Moral Values of Silas Marner and Godfrey Cass

1642 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Into the wild character analysis

“Justice is the quality of being just as well as complying with the principle of righteousness and also performing one’s moral obligations” (Oxford Dictionary). Moral values are important in Silas Marner throughout the novel as those people who do good deeds are rewarded while those who fail in their moral duties to others are punished. As George Eliot was a religious person, she believed in fate and providence as there was a higher being rewarding and punishing our conduct. This theme is portrayed throughout the book and seen most prominently in the characters of Silas Marner and Godfrey Cass.

Silas starts the story as a popular man from Lantern Yard as he is a regular attendee to church and is well respected. He is referred to as ‘Master Marner’. His best friend is William Dane. William frames Silas for a crime he did not commit. People in the village start to accuse Silas of the theft of the dead Deacon’s money. The way this church were organised in those days meant that it was down to pure luck to decide whether Silas was guilty or not. This was the main reason why lots were picked to decide Silas’ fate. He was a firm believer in God and was adamant that he would be cleared. “I can say nothing. God will clear me” (Chapter 1 page 12). Despite his solid belief, Silas was falsely found guilty and he had to leave his place of birth. The author, due to her different beliefs, portrayed this as if to say that it wasn’t up to God to decide your fate, but up to you to decide your own fate. However, contrary to this, his prayers did come true later on in his life, but in the form of a baby.

William Dane and Dunstan Cass are the two antagonists in the novel. In chapter 1, as mentioned before, William sets Silas up and betrays him...

... middle of paper ...

...dfrey has made throughout his life, he also realises the importance of a good family life. “I feel now it’s my duty to insist on taking care of my own daughter. I want to do my duty” (Chapter 19 page 171). Due to this reason, I believe that justice has been done as Silas has been rewarded after his betrayal in Lantern Yard and taking care of Eppie by himself. He has been rewarded by having a peaceful and happy life, and also by being surrounded by people who care for him. Godfrey’s past misdemeanors have gone on to punish him later on in life, as, although he got Nancy, he was left without an heir.

The moral of the story is that everyone is rewarded or punished for their action or conduct to others. I think that justice has been done with all of the main characters, but the minor characters such as Molly and William, for differing reasons, have not had justice.

Show More
Related

  • The Rise of Silas Lapham

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    Silas’ self-sacrifice is the main cause to his true happiness. His morals also played a vital role in the novel causing him to realize he does not need material things in life to be happy. By the end of the story he moves back to the farm and goes back to be a normal person once again. He no longer feels the need of acceptance from everyone because he doesn’t need to change who is in order to fit in.

    Read More

  • Be Warned and Study Justice:The Shifting Definition of Justice in Virgil’s Aeneid

    4362 Words  | 9 Pages

    ...are confronted with the question of moral absolutes, we are forced to wonder when and to whom justice truly applies. Hopefully, we will look at our world and our ideas of right, wrong and retribution in different ways, ways that will enlighten and enrich our lives, and the those of the an audience of readers 2,000 years from now.

    Read More

  • Huckleberry Finn – Morality

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    Society establishes their own rules of morality, but would they be accepted in these days?

    Read More

  • The Lasting Effect of Sin and Guilt on Hester and Dimmesdale

    1448 Words  | 3 Pages

    Without an honorable reputation a person is not worthy of respect from others in their society. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, the struggle to shake off the past is an underlying theme throughout the novel. Characters in this novel go through their lives struggling with trying to cope with the guilt and shame associated with actions that lost them their honorable reputation. Particularly, Hawthorne shows the lasting effect that sin and guilt has on two of the main characters in the book: Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale.

    Read More

  • Essay on Earth's Holocaust and The Birthmark

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hawthorne knew that all men are defective. Earth's Holocaust is his most striking statement of the theme, but every story and novel is based on that premise. Those who ignore human imperfection in their planning become, like Aylmer of The Birthmark, destroyers rather than creators. From his knowledge of universal depravity came and not as paradoxically as it may seem a humility and a sense of social solidarity too often lacking in our young critics of society. The society with which he was concerned was a wider society. As we have noted, his people are often ''saved'' through love for one other person. The heart is touched by love, bringing warmth, or ''reality." But the saved one does not then withdraw with his loved one in a society of the elect; he does not join a Brook Farm or a commune. He returns to the larger society, to what Lewis calls "the tribe." He is defective and incomplete-as it is defective and incomplete; he needs it as it needs him. Thus love unites Phoebe and Holgrave, but also serves the larger social purpose of uniting two warring families, displacing hate by love and "cleansing'' a cursed house. Love for Clifford brings Hepzibah out of destructive pride and isolation into intercourse with the world. Hester is saved at the end not by the "consecration of its own" she once thought blessed her union with Dimmesdale, not by escape into ...

