NON-AFRICAN PROSE
GEORGE ELIOT: Silas Marner
Compare and contrast Silas’ life in Lantern yard and Raveloe.
Explanation
Silas Marner's life experiences in Lantern Yard and Raveloe are played out under two contrasting backgrounds or settings. Lantern Yard and Raveloe present Silas in different lights; the former beginning pleasurably and ending in bitterness while, the latter begins in bitterness and ends in joy. In Lantern Yard, Silas' life begins on a hopeful note, full of expectations and trust.
The company of friends like William Dane and other members of the church means the whole world to him. Silas has faith in God and expects to live a fulfilled life. Silas' engagement to Sarah and friendship with William Dane and the others show that he believes in „pure, natural human relations". In Lantern Yard, Silas' hope of being vindicated by God is shattered by the lot which the church casts that turns against him. Knowing fully well that he has not stolen the church's money as suspected, he feels disillusioned. The betrayal he suffers when his betrothed Sarah is snatched by his best friend, William Dane, can only drive him into `exile' to a new land, Raveloe.Thus, Silas' life in Lantern Yard begins as pleasurably as it ends in bitterness. Overwhelmed by betrayal, hopelessness and loss of faith in human relations, Silas' life in Raveloe begins in bitterness as he keeps aloof from his neighbours. Silas' life in Raveloe is best determined by the reactions of the villagers.
At first, they are suspicious of him, feeling that his knowledge of medicinal herbs may be the result of his dealings with the devil. This is made worse by his withered and pale looks, short-sightedness and the occasional cataleptic fit he suffers. All these affect his gentle, loving nature since his truthful simple, soul has been bitterly hurt. Thus, Raveloe provides Silas with the hideout he needs to work and just earn his gold coins which he cherishes with absorbing passion. In Raveloe, Silas makes for himself 'an eager life tilled with immediacy which fenced him from the wide, cheerless, unknown.
'Though a barren life, with `no relation' to any other being, it is in sharp contrast with the life in Lantern Yard, where friends are full of deceit and disappointment. Silas is full of despair when his gold is stolen. His wish is to get back his treasure and not to hurt anybody. Raveloe creates an environment for Silas to prove that he has never lost his capacity for kindness and affection. He finds the child Eppie who reminds him of his little sister, and he takes refuge in Eppie's little world, that lay lightly on his enfeebled spirit' Thus, Silas' life which begins in bitterness in Raveloe ends in joy as Eppie helps him realize that there's good in this world ... in spite of the trouble and the wickedness.' As Eppie chooses Silas instead of her real father Godfrey, Silas is consoled at last and feels vindicated even as his gold is recovered.