Added by: Dr_MIA | Karma: 132.04 | Black Hole | 10 August 2011
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Silas Marner - Stage 4 - 2008 Edition (Bookworms)
In a hole under the floorboards Silas Marner the linen-weaver keeps his gold. Every day he works hard at his weaving, and every night he takes the gold out and holds the bright coins lovingly, feeling them and counting them again and again. The villagers are afraid of him and he has no family, no friends. Only the gold is his friend, his delight, his reason for living.
But what if a thief should come in the night and take his gold away? What will Silas do then? What could possibly comfort him for the loss of his only friend?
Silas, a weaver, is betrayed by his best friend and the woman he loves. He loses all faith in humanity and moves to the village of Raveloe. There he lives a solitary life, working and hoarding his gold coins, until one day his gold is stolen…
Silas Marner (originally published in 1861): Betrayed by a beloved friend and accused of a crime he didn’t commit, awkward Silas Marner is expelled from his beloved religious community — the only community he has ever known. He exiles himself in the remote village of Raveloe. Friendless and without family, set apart from the villagers by their superstition and fear of him, he plies his weaving trade day after day, storing up gold which becomes his idol.
Considered by some as enchanting as a fairy tale and in some ways as simple in its approach, George Eliot's Silas Marner extends well beyond such a sphere. The text focuses on the evils of religion and society, both of which ostracize those they do not understand. Study the novel through the work of some of the most respected critics on the subject.
