Inconsistency in Adam Bede
In George Eliot's Adam Bede, an inconsistency can be found between Dinah's firmly held convictions and her decision to
marry. Throughout the story, Eliot presents Dinah as a symbol of divine love who persistently shuns all earthly pleasures of her
own for the benefit of those in need. Several passages in the text show that Dinah insists she must follow the path God has
chosen for her and prevent her own needs and desires from rising to the surface. Despite her moral protestations, however,
Dinah marries Adam in the last few pages of the book. This marriage is disappointing in another sense as well. Dinah was not
only created as a symbol of divine love, but also as a figure who
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We see here
that Dinah is not one to be caught up in the external world. Her mind is occupied with thoughts of "what it has to give out,"
indicating not only that she is charitable, but also that she is not in the process of observing and making judgements. Her eyes
do not even appear to be "making observations," but are instead simply "shedding love." She is so entirely absorbed in her
spirituality that in her mind the outer world is insignificant. This is evident in the way she dresses as well. We are told that she
wears no adornments; she is always plainly dressed in a Quaker bonnet and a black dress. She does not try to put on a false
front by embellishing her appearance. She is described as "simple" and "candid" (34).
Following this initial physical description of Dinah is a series of occurrences in which the reader discovers that Dinah is so
selfless and devout that she denies herself a life of her own. On the very first night that we are introduced to her we find that she
is resolved "...to live and die without husband or children..." (45). Seth accompanies her home from the service and makes use
of their time alone together as an opportunity to propose to her. She denies his proposal: "I seem to have no room in my soul
for wants or fears of my own, it has pleased God to fill my heart so full with the wants and suffering of his poor people" (45).
She does not even take time to consider the
She has a detached nature and comes off as being an outsider observing them from above, and interpreting their movements like a scientist.
heart when it comes to important topics. She emphasizes the values of family, God and
remains true to who she is so that she cannot be accepted with her personalities; moreover, her
From the first scene to the last, she shows her obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. As defined by Rathus, this disorder is categorized by the person’s “inflexibility and fixation on rules,
in her fear of a deviant biological sex, but rather in the indefinable abyss of complex and
“Later that night when Thomas roller over and lurched into her, she would open her eyes and think of the place that was hers” this proves the point that she cannot even express herself sexually because she does not feel as if she has control in the situation. Her mind wanders elsewhere, in a place where she is her own master, instead of what is reality. Additionally, the main character’s husband shows some selfish tendencies in the fact that he may not notice his wife’s discontentment with his affection. However, this may also present the lack of communication between man and wife and therefore may cause a sense of isolation from her husband.
Her third encounter is with a man with whom she wrote an act for one of his plays. He complains about his financial situation and shows her the new rug he bought. She then starts thinking of her "empty purse" and how he owes her fifty dollars for the act she wrote for him. He downplays her writing and says her "stuff was no better than mine," and she says, "let it go." Later we see that she is used to letting things go.
At the time of WW1, men were at war so women played different roles in society. Women were the “money makers” and were relied on to make money for the family. To do so, women had to take on roles in society in which were traditionally seen as male roles. Women were treated equally and Eliot’s views on women were very mixed. Some days he believed in the oppressive views of the society around him; he hated women and was disgusted by them and yet on other days, he was enchanted and mesmerised by them. Eliot adored his second wife Valerie however, Eliot had a painful relationship with his first wife Vivienne in which he wrote about his disgust in her ‘monthly cycles’ and her mental state. Vivienne was known as a bold character that you should not
George Eliot’s Adam Bede offers a realistic and highly detailed look into the everyday life of ordinary people in rural Treddleston. Although the characters are fictional, several of them are based upon people Eliot knew or knew of, which adds to the realism. As she delightedly observes and describes the intricacies of the natural, ordinary world, Eliot pays attention to human nature, applying keen psychological insight to characters’ thoughts, choices, and actions. Eliot seems to understand that certain people are a certain way, and she encourages her reader to gently evaluate, rather than hastily judge, both her characters and people in general. Within the
Eliot is a master artist, but of words rather than watercolors or pastels. The reader may not understand all the images, and might be sent searching through the texts that Eliot alludes
Eliot describes his relationships with different women, and the how the specific type of women he associated with leave him feeling upset about his current situation. He claims that “in the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo,” (13) representing how his relationships are neither long term nor realistic. Rather they are just one time flings and then life continues individually. This also indicates that because the women are intelligent Prufrock feels uneasy and intimidated at the fact that he make not live up to their standards once again leaving him in an anxiety-ridden relationship. Eliot goes on to say “And I have known the eyes already, know them all” (55), this reveals how all the women he is with all resemble each other
going on in the world around her – which may be the fact of the
ideologies about images, and is consciously aware that she is an object of the gaze. As women
Dinah, or selfless saint, spends her time focused on the mores of the world, of the sake of the souls of people, and not on her own comfort or path. While Eliot branches out in making Dinah a Methodist Minister, she still lives into the feminine standards. Dinah pushes without pushing too hard and always seeks the betterment of others. Whereas Hetty, after she met her lover in the woods, rebuked Dinah’s attempts to help her and returned to the woods shortly there after in a state of consciousness that was“fragmented and confused,” Dinah returned to her bedchamber and and “threw herself on her knees, and poured out in deep silence all the passionate pity that filled her heart” for Hetty.
Eliot’s poetry is often difficult to decipher or to pinpoint certain themes within a work. Throughout his poems, Eliot strives to reach a higher understanding of “reality” and explores the various perspectives of different people, implying that each individual has