A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

1411-.
ological novel concealed within a less brilliant and intrinsically less
int ere stiIlB novel is'one thing; a novel seriously flawed because the two
main sections are only arbitrarily relatect,. is another.
An examination of Daniel Deronda in the light of this theme of duty
as an indication of moral standing and possible moral grmvth shows more
clearly the connection between the two sections and the very careful
structural patterning that George Eliot intended. This can be s~med up
in one of her authorial statements that "many of us complain that half
our birthright is sharp duty: Deronda Vias more inclined to complain that
he was robbed of this half." 47
This gives a rough sketch, an outline only, of one theme of the book.
Gwendolen is contrasted with Deronda. She seeks to master her own life,
to take the reins and ride skilfully. She acknowledges but scantily any
claims upon her, but cares very greatly about the fulfilment of her
claims on the world. Deronda, on the other hand, is reverently looking
for lithe complete ideal shape of that personal duty and citizenship
which lay in his own thought like sculptured fragments certifying some
beauty yearned after but not traceable by divination.tI
48
For both characters there arises the question of identity; each has
to discover 'who he or she is. Gwendolen is described as having no real
root to her past; she has not lived long enough ~n any one place to have
formed a lasting attachment to it. She feels stifled by her family situation.
She is determined that "she [!dlfl no longer be sacrificed to
creatures worth less than herself, II 49 which undoubtedly refers to the
four II superfluous " sisters, 50 although the degree to which she actually
has sacrificed herself to them is left very much in the air. All we do
knOl'l is that the "strongest assertion she vias able to make of her individual
claims was to leave out Alice's lessons (on the principle that
Alice was more likely to excel in ignorance). II
51 G-wendolen' s ambition)