A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

190.
to alter perspeoti ve on her characters l
are the main source of dramatic
irony. Very skilful balance is necessary, however, if this tension is to
be maintained. Occasionally George Eliot loses her narrative control and
then we have either a too schematic, undigested novel like Romola, or
moments of emotional identification with her characters, which critics
like F. R. Leavis oomplain of so bitterly in her treatment of Maggie
Tulliver and Dorothea Brooke.
I intend to approach this problem in three different ways. The first
will briefly recapitulate George Eliot t 5 system of beliefs and show how
they provide a metaphoric frame. as well as a point of reference in our
identification of the moral worth of individual charaoters. The second
deals with whether or not George Eliot's novels can be acourate~ described
as tragic, which leads to a discussion of the melancholy resonances
that emanate from her whole work. The final section discusses
the narrative implications of her ''binocular vi sion't 8 and examines
the structural correlatives of her shifting points of view, her ironic
tone, and her handling of .aesthetic distance.