Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe by George Eliot

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Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe by George Eliot

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Tuesday, 15 April 2008

Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe by George Eliot Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe is a novel by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans) which was first published in 1861.

Plot summary

The novel is set in the earlier years of the 19th century. Silas Marner is a weaver in a small religious community, Lantern Yard. He is also a highly thought of member of a dissenting chapel. Silas is engaged to a young servant-woman named Sarah and thinks that his future happiness is assured. However, due to the betrayal of a fellow parishioner, who blames him for a theft that he did not commit, Silas is expelled from the congregation. He finds out later that his former fiancée married the man who had betrayed him.

Later on, he settles near the village of Raveloe, where he lives as a recluse who exists only for work and his precious hoard of money until that money is stolen by Dunstan Cass, a dissolute son of Squire Cass, the town's leading landowner. The loss of his gold drives Silas into a deep gloom, although a number of the villagers endeavour to help him.

Soon, however, an orphaned child comes to Raveloe. She was not known by the people there, but she is really the child of Godfrey Cass, the eldest son of the local squire. Her mother, Molly, is secretly married to Godfrey, but is also of low birth and addicted to opium. On a winter's night, Molly tries to make her way into town with the child to prove that she is Godfrey's wife and ruin him. On the way she takes opium, becomes disoriented and sits down to rest amid the snow, child in arm. Her child wanders from her mother's still body into Silas' house. Upon discovering the child, Silas searches for its mother and finds Molly - a woman unfamiliar to him - dead.

Silas decides to keep the child and names her Eppie, after his deceased sister Hephzibah. Eppie changes his life completely. Symbolically, Silas loses his material gold to theft only to have it replaced by the golden-haired Eppie. Later in the book, the gold is found and restored. Eppie grows up to be the pride of the town and to have a very strong bond with Silas, who through her has found inclusion in the town. Later, the childless Godfrey and Nancy Cass arrive at Silas' door, revealing the truth about Eppie's family and asking that Silas give Eppie up to their care.

However, the decision falls to Eppie, who has no desire to be raised as a gentlemen's daughter if it means forsaking Silas. At the end, Eppie marries a local boy, Aaron, son of Dolly Winthrop, and both of them move into Silas' newly enlarged house, courtesy of Godfrey.

Ultimately, Silas Marner is a tale of familial love and loyalty, reward and punishment, humble friendships.

Characters in Silas Marner

    * Silas Marner – a weaver, miser protagonist
    * Godfrey Cass – son of the local squire.
    * Dunstan Cass – Godfrey's greedy brother with a penchant for alcohol and manipulation.
    * Molly – Godfrey's first wife who has a child by him. She dies leaving the child.
    * Eppie – child of Molly and Godfrey who is cared for by Marner.
    * Nancy Lammeter – Godfrey Cass's second wife.
    * Aaron Winthrop – son of Dolly who marries Eppie at the end of the novel.
    * Dolly Winthrop – mother to Aaron; godmother to Eppie. Sympathetic to Silas.
    * William Dane – William Dane is Silas’s former best friend, who looked after Silas and respected Silas in Lantern Yard. William Dane ultimately betrayed Silas by framing him for theft and married Silas’s fiancée after Silas exiled himself from Lantern Yard. He did this following the death of his mother.
    * Sarah – fiancée to Silas while in Lantern Yard. Married William Dane.

Download Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe by George Eliot

PDF format, 457KB, 188Pages.

Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans), the Pennsylvania State University, Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, Hazleton, PA 18202-1291 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing student publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of
them.

Cover Design: Jim Manis
Copyright . 2007 The Pennsylvania State University

“A child, more than all other gifts That earth can offer to declining man, Brings hope with it, and forward-looking thoughts.” —WORDSWORTH.

About the Author:

Mary Ann (Marian) Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. She was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Her novels, largely set in provincial England, are well known for their realism and psychological perspicacity.

She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure that her works were taken seriously. Female authors published freely under their own names, but Eliot wanted to ensure that she was not seen as merely a writer of romances. An additional factor may have been a desire to shield her private life from public scrutiny and to prevent scandals attending her relationship with the married George Henry Lewes.

(From wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

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