Sympathy & Sentiment

Prompts: Silas Marner (1861)
pagination from 2009 Oxford Edition
edited by Terence Cave

"Thought and feeling were so confused within him . . ." (120).

Points for Reflection

Silas Marner, chps 1-10

1. does George Eliot’s predictably pitying posture towards her characters encompass Dustan and Godfrey Cass in its embrace? Is the reader made to sympathize with them both?
2. to what end might George Eliot have inserted the lengthy, seemingly extraneous conversation among customers at The Rainbow tavern (43-52)?
3. what does George Eliot’s narrative reveal about the relative reliability of human knowledge/knowing?
4. to what end does George Eliot’s narrator distinguish between the intelligent and the dull, between bright and slow minds? Are those with keener intellects more successful (relationally, socially, professionally) than those whose minds are less sharp?
5. which does this narrative appear to privilege more—reason or emotion? Consider which characters the reader is led to sympathize most with, and which mode of expression (intellectual or emotional) such characters rely on most often.
6. does the narrator criticize the Raveloe citizens’ suspicious attitude towards forms of knowledge and learning with which they are unfamiliar?
7. what narratological function is served by Silas Marner’s disabilities (epilepsy and myopia)? You might consider whether these differences shape the reader’s attitude towards him, whether these qualities are necessary to the plot, and/or whether they function symbolically.
8. does Eliot’s narrator betray any form of sexual bias towards either men or women?
9. what factors shape the Raveloe community’s changing feelings about Silas across this week’s reading?
10. clearly, Eliot intends her reader to contemn the lazy, duplicitous Dunstan. What of Godfrey Cass, Dustan’s brother? Does Eliot encourage us to either harshly judge or closely sympathize with this man?
11. what elements of individual identity does George Eliot tie to social environment—to the culture and place in which one is raised? You are welcome to consider—but are not limited to—any of the following: temperament, ideology, intellect.

Silas Marner, chps 11-15

1. does George Eliot weave any political agenda—such as a concern with gender roles or socioeconomic class—into this narrative?
2. which does George Eliot appear to privilege more, emotion or intellect?
3. as suggested by George Eliot’s narrative, to what degree does religious faith hinge on community?
4. carefully consider narrative voice. Does George Eliot implicitly validate the religious experience and perspective of Dolly Winthrop, Silas Marner, or any of the other characters?
5. what does Silas bring to parenting that distinguishes him from the other parents in Raveloe? Is he a more successful parent than others?
6. does the narrator’s detailed explanation of Godfrey Cass’s mental operations the evening of the Christmas party provide the reader with ammo to shoot down his character, or with evidence to be used in Godfrey’s defense? How do the narrator’s own voice and opinions help shape the reader’s response to Cass?
   

Silas Marner, chp 16 - conclusion

1. consider Miss Nancy Lammeter, from the time George Eliot introduces the character’s social mores and opinions through free indirect discourse (87, 98 top) to the period sixteen years later when we revisit Nancy and her thoughts on social propriety, adoption, etc. The narrator attributes to her “heightened” beauty and a “ripened” soul (132). Does the Nancy of Part II indeed appear a more mature version of her former self? In addition to being more experienced, is she wiser and/or more practical?
2. does the narrator effectively spin Nancy’s character in a way that makes her likable?
3. towards the novel’s close, Godfrey Cass claims that Nancy would never have married him if she had known about his previous wife and child. Reexamine our introduction to Nancy in chapter eleven and find evidence that either supports or disproves Godfrey’s assertion.
4. does the narrative voice adopted by George Eliot in this tale privilege men over women, or are the two sexes rendered as equally prone to both wisdom and error?
5. does this narrative question the (then contemporary) notion that wealth provides happiness?
6. by the close of the novel, has Godfrey Cass become a wiser man?
7. provide a rationale for why George Eliot might insert the chapter twenty-one return to Lantern Yard in her narrative.
8. does Eliot’s tale attempt to deconstruct faith in the supernatural?
9. in what soil does Silas’s new hold on faith take root? On what does his current “trusten” in God depend?
10. does George Eliot continue to dole out sympathy to all her characters through to the end of the novel? Do any of the characters instead receive harsh judgment?
11. revisit the earlier section concerning Silas’s mode of parenting the young Eppie (125-28), and consider her current character as a young adult. What does George Eliot appear to be suggesting about discipline?

The Story Book (1877)
Adolphe William Bouguereau

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu