A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot
A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot
A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot
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237.<br />
arranged <strong>in</strong> such a way that no choice is open to him. The <strong>in</strong>articulate<br />
yearn<strong>in</strong>g was <strong>the</strong>re as a tendency, a disposition <strong>of</strong> his personality, a<br />
wait<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> right conditions (to paraphrase Lewes). The right conditions<br />
have now arrived and he seizes his opportunity with all <strong>the</strong> eagerness<br />
,<br />
that comes from recognis<strong>in</strong>g clearly someth<strong>in</strong>g that has been <strong>the</strong>re all<br />
<strong>the</strong> time. It is no new situation; ra<strong>the</strong>r his realisation <strong>of</strong> his Jewishness<br />
is almost ak<strong>in</strong> to a sense <strong>of</strong> d:j~<br />
~ and is attended with a feel<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>of</strong> release from pressure. He himself fully realises that <strong>the</strong>re is no<br />
more choice <strong>in</strong> his tak<strong>in</strong>g up Mordecai's plans than <strong>the</strong>re would be <strong>in</strong> a<br />
displaced mounta<strong>in</strong> dweller recognis<strong>in</strong>g and identify<strong>in</strong>g his love for<br />
mounta<strong>in</strong> scen~.<br />
It constitutes part <strong>of</strong> him that has been dormant,<br />
await<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> right signal. There is a strong fatalistic sense <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>evitability.<br />
<strong>George</strong> <strong>Eliot</strong> adds duty <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> form <strong>of</strong> hereditary conditions to<br />
<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r factors: <strong>the</strong> bias <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> personality, and <strong>the</strong> social and. environmental<br />
pressures <strong>of</strong> a person's life. She thus shows v~ clearly<br />
that <strong>the</strong> room for <strong>in</strong>dividual manoeuvre she allows her characters is<br />
pitifully slight. She wrote to Charles Ritter <strong>in</strong> 1878 that ''<strong>the</strong> great<br />
~~~division<br />
<strong>of</strong> our lot is that between what is immodifiable and. is <strong>the</strong><br />
object <strong>of</strong> resignation and that which is modifiable by hopeful activity-<br />
by new conceptions and new deeds." 83<br />
Hereditary conditions <strong>in</strong> ~he<br />
sense, <strong>the</strong>n, <strong>of</strong> ancestral memory are<br />
"immodifiable lt and, <strong>the</strong>refore, Deronda is adopt<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> wisest course <strong>in</strong><br />
embrac<strong>in</strong>g necessity gladly. Fedalma, because her necessity <strong>in</strong>volves<br />
sacrific<strong>in</strong>g her love for don Silva, requires patience and resignation<br />
and this is how we leave her at <strong>the</strong>. end <strong>of</strong>d~Spanish Gypsy. But Deronda<br />
is able to be glad that his life is shaped <strong>the</strong> way it is. This does not,<br />
however, make him any <strong>the</strong> less constra<strong>in</strong>ed and limited. His grand choice<br />
is no choice but an acceptance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>evitable. We must not allow <strong>the</strong><br />
fact that it is presented as a noble choice to cloud our assessment. Up
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