A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

1
thought processes as, f"ee:Ling secure i
taking this resolution,
he 'chen allows himself' to :fan~l.s. about :f'~ture 'I f"orbidden
meetings with Hetty.
The soft air did not help his re~olutions, e::; he leaned out and
lookGd into the leaf"y distance. Jut he consifered his resolution
suf"f"iciently f"ixed: there was n( to ·is: with himself any
longer. He had made up his mind not to 'I:.eet Potty again; and now
he might give himself" up to thinld.ng how irnme:lsely agr~e~bl:.e .. it.
would beif'circumstanoeswere dif"ferent--hovl pleasant' it would
hayebeen to meet her this eveni:lg as she cam'" back, and put his
a:r;j.; around her again and look into her :'5weet "a. lie wondered
if" the dear little thing were ;.hil'l.king of him too-twenty to one
she was. How beautifJ,ll her eyes 'were with the tear on their
lashes! He would like to satisf"y his soul for a day with looking
at them, and he ~ see her again. 9
This is a very successful account of the behavior of a weak-willed
man under extreme temptation and presents no jarrin~
false note. However,
in other parts of ~ Bede, George Eliot is not alYiB.Ys so sure of her
narrative teohnique. \llhen she turns directly to the reader with, "Are
you inclined to ask whether this Can be the same krt';:ur?" 1 0 we become
aware of an instability in her relation to her ohars'Jters ,l
a
stridency of ef"feot. Disoussing this failure of"
Laurenoe Lerner oomments that Itto expose self-decepti.',ln is to point out
an inoongruity: between tr'ue and false versions of
between what is seen and what is. In Adam Bede Gear;;;,
-~ '.-~
world or the self",
Eliot shows one-
,half of the ..
ncongruity (what is seen) with COllSUID.m.",e skill ..... 1ne f"ailure
comes in her rendering of the other half;. for at" sometimes :tells,
us Wliat is, a.t effusive, even embarrass:lng length,
with a frequent
betrayal of uncertainty. II 11
By the time she came to write Romol~ however, G~.;;orge Eliot had
gained considerably in assurance and the ironic
'ntation of the
dissonance betweon what Tito thL