child, speak. I won't stand in your way. " This is all foreshadowed, as earlier on chronologically with the coins Eliot has given Marner a partial fulfilment: those coins make him happy.

He loves them and believes they love him back. He had found something to fill in the gaps

left by the exile; but they do not love him back and they do not truly satisfy. The questioning of Free Will is prominent throughout the novel. The themes of foreshadowing and whether Marner had any such choice in what happened to him are very important.When Marner is forced to leave Lantern Yard, he finds Raveloe. He is free from his ersatz friendships and his false deity.

He becomes a freak and an outcast, then loses his money, forcing him to reach out and ask for help in the local pub. By finding Eppie, he goes to Cass's party and gets help, forcing Godfrey Cass onto the scene. In the di?? nouement of the novel, it is noticeable that Marner's misfortune always ends up bringing him something better than he had to begin with, making him more fortunate and therefore rewarding him for his unrelenting good.Eliot leaves it for the reader to decide whether the incidences that happen to Marner are coincidences or whether there is a 'Higher Power' watching over him. Through successfully building a case of sympathy for Marner, Eliot can then teach us her moral of the story. We are taught that good is rewarded with things more valuable than that of material.

We are taught that bad is equally punished by the lack of love, for example Godfrey Cass dies childless for being unfaithful to Nancy. If Eliot had not grasped the care of the reader and the sympathy for Marner therein, then the moral of the novel would have worked nowhere near as effectively.The contemporary reader, and certainly me, would perhaps find the novel even more sympathy-evoking than a reader

at the contemporary time of the book's publishing. This lies in the fact that the book touches on subjects that today we have proper understanding of, the best example being medicine.

When Marner is misunderstood about with his fits, and accused of "occult", the modern reader knows that many medicines are derived from plants, and knows the effects of cataleptic fits and their involuntary nature.Also, modern society today is much less religiously conservative, and not as riddled with superstitions and assumed beliefs. He is a much more misunderstood character to the contemporary. Silas Marner is a very British piece of literature. It is distinguishable such as it typically touches on the themes of class and place within society, issues which have plagued the British Isles as long as literature - perhaps hitting a crescendo in the Victorian era.

It echoes other themed pieces of literature of the time, consistently dealing with 'one's place'.More importantly, Marner was discriminated against due to his appearance; a problem rife in civil society everywhere today. Stereotyping and typically 'reading a book by its cover' are common elements of prejudice present now. Prejudice against people's appearance is probably a bigger problem now than it was in the 19th century, due to the severity of racism and the focus on people's weight. Silas Marner echoes the isolation that some people face within society nowadays, and is easy for us to understand.

Silas Marner holds relevance for us even today.