时间：2022-06-10 09:00:56
【Abstract】 George Eliot is one of the famous female novelists in the British literature history; her main literary works are The Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda and so on. Silas Marner is one of her renowned works in her early literary period.
Silas Marner describes a bumpy story of a weaver named Silas Marner：he is framed by his friend to steal the church money, the community people confirms his theft in the way of drawing lots and his intended wife also abandons him. He leaves his hometown with the grievance, then he moves to the Raveloe to live.
The former experience makes him begin to doubt his belief and he does not go to church any more. He devotes himself to weaving all day long. His only joy is to count his golden coins, one night, the golden coins are absent. At this depressed time, a little girl Eppie scrawls into his door and afterwards becomes his adopted daughter. He begins to get along with neighbors and consequently he regains his golden coins. He starts to realize that God does not abandon him factually. From then on, his belief in God is much firmer.
George Eliot’s experience in two religious schools exerts a deep influence on her and her literary works. Silas Marner is just like this with many archetypes embedded in it. This paper is to analyze the novel from the perspective of archetypal criticism with the careful analysis of the archetypal characters.
【Key Words】 George Eliot，Silas Marner，archetypal character，traditional Christian value
【中图分类号】G644.5 【文献标识码】B 【文章编号】2095-3089（2013）17-00-02
The Biblical Archetypes Associated with Silas Marner
Silas Marner is the main character in this novel and his life experience is full of hardships and difficulties. He is suffered with the friend betrayal and his fiancee’s abandonment. He is baniched by the church after being doubted to steal the church money. It is noticeable and inferred that the two main characters Job and Adam in the Bible are the archetypes of Silas Marner.
1. Job
In the first test, Job’s camels were carried out and his servants were put to the sword. In the second test, his seven sons and three daughters are dead one by one. Satan also afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Job’s hardship is increasing day after day and Job cannot understand his own situation. He began to open his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. He complained God. After so many sufferings, Job’s faith was tested and God bless him again. The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters.” （Job 42:12-13）
Firstly, in the novel, Silas Marner is a very important character; his whole life is extremely bumpy. Originally, he is a very devout Christian, but the hometown people’s belief is narrow and limited. They misinterpreted the Bible and used the way of drawing lots to decide who is the real thief of the church money. This event leads Silas Marner begin to doubt his own belief and complain that God is unfair. Then his only joy is to see his money increasing day after day, unfortunately one day his money is absent.
Compared with his biblical counterpart Job, Silas Marner has the same characteristics of the unbreakableness, human love and perseverance. He does not abandon his belief completely and just hides it with the doubt and hope.
Through the comparative study of Silas Marner and his biblical counterpart, a few of similarities can be found obviously. They both share the similarities of the devout Christian personality, the human love and God’s salvation. By comparing Silas Marner with his Biblical counterpart Job, George Eliot stresses the traditional Christian values and the personal virtues in the influence of this value. She also put emphasis on the God’s righteousness and mercy towards the kindhearted people.
2. Adam
Adam is the first man created by God from the dust of the ground in the Bible, Eve is his wife also created by God with Adam’s rib bone. They are living in the Garden Eden, but one day tempted by the serpent, Eve disobeys God’s commandment and eats the fruits from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She also gives some to her husband Adam. Afterwards, Eve and Adam are banished of the Eden Garden to work on the ground and punished by God.
Firstly, Silas Marner’s life experience of banishing by the Church’s drawing lots follows the similar pattern as Adam’s. In some sense, from the perspective of the church, Silas Marner disobeys the church and is forced to depart from the Lantern Yard town. To some extent, it is also a kind of banishment from his former native land.
Silas marner is also banished from his former livingplace and feel disappointed about the friendship and the interpersonal relationships. To sum up, by comparing Silas Marner to his biblical counterpart Job, George Eliot emphasizes his Christian morality, human love, perseverance and salvation from God. Through depicting Silas Marner as Adam, She accents his innocence, purity and helplessness.
The Biblical Archetypes Associated with Silas Marner
An overall interpretation of the novel reveals that Eppie is intensely related to Jesus Christ and Ruth in the Bible.
1. Jesus Christ
In accordance to the Bible, Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of human being. The Virgin Mary from the Holy Spirit gave birth to him and he will save his people from their sins. In the Bible, Jesus Christ in Bethany makes the Lazarus regain his life, although he is dead for four days. In a another city, Jesus Christ makes the widow’s son live again. Even Jesus Christ himself is sentenced to be crucified but two days later he is alive again. Jesus Christ the lord of life with the power of turning the dead to the alive.
George Eliot describes Eppie just like an angle, who leads people out of the destroying city. It is Eppie who leads Silas Marner from the dark land to the bright territory to make his life more splendid than before. The angle is the spirit from God, and Jesus Christ is sent from God to be the savior of all human being. Eppie is described as Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, by comparing Eppie with his biblical counterpart Jesus Christ, Eliot stresses the importance of the human love, it can be a medicine to heal the mental hurt and change one’s life. She also put the emphasis on the harmonious interpersonal relationship.
2. Ruth
The relationship between Eppie and Silas Marner is very similar to the one between Ruth and her mother-in-law in the Bible. In this novel, Eppie is Silas Marner’s adopted daughter, Ruth does not abandon her old mother-in-law and continues to live with her and worship God. So God gives her many beatitudes and finally she marries with Naomi’s rich relative and lives a good life from then on. The same, Eppie does not abandon his adopted father Silas Marner and makes a decision to live with him. Her kindness helps her win the happiness and love. She lives a happy life from that time.
To sum up, by describing Eppie to Jusus Christ, George Eliot emphasizes Eppie’s ability of refreshing and the harmony between people. By comparing Eppie to Ruth, Eliot puts an emphasis on the interpersonal mutual love and the harmonious relationship between man and woman.
Conclusion
George Eliot is a female novelist in the Victorian period, when the religious issues attracted more attentions. She is greatly influenced by the atmosphere of the Christianity and the Bible. Furthermore, her father is a firmly devout Christian and brings her to the church when she is very young. It is not hard for us to explain why her most works are always related to the Christianity and the Bible. So there is a universal usage of the biblical archetypes in his literature works.
Through analyzing the main leading character Silas Marner in this novel and his biblical archetypal counterparts Job and Adam in the Bible, meanwhile by comparing the another character Eppie in this novel to her biblical counterparts Jesus Christ and Ruth, the novelist express her concerns for the human mutual love and the interpersonal relationship, the devout Christian personality and the traditional Christianity values are also confirmed by the novelist.
The archetypes embedded in Silas Marner are not only one of the important origins of inspiration, but also serves as the indispensable part of the mechanic organization. The richness of archetypes employed in this novel gives us a much deeper and wider comprehension of the novel. The skillful employment of the archetypes also enriches the archetypal research to some extent.
References
[1]Eliot, Goerge. Silas Marner. New York: New American Library, 1981.
[2]Frye, Northrop. The Great Code: The Bible and Literature. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1982.
[3]崔东. 论乔治·艾略特的宗教思想. 武汉: 华中师范大学, 2002.
[4]李海霞. 论《织工马南》中的圣经情结. 北京: 华北电力大学,2005.
[5]梁实秋, trans.. 织工马南. 台北: 台湾商务印书馆, 1986.