Silas Flashcards
Silas in Lantern Yard
passive victim of an arbitrary form of justice relying too strongly on divine interference after William Dane frames him for theft and the drawing of the lots declare him guilty and he is ostracised. His fiance Sarah marries Dane, and he loses his trust in God, love, and friendship.
“defenceless deer-like gaze” - eye motif - vulnerable
“shaken trust in God and man”
“God will clear me”
“the inherited delight he had in wandering the fields began to wear from him the character of a temptation” - too pious
“young man of exemplary life and ardent faith”
“expression of trusting simplicity” - naive
Silas when he moves to Raveloe
Lives an isolated life, spending all his time weaving to displace his overwhelming sense of loss. He becomes addicted to his coins
- “pallid young man with prominent short-sighted brown eyes” - eye motif - can’t see beyond the loom literally and metaphorically can’t see outside world
- “he seemed to weave, like the spider, from pure impulse, without reflection” - insect imagery - monotony - lack of human feeling - instinctual
- “to bridge over the loveless chasms of his life” - metaphor - work stops him falling into a pit of despair
- “the little light he possessed spread its beams so narrowly” - light dark imagery - loss of faith, love, friendship
- “thought it was brighter in the gathering gloom” - light dark imagery - false light
- “as if they had been unborn children” - paternal love - foreshadow Eppie’s arrival
- “their form and colour were like a satisfaction of a thirst to him” - thirst for companionship
Silas after his gold is stolen
The theft of his gold in ch4/5 began the process of his integration into the community, symbolised by his arrival at the Rainbow. Particularly Dolly Winthrop tries to bring him the word of God to restore his faith, but he is still depressed at the loss of his gold.
- “he never strolled into the village to drink a pint at the rainbow”
- “in the centre of the circle, in the direct rays of the fire” - symbolism - emotionally and physically warm as he is welcomed in from the storm
- “sitting in the warmth of a hearth not his own” - symbolic of family unity - common symbol by Victorian writers eg Dickens
- their suspicion “melted away before the convincing simplicity of his distress” - warmth metaphor
- “I want the Constable and the Justice - and Squire Cass - and Mr Crackenthorp” - irony - usually wants to cut himself off
- “would try to cheer him up” “calling at his cottage”
- “the sunshine fell on him as sunshine falls on the wretched” - simile - light imagery - he’s being cared for but still grieving
- Dolly’s “IHS” lardy cakes - “the desire to give comfort in her tones” - unwitting Evangelist - gesture of good faith - cakes are a symbol of communion - literally and metaphorically bringing word of God
Silas’ depression after loss of coins
The grief of losing his coins overpowers human kindness; he was too attached
- “thoughts come round to the sudden chasm” - metaphor - vicious cycle of psychological state
- “the withering desolation of that bereavement” - emotive - he’s lost what was there to replace his losses
- “sat in his loneliness by his dull fire” - light imagery - the spark has gone - sadness
- “the evening had no phantasm of delight” - imagery - money was a false pleasure
- “his heart had been a locked casket with the treasure inside, but now the casket was empty” - metaphor
- “the fountains of human love and divine faith had not yet been unlocked” - reminds us of “the fountain of wholesome love and fear” used to describe the lack of Cass woman
- “black frost” “bitter wind” - pathetic fallacy - weather traps him in his grief
Silas upon Eppie’s arrival
Silas’ life transforms when he adopts Eppie, coming to connect him with God, community, and nature once more, reminding him of his younger sister he looked after in his youth, and restoring long neglected feelings of love and affection
- “old impressions of awe at the presentiment of power presiding over his life” - believes it to be God’s providence
- “sounds of hushing tenderness” - sibilance - softness - paternal instincts
- “he had plenty to do in the next hour” - contrast to the monotony of his weaving life
- “seeking and loving sunshine” - light imagery - outside world
- “beyond the stone pits to where the flowers grew” - leading him symbolically away from a life of difficulty and monotony towards growth and beauty
- “unlike the gold, which needed to be worshipped in close-locked solitude” - he has been let out of the prison isolating him
- “the stone was a soft nest for her” - romanticism - metaphor - at one with nature - she’s a bird
- “stirring human kindness in all eyes” - community
- “white-winged angels […] lead them away from the city of destruction […] towards a calm bright land” - metaphor - children redeem adults
Part 2 - Silas’ life
Silas’ life has an almost fairy tale ending as he lives happily with Eppie 16 years later, even after G and N ask to take her from him. Lantern Yard becomes an industrial town, so Silas is forced to move on from the past.
- “live together in perfect love”
- “his large brown eyes seem to have gathered a longer vision” - eye motif - can see the outside world
- “decent furniture, all bright and clean” - reflecting familial love
- “he loved the old brick hearth” - symbolic - family warmth - reminds him of finding Eppie
- “there good i’ this world” - trusting God’s providence - “I think I shall trusten until I die”
- “what a dark ugly place” “how it hides the sky” - appreciation of nature
Silas SHC
- Novel was written 2 years after Darwins “on the origin of species” where people began to question the existence of God. Eliot’s own loss of faith as she was raised a devout Christian but lost faith in adulthood
- set in 1800s during Napoleonic wars - lots of well off households in the village could afford quality linen
- adoption was rarely a formal legal process
- Romanticism
- Victorian society offered little formal protection for children and child labour was common, so Eppie was lucky to be taken in by Silas rather than a workhouse
- increased industrialisation during Victorian era meant many men were replaced by machines, hence why cities became more anonymous and Silas couldn’t recognise it
