In George Eliot’s Silas Marner the narrative
focuses on the character’s experience to project realistic imagery of what
happens. The type of narrative allows readers to sympathize with the characters
and understand their inner worlds. The plot structure also compliments the
novel’s ability to show the main character’s cognitive thinking and
consciousness. The narrative changes its focus to, later on, highlight the
correlation between characters further deepening and enriching the story and
character development. The story initially focuses on Silas Marner and how he
is banished from Lantern Yard because of an unjust accusation and then it
dwells on Marner’s obsession with money. In this essay, I will analyze Marner’s
obsession with hoarding money and I will suggest that hoarding money grants him
an escape from society and lastly it opens a new aspect of individualistic
life.
Hoarding money presents Marner the ability
to alienate himself from society and lead an individualistic life which then
grants him the independence he seeks after escaping the heavy burden he
previously was subjected to in Lantern Yard. The first part of the story
reveals enough of Lantern Yard for us to understand how strictly demanding it
is. One of the examples showing the oppressive nature of such a religious cult
can be observed when Marner thrives to acquire the approval of religious
authorities to marry. Only from this, we can see how much the religious cult
interferes with the personal lives of individuals. “Now, for the first time in
his life, he had five bright guineas put into his hand; no man expected a share
of them, and he loved no man that should offer him a share” (p.11) Here the
narrative contemplates the ecstasy brought upon Marner from the feeling of
independence. In other words, Marner is freed from the interfering nature of
Lantern Yard and feels relieved. This alludes to the concept of individualism
which Perkin puts as "the belief that the individual was best left to
pursue his interests without any more interference by the state than was necessary
to ensure the same freedom for other individuals "(p.111). Perkin's view
on individualism helps us to form a correlation between what Marner is going
through after relieving himself from the heavy pressure of the religious cult.
Even though there is no "state" it is evident that Marner's
independence acquires him an individualist aspect of life. Marner can pursue
his interest which he previously couldn’t
Money plays a significant role in
distinguishing the complexity and unjustice nature of society and material
possessions. Marner loses his every contact in the Lantern Yard. To put it
another way, everything he cares about and puts effort into, he loses and
migrates to Raveloe. In Raveloe his interest in money grows into a different
shape. The narrative records Marner’s thoughts as follows “mysterious money had
stood to him as the symbol of earthly good, and the immediate object of toil”
(p.12). This sentence carries utmost importance as it conveys why Marner deeply
values money and how he regards money. “immediate object of toil” implies the
fact that money represents the amount of effort someone puts into something.
Marner is deceived by his closest friend and he loses everything he puts
importance to “Poor Marner went out with that despair in his soul—that shaken
trust in God and man, which is little short of madness to a loving nature”(p.9).
Here the narrative emphasizes the trust between God and man suggesting that the
fundamental basis of Marner’s beliefs are shaken and hence Marner is in a metaphorical
abyss. Consequently, money which is the opposite of religion where everything
is vague and requires people to have belief replaces the abyss and allows
Marner to feel the reward of his efforts. The fact that
Marner hides and counts his money every night as if he sexualizes and uses it
as a replacement for human interactions reinforces the idea that money is an
escape for Marner. Chamayou argues that “This scene also illustrates the
Victorian fascination with materialism, the intoxicating power of money which
could end up possessing people and depriving them of their human
characteristics. Through his passion for and devotion to mere objects, Silas is
in turn deformed, objectified, and fashioned into correspondence with the gold
coins: he ends up being ‘yellow’ (1.2.20)—a yellow slave in his locked cottage,
a metaphor for his heart.”(Chamayou) Chamayou’s contemplation on how money
possesses Marner and how Victororain's fascination is represented through
Marner’s fetish for them. Ultimately, the material possessions precisely money
carries utmost importance. Working for money contrary to worshiping a god and
participating in cultic ceremonies, rewards something tangible. The more Marner
works, the more he earns money, and hence he feels accomplished and fulfilled,
however, he withdraws to his cabinet and is deprived of human interactions
which is an indication that Marner alienates himself from society with the help
of the rewarding feeling of hoarding money.
“It had been a clinging life; and
though the object round which its fibers had club was a dead disrupted thing,
it satisfied the need for clinging” (p.62)
The
narrative touches upon how money plays a huge role in giving purpose to Marner.
The use of the word here is important as it draws the imagery of money as a
negative object that only allows Marner to “cling” to life. The action of
clinging implies Marner’s obsession which then enforces the centralized
position of money in Marner’s life.
In conclusion, Silas Marner uses the money
to escape from the complexity of human interactions. In Lantern Yard he faces
the deceptive nature of men. The consequences of trusting people devour him
leaving him nothing. However, money rewards him with tangible objects guineas
that he can physically touch and see. This gives him the opportunity to
appreciate himself and his efforts which he dearly does and starts to obsess
over it creating an escapist aspect of money. In the end, he pursues an
individualistic life and values material possessions that do not lie to him
like genuine. Even though he can be deceived by counterfeit bills and by theifs
like Dunstan it is still the human interaction that brings him destruction, not
the objects. Overall, it is the concept of hoarding money that satisfies
Marner, he does not intend to use it on anything, but he simply wants to save
it. Therefore, it does not matter whether the money is real or not. The concept
of it grants him the ultimate escapism and allows him to taste an individualism
which he never tastes in Lantern Yard.
Perkin, Harold. “Individualism versus Collectivism in
Nineteenth-Century Britain: A False Antithesis.” Journal of British
Studies, vol. 17, no. 1, 1977, pp. 105–118. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/175694.
Accessed 20 Nov. 2020.
Massei-Chamayou, M. (2015,
September 06). 'How the guineas shone as they came pouring outn of the dark
leather... Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://journals.openedition.org/cve/2022?lang=en
Brayley, A. J., &
Eliot, G. (2009). Silas Marner. Harlow, Essex, Eng.: Pearson Education
Limited.
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