Felix Holt: Language, the Bible, and the Problematic of Meaning

Abstract

MR. WACE, successful brewer and minor character in Felix Holt, assumes that the ownership of land gives him the right to spread confusion and misunderstanding. When he decides not to sell piece of property, he declares, It's mine into the bowels of the earth and up to the sky. I can build the Tower of Babel on it if I like.' In fact, there is no need to build the Tower of Babel at Treby Magna: people already have trouble understanding one another's speech. In society characterized by lies and secrets, George Eliot suggