Assignement on Silas Marner, by George Eliot

A. 1. This excerpt is taken from chapter X.

2. This excerpt is taken from chapter XIII
3. This excerpt is taken from chapter III
4. This excerpt is taken from chapter VII
5. This excerpt is taken from chapter XIII

B. 1. In this excerpt the writer describes Mrs. Winthrop, also called Dolly, when she first
goes to visit Silas Marner to his cottage after the gold was stolen. Mrs. Winthrop’s character
and personality are described in such a detailed way, so that the reader can have a better
understanding of her. She is central to Silas’ story, for it is she who becomes his first friend and
confider, and is the first ever to know about what happened to Silas as a young man. Mrs.
Winthrop is of great help to Silas giving him advice on how to take care of Eppie, and later on
she becomes her Godmother.

2. The unnamed character walking alongside Mrs. Winthrop is Godfrey Cass. He goes
with her to see the baby’s mother because he wants to make sure it is his wife, and he is quite
anxious about finding out if she is indeed dead, for her being alive could cause him great
trouble. However, they find that she is dead, and Godfrey is free to propose matrimony to
Nancy Lammeter.

3. In the narrative, The Rainbow (the local inn) has a crucial social function. It is there
where the men gather to drink and discuss the latest town news. The most important
celebrations of the common townsfolk are held in The Rainbow.

The situation mentioned in this excerpt is the following: Fowler (a townsfolk renting land from
the Squire) paid his rent to Godfrey Cass (the Squire’s eldest son). Godfrey was blackmailed by
his brother Dunstan into giving him that money without the Squire’s knowledge. Dunstan did
not give Godfrey the money back, and he has no gold of his own to pay his father who,
thinking Fowler had not yet paid, wants to distrain1 him.

4. This passage shows the first contact Silas Marner has with his human side in a very
long time, when after being robbed he goes to the community for help. The final sentence,
“Our consciousness rarely registers the beginning of a growth within us any more than without
us: there have been many circulations of the sap before we detect the smallest sign of the
bud”, refers to the fact that we do not see change as it happens, but a while later, when the
effect is big enough for us to see it. Just like with a plant that that has finished hibernating and
is starting to grow again, we do not see the growth until the first bud appears, but it had begun
a while ago.

1
Distrain: seize sb’s property in order to obtain payment of rent or other money owned.
In the novel, this sentence suggest that in that moment change has begun within Silas Marner
and the Raveloe community, but this change would not be seen until much later, when Silas
adopts the child.

5. Nancy Lammeter is the youngest daughter of a respectable land owner in Raveloe.

She is beautiful and kind, and the object of Godfrey Cass’ affections. He wishes to marry her
but is unable to, due to the fact that he has already married a woman in secret, who turned
out to be an opium addict. Later on, when his first wife dies making him a widow Godfrey
marries Nancy, making her Mrs. Cass.

This extract of the novel shows the moment when, during Squire Cass’ New Year’s Eve party,
the women advice Silas to leave the baby to one of them for it to be taken care of. However,
Silas’ immediate reaction is to ascertain his right over the baby, claiming that it has come to
him, and he has a right to keep it.

In his mind, the gold that had been taken from him had overcome a transformation, and had
come back to him in the shape of a beautiful blue-eyed baby with golden locks; and he was not
by any means willing to give it up.

C. All these different extracts do not, at a first glance have a specific link. However,
looking closely, we can observe that all passages are in some way connected to the central plot
of the novel. The third extract shows us Godfrey Cass asking his brother for the money to pay
their father: this is, the conflict behind Godfrey’s unhappiness and the later stealing of Silas’
gold by Dunstan. In the fourth passage, we can see Silas Marner seeking comfort in his
neighbors after the robbery. In the first one we can appreciate an extensive description of
Dolly (Mrs. Winthrop), who later became Silas’ first and best friend in Raveloe, when she first
goes to visit him to provide comfort after the robbery. We also see in the second excerpt how
Dolly and Godfrey go to Silas’ cottage to see the mother of the baby, who has died leaving
both Godfrey free to marry Nancy and her baby to be raised by the weaver. Finally, the last
passage illustrates the moment when Silas decides he wants to keep the baby, marking a
definite and radical change to his life.