Silas Marner Chapter 13 Summary

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These two chapters are linked by the desires of Silas and Godfrey. Desire for the same person, Eppie, but with entirely different motives. Both see themselves as Eppie’s father. In these two characters, George Elliot writes of the overlapping emotions of love and desire. The choice between wanting the best for another person and selfish craving.

Silas Marner is a weaver who lives in a close-knit community called Raveloe. He is framed so people believe that he had stolen some money. This does not trouble him as he has a strong faith and trusts God will clear his name.

This is what makes chapter 19 so significant. In this chapter, Silas’ faith is restored to what it was before he became embittered. With age he had become a bitter old man who had lost his faith and, as a consequence, was pushed away from his community.

His faith in God is eventually restored when he learns how to love and that he, himself, is also loved. This love is from Eppie, a baby girl, which Silas believes God has sent to him. This happens in chapter 13. These two chapters also show a contrast in the attitude of Silas and of another main character in the book, Godfrey Casse.

Silas Warner

Eppie is actually Godfrey Casse’s secret daughter.

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In chapter 13 Godfrey’s attitude is that Eppie is his dark secret come to haunt him. However in chapter 19 Godfrey knows he is unable to have any other children and desperately wants Eppie under his wing. Eppie, though, shows her love for Silas and remains faithful to him. Chapter 13 By only reading the first paragraph in the chapter you can already see that there is a clear social divide of upper and lower classes. Once the servants’ duties were over, they were allowed to come and watch the celebration.

This shows us that in this era people with money were though to have better lives yet in chapter 19 Eppie turns down the upper class life that she could have. It shows that being a lady does not necessarily make you happy. George Elliot portrays Godfrey as a very anxious character and his Father Bob Casse as the complete opposite. The Squire, his father, is arrogant. This demonstrates out how this one dark secret is ruining his life. The way Godfrey only watches Nancy shows us he is really quite shy. He refers to Godfrey staring at Nancy, who could be his whole new life.

The writer then cleverly draws full attention to his past. Using short phrases and delving into the mind of Godfrey we see the shock and shame he carries. Once again we see Godfrey’s weak persona “He was tight lipped and trembling”. This strong descriptive language show us his guilt, To shake with emotion is an extreme. Silas’ short simple verbal communication such as “It’s a woman”, shows us that he is not familiar with talking to people, emphasizing his loneliness. Nancy addresses Godfrey to ask him, “what child is it? ” Godfrey is weak and replies with, “I don’t know”, even though he clearly knows the child is his.

This reveals how much he values what he could lose socially and how much more he cares for what he possesses rather than claiming his own child. The author now shows us a side of Silas that we have not seen before. Silas is abrupt, impulsive and yet certain about his decision-making. He says “No, no I can’t part with it, I can’t let it go”. He even surprises himself in his great capacity to love. Mrs Kimble says to her neighbour, she is shocked by Silas’ care for the childhood Eppie. Now Elliot represents Silas as a entirely new character. She also writes a whole paragraph on what is going on inside of Godfrey’s mind (page 142).

This presents to us how frightened he is of losing Nancy. Despite this, he then proceeds to plan his life, trying to tell himself everything is as it should be. He even gives Marner some money for Eppie to try and clear his conscience. However, Godfrey is still fighting with his thoughts, trying to make himself feel what he is doing, is for the best. Before the reader may have had sympathy for Godfrey but now he is being selfish and wanting both the child and Nancy by asking Silas to take it to the parish. For not the only time in the book Eppie looks away from Godfrey and turns to Silas rejecting her real father.

Elliot try’s to make Eppie sweet and innocent by describing her wide-open blue eyes as she is now at peace and unaware of what a big ordeal she has in her life to come. Elliot gives us a very special inside view into Godfrey’s mind. Even though he is not necessarily a bad man the reader knows all his bad thoughts. Thoughts that most people would never expose to the world but deep inside he harbours. This shows us Godfrey’s weaknesses. Chapter 19 Even though there is a sixteen year gap between these two chapters they are still very closely linked. In this chapter there is a high proportion of dialogue as a lot of it is about relationships.

It differs from chapter 13 where people’s thought were in their heads. Now they speak their thoughts aloud. Elliot makes the absence of Eppie from Godfrey’s life as bad as possible. He and Nancy cannot have children and he needs an heir to all his land and home so now he desparately wants Eppie. Class is also a big issue in the chapter. Godfrey is shown as a villain. He talks down to Silas by calling him Marner, also indicating the social hierarchy. This also gains sympathy for Marner as does his selflessness. He assumes that Eppie would love to go and live with Godfrey and says “I won’t stand in your way Eppie”.

This kindness makes the reader love Silas and also brings out Godfrey’s selfishness. Once Silas was a selfish, bitter man and Godfrey felt like he was the lucky one. Now the roles have been reversed. Silas is now able to express his emotions “Heart out of my body” is a simile describing his feelings for Eppie. It shows the complete change in character. Godfrey believes Eppie is better off as a Lady marrying a gentleman. Eppie shows that she can marry someone of a lower class. She does this and is pleased to prove Godfrey wrong. To show their emotions, she uses physical gestures such as Eppie standing next to Silas.