Silas Marner : The Weaver of Raveloe is a novel by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans) which was first published in 1861. Image File history File links GeorgeEliiot_SilasMarner. ... George Eliots birthplace at South Farm, Arbury Mary Anne Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. ... In political geography and international politics a country is a geographical entity, a territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The barcode of an ISBN . ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... George Eliots birthplace at South Farm, Arbury Mary Anne Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. ... 1861 (MDCCCLXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link with display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar) // January 1 - Benito Juárez captures Mexico City January 2 - Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia dies and is succeeded by...

Plot summary

The novel is set in the earlier years of the 19th century. Silas Marner is a weaver in a small religious community, Lantern Yard. He is also a highly thought of member of a dissenting chapel. Silas is engaged to a female member of the church and thinks that his future happiness is assured. However, due to the betrayal of a fellow parishioner, who blames him for a theft that he did not commit, Silas is expelled from the congregation. He finds out later that his former fiancee married the man who had betrayed him. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Later on, he goes to settle near the village of Raveloe, where he lives as a recluse who exists only for work and his precious hoard of money until that money is stolen by Dunstan Cass, a dissolute son of Squire Cass, the town's leading landowner. The loss of his gold drives Silas into a deep gloom, although a number of the villagers endeavour to help him.

Soon, however, an orphaned child comes to Raveloe. She was not known by the people there, but she is really the child of Godfrey Cass, the eldest son of the local squire. Her mother, Molly, is secretly married to Godfrey, but is also of low birth and addicted to opium and alcohol. On a winter's night, Molly tries to make her way into town with the child to prove that she is Godfrey's wife and ruin him. On the way she takes opium, becomes disoriented and sits down to rest amid the snow, child in arm. Her child wanders from her mother's still body into Silas' house. Upon discovering the child, Silas searches for its mother and finds Molly - a woman unfamiliar to him - dead. Silas decides to keep the child and names it Eppie, after his deceased sister Hephzibah. Eppie changes his life completely. Symbolically, Silas loses his material gold to theft only to have it replaced by the golden-haired Eppie. Later in the book, the gold is found and restored. Eppie grows up to be the pride of the town and to have a very strong bond with Silas, who through her has found inclusion in the town. Later, the childless Godfrey and Nancy Lammeter arrive at Silas' door, revealing the truth about Eppie's family and asking that Silas give Eppie up to their care. However, the decision falls to Eppie, who has no desire to be raised as a gentlemen's daughter if it means forsaking Silas. At the end, Eppie marries a local boy, Aaron, son of Dolly Winthrop, and both of them move into Silas' newly enlarged house, courtesy of Godfrey.

Ultimately, Silas Marner is a tale of familial love and loyalty, reward and punishment, and humble friendships.

Characters in "Silas Marner"

• Silas Marner – a weaver, protagonist
• Godfrey Cass – son of the local squire.
• Dunstan Cass – Godfrey's greedy brother.
• Molly – Godfrey's first wife who has a child by him. She dies leaving the child.
• Eppie – child of Molly and Godfrey who is cared for by Marner.
• Nancy Lammeter – Godfrey Cass's second wife.
• Aaron Winthrop – son of Dolly who marries Eppie at the end of the novel.
• Dolly Winthrop – mother to Aaron.
• William Dane – Silas' best friend at Lantern Yard who frames him for theft

A protagonist is the main figure of a piece of literature or drama and has the main part or role. ...

Symbols

One of the main symbols Eliot creates to illustrate Silas's solitude is the loom. The loom is a place where Silas shuts out the existence of the community. Another is his "burden." A Turkish woman in Konya works at a traditional loom. ...

Major themes

In Silas Marner Eliot combines humour and rich symbolism with a historically precise setting to create an extraordinary tale of love and hope. This novel explores the issues of redemptive love, the notion of community, the role of religion, and the status of the gentry and family. While religion and religious devotion play a strong part in this text, Eliot concerns herself, as always, with matters of ethics, and it is clear that for her, ethics exist apart from religion. On the surface, the book has a strong moral tract; the bad characters like Dunstan Cass get their just desserts, while the good, pitiable characters like Silas Marner are richly rewarded. Although it seems like a simple moral story with a happy ending, George Eliot's text includes several pointed criticisms on organized religion, the role of the gentry, and the impact of industrialization. It was written in the period during Industrial Revolution and may be a reaction against it.^{[citation needed]} Churchianity is a negative description of organized religion that characterizes it as emphasizing the institutional forms of Christianity (traditions, rituals, committees, and programs) and omitting the actual gospel teachings of Jesus Christ that forms the basis of Christianity. ... A Watt steam engine. ...

