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Adam Bede – a psychological novel
GEORGE ELIOT is one of the founding-fathers of the modern psychological novel. As W.J. Longpoints out, “
GEORGE ELIOT sought to do in her novels what Browning attempted in his poetry
.
That is, to represent the inner struggle of a soul, and to reveal the motives, impulses and hereditary influences which govern human action. Browning generally stops when he tells
hisstory and either lets you draw your own conclusion or else gives you his in a few striking linesBut GEORGE ELIOT is not content until she ahs minutely explained the motives of her
characters and the moral lesson to be learnt from them. It is the development of a soul, the slow growth or decline of moral power, which chiefly interests her. The Characters of
Dickens and Thackeray are already formed when we meet them and we know what they will do under certaincircumstances, but GEORGE ELIOT’s characters develop gradually as we
come to know them.They go from weakness to strength and vice versa.
” Her novels are a study of mental processes. As A.E. Baker rightly points out, “
GEORGE ELIOT’s sphere was the inner man, she exposed theinternal clockwork. Her
characters are not simply passive. They are shown making their ownhistory, continually changing and developing as their motives issue into acts and acts become a part of the
circumstances that condition, modify and purify or demoralize the will.
” GEORGEELIOT’s power of psycho-analysis and her understanding of mental processes are fully exposedin AB. Therefore, many critics have called AB the first psychological novel as later
exemplified byJoyce and Woolf because the psychology of the main characters, Adam, Hetty, Arthur and thePoysers is the theme.
Analysis of causes and motives
: The chapter called
A Journey in hope
; GEORGE ELIOTspends far more time in Hetty’s poor brain and heart than Hetty spends on the road in her unwisesearch for her runaway lover. This is psychology and the chapters
immediately before and after this sufficient activity to keep the story rolling; there is much more inner activity than outer.GEORGE ELIOT is deft in her psychological approach. Shortly
after the death of Thias Bede, hiswife Lisbeth was in the Bede Home alone with the body. After doing the necessary ritualcleansing and purification of the chamber where Thias lay, she
slumped into a chair andcontemplated her grief. When GEORGE ELIOT’s characters think we share their thoughts. When Adam accidentally comes upon Arthur and Hetty embracing in the
woods, Hetty scurries away,and Arthur saunter forwards to Adam. He thought, “
After all, Adam was the bet who could havehappened to see him and Hetty together: he was a sensible fellow and would not babble about it to other people. Arthur felt confident that
he could laugh the thing off, and explain it away
. ” But hemisunderstood him. GEORGE ELIOT’s grip on psychological essentials enables her to drawcomplex characters much better than her predecessors.
Temptation and Moral Chaos
: The filed of her most characteristic triumphs is the moralbattlefield. Her eagle eye can penetrate though the entire sock and the smoke of struggle. She isparticularly good at showing
how temptation triumphs. No other English novelist has given as sovivid a picture of the process of moral defeat, as Arthur’s gradual yielding to his passion for Hetty.She, with clearness,
shows how temptation insinuates in the mind. David Cecil says, “
Her characters always hang together, are of a piece, their defects are the defects of their virtues. Weare not surprised that a man, so anxious for the good opinion of others as Arthur
Donnithorne,should selfishly seduce Hetty, because we realize that the controlling force in his character is thedesire for immediate enjoyment
.” With equal insight, she can portray the moral chaos that takespossession of the mind after wrong has been done. The guilt ridden conscious of Arthur isanalyzed and we are shown the
scorpions that sting him and prevent sleep. She lays bare theconscious and semi-conscious motives of Arthur. We see the workings of his innermost mind: Hehad been awake an hour, and
could rest in bed no longer. In bed our yesterdays are toooppressive, if a man can only get up, though it is but to whistle or smoke, he has a present whichresists the past. For Arthur, the
loss of Adam’s respect was a shock to his self-contentment, whichsuffused his imagination with the sense he had sunk in all eyes; as a shock. Arthur would sogladly have persuaded
himself that he had done no harm if no one had told him the contrary.
Conclusion
: It is GEORGE ELIOT’s psychological insight into the springs of human action, thesubtle analysis of character and motive accompanying the external action, which gives her
peculiar and individual place among the Victorian novelists. She is one of them and yet howevery different and original. She is the first of the great modern novelists who have a
highconception of their art, who regard the novel as a serious art form, and who are given to theprobing of the human psyche, to the subtle analysis of the subconscious andunconscious.
