A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

strained always to choose what really is the greatest good, this is not
to be understood as loss of liberty. tt 91 Such a viewpoint is entirely
appropriate to a survey of moral philosophers. But in terms of a novel,
it suggests that the characters will be brought to make this choice willynilly,
and betokens a rigid control over their development. It also requires
that the reader accept the writer's presentation of what COnll':.';, .
stitutes the "greatest good." If we reject the idea of self-renouncing
service, if we prefer to think in terms of identity rather than relationship,
if, in ahort, we cannot accept the basic premises on which George
Eliot bases her novelistic structures, we find ourselves mourning a
loss of freedom and autono~ in her characters.
William Gass, setting out the opposition between the writer of fiction
and a moral philosopher, olaims that "the moral philosopher is expected
to take a stand. He is expected to pronounoe upon questions. of· value."
The writer of fiction, on the other hand, is "subject only to those calculated
disorders which are the result of his refusal, in tha faoe of the
actual complexities of any well-chosen 'oase' to take a stand. tI 92 George
Eliot, like other nineteenth century writers, for example Dickens or
Thacker~,
undoubtedly does take a stand and does not allow herself or
her characters free rein. The "calcYlated disorders" are only minimally
present.
i
They are generally kept outside the world of the novels at
least as far as the main characters are concerned. And it becomes surprisingly
difficult for the reader to dissociate himself from George
Eliot's moral stand and gain his own perspective on the character's
development. George Eliot's assessment and her expectation that we
will share that assessment are all-pervasive. George Eliot has residual
i In ~ Novels .2£.. George Eliot, Barbara Hardy has pointed out, for
example, the scene where Ladislaw contemplates a possible adulterous relationship
with Rosamond Viney. But he is redeemed and spared such a
future by Dorothea's love.