A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

250.
are tlanguish to ~hei~
own nobleness" belongs to such a widening psych-
ology. They are surrounded with a "penumbra of unrealised possibilities. tI
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And this is not just that they are presented ecologically with their
relationships to, and their independence on their respective communities
drawn so convincingly. It is more that we sense that it is touch
and go whether they will betray their own ideals; a little more exertion
here and a little less pressure there, and things might have been different.
Maggie might have found the courage to stand up to her redoubtable
brother; Lydgate might have succeeded in presenting their financial situation
to Rosamond in terms that she could or would have understood.
These characters are allowed to be more convincingly and roundly human.
Gwendolen H~leth is another such, except that with her we are in doubt
as to the permanence of her moral redemption once Deronda' s constraining
presence is withdrawn. There is an unpredictability about these characters.
The encoded messages still place them but the presentation of
thei±' moral struggles is more flexible and we sense that they confront
a wider range of possibilities. The morally very good and very bad of
George Eliot t s characters are tlresultants, il in Lewes t terminology; these
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middle range characters are "emergents" and, as a result, they themselves
take on a greater humanity and a greater vividness. There is
greater roOm in their portrayal for George Eliot.' s binocular vision. In
an earlier chapter I have already indicated the withdrawal of irony
from the morally evolved characters. But with characters like Maggie
or Gwendolen/or Lydgate, George Eliot can regard their foibles and
their moral struggles with irony at the same time as she is surrounding
them with her compassion.
The satisfaction we feel at her presentation of her erring characters
and the dissatisfaction aroused by her very good or very bad
characters fit an Aristotelian definition of character and its re-