A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

7S.
tIt's the wonderful t st thing ." .. as I pioked the mother because
she wasn't 0' er t cute--bein' a geed-loeking woman too, ant come
of a rare family fer managing; but I picked her ~om her sisters
ot purpose, 'cause she was a bit weak, like; for I wasn't agoin'
to' be teld the rights 0' things by my own fireside. But you see
when a man's get brains himself, there t s no knowing where they tIl
run to; an' a pleasant sort 0' soft woman may go on breeding you
stupid lads and 'cute vlenches, till it's like as if theSworld was
turned topsy-turvey. Itt s an uncemmon puzzlint thing. f
Mrs Tulliver' snotions of heredity run to trivia as we might expect.
She was "thankful to have been a Dedson, and to' have one child who took
after her own family, at least in his features and complexion, in liking
salt and eating beans, which a Tulliver never did. II 6 The passage of
authorial cemment that fellows reveals Geerge Eliot- s own judgement in
the matter. She tells us that !lin other respects the true Dedsen was
,
partly latent in Tom, and he was as far from appreciating his 'kin' on
the mother t s side as Maggie herself." The Dodsonian sternness of principle
and self-righteousness are carried in the "richer Tt:~lliver
blood" which
had, besiCLes, "element s of generous imprudence, i';a.r:~
affection, and hottempered
rashness. II 7 Maggie's spontaneous, loving r.ature is shown to be
similar to that of her I:'.unt Gritty, whO' is -described as a "patient,
prolific, loving-hearted woman. II 8 This aunt who has, had eight children,
but who "could never overcome her regret that the had not Ii ved. 1 9
is knewn to the children by her Christian name; the Dodson aunts and
uncles are aunt Pullet or uncle Glegg, inviting no such affectionate
familiarity. Tom's angular self-righteousness, inherited from his mother's
family, is compounded with the Tulliver vindictiveness. Maggiets generosity
and warm-heartedness are likewise tempered by her capacity for selfdiscipline,
which is a Dodson trait.
From this we can see that George Eliot accepted that the possibilities
of inheritance are not restricted to physical characteristics only but
extend, as '.veIl, to temperamental diff'erences. Lewes vll'ites that "with
this inheritance of the general organisation, ""-~hat
is, bony, muscular,