A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

216.
the ''heredit~ entailed Nemesis," 4. the duty, which George Eliot imposes
on him in the form of his "Jewish ancestry, we can see that she
does not provide him with a free range of choices. In fact, she is practising
sleight-of-hand and offering him very limited options.
Let us now examine in some detail the measure of freedom allo.ed to
these two characters, Maggie and Deronda, in order to decide how far
George Eliot's system of beliefs imposes limitations on their development
•.
Morally ascending characters in George Eliot's canon most usual~
achieve their growth as a result of the influence on them of some other
character. (I have called this the mentor/pupil relaticnship.) Otherwise,
like Adam Bede or Dorothea, they grow through sufferirig. Dorothea
is different in another respect, in that she presents to herself a goal
of idealised behaviour; it is not suggested to her by some other charactere
Maggie Tulliver is also treated differently. Her menter is no living
person; it is a mediaeval,
devotional text which Offers her an ideal of
behaviour with special emphasis on renunciation of claims for herself.
In The Imitation of Christ, Maggie found Itan effort and a hope that
helped her through years of loneliness, making out a faith for herself
without the aid of established authorities and appointed guides." 5
This "faith" which she makes out for herself'develops her conscience
and heightens her moral sensibility. Her goal of self-denial is shown
consistently to be moral and secular, not Christian. And we can recognise
a relationship between the way in which Maggie inte:rni11isesthe
message of Thomas 'a Kempis and the explicit formation of George Eliot's
system of psychological determinism with a consequent loss of freedom.
Let us now examine the impact that ~ Imitation S!!. Christ had on
Maggie's life and moral development.