I watched the movie Silas Marner starring Ben Kingsley. It made me reflect about the novel by George Eliot that I had read long ago. George Eliot’s simple story of a lost and found treasure which had been robbed from Silas Marner is a profound and moving tale about the humanism and honesty of the working classes. He is a poor weaver living in a cottage on the fringes of Raveloe, all by himself. His life’s labour in the form of pieces of sovereign pounds is stolen from him by the younger son of the village patriarch Mr.Coss.
Mr.Coss’s elder son Mr.Godfrey Cross is wedded to an opium addicted woman Molly Farren, whose details are kept a secret from the family and the world. They have a girl child, who is not acknowledged by her father. He marries his love Nancy, befitting his social class. In search of her husband the woman wanders into the woods on a day of frightening weather and dies by the cottage of Silas Marner.
The orphaned child comes into the life of Silas Marner and he takes care of her calling her Eppie. The father Godfrey afraid of the scandal and the prospect of ruining his impending marriage with Nancy still does not acknowledge the child. The treasure that has been taken away from Silas Marner is given to him in another form and Eppie becomes the light of his life. His sad, forlorn, world becomes full of joy, happiness and love. Years roll by and Eppie grows into a beautiful girl and the pride of the village. Meanwhile Nancy suffers a miscarriage and cannot have any children. Pining for a child who will take after him and planning to own Eppie at last ,Godfrey reveals the true relationship between him and Eppie to Nancy who approves to take Eppie as her child. Silas Marner has forgotten his robbed treasure and is quite content to see Eppie blossom into a responsible young woman. But things take a different turn as the stone quary near Silas Marner’s cottage is drained out by the farmers. They find the skeletal remains of Dunstan Coss together with the coins stolen from Mr.Marner. The coins are returned to Marner and Mr.Godfrey apologizes for the robbery by his younger brother.
On the same day he reveals that he is the father of Eppie and asks to take her with him to make her a lady. Marner says, “I will not stand in the way of the girl.” But the agony in the soul of the poor weaver is evident as fortune takes such a cruel turn and questions why it was not revealed 16 years ago. Mr. Godfrey says the weaver’s place is not a befitting place for Eppie whom he has plans of making a lady. But Eppie is not willing to assume her new place and position. The movie ends with Eppie marrying Aaron from her same working class back ground and Silas Marner being congratulated by the parishioners.
Silas Marner’s world goes through deprivation, agony, blessing, happiness and contentment. In spite of the many trials of his life, he is true to his feelings. On the other hand Mr. Godfrey Coss has never revealed the truth of his relation with Eppie or Molly her mother. George Eliot seems to be questioning the morality of the upper classes and their favorite pastime of passing judgment.
The question of ‘Fatherly love’, a very weighty question for those days is also handled by the novelist. Does Marner who has been Eppie’s provider, friend and care taker for 15 years not become a father? The selfish Mr. Godfrey has no moral right to claim his daughter after all these years. Class conflict too is at the heart of the novel. Molly Farren being a working class woman is not acknowledged by Godfrey. Nancy calls Eppie to come to them to live in a more appropriate (upper class) situation. Eppie says “She does not want to be a lady” “I can’t think o’ no happiness without him. (Silas Marner)” and marries Aaron, the son of Mrs. Winthrop their neighbor.
George Eliot’s story is no mythical, fanciful tale of romance, but a grinding reminder of the oppressive class reality, situation, birth and rank, Silas Marner’s loss of humanity and the dehumanization of his self after his twin defeats, the deception by his friend William Dane and the robbery, reverses itself after the entry of Eppie into his life who brings back, simple elements like love, happiness and care which he had abandoned. His alienated self is restored to attach itself to something more luminous and gay. “A child is like a ray of glorious light, bright and sunny; fluttering like a breeze, flitting like a shadow, flighty like a bird and for the tormented soul of Silas Marner, Eppie is like an elixir of warmth, consoling his heart. Amidst the great body of fiction that George Eliot has given us, Silas Marner may appear to be a minor work. But it is a fascinating work of fiction, which gives us an understanding of the world-view of this great English novelist.