A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

174.
strengths. Gwendolen has not chosen to dispense with a settled past to
provide the kind of affectionate bonding George Eliot describes in the
Offendene passage; the fact that she has not is one of the "conditions"
of her life. _~d the lack of settled memories means for her no settled
direction; she is ac1rift and aimless, like Deronda himself, though for
different reasons. He has had a settled childhood but has not knovm bis
21
parentage. Both of them are !lin the middest" to borrow Kermode's
phrase, but without an adequate relationship to their past they cannot
shape their futures. Gwendolen may not see her dilemma in these terms;
it is Deronda who offers this as a possible explanation of her problem,
and attempts to create in her the awareness of a need of direction. ':lith
hisovm experience of displacement he inevitably sees her situation, as
also 1lirah's, in terms of his O\¥n emotional needs.
If we look briefly at another rootless character, Tito Melema, from
Romola, we can learn still more about George Eliot I s concept of self in
relatiun to the past. Romola 1 s godfather describes Tito as "~ne_of
the
demoni"; "22 and certainly in comparison with the rootedness and hereditary
bondage of Romola, he introduces a very cosmopolitan flavour. His rootlessness
at the beginning of the story, however, is no more his fault
or responsibility than Gwendolen' s is hers. It is what he does with his
lack of a cornmitted past that is his responsibility • .f\..nd it is shovm to
be a characteristic related to his refusal to accept the duties involved
in any commitment or partisanship. At a dinner party he is described as
one who can easily "accept an entire scheme of the universe." 23 This
reveals the facile quality of his mind, its lack of a settled belief.
It is akin to the role-playing which is sO much part of his nature, his
wishing, for example, that he could 'walk out of his past as if it Vlero
but a buncile of rehearsal clothes to be diecarded at will. 24- Another
aspect of this tendency is his adoption of the role of Florentine spy.