The Nature Of Human Nature In George Eliot's Silas Marner

Judging by reality and fiction, there is not a single person to exist that has been purely evil or purely good. Yet it is in human nature to judge others as good or evil. Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice was quick to judge Fitzwilliam Darcy, the second central character of the novel, harshly based on her false assumptions of the arrogance of the wealthy. His initial egocentrism, due to his belief in a structured social hierarchy, caused her to form a prejudiced opinion of him. Throughout Pride and Prejudice, Fitzwilliam Darcy is shown to exhibit both good and evil qualities, although not always apparent to the narrator, Elizabeth. Jane Austen’s portrayal of Mr. Darcy as a morally ambiguous character uncovers the significance of class in English society during the late seventeenth century.

Another famous and influential work from T.S. Eliot is The Hollow Men. Likely influenced by World War I, T. S. Eliot portrays a disconnect from humanity and a disillusionment with typical beliefs as a source of human despair in The Hollow Men. The “hollow men” that the work is centered around are depicted devoid of any human qualities that might provide them a relief from despair, such as hope or faith. As is written in “T. S. Eliot's Indigenous Critical Concepts and 'The Hollow Men'” by Muhammad Khan Sangi and others, “In this poem the human beings have been shown devoid of the qualities of faith, moral strength, of personality, determination and that of humanity; they are like empty bodies, lacking all human virtues” (Sangi et al para 4). No matter how these qualities were lost to the individuals, the result is constant and predictable: the individuals feel an inescapable despair. When one has nothing to anticipate in life, no expectations or hopes, then life loses its meaning. This is the world that the hollow men live in perpetually. The entire work, as Sangi describes, “is a cry of despair unrelieved by hope. The peculiarity of the poem is that it is an inner drama with the utmost economy of words. The images echo the deadness of sensibility and the emptiness of hollow men who, like the effigies, are fit only for burning” (Sangi et al para 5). Again, the hollow men are depicted as worthless, insofar as they are compared to effigies, the only purpose of which is to be

Actions and words define an individual. Clarence Harvey is described as a “man of genius” and was “distinguished at Oxford,” but he is also “ignorant” due to his fear of “passing for a pedant,” which comes to show how complicated Hervey actually is. In Maria Edgeworth’s novel, Belinda, the author uses literary techniques, such as point of view and language to portray Clarence Hervey’s character.

By looking through a critical lens at T Stearns Eliot’s poetry in light of his 20th century, modernist context, much is revealed about his personal and the rapidly evolving societal beliefs of that era. Through his repeating motif of time and fragmentation throughout his poems, Eliot reveals the prevalent feelings of isolation while in society along with the need to hide one’s feelings and emotions in this degrading society. His exploration of the use of ambiguity and stream of consciousness by Eliot, which is a characteristic of modernist artists, allows his work to resound over decades while being interpreted and differently understood by every audience that encounters them.

Clarence Hervey supposes himself to be a Renaissance man, when in authenticity, he is nothing more than a charlatan. In this passage from her novel Belinda, Maria Edgeworth develops the many characters of Mr. Hervey through generalized language, references to Mr. Hervey’s inconstancy and Mr. Hervey’s ironic and hypocritical fears of Belinda.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, as an admirer of psychology, uses a distinctive theme of moral ambiguity amongst his characters in the novel The Scarlet Letter. The characters, in particular Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth, are rather difficult to classify as either good or bad; they are simply human. Hawthorne’s moral ambiguity amongst these characters makes them more relatable to real human beings and serves as a clear portrayal of the complex human psyche. One can not be defined as simply bad or good; humans are much more complex than these two binary words which is why Hawthorne’s realization of moral ambiguity is quite profound.

