George Eliot Chapters 13 and 14

Silas carries Godfrey’s child into the New Year’s Eve party. He asks for a doctor to go to the woman near his cottage. Godfrey fears that the woman [Molly] may not be dead. Silas cannot answer the question of who the child is but when Mrs Kimble suggests he leave the girl there, Silas refuses to let her go. Godfrey, Dolly and the doctor go to the Stone Pits. He waits until Dr Kimble comes out with the news that the woman is dead. Then he goes in to have a last look at his wife. He feels jealousy at the contentment the child shows in Silas’ arms. When he asks if Silas will take the child to the parish to be raised, Silas answers that the child has come to him and he will keep it. Godfrey gives him money and returns home relieved.

Silas’ entry to the Red House resembles that of his entrance to the Rainbow. Narrative point of view is from the spectators: Silas is not seen approaching, but appears suddenly amid the festivities. There is a feeling that a ghost has burst in, but only Godfrey feels it and he is looking at the child. Note Eliot’s careful handling of Godfrey: despite pretending not to know the woman and child, Eliot explains that he is “half-smothered by passionate desires and dread,” yet he has the sense that “he ought to accept the consequences of his deeds, own the miserable wife, and fulfil the claims of the helpless child. But he had not moral courage enough to contemplate that active renunciation of Nancy as possible for him; he had only conscience and heart enough to make him forever uneasy under the weakness….”. How does Eliot use language here to manipulate the reader’s response to Godfrey’s situation?

Godfrey isn’t portrayed as wicked, although the consequences of his weaknesses are ever present. When he first hears of Molly’s death his first emotion is “________”? that she might be alive. Yet he feels regret that the child seems happy with Marner and shows no response to his own “ _______________”. It seems that Godfrey’s lies have been rewarded – but there are several hints that things aren’t over yet. One is Godfrey’s feelings about the child. The other is his commitment to support the child, to do “everything but own it”. More explicitly Eliot says that the impact of Godfrey’s last look at Molly would be revisited “at the end of sixteen years every line in the worn face was present to him when he told the full story of this night”. Explain the effect of this.

Silas and Godfrey are in stark contrast here. Silas has no knowledge of the child except that is has come to him in place of his gold, but he is determined to keep it. He makes no vows to himself, but he acts, as Godfrey does not – in effect he “owns” the child. This reaction is “almost like a revelation to himself, “ for he had no such intention a minute before. Despite the rational explanation, then, the child’s coming seems a miracle of sorts. But if the event and the change seem miraculous to Silas and the other characters, they are no miracles to the reader, who has been carefully prepared for them. How have readers been “carefully prepared” for Eppie’s arrival and the change in Silas? Find quotes to support your ideas.

Godfrey’s fear that Molly might NOT be dead “was an evil terror – an ugly inmate to have found a nestling-place in Godfrey’s kindly disposition; but no disposition is a security from evil wishes to a man whose happiness hangs on duplicity”. Godfrey fetched Dr Kimble’s boots and upon returning to the gathering and hearing the child’s crying “as if some fibre were drawn tight within him”. “Dolly, who though feeling that she was entirely in her place in encountering cold and snow on an errand of mercy, was much concerned at a young gentleman’s getting his feet wet under a like impulse.” Godfrey was “painfully preoccupied.. trembling suspense.. The effect of each alternative on his future lot”. (Whether Molly was dead or alive). “Deeper down, and half-smothered by passionate desire and dread, there was the sense that he ought … to accept the consequences of his deeds, own the miserable wife, and fulfil the claims of the helpless child”. “His mind leaped …toward the sudden prospect of deliverance from his long bondage”.

Of the child…her “wide-gazing calm which makes us older human beings…feel a certain awe in the presence of a little child, such as we feel before some quiet majesty or beauty in the earth or sky”. “us older human beings, with our inward turmoil” – empathy for Godfrey or Silas? “it’s a lone thing – and I’m a lone thing. My money’s gone, I don’t know where – and this is come from I don’t know where.” Silas immediately associates the child with his lost gold – a replacement treasure like some kind of inexplicable cosmic irony. Godfrey’s “relief and gladness” were due to there being ‘no danger that his dead wife would be recognised: those were not days of active inquiry and wide report”. “When events turn out so much better for a man than he has had reason to dread, is it not a proof that his conduct has been less foolish and blameworthy than it might otherwise have appeared?” – Godfrey’s confidence in “good fortune” i.e. his religion, ‘Chance’. …”the father would be much happier without owning the child”.