.................................................. ..............................
GEORGE ELIOT is one of the founding-fathers of the modern psychological novel. As W.J. Longpoints out, “
GEORGE ELIOT sought to do in her novels what Browning attempted in his poetry
.
That is, to represent the inner struggle of a soul, and to reveal the motives, impulses and hereditary influences which govern human action. Browning generally stops when he tells
hisstory and either lets you draw your own conclusion or else gives you his in a few striking linesBut GEORGE ELIOT is not content until she ahs minutely explained the motives of her
characters and the moral lesson to be learnt from them. It is the development of a soul, the slow growth or decline of moral power, which chiefly interests her. The Characters of
Dickens and Thackeray are already formed when we meet them and we know what they will do under certaincircumstances, but GEORGE ELIOT’s characters develop gradually as we
come to know them.They go from weakness to strength and vice versa.
” Her novels are a study of mental processes. As A.E. Baker rightly points out, “
GEORGE ELIOT’s sphere was the inner man, she exposed theinternal clockwork. Her
characters are not simply passive. They are shown making their ownhistory, continually changing and developing as their motives issue into acts and acts become a part of the
circumstances that condition, modify and purify or demoralize the will.
” GEORGEELIOT’s power of psycho-analysis and her understanding of mental processes are fully exposedin AB. Therefore, many critics have called AB the first psychological novel as later
exemplified byJoyce and Woolf because the psychology of the main characters, Adam, Hetty, Arthur and thePoysers is the theme.
Analysis of causes and motives
: The chapter called
A Journey in hope
; GEORGE ELIOTspends far more time in Hetty’s poor brain and heart than Hetty spends on the road in her unwisesearch for her runaway lover. This is psychology and the chapters
immediately before and after this sufficient activity to keep the story rolling; there is much more inner activity than outer.GEORGE ELIOT is deft in her psychological approach. Shortly
after the death of Thias Bede, hiswife Lisbeth was in the Bede Home alone with the body. After doing the necessary ritualcleansing and purification of the chamber where Thias lay, she
slumped into a chair andcontemplated her grief. When GEORGE ELIOT’s characters think we share their thoughts. When Adam accidentally comes upon Arthur and Hetty embracing in the
woods, Hetty scurries away,and Arthur saunter forwards to Adam. He thought, “
After all, Adam was the bet who could havehappened to see him and Hetty together: he was a sensible fellow and would not babble about it to other people. Arthur felt confident that
he could laugh the thing off, and explain it away
. ” But hemisunderstood him. GEORGE ELIOT’s grip on psychological essentials enables her to drawcomplex characters much better than her predecessors.
Temptation and Moral Chaos
: The filed of her most characteristic triumphs is the moralbattlefield. Her eagle eye can penetrate though the entire sock and the smoke of struggle. She isparticularly good at showing
how temptation triumphs. No other English novelist has given as sovivid a picture of the process of moral defeat, as Arthur’s gradual yielding to his passion for Hetty.She, with clearness,
shows how temptation insinuates in the mind. David Cecil says, “
Her characters always hang together, are of a piece, their defects are the defects of their virtues. Weare not surprised that a man, so anxious for the good opinion of others as Arthur
Donnithorne,should selfishly seduce Hetty, because we realize that the controlling force in his character is thedesire for immediate enjoyment
.” With equal insight, she can portray the moral chaos that takespossession of the mind after wrong has been done. The guilt ridden conscious of Arthur isanalyzed and we are shown the
scorpions that sting him and prevent sleep. She lays bare theconscious and semi-conscious motives of Arthur. We see the workings of his innermost mind: Hehad been awake an hour, and
could rest in bed no longer. In bed our yesterdays are toooppressive, if a man can only get up, though it is but to whistle or smoke, he has a present whichresists the past. For Arthur, the
loss of Adam’s respect was a shock to his self-contentment, whichsuffused his imagination with the sense he had sunk in all eyes; as a shock. Arthur would sogladly have persuaded
himself that he had done no harm if no one had told him the contrary.
Conclusion
: It is GEORGE ELIOT’s psychological insight into the springs of human action, thesubtle analysis of character and motive accompanying the external action, which gives her
peculiar and individual place among the Victorian novelists. She is one of them and yet howevery different and original. She is the first of the great modern novelists who have a
highconception of their art, who regard the novel as a serious art form, and who are given to theprobing of the human psyche, to the subtle analysis of the subconscious andunconscious.
.................................................. ..............................