A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

137.
by a ready-mude patent method. II
21
The theme of duty is also a major structuring device in a later
novel, vlhere Romola and Tito can be seen, as I have already indicated,
I
to occupy opposite ends of a moral sca.le. Romola s fiErce championing
of her father and of his concern for his library is sharply contrasted
with Tito"s specious arguments to convince himself that there is no
need for him to put himself out to ransome his elderly father from
slavery. Romola's total moral recoil from Tito and the contempt she
feels for him when he blandly sells her father's library are a measure
of her commitment to her father's wishes. This is partly a compensation
for her brother, Dino's defection to the Church. Nere we have another
example of a neglected duty and tlrls raises the ouestion how far Dina
is justified in deserting his nearly blind father. Inevitably Romola
and Bardo judge Dina's action' very severely, and equally inevitably
Savonarola justifies it as a necessary response to an overwh~lming
vocation. Romola is tempted to see her retreat from Florence and Tito
as on a par with Dina's retreat but Savonarola v;ill not allow this. It
is clear here that it is not the action itself that is being judged
but the motivation behind the action. Dina's strong sense of vocation
was important enough to justify putting aside all other claims. He was
turning his back on his family, not out of hedonism, but in order to
take up the arduous duty of service to God. Romola, on the other hand,
is renouncing her duty to Florence and to her husband out of vdlfulness,
and she is very distressed and "d~cclcon
by the suggestion in the Frate t s
,{ards of a possible affinity between her ovm conduct and Tito' s. II As
Savonarola cuttingly asks, '''Who is so base as the debtor thnt thinks
himself free?'" 22
Yet, even if Savonarola firw~y
endorses Dina's action, George Eliot