A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

Ylhile:re exaEline the psychological theories of the mid-ninetBBnth
century in order to further our understanding of
Eliot's novels,
we must never lose sight of the fact that converted theories
and theil"" assU!aptions abou.t hu.rnan naturle into the mOl"tal
vlithin
which her characters live out their lives. A char"::',cte:(' may be shovm
to us e~lleshed in a complex enviroilluent; that one
But his frulul'e to concede this is
as e"lridence of his
sistic, morally stance; and this is another shaping factor .. 'i:ae
quotation from !!~ddlemar~!:
introducing this chapter contains bot}: of
these: lithe slerVl preparation of effects II
on the one hand, and the
culated irony" of our indifference to these effects on 11;h8 other ..
I have just described a. ohara.cter 8.'3 !!er.tf:.1eshed in a e'lvironment."
I chose the pbrase cdvi as '.·,ceb of t
threads, of spin..'ling an;l ':,eaving are !'E:::;urrine motif especially tho
later novels. ~'hey
provide extended t'),nc .. '.ogues for a character 1 s X'~lfltionship
with his ±'ellmis, with the "condit 11 e.nd "circurastances 1I 11.::'5
life. One of the first occurrences of ,,::1:::'8 kind of'
is in
Floss. It is used as a
Tulliver for
his tendency to prompt action is st'ill constantl. l:;ft
' .. .i.th the feeling that the 'vorld is
the narrator, tlthat for (Setting a
tangled, there is nothinG like snatchi
The of a tar.t.8led th:l:'f}Q,Q is used' in to describe the
==,;.-
heroine's incre["singly alienated vision of human.:pos:,ibilities. \1;;,; [ire
told. that lithe vision of
purpcse, any end of existence '/lhich
could ennoble endurance e:~al t the co:arClon deeds of' a ~2.l1::t::1 lif~o vlith
di vine ardours, 'Nas utter] e fo;~ her now by the sense of o onthreads.
II 3