Návrat na detail prednášky / Stiahnuť prednášku / Univerzita Komenského / Pedagogická fakulta / AN - Anglická literatúra I.

Silas Marner - Major characters (03_major_characters.doc)

Silas Marner - Major characters

Silas Marner: Silas, the protagonist of the novel,  is a solitary linen-weaver who, at the time we meet him, is about thirty-nine years old and has been living in the English countryside village of Raveloe for fifteen years. Silas is reclusive and his neighbours in Raveloe regard him with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. He spends all day working at his loom and has never made an effort to get to know any of the villagers. Silas’s physical appearance is odd: he is bent from his work at the loom, has strange and frightening eyes, and generally looks much older than his years. Because Silas has knowledge of medicinal herbs and is subject to occasional cataleptic fits, many of his neighbours speculate that he has otherworldly powers.

Despite his antisocial behaviour, however, Silas is at heart a deeply kind and honest person. At no point in the novel does Silas do or say anything remotely malicious and, strangely for a miser, he is not even particularly selfish. Silas’s love of money is merely the product of spiritual desolation, and his hidden capacity for love and sacrifice manifests itself when he takes in and raises Eppie.

Silas’s outsider status makes him the focal point for the themes of community, religion, and family that Eliot explores in the novel. As an outcast who eventually becomes Raveloe’s most exemplary citizen, Silas serves as a study in the relationship between the individual and the community. His loss and subsequent rediscovery of faith demonstrate both the difficulty and the solace that religious belief can bring. Additionally, the unlikely domestic life that Silas creates with Eppie presents an unconventional but powerful portrait of family and the home.

Though he is the title character of the novel, Silas is by and large passive, acted upon rather than acting on others. Almost all of the major events in the novel demonstrate this passivity. Silas is framed for theft in his old town and, instead of proclaiming his innocence, puts his trust in God to clear his name. Similarly, Dunsey’s theft of Silas’s gold and Eppie’s appearance on Silas’s doorstep—rather than any actions Silas takes of his own accord—are the major events that drive the narrative forward. Silas significantly diverges from this pattern of passivity when he decides to keep Eppie, thereby becoming an agent of his eventual salvation.

William Dane: Silas's so-called dear friend in Lantern Yard whom he admired and revered so much. William frames Silas for a robbery he did not commit and is the reason the drawing lots declared Silas guilty of all charges. William deliberately places Silas's knife in the drawer when he steals the money. When Silas is accused of killing the ill deacon for not being by his side on his deathbed, Silas is framed for stealing the money. When Silas leaves Lantern Yard, William marries Silas's former fianc饬 Sarah.

Squire Cass: The most respected and wealthiest man in Raveloe, but a selfish, self-centered man. Known for his temper and his condescending attitude, the Squire does not seem to care very much for his sons, only for his money. He allows his sons to do pretty much whatever they please, because he does not care what happens to them as long as his tenants are not involved.

Dunstan (Dunsey) Cass: The Squire's younger son and Godfrey's younger brother, a reckless, manipulative man who will do anything or say anything to get what he wants. He is a disreputable, dishonest, spiteful young man who is attracted to greed and wealth, and has no conscience whatsoever.

Godfrey agrees to let Dunsey sell Godfrey's horse, Wildfire, to raise money, but Dunsey rides the horse foolishly and is responsible for the horse's death.

Dunsey blackmails Godfrey with the secret of Godfrey's marriage to the drunk Molly and steals poor Silas Marner's money. He is thought to have disappeared somewhere ubt no one is concerned by his absence, since he has left home for long periods before.  His remains are discovered sixteen years later in a stone-pit that has gone dry. It is concluded that he drowned. Dunsey is found with Silas's money.

Godfrey Cass: The Squire's eldest son of Squire Cass and heir to the estate. He is a good-natured young man, but weak-willed and usually unable to think of much beyond his immediate material comfort.  He lacks strength of character and does not like to face up to difficult situations. In a fit of drunkenness he made the mistake of marrying beneath his station. He married an opium addict, Molly Farren, with whom he had a daughter, Eppie, but refuses to acknowledge them, lest he lose the love of Nancy Lammeter, the woman he truly loves.