Victorian society’s repression of Dionysiac desires in favour of Apollonian self-disciplined order is most powerful on middle-class professional figures who were morally bound to uphold these standards. Therefore, the first lines of the novel, “Mr Utterson the lawyer”, firmly situate the novel’s characters within a class that characterises the Apollonian self. Mr Utterson is introduced by the adjective “austere” as a man who represses his Dionysiac desires of “a taste for vintages” and “theatre” with a self-induced severity. The third-person narrative contributes to the factual tone of the passage that suggests this behaviour is common place within the society. The characters of this novel are imprisoned by the internalised expectation of a pure Apollonian self.

In Gardner’s writing, On Moral Fiction, he speaks of society’s view of morals and how they could be skewed from a reader’s interpretation of an author’s writing. In relation, Ethan Frome and The Awakening deal with different views of the characters passions versus what is morally right in society. These novels represent the ongoing internal confusion within all people of what we believe is morally right or if we should simply follow our passions.

T.S Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is an examination of human insecurity and folly, embodied in the title's J. Alfred Prufrock. Eliot's story of a man's "overwhelming question", his inability to ask it, and consequently, his mental rejection plays off the poem's many ambiguities, both structural and literal. Eliot uses these uncertainties to develop both the plot of the poem and the character of J. Alfred Prufrock.

As one develops, the values that he/she support mature in sync with mental, physical, and emotional developments. With this maturation, individuals create a moral code that is based on the values and beliefs that are deemed most important. Whether the creation of this code of conduct is intentional or not, it nonetheless serves as a guide for the way in which one behaves. These moral codes ensure the maintenance of order within one’s own life. By token of consideration, Raymond Chandler’s “Red Wind” follows Philip Marlowe as he subscribes to a moral code of chaotic good, wherein he behaves in a seemingly unprincipled manner. However, he does so as a mode of ultimately serving the common good. Comparatively, society as a whole also creates regulations to live by with the intention of maintaining order amongst the masses. The court of law, for example, ensures that individuals behave ethically and in favour of the common good. Without these general regulations, society succumbs to chaos. With reference to the text, the world that Marlowe lives in is one that supports moral systems that are in opposition to his own. The interaction between one’s personal values (moral code) and social sanctions (e.g. the law and societal ideals), may result in a shift in an individual’s belief system. The following essay will explore the ‘world’ that Chandler has created for the characters, Marlowe’s moral code in response to the world in which he lives, and finally, the state that Marlowe

It can be assumed that if J.S. Mill and Lord Devlin ever coexisted some intoxicating deliberations regarding the role of morality in society would transpire. However, time has a peculiar habit of erecting boundaries amid centuries, allowing us only to presume discourse between the contemporary and the historical. Consequentially, each individual has an obligation to formulate his or her own appraisal established through the logistic unification of the particular instant and one's own conception of idealistic righteousness. But the acquisition of an infallible and tangible philosophy with universal application would be as obstinate to create as it would to fathom. In such regard, the apparatus on

This occasion displays how potentially careless and morally corrupt the citizens of New York in the nineteen twenties can be. It is occasions like these that prominently portray the depth of moral corruption in relation to the significance of the setting in The Great Gatsby.

Eliot is not solely criticising modern life in the poem, it also serves as a reflection of Eliot’s social context and his own life, a product of its time.

Q5 "Much of what Eliot writes about is harsh and bleak, but he writes about it in a way that is often beautiful". Comment fully on both parts of this assertion.

The idea of inherited curse and sins makes one ponder the deep concept of pre-destination and free-will which is often debated upon. Whether the inherited curse was incurred upon the House and Pyncheons due to the Maule’s curse alone or was their own folly liable and blameworthy too. This perhaps is a conflicting issue of the text. One can interpret this dichotomy in both ways. Readers can see the deaths of Colonel Pyncheon, old Jaffrey Pyncheon and Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon either as a result of that inherited curse given by Mathew Maule or even due to the faults of each of them individually. The similar fashion of each death results the reader’s thinking meander into the stream of a single thought that these deaths are result of some supernatural or mystical element which is not ordinary. This supernatural element only, instill within our understanding that the characters have least agency of their destinies. This paper, hence, can comment on the fact that perhaps these happenings and deaths are not human governed and therefore lie not in their hands to