The Epigraph to this novel is as follows:

"A child, more than all other gifts
That earth can offer to declining man,
Brings hope with it, and forward-looking thoughts."
WORDSWORTH

The novel begins with:

"In the days when the spinning-wheels hummed busily in the farmhouses-- and even great ladies, clothed in silk and thread-lace, had their toy spinning-wheels of polished oak--there might be seen in districts far away among the lanes, or deep in the bosom of the hills, certain pallid undersized men, who, by the side of the brawny country-folk, looked like the remnants of a disinherited race."

It ends with:

"O father," said Eppie, "what a pretty home ours is! I think nobody could be happier than we are."

Additional Excerpt:

"God gave her to me because you turned your back upon her, and He looks upon her as mine: you've no right to her!" (p.141)

Literary significance & criticism

Recently, it has been studied in some secondary schools in the United Kingdom, United States and Ireland. It is also a part of the Cambridge A Levels syllabus in Singaporean junior colleges offering Literature courses. High School also refers to the highest form of classical riding, High School Dressage. ... Geography Status City (1951) Region East of England Admin. ... The A-level, short for Advanced Level, is a General Certificate of Education qualification in the United Kingdom, usually taken by students in the final two years of secondary education (commonly called the Sixth Form), or in College (not to be mistaken with the college term some countries such as... Look up syllabus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

The tale was set in "the South Midlands," and the fictional Raveloe was based on the Warwickshire village of Bulkington. There are also correlations between locations in the book and the village of Inkberrow, Worcestershire. It is not known whether the relation is genuine, a coincidence, or deliberate naming by the locals. To the west of the village is Stone-Pits, and at the east side, a tree-lined drive leads to the entrance of the Red House. A detailed map Stratford-upon-Avon Kenilworth Castle Warwickshire (pronounced //, //, or //) is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in central England. ... Bulkington is a large village in the Nuneaton and Bedworth borough of Warwickshire, England which has a population of around 8,000. ... Inkberrow is a place in Worcestershire that is often thought to be the model for Ambridge, the setting of the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers. ... Worcestershire (pronounced ; abbreviated Worcs) is a county located in the West Midlands region of central England. ...

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

• Ben Kingsley played Silas Marner in a British-TV adaptation (broadcast in the U.S. by Masterpiece Theatre), with Patsy Kensit as a grown-up Eppie.
• Steve Martin wrote and starred in a 1994 movie adaptation of the novel, titled A Simple Twist of Fate.
• Bits and themes of this novel are borrowed in an episode of The Simpsons, "Moe Baby Blues", in which a lonely, almost-sociopathic man begins to enjoy life after saving the life of his friend's baby daughter.
• The novel is mentioned in the movie A Christmas Story as literature the children in Miss Shields' class are studying.
• The children's literary dog series Wishbone also has an episode with an abridged adaptation for the younger set.

Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE, (born Krishna Bhanji on December 31, 1943) is an Academy Award-winning British actor. ... Masterpiece Theatre is a long-running anthology television series produced by WGBH which premiered on PBS on January 10, 1971. ... Patricia Jude Frances Kensit (born 4 March 1968 in Hounslow, Middlesex) is an English actress and singer, and is also well-known for her three celebrity marriages. ... For the football player of the same name see Steve Martin (football player). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Simple Twist of Fate was also the title of a Bob Dylan song. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Moe Baby Blues is the finale of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons. ... For the Christian Christmas story, see Nativity of Jesus A Christmas Story is a 1983 film based on the short stories and semi-fictional anecdotes of author and raconteur Jean Shepherd, including material from his books In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickeys Night of... Look up wishbone in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

See also

• George Eliot - Scenes from Clerical Life - Adam Bede - The Mill on the Floss - Romola - Felix Holt - Middlemarch - Daniel Deronda

George Eliots birthplace at South Farm, Arbury Mary Anne Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. ... Adam Bede is the first novel written by George Eliot and was published in 1859. ... The Mill on the Floss is a novel by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), first published in three volumes in 1860. ... Romola is a novel by George Eliot, deemed her greatest by many, being a deep study of life in the city of Florence from an intellectual, artistic, religious, and social point of view. ... Felix Holt, the Radical (1866) is a novel written by George Eliot. ... See also Middlemarch, New Zealand. ... Daniel Deronda is a novel by George Eliot, first published in 1876. ...

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Silas Marner

• Silas Marner, online at Project Gutenberg
• Silas Marner, online at Ye Olde Library
• Silas Marner, complete unabridged book at sparknotes.com
• Silas Marner Cliff Notes
• Silas Marner audio book at Librivox