A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

156.
those of mentor/pupil. They ShOVI that some of her characters are priestcounsellors,
in Halr:.lOs' sense. The relation3hip between Janet Dempster
and the consumptive Evangelical minister, Mr '!ryan from the third of
George Eliot's Scene~ of Clerical L~fe, Janet's ~eEentance, is an instance
of this kind of relationship. It flo'.'1e1'5 after Janet's husband has throvm
her out of her home in the middle of the night and she is forced to seek
refuge from a friend, Mrs Pettifer. She is no longer able to conceal
from the world that her marriage is disastrous and this leads her to
seek an interview with the previously despised t!r 'l'ryan. She confesses
to him her alcoholism and ultimately, ';lith his support and encouragement,
i8 able to overcome it. The important features of this relationship
fall under several headings: the character of t he mentor, the dynamics
of their relationship, and the conclusions it offers as to George Eliot's
moral schern[;. Although this relationship is a paradiem of other similar
relationships in the novels, for example, that, between Esther Lyon and
Felix Holt, and the more carefully wrought account of the relationship
between Gwendolen Harleth and Daniel Deronda, there are ways in which
this relationship between Janet and Mr Tryan is not representative ..
One of these is that Mr Tryan is seen to be less remote and more
human than the other mentor figures. He confesses his own weaknesses to
Janet and his unending remorse for his seduction, of Lucy. He admits his
continuing spiritual struggles and his sense of his o'.'m un"worthiness. All
this, however, is psychologically valid. C~'rent
sociological research
into alcoholism reveals that alcoholics have the greatest difficulty in
openly admitting the nature of their problem, in !!naming" their illnes3.
If 11r Tryan had shown the overvleening confidence and certainty of Felix,
vlhich verge on the arrogant, or the remote goodness of Deronda, it
would have scarcely encouraged Janet to make her confession.
In one othor aspect there is a notable difference between Janet