    Read More

  • Morality in Young Goodman Brown by Hawthorne and The Tell Tale Heart by Poe

    2604 Words  | 6 Pages

    'Young Goodman Brown,' by Hawthorne, and 'The Tell Tale Heart,' by Poe, offer readers the chance to embark on figurative and literal journeys, through our minds and our hearts. Hawthorne is interested in developing a sense of guilt in his story, an allegory warning against losing one's faith. The point of view and the shift in point of view are symbolic of the darkening, increasingly isolated heart of the main character, Goodman Brown, an everyman figure in an everyman tale. Poe, however, is concerned with capturing a sense of dread in his work, taking a look at the motivations behind the perverseness of human nature. Identifying and understanding the point of view is essential, since it affects a reader's relationship to the protagonist, but also offers perspective in situations where characters are blinded and deceived by their own faults. The main character of Poe?s story embarks on an emotional roller coaster, experiencing everything from terror to triumph. Both authors offer an interpretation of humans as sinful, through the use of foreshadowing, repetition, symbolism and, most importantly, point of view. Hawthorne teaches the reader an explicit moral lesson through the third person omniscient point of view, whereas Poe sidesteps morality in favor of thoroughly developing his characters in the first person point of view.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Justice Analysis

    95 Words  | 1 Pages

    What is justice to you. Justice is known to dictionary.com as, “the quality of being just; righteoussness, equitableness, or moral rightness”. So how do you define justice. Is it fairness or correctness, maybe it’s throwing all the bad guys in jail. In To Kill a Mockingbird and The Merchant of Venice justice is defined several times in several different ways that open to our eyes if we look through one of the character’s. When looking through a character’s eyes we must take a look at someone’s background hence absorbing their perspective and understanding their

    Read More

  • Morals and Ethics in The Great Gatsby

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most self respecting people have ethics and morals they try to abide by. They create standards that they live life by and construct their own philosophy with. In the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, morals and ethics are a scarce practice. Jay Gatsby lives his life by the over bearing morals and values of devotion, corruption, and his will to control.

    Read More

  • Depiction of Wealth and Morality in The Great Gatsby

    1174 Words  | 3 Pages

    In my final paper I will argue that F. Scott Fitzgerald represents the country in relation to civilization and the city in his novel The Great Gatsby. This novel take takes place in New York City on the East Coast of the United States shortly before the start of the great depression at some point in the 1920’s. This novel is constantly comparing the fictional cities East Egg and the West Egg witch is modeled to be the two different sides of long island. The continued comparison of the society on the East side versus the West side of Long Island shows the difference that earning your wealth has on your morality compared to being born into it.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby: Morality And Gatsby

    375 Words  | 1 Pages

    hide the car and with it he could hide the truth. The truth is that Myrtle

    Read More

  • Examples Of Morality And Values In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    During our lives, we develop morals and values through life experiences. They can be influenced by our society and the people we surround ourselves with. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates courage, social inequality and prejudice through the characters and events in the book. We experience life lessons through the protagonist Scout Finch as she develops her own values. This is displayed through a variety of life lessons and values throughout the novel.

    Read More

  • Jane Eyre Essay: Following the Moral Compass in Jane Eyre

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    Following the Moral Compass in Jane Eyre Jane Eyre is the perfect novel about maturing: a child who is treated cruelly, holds herself together and learns to steer her life forward with a driving conscience that keeps her life within personally felt moral bounds. I found Jane as a child to be quite adult-like: she battles it out conversationally with Mrs. Reed on an adult level right from the beginning of the book. The hardships of her childhood made her extreme need for moral correctness believable. For instance, knowing her righteous stubbornness as a child, we can believe that she would later leave Rochester altogether rather than living a life of love and luxury simply by overlooking a legal technicality concerning her previous marriage to a mad woman. Her childhood and her adult life are harmonious, which gives the reader the sense of a complete and believable character.                     Actually, well into this book I&nbsp I was reminded of a friend's comment a few years back to "avoid the Brontes like the plague.

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter: The Response to Sin

    1857 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...to portray through Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, that without responsibility for wrongful deeds our world will eventually be destroyed just like these two individuals. However, Hawthorne, through the portrayal of Hester, shows that he has not given up on humanity. If our world is going to survive for future generations it has to model itself after Hester’s behavior. Yes, sin is inevitable but we must learn to respond to it with responsibility, forgiveness, and redemption rather than with guilt, revenge, and uncertainty. More importantly we must learn to remain honest and truthful in whatever action we carry out because in the end only God will have the power to grant us the ultimate forgiveness by saving us or damning us to Hell.

    Read More

  • Scarlet Letter Redemption Essay

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    I care about what people think of me a lot more that I would like to admit. Not only do I look to others for reassurance, occasionally I realize my entire self worth is dependent upon the opinions of complete outsiders. Hawthorne provides a curiously simple two-step process to redemption that resonated with me in The Scarlet Letter. It involved both accepting your misconduct and learning to let go of it yourself, something I struggle to practice, because I depend upon the acceptance of others. Hester Prynne and Dimmsdale, the two primary characters that seem to struggle to attain redemption in this novel, help display realistically the challenges of following this process to achieve redemption and the rewards of attaining true redemption. In The Scarlet Letter, I learned redemption is attained through both acknowledgement of your sin and self-forgiveness of your misconduct.

    Read More

  • The House of Seven Gables, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon is main antagonist in The House of Seven Gables. An antagonist is character or characters that oppose protagonist who usually creates the problem. He was known by the major population as a man of noble character. However his relatives, Clifford, Hepizbah, and Phoebe Pncheon know him as a brutal, selfish, and greedy man. His “exceedingly pleasant countenance” (pg.86, Hawthorne) does not fool them instead they were filled with fear. They knew that their Uncle Judge...

    Read More

More about Moral Values of Silas Marner and Godfrey Cass

Open Document