A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

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85. never played on, but quivering throughout in uneasy mysterious moanings of its intricate structure that, under the right touch, gives music. Something like that, I think, has been my experience.' 50 The course of Deronda's life, as he himself accepts, has been shaped by this ever-present, but inarticulate yearning. The experiences of his politically active Jewish ancestors have laid dovm in his nervous system, tendencies and dispositions, which make it impossible for him to assuage his restlessness without acknowledging his ancestry and committing himself' to the cause of Jewish nationalism. The passage I have just quoted provides a very succint description of the specialised aspects of evolutionary psychology which George Eliot used to provide a framework for Deronda's search for "some social captainship, which would come to Chi~ as a duty, and not be striven for as a personal prize." 51 This completes my account of mid-century psy~hological assumptions and the relationship they bear to the novels of George Eliot. She adapted and refined the learning-by-association of the school of association psychology, utilised ecological theories and the concept of ~edium and converted far her purposes the tenets of evolutionary psychology. Ii' she had lived to vlitness the new psychology oi' Sigmund Freud, we can well imagine that she would have f'ruitfully adapted his theories for her presentation of character. Her awareness.of the unconscious is already manifest in the following description of Gwendolen Harleth. She tells us that "there is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms. tI 52 Angus Wilson indicates the shortcomings of the mid-nineteenth century, pre-Freudian psychology whioh provided the parameters within which George Eliot established and defined her characters. He comments on its failure to encompass greater depths; of psychological analysis. IIIf we look again at George Eliot's analysis of Lydgate or Rosamond ar
86. Gwendolen we may feel that description of character in moral terms, though still adequate to her themes, is already feeling towards subconacious and hidden motives for which neither terlnnology nor technique is available. Vie are on the threshold," he saysl(and in his opinion .~ ". only Dostoevsky was able to cross it unaided), "of a psychology for which the older novel forms do not provide." 53
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FROM PRECEPTS TO PEOPLE: A STUDY OF
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letters. Because she believes in th
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CONTENTS. Chapter I INTRODUCTION
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2. thought to result from the frequ
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4. assume a strong possibility that
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6. Eliot wanted, even needed, to be
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8. ible laws--and work towards the
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10. our twentieth~entur.Y preoccupa
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12. realistic an appreciation of th
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Grandcourt. Deronda. refrains from
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16. is coni'used with the conceptio
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18. " , that individual defines him
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20. The intricacies of human nature
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22. Let us now examine the novels t
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24. system, what we feel and adjust
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26. "spots of commonness. It 76 So
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28. discussion of Lydgate in chapte
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30. "It would really have been a ma
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32. and his failure to appreciate t
Page 39 and 40: 34. moral regeneration; remorse as
Page 41 and 42: 36. recognise that their only safeg
Page 43 and 44: Psychological Assumptions, A knowle
Page 45 and 46: Psychological Determinism. lIConstr
Page 47 and 48: "this alone which can give value to
Page 49 and 50: view, that he continued. to occupy
Page 51 and 52: eX3.mine the evolutionc:cry if.: 2:
Page 53 and 54: 48. seeing, or that he is looking i
Page 55 and 56: 50 .. It is this very rigiCiity of
Page 57 and 58: 'Jtions, further "vi t:'
Page 59 and 60: acceptance of the 'al determini -;m
Page 61 and 62: Tito shows us them faced 7rith or m
Page 63 and 64: Ylhile:re exaEline the psychologica
Page 65 and 66: 60. introduced into the novel and d
Page 67 and 68: 62. biologists like Darwin and Lewe
Page 69 and 70: 64. development of the Earth, in th
Page 71 and 72: 66. formed him and which he b helpi
Page 73 and 74: 68 .. that in the onward tendency o
Page 75 and 76: ~lirectinG her irony at just the so
Page 77 and 78: 72 .. mid-nineteenth century in ord
Page 79 and 80: 74. ~ Inb orn Half.: 5!!.. Memory .
