A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

147.
us Paul Till:i.ch maintains, lito leap from doubt to dogmatic certitude,
from meaningle:csness to a set of symbols in which the meaning of a
special ecclesiatical or political group is embodied." 63 This anticipates
Derondit's leap into Jewish nationalist politics. Deronda feels
that his life is meaningless; ~Nendolen,
that hers is dreary. Both
show increasingly the alienation from themselves and the life around
them that becomes so strong a theme in later writers. Both respond to
their situations with varying degrees of egoism. Gwendolen seeks to
achieve identity and vividness by doing IIwhatever she could do so as to
strike others with admiratiol}, and get in that re:fnected way a more ardent
sense of living"; 64 Deronda keeps himself' apart, encouraging, even
inviting, other people's confidences but not trust
them 'wi th his
doubts and difficulties in return, and occasionally even feeling a
twinge of resentment that they fail to see him as human. Both of them
are acting a part; Gwendolen more obviously, Dnd Vle can see how her extreme
sensitivity to the opinions of other people becomes a pOi'lerful
weapon in Gr!1llc.court t s armoury against her. She exerts the utmost of her
pride and control to conceal from her mother ana the vlorld that she has
made a disastrous marriage, and to all but Deronda appears totally selfcontained.
But Deronda, equally, is unable, as it '\'lere, to lose face,
or to appear vulnerable; his recoil from the Jewish friend of his grandfather,
and his distancing himself from a possible friend at school, are
equally self-protective mechanisms, perfectly credible and justifiable,
but examples no less of mauvai~:!e
foi. He certainly represents, however,
a more advanced moral state than Gwendolen, who, to begin with, f'ee~s
that it is the 'Norld that is to blame for her misfortunes and seeks to
ovade rer-:ponsibilities and duties. Deronda, on the other hand, fully
recognises the dangers of aircLlessness and insufficient motivation in
himself and welcome!) '.dth relief the responsibilities ana. commitments