Communities of Lantern Yard and Raveloe's Influence on the Development of Silas Marner's Character

Communities of Lantern Yard and Raveloe's Influence on the Development of Silas Marner's Character

Silas Marner, "The Weaver of Raveloe" was, in my opinion, greatly

influenced by the two communities in which he spent his life. The

first, Lantern Yarn was a religious community that is going through a

period of industrialisation during the novel, whereas Raveloe, where

we remain for the large part of the novel, has not yet felt the

industrial revolution and is the countryside of community and society.

It is ironic that the two communities were so different yet they both

drove Silas to turn inward (though the influence of certain Raveloe

citizens eventually made him turn outwards again).

In George Eliot's novel, we learn a lot about community and we can see

a clear definition of what this means. In Lantern Yard, the community

shares its potent Christian beliefs while Raveloe habitants all share

a love for social behaviour and share an understanding of a clear

class system. While both groups of people (Lantern Yard and Raveloe)

are very different, they both show us that a community is the people

of an area who share their origins, beliefs and/or interests.

In Lantern Yard, Silas was a highly regarded, prominent member of the

community. He was well educated and it was in Lantern Yard that he

started to turn away from the knowledge of medicinal herbs that his

mother had taught him. In Lantern Yard, Silas was extremely trusting

and open. We also see early on in the novel that Silas had a clear

ability to love. A religious man, he found enjoyment in the debate of

religious matters and he fell in love with a woman named Sarah. He

was, however, betrayed by his best friend William Dane (Waif) and

brought to a...

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...harp contrasts

with chapter twenty-one. Eliot also uses colours to create a more

vivid image for the reader, one you can almost feel yourself being

part of and while Lantern Yard is, to Eppie at least a "dark, ugly

place" and "worse than the workhouse" Raveloe remains light, friendly

and ""a pretty home"."

In conclusion, Silas Marner's character was greatly influenced by the

two communities in which he spent his life. Firstly, Lantern Yard, his

original home, caused him to turn inward and forced him to enter into

a downward spiral, something from which he was eventually lifted by

the Raveloe community. While Raveloe did, at first allow him to carry

on in isolation, the community eventually changed his character, and

aided him in the path to self discovery as he subconsciously

endeavoured to learn to trust again, learn to love again and how to be

loved.