The Theme of Duty in Silas Marner by George Eliot
After careful analysis and examination of the novel Silas Marner, it
has come to my awareness that the theme of duty is very prominent
throughout the novel. The definition of duty is the obligation made to
others. There has to be duties between relationships not only in the
novel but also in realty to keep them alive. If duties were non
existent in relationships, they would not last and eventually would
fade away. There are various different types of duties that have to be
taken forward in the novel.
For instance, Silas has a duty towards Eppie as Eppie has a duty to
Silas. Their duty is to love one and other and to be grateful for what
they have got. Godfrey who is the oldest son of Squire Cass has to pay
his duties to many people in the book. He has to fulfil a duty to
Molly, Nancy, Squire Cass and Dunstan. He has to look after all of
these people and has to show them love. He has to support them through
all the bad times that they go through. Just because you should do
your duties in life, does not mean that the characters are all
honourable to their duties. Some characters honour their duties with
sincerity and some characters neglect their duties and wash them away.
There are different reasons for why the characters are honourable and
dishonourable to their duties. The people that do not want to perform
their duties try to make themselves believe that their priorities are
set backwards. By this, I mean that the characters seem to over power
their minds with less important duties in life and forget to do the
main duties.
As you will read on to see that the characters that honour their
duties are rewarded in some way or another the characters that honour
their duties are rewarded in some way or another. The characters that
are not faithful to their duties are some how punished. They may be
In the first part of the novel, he emulates his father, by being deaf to women's wisdom and women's needs, and casually disrespecting the women he should most respect. He chooses to stray from his father's example and leaves town to obtain his inheritance and to become a self-defined man. From Circe, a witch figure, he is inspired to be reciprocal, and through his struggle for equality with men and then with women, he begins to find his inheritance, which is knowing what it is to fly, not gold. At the end, he acts with kindness and reciprocity with Pilate, learning from her wisdom and accepting his responsibilities to women at last. By accepting his true inheritance from women, he becomes a man, who loves and respects women, who knows he can fly but also knows his responsibilities.
one page 11) this indicates that he is a selfish man and cares for his
The prima facie duties that William David Ross has listed include duties of fidelity, reparation, gratitude, justice, beneficence, self-improvement, and non-maleficence. Duties of fidelity and reparation rest on previous acts that one has performed, and acting on these duties are acts such as promise-keeping (duties of fidelity) and making amends for previous wrongful acts (duties of reparation), while duties of gratitude rest on previous acts that others have performed. There is a duty associated with the distribution of pleasure or good regardless of its recipient, and this is termed as duties of justice. An additional duty rests on the mere fact that there are other beings in this world to whom we can be of assistance to: duties of beneficence. Duties of self-improvement claim that there are intrinsic moral reasons for one to improve oneself and finally, duties of non-maleficence states that there are intrinsic moral reasons to not harm others. Duties are placed on the list only when they have been judged to be basic moral reaso...
unready to carry out many duties that were placed upon him by the Ghost of his
in the book, that he is a good natured old gossip. He is a useful
In his sufferings, he makes it his duty to fend for all his men by
quest is very simple. He wants to do good. As compared to tragic heroes in the
provides for them, and they, as his most loyal subjects, keep to his standards of honor and
John Grimes, the eldest son of Gabrial Grimes whom was a former well-respected and dynamic preacher, is in search of answers to his unhappiness. John wants to find his place within the church, define his relationship with god, and wants to flush the dislike he has for his father out. His father favors John’s younger brother Roy over himself. Although Roy is a bad seed and has an impeccable ability for getting into trouble he undoubtedly remains the apple of his father’s eye. John has been compared to another young man named Elisha, whom is a member of the church. Elisha is a few years older than John and has the respect of all the congregation members because he showed great intere...
duties: 1. the duty not to cause further pain or suffering; and 2. the duty to
but is a continued motif throughout the book. He claims to write only so that his own life may be an example for his son of how one can live well and how...
he often lets the family down. There are many flashbacks in the novel to the time
T.S. Eliot, a notable twentieth century poet, wrote often about the modern man and his incapacity to make decisive movements. In his work entitled, 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'; he continues this theme allowing the reader to view the world as he sees it, a world of isolation and fear strangling the will of the modern man. The poem opens with a quoted passage from Dante's Inferno, an allusion to Dante's character who speaks from Hell only because he believes that the listener can not return to earth and thereby is impotent to act on the knowledge of his conversation. In his work, Eliot uses this quotation to foreshadow the idea that his character, Prufrock, is also trapped in a world he can not escape, the world where his own thoughts and feelings incapacitate and isolate him.
possession which was his boat. At the job one day he finds a giant pearl which to him is worth a
...as pulled into this situation by chance, and it was left in his hands to justify his father's death. He did what he had to do according to his own manner.