This secret marriage and Godfrey’s handling of it demonstrate the mixture of guilt and moral cowardice that keep him paralyzed for much of the novel. Godfrey consented to the marriage largely out of guilt and keeps the marriage secret because he knows his father will disown him if it ever comes to light.

Only does Godfrey confess his past marriage to Nancy when Dunsey's dead body is found sixteen years later. He and Nancy ask Eppie if she wants to be their daughter and live with them as a lady. Godfrey angrily tells Silas and Eppie that he has a natural claim to Eppie as her father. Eppie's refusal to leave Silas makes Godfrey very angry, but he realizes that her refusal to be with him is his punishment for not taking Eppie in as his daughter sixteen years before. On Eppie's wedding day, Godfrey is conveniently out of town on business. He gives Silas and Eppie more land for Eppie's garden.

Despite his physically powerful and graceful presence, Godfrey is generally passive. In this respect he is similar to Silas. However, Godfrey’s passivity is different from Silas’s, as his endless waffling and indecisiveness stem entirely from selfishness. Godfrey is subject to constant blackmail from Dunsey, who knows of Godfrey’s secret marriage, and Godfrey is finally freed of his malicious brother simply by an accident. He is delivered from Molly in a similarly fortuitous way, when Molly freezes to death while en route to Raveloe to expose their marriage to Godfrey’s family. Even Godfrey’s eventual confession to Nancy is motivated simply by his fright after the discovery of Dunsey’s remains.

Nancy Lammeter: Nancy is the pretty, caring, and stubborn young lady whom Godfrey pursues and then marries.  She is the younger daughter of Mr. Lammeter and niece to Mrs. Osgood. Like Godfrey, Nancy comes from a family that is wealthy by Raveloe standards. However, her father, unlike Squire Cass, is a man who values moral rectitude, thrift, and hard work. Nancy has inherited these strict values and looks disapprovingly on what she sees as Godfrey’s weakness of character. Godfrey Cass loves her, but she will not marry him until he can prove that he is the man she wants him to be. Nancy is unlike Raveloe women - she actually does chores herself. She tries to make him happy when they are married, but she feels that she somehow is lacking in her duties as a wife. When Godfrey tells her that Eppie is his child, Nancy willingly agrees to take Eppie in as their own. Nancy tries to persuade Eppie to come live with them at the Red House, but Eppie does not care to be a lady. Nancy buys Eppie her wedding gown.

Nancy lives her life according to an inflexible code of behavior and belief. She seems to have already decided how she feels about every question that might come up in her life, not necessarily on the basis of any reason or thought, but simply because anything else would represent a sort of weakness in her own eyes. When Nancy is younger, this code of hers demands that she and her sister dress alike on formal occasions. When she is older, Nancy’s code forbids her to adopt a child, as in her mind such an action represents a defiance of God’s plan. Nancy is neither well educated nor particularly curious, and her code marks her as just as much a product of Raveloe’s isolation and rusticity as Dolly Winthrop. Nancy is, however, a genuinely kind and caring person, as evidenced by her forgiveness of Godfrey after his confession.

Dolly Winthrop: The kind, patient woman who aids Silas greatly. She first visits him, bringing him a plate of cakes with the initials I.H.S. on them and begging him to at least give up weaving on Sunday. When Silas starts caring for Eppie, Dolly advises him how to care for a child. Later, she is Eppie's godmother and Silas's trusted advisor in religion and life. Silas goes to seek her advice whenever he has a problem, whether it concerns Eppie's welfare or his past. Dolly makes him see that he should trust the world.

Eppie: The biological daughter of Molly Farren and Godfrey Cass, but raised as Silas Marner's daughter. She enters Silas's life when she follows a bright light to the door of his cottage and straight in front of the fireplace. Silas and the townspeople think she has been sent to Silas from Him above. Her full name is 'Hephzibah,' after Silas's mother and sister. She is very beautiful, with blond hair and fair skin. Eppie brings so much goodness, warmth, and joy to Silas's life that he finally sees what Dolly has been telling him all along - to trust and to love. Eppie dearly loves Silas, the only family she has ever known, and will not leave him when Godfrey and Nancy ask her to live with them. Eppie does not care to be a lady; she tells them that she wants to live with Silas and marry a workingman, Aaron Winthrop. A married Eppie declares that she is perfectly happy with Silas at her side.