Page 81 and 82: 76. nervous and glandular struoture
Page 83 and 84: 78. by new findine:s in cornparati
Page 85 and 86: 80. out the novels this emphasis on
Page 87 and 88: 82. of heredity, especially ir. the
Page 89: lIabandoned the historical universa
Page 93 and 94: 88 ... Eliot translates particular
Page 95 and 96: 90. offers various ways in which th
Page 97 and 98: 92. in the vast universe of conscio
Page 99 and 100: 94. It is extremely doubtful whethe
Page 101 and 102: 96. acknowledged, "in itself, it is
Page 103 and 104: 98. main component of this feeling
Page 105 and 106: 100. utility organised and consolid
Page 107 and 108: 102. over generations until it almo
Page 109 and 110: 104-. mention. He shares with Georg
Page 111 and 112: 106. took over the role of reason a
Page 113 and 114: 108. morality must not be allowed t
Page 115 and 116: 110 .. The third, and for the prese
Page 117 and 118: 112. truth, that moral judgements m
Page 119 and 120: 114. orthodox step, discard her for
Page 121 and 122: 116. between two opposing ethical v
Page 123 and 124: 118. If facts about the moral world
Page 125 and 126: 120. longer see other people as ext
Page 127 and 128: 122. ly called moral intuitions. Th
Page 129 and 130: 124. nance which, in her mind, rele
Page 131 and 132: 126. face of a law which is not una
Page 133 and 134: 128. see very little of her, has sh
Page 135 and 136: 1.30. has sacred virtue.!! 19 She f
Page 137 and 138: 132. I have been labouring the poin
Page 139 and 140: 134. and is therefore related to th
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136. the simplicity and clearness o
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138. herself is somewhat ambivalent
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;ylaints which'ange many clitics on
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142. She accepts in these words a C
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1411-. ological novel concealed wit
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146. the children--which she would
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that come vlith the revelation of h
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150. original sin and the need for
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152. way with Comte t s dogmatic as
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154. The Incalculable Effect. The p
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156. those of mentor/pupil. They Sh
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158. I i The important healing qual
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160. In 1854, George Eliot translat
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creatures, love and tolerance. Simi
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spirit of Feuerbach than his politi
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-166 .. does not totally avoid all
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168. construct for moral grovnh. It
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170. that base line and the height
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172. home a familiar unmistakable d
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174. strengths. Gwendolen has not c
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176. psychological terms; there is
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178. vanity and her longing for soc
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180. tllat Casa;.1bon seeks to impo
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ignore the fact that we have only t
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184. than work and money. The very
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186. to do this; they ·willingly e
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188. of more recent psychological t
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190. to alter perspeoti ve on her c
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192. conceit of means whereby seque
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1 thought processes as, f"ee:Ling s
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196. and so on, all establish the i
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198. suoh a description. The first
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aooept the Positivistio faith in ir
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202. it. Let us now oonsider in gre
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It is Do; )t;hea t s engagement to
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":hanging wit'"; the sElcrElt, a 'o
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208. he did not look mood;y; if he
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\'he crusty, ;t:"ic painter, nero d
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212. he is more inclined tovmrds li
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214. Preoepts ~ People. If we plot
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216. the ''heredit~ entailed Nemesi
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218. . II 10 an d agal.n. When she
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220. be stripped S!!. self-seekinea
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222. do not "choose, ~ in Mill t S
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spones. Psychoanalytic critics have
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226. remonstrate further nor does s
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228. ness will demonstrate a breadt
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230. don Silva and accepts her gyps
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stinctive rescue of Mirah and the c
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234. member the derivation of the w
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236. ainly they become yet another
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238. to the time when he finds his
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mente George Eliot may write of "ho
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traces of Puritanism, and, as Ian W
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Gwendolen's rejection of the stabil
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246. for upper middle class society
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248. tracting us while the real eve
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250. are tlanguish to ~hei~ own nob
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2.52. Romola, Dorothea Brooke and D
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254. stantly to the nov~ls and to t
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256. 1°George Levine, "Determinism
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258. Notes: El2,. 13-15 13 Ibid 1.2
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260. Notes: El2,. 21-24 52Ibid, p.
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262. Notes: ££. 29-35 91 George E
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Notes: EE.. 42-45. ~ssays of George
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266. Notes: ~. 50-56. 41 GEL, vol.
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268. Notes: E£.. 62-64. 1~erbert S
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Notes: EE,. 68-73. 52aarbara Hardy
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272. Notes: EJ2.. 78- 81. 17 quoted
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274. Notes: Ell. 87-93. 3GEL , vol.
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276. Notes: 12lI2.. 96-*_ 28George
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27.8. Notes: I?2,. 1 06-1 09. 31lma
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280. Notes: E.l2,. 115-120. 68A•
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282 •• Notes: Ell. 128- 133. 15
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284.. Notes: E2,. 138-142. 25George
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286. Notes:;e:e,. 147-151 63Paul Ti
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Notes: ~. 157-164. 6George Eliot, :
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290. Notes: E,E.. 169-176. 10David
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Notes: ER,.. 182-189. 49George Elio
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294. Notes: .eE,.. 197-200. Tragedy
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296. Notes: I!P... 204--21 2. 6Ibid
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298. Notes: E£. 218-223 17George E
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300 • Notes: ~. 229-233. 53quoted
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Notes: pp. 241-248. 91 Basil Willey
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Bibliography. Primary Sources: !. G
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Hennell, Charles. ~ InquiJ;y concer
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308. Adam, Ian. Ed. ~ Particular !!
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310. H. Champion, 1933. Bowler, Pet
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312. Eisely, Loren. Darwin's Centur
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314-. _. ~ Novels 2!. Georse Eliot:
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316. reoherohe ~ temps perdu, ~.2!
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318. Lodge, David. ~ Language of' F
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320. Paris, Bernard. Experiments !!
Page 327 and 328:
322. Sartre, J-P. Existentialism ~
Page 329 and 330:
324. Tillioh, Paul. ~ Courage ~~. L
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A study of characterisation in the novels of George Eliot

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