Character Sketch of Silas Marner
Character Sketch of Silas Marner: Though Silas Marner is the title character of the novel, Silas is by and large passive, being acted upon rather than acting on others. Having been hurt and betrayed by his faith in his religion, Silas Marner leaves his home town and settles in Raveloe. For fifteen years, he is feared by the local people, as he has a reputation of being connected with the devil. He is isolated from the rest of the village, living at its edge, working as a weaver, and not attending church. His neighbours in Raveloe regard him with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. He spends all day working at his loom and has never made an effort to get to know any of the villagers. Silas’ physical appearance is odd: he is bent from his work at the loom, has strange and frightening eyes, and generally looks much older than his years. Because Silas Marner has knowledge of medicinal herbs and is subject to occasional cataleptic fits, many of his neighbours speculate that he has occult powers.
Despite his antisocial behaviour, however, Silas Marner is at heart a deeply kind and honest person. The money he earns from weaving fills him with happiness and satisfaction that is in contrast with his lack of human companionship and communication. When his money is stolen, the villagers feel sorry for him. What changes his life is the child that he finds sleeping in front of his fireplace, the child he believes is sent from above. Eppie brings him more happiness and joy than he ever received from the gold. He finally experiences reciprocated companionship and affection. At the end, the villagers agree that he brought a blessing to his life when he took Eppie in as his child. With Eppie in his life, Silas Marner is able to unite his old faith with his new one, and believes that there is goodness and justice in this world. Silas’ love of money is merely the product of spiritual desolation, and his hidden capacity for love and sacrifice manifests itself when he takes in and raises Eppie.
Silas Marner is the protagonist of the novel by same name, Silas is a simple, honest, and kind- hearted weaver. He is described as a pallid, bent man with bulging eyes and poor eyesight.
Silas Marner is framed for the crime he did not commit by his closest friend, William Dane. This hurts Silas very deeply. As a result, he loses faith in both God and other men. Shunned from his hometown, Lantern Yard, he comes to live in Raveloe.
Silas Marner lives there as a solitary miser for fifteen years, dedicating his time and energy to his work and his hoard of gold. Catastrophe strikes and his money is stolen. He is devastated for the second time. But, a small fair-haired girl, Eppie, enters his life and restores his faith and trust. He raises her lovingly and she becomes more precious to him than his lost gold which is restored by his adopted daughter, Eppie.
Silas Marner leaves his town and church after being falsely accused of a crime he did not commit and migrates to another town, Raveloe. His physical appearance is odd: he is bent from his work at the loom, brownish bulging eyes. He looks much older than his years. He lives in this town as a loner and does not interact with anyone. Children are afraid of him and the people regard him with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. However, he is a good and honest person. He has a discreet knowledge of medicinal herbs and is able to use it to cure people.
The unchanging part of Silas’ character is that he requires some prop on which he can lean, something to support his courage to face life. When he loses his religion, he turns to his work, and then to his gold. When his gold is gone, he finds a better support in a child, which leads ultimately to his faith in his fellow men and in his own strength of character.
Silas Marner is a solitary, nearsighted, crooked man with massive brown eyes and a simple pale face who works “in a stone cottage that stood among the nutty hedgerows near the village of Raveloe, and not far from the edge of a deserted stone-pit.” The villagers of Raveloe say he has supernatural powers. Jem Rodney has seen him in a cataleptic fit, solid as stone.
Silas Marner also knows herbal medicine, which he learned from his mother, and which the villagers associate with the occult. But because his trade is necessary, the villagers tolerate him. Marner has lived just outside Raveloe for fifteen years when the novel begins, and in all that time, his reputation there has not changed at all.
Silas Marner was a happy person when he lived in Lantern Yard. He would fall into fits, or trances, during the prayer-meetings. Apart from that, things were going well with him. He had wonderful friends and he was preparing to marry his fiancA His honesty, hard work and good nature endears him to everyone. However, there was a certain religious austerity in his life at Lantern Yard.
Silas Marner came to Raveloe as a cold and bitter man. His main objective was on saving and hoarding his money. He did not socialise even though he did help the-cobbler’s wife by curing her illness. He notices the religious ease with which the people of Raveloe live – in complete contrast to Lantern Yard. His helping Sally Oates creates opportunities to interact and meet more people, but he refuses to get back into his shell.