Character Sketch of Godfrey Cass in Silas Marner
Character Sketch of Godfrey Cass: Godfrey Cass is the elder son of Squire Cass and the heir to the Cass estate. He is a good-natured young man, but weak-willed and usually unable to think of much beyond his immediate material comfort. As a young man he married an opium addict, Molly Farren, with whom he had a daughter. This secret marriage and Godfrey’s handling of it demonstrate the mixture of guilt and moral cowardice that keep him paralysed for much of the novel.
Despite his physically powerful and graceful presence, Godfrey is generally passive. In this respect he is similar to Silas. However, Godfrey’s passivity is different from Silas’, as his endless trivial talk and indecisiveness stem entirely from selfishness. Godfrey is subject to constant blackmail from Dunstan, his brother, who knows of Godfrey’s secret marriage, and Godfrey is finally freed of his malicious brother simply by an accident. He is delivered from Molly in a similarly fortuitous way, when Molly freezes to death while en route to Raveloe to expose to Godfrey’s family about their marriage. Even Godfrey’s confession to Nancy is motivated simply by his fright after the discovery of Dunstan’s remains. This confession comes years too late, because, by the time Godfrey is finally ready to take responsibility for Eppie, she has already accepted Silas as her father and does not want to replace him in her life.
Godfrey Cass is “fine open faced good-natured young man.” He is, however, revealed to be weak-willed. As a young man, he married Molly Farren who later took to drinks and drugs. The marriage was a secret. The only person who knew about it was his younger brother, Dunstan, or Dunsey. When he is being blackmailed by the latter, he thinks of revealing his secret to his father so that he can end his younger brother’s bullying tactics. But, after evaluating the consequences – of being disinherited and thrown out of the family – he decides against it. This shows that he cannot think much beyond his immediate comfort as “disinherited son of a small squire, equally disinclined to dig and to beg, was almost as helpless as an uprooted tree.” He finds that “he must irrevocably lose her[Nancy] as well as the inheritance” hence succumbs to his brother’s intimidation.
Godfrey Cass is good-natured but selfish and weak- willed. Godfrey is secretly married to Molly Farren and has a daughter with her. He is the biological father of Eppie. He loves Nancy Lammeter and wishes to marry her. However, his secret marriage is an obstacle; his younger brother, Dunstan (or Dunsey) Cass, uses this information to blackmail him. Godfrey lacks the moral courage to face the situation and allows himself to be used by Dunstan.
Godfrey is not evil in any way. He has no desire to harm anyone; he is pained when he does so. But he does not have the courage to take responsibility for his actions, nor to give up his desires when they conflict with duty.
Godfrey’s life with Nancy sets him on a better path, but there is no true test of his character except his failure to own Eppie as his daughter. This shows that Godfrey is unchanged – he wants to do the right things, but not badly enough to risk his happiness. In the end, he tells the truth only because he is afraid it will be found out anyway. His own desires are still the most important thing to him. He puts them in the form of a principle now: he thinks he has a “right” to his daughter, although he was willing to neglect his duty.
Godfrey at last comes to some self-realisation. The unexpected resistance he meets from Silas and Eppie brings home to him for the first time the fact that rights and duties cannot be separated. He accepts his rebuke willingly.
Godfrey has been full of his own penitence and resolution to retrieve his error. He presumes that he has a right over Eppie because he is her biological father. He wants to make amends for his past mistakes and fulfil his duty as a father. He js definitely oblivious to how other people would react to his proposal Now he is baffled that Eppie does not want to be ‘retrieved.’ He also has no concept of what his daughter wants, which is shown by his fear that ‘she may marry some low working man’, which is just what Eppie desires. He’never stops to consider that Eppie may have her own point of view in the matter. He just thinks about himself.
Godfrey Cass is a young man well thought of in the community of Raveloe because of his good nature, compared to the wild ways and evil nature of his brother, Dunstan. However, he is unable to think much beyond his immediate material comfort. In a moment of weakness, he secretly married Molly Farren, an opium addict, which he regrets later on. He also has a daughter now. The handling of this secret marriage demonstrates the mixture of guilt and moral cowardice that paralyse his actions. When he realises that Molly is dead, he decides not to tell anyone about the marriage and also not acknowledge Eppie as his biological child, These actions further demonstrate his weak will However, he is still worried that Dunstan may return and expose him, but is undecided on what to do in such a situation.