Theme - effects of children on adults – “quiet majesty or beauty in the earth or in the sky”. Theme - good fortune and coincidence – “it’s a lone thing and I’m a lone thing” – “My money’s gone, I don’t know where – and this is come from I don’t know where”. Godfrey’s good fortune that Molly is dead and he can keep his secret. The irony that he is relieved and glad, and feels absolved of his past wickedness – but in his married life with Nancy he thinks he must keep this secret and that in fact, the truth will eventually be revealed. Humour – The Squire’s teasing of Godfrey and his affection for Nancy, Dr Kimble describing his wife as “too fat to overtake it [the child]; she could only sit and grunt like an alarmed sow.” The indulgence and excesses of the rich at the festivities, “hardly sober”. Dolly’s and Kimble’s concern for Godfrey’s wet shoes – irony in this show of concern for him when he is behaving not out of generosity but terror. Foreshadowing – “sixteen years” from now, Godfrey’s “jealousy” and “strange mixture of feelings, a conflict of regret and joy” that the child did not respond to him, the child’s devotion to Marner “the blue eyes turned away from him [Godfrey] slowly, and fixed themselves on the weaver’s queer face, … with loving disfiguration”.

The villagers approve of Silas’s selfless devotion to his new daughter Eppie. Silas is helped by Dolly Winthrop His life begins again as he is led into a ‘calm and bright land … (by) a little child’s’ hand.

Molly Farren’s apparently unimportant death permanently affects several lives. Raveloe quickens its changing attitude to Silas because he adopts the orphan. They are interested in how he will cope. The women are generous with advice and warnings. Silas confides in and receives practical help and advice from Dolly Winthrop. She approves of his keeping the child. Silas continues to link his loss of money with the child’s arrival. He is determined to have all her love. Dolly asks Silas to have the child christened and to bring her to church.

Silas agrees, although he cannot connect Dolly’s religion with his own past beliefs and experiences. She is surprised that Hephzibah (Eppie for short) is a biblical name. Church attendance, together with Eppie’s needs and intersts, brings Silas into contact with the villagers. Silas discusses with Dolly how to punish Eppie but cannot bear to actually punish her. Together Silas and Eppie enjoy the countryside and Silas revives emotionally. The villagers and their children welcome Silas because of Eppie. His earnings become of little interest or value to him unless Eppie needs something. Silas accepts the villagers’ advice. He is a changed man.

Why does Dolly maintain that Eppie should be christened? Did you know? In the Bible the giving of a new name indicates that God is giving the person a new chance. The poetry of Wordsworth was very influential in Eliot’s thinking.

Theme: the influence of a child, pure naturel human relationships. The healing power of a loving relationship. On the title page of the first edition, Eliot quoted Wordsworth about the effects following the arrival of a child. In this chapter Silas begins to change because of Eppie – this is an important theme. Theme: Religion – the religion of the town chapel is very different from the established church. Silas does not understand Dolly’s religion. He agrees to have Eppie christened and brings her to church because he wants to do everything helpful to her and live by Raveloe customs. Now he is choosing to join the village community.

Godfrey cares for his daughter from afar. Dunstan is still missing. He is free to marry Nancy. Godfrey Cass secretly watches Eppie grow and occasionally, as chance offers, gives small presents to Silas. No longer afraid of the absent Dunstan, he feels reformed and lookds forward to marriage and a family with Nancy. Eppie will be provided for.

Godfrey now seemed “like a man of firmness”. But the author is being ironic. Godfrey “seemed” firm, to those who do not know the truth. And there are other shadows of the future. He pictures himself happy at home with Nancy and his children, and he intends to provide for the other child because “that was a father’s duty.” He still does not recall that it is his duty to own the child. The author brings in the metaphor of the ring that “pricked its owner when he forgot his duty and followed desire.” She remarks that it may not have pricked deeply “when he set out on the chase,” but become painful only when “hope, folding her wings, looked backward and became regret.” The implication is that although Godfrey has not been hurt yet, he still may be, and it will have something to do with his child. This is typical of Eliot’s careful preparation for future events, so that they do not seem strange or unreal when they come.

FIND QUOTES TO SUPPORT EACH POINT – THEY MAY COME FROM CHAPTER 15 OR FROM EARLIER IN THE STORY. Godfrey is relieved to have disowned Eppie. Ironically, the weak and selfish Godfrey is not the reformed man he believes himself to be. His gifts to Silas depend on chance and he promises to himself to help Eppie – in the future. His marriage will be built on a lie. Ironic also is his dream of playing with his children – he will be childless. The chapter ends ironically – a ‘father’s duty’ does not end with providing money for a child. The previous chapter details the hours of devoted love Silas puts into bringing up Eppie. The contrast between Silas and Godfrey is again highlighted.