In George Eliot’s “Silas Marner” we first see Silas Marner arriving in Raveloe and the villagers’ reaction to a stranger and his silent reaction to their treatment of him. Silas did not invite anyone into his cottage neither did he set foot into the village. He remembers well the way he was treated in his old town of Lantern Yard, so he tries to keep as far as possible from people. Silas was lonely, and he drowned his loneliness in his work. He was a weaver, and the gold pennies he received for his work was his companion and sole motivation to keep on working. Fifteen years ago he was a respected young man in his community of Lantern Yard. Now he lives in a world that is far from any evidence of human kindness. He is surrounded by people, but, he feels a sense of aloneness while he deals with the deep emotional wounds from long ago. This story shows a man living as an outcast in another community, and his struggles to rid himself of the hurt that he feels from the people close to him. He finds himself deeply involved in the ‘darkness’ that surrounds the community of Raveloe.
The story is told from the narrator’s third person point of view. He makes the reader see the thoughts of the characters. Sometimes the narrator pauses to speak to the reader in the first person point of view “Is there anything you can fancy that you would like to eat?” “I once said to an old laboring man / who was in his last illness, and who had refused all the food” (Eliot, 3). The narrator sets the tone for the secrecy that would eventually shroud the life of the main character and other prominent persons in the village of Raveloe. He lives in a stone cottage near the edge of the stone pit on the outskirts of the village. Silas Marner’s trade is regarded as superstitious – a weaver by profession. He sits at a loom all day which associates him with the devil and since he is an outsider, and the villagers knew nothing about him, he is the center of much gossiping. Marner was a mystery “he invited no comer to step across his door-sill / and he never strolled into the village to drink a pint” (Eliot, 4). Silas deceives himself into thinking that he could live by himself without having any human or spiritual contact.
The deception started when William Dane made Silas believe that he was his friend. He steals the deacon’s money and blames it on Silas. Silas was banished to Raveloe after he is accused of stealing. The accusation made him wary of helping anyone as his attempts to help a neighbor made the villagers think of him as a witch doctor. He kept his secret to himself not daring to help anyone anymore. He becomes withdrawn and a ‘miserly’ old man, living in the dark cottage on the edge of the village because of the bitter experience he had in Lantern Yard. In Raveloe, Silas encounters a family much like himself. Squire Cass’ two sons, Godfrey and Dunstan are spoilt. Godfrey and Silas are complete opposites in terms of class and age but they are much like each other. Godfrey is young and has a rich lifestyle while Silas is old and ‘miserly’. They however are two lonely men. This loneliness springs from their actions. Godfrey’s loneliness comes because he chooses not to tell Nancy about his secret marriage. Silas is alone because he did not reveal that it was William Dane who was the culprit in the theft of the deacon’s money. Silas chooses to become a recluse, and not associate with the townsfolk.
Godfrey Cass kept the secret of his marriage to a woman who people consider of low standard. His brother Dunstan capitalized on this by blackmailing him. He had to give in to the blackmail as he could not afford to let his father know of this marriage. He borrows money from his father’s neighbors to pay Dunstan, and when he could not repay it, he sold his horse. One little lie and one best kept secret escalated into more ‘lies’ that begin to spread like wild fire.
The plot thickens when Dunstan decides to borrow money from Silas Marner to repay the debt. He searches the house and finds Silas’ money. Now more persons are caught up in a web of deceit. Godfrey had to tell his father about the horse and Dunstan. Maybe this was the perfect opportunity to tell his father about the rent money and his marriage. It was time to confess as keeping the secret longer would make it hard to tell. Old Mr. Cass was angry. He accused of being thick with Dunsey, “how long have you been so thick with Dunsey / are you turning out a scamp?” (Eliot 80).
Godfrey’s relationship with Nancy is unstable and full of secrets. He does not reveal that Eppie was his child. When Silas found her, he was excited and thought that she was a Gift. The child made him happy, and he would never give her up to anyone. Eliot revealed to the reader that Eppie was Godfrey’s child. Godfrey lives and behaved as though he has no secret, but the secret was killing everyone else. The deception gets even greater when Nancy was unable to have a child for him. Not being able to conceive is indicative of their deceptive relationship. Godfrey wanted to adopt Eppie, but he could not say why he wanted her. His revelation would compound the matter of lies and deception even greater and would hurt so many persons. His feelings had to be kept a secret or it would affect his social life. The keeping of secrets has made his marriage unhappy. His final revelation about his past it did not make him any happier. Keeping so much of his life a secret has made his marriage unhappy. For him, the secrets that he kept over the years have destroyed his life and have even caused the death. His wife Molly, who was unhappy in the marriage, died on her way to the Cass’s house one snowy evening with the baby in her arms. This misfortune however became another person’s joy as a child from the secret marriage was taken in and cared for by someone who has been rejected by society for a long time. Godfrey decides that he would keep the child a secret but vows that he would take the best care of her.
Dunstan’s disappearance came to light one day after they drained the stone pit close to Marner’s house. It seems that on the night that he stole Marner’s money he fell in the pit and drowned. Godfrey became fearful that his secrets would be revealed as well, decides to tell it all. He says, “everything comes to light Nancy, sooner or later.” (Eliot 190). He tells her everything; about his past, about Eppie and Molly. Nancy did not become angry. Instead she just said that if Godfrey had taken her from the beginning she would call her mother, and she would have a child. They shared s secret with the whole community. Silas went back to Lantern Yard to see if they knew who took the deacon’s money. He now needs to get rid of all the secrets and the deception so he could enjoy what was left of his life.
The characters portrayed in the novel have secret wishes. They all harbored these secrets in the hope that they could use them for selfish means. William Dane says he had a dream in which he saw the words “calling and election sure.” William was scheming all the time and when the perfect opportunity came, he stole the deacon’s money and made it look as if Silas did it. Godfrey Cass thought that he could live his life to his selfish ends. He marries without telling his family. He wants to have an affair with a woman who he first loved without telling her of his marriage. He took money that belongs to his father and had to borrow to pay it back. His brother blackmailed him and no doubt he was responsible for his brother’s death. If his brother was dead the secret that he holds could die with him. Old father Cass would rather spend his time at the Rainbow Inn rather than the ‘shadowy and dark’ place he calls home. The selfish attitude affects everyone.
Godfrey Cass, the affectionate and kind man, became a bitter man. He wove a web of deceit from the beginning by marrying this woman partly due to Dunstan’s doing. The keeping of this secret hurts him more than the things his brother did to him. He was not able to own his daughter and do right by her. He tries to cover up the shame by giving Silas money for her all the time not revealing why. In the pursuit of happiness Godfrey was willing to sacrifice a whole community for his selfish reasons. One secret revealed became the ultimate cure that heals the bitterness and resentment and helps to bring the people in one community together.
Reference
Eliot, George. Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe. Longman Group Limited Burnt Mill, Harlow Essex CM 20 2JE, England ISBN 0 582 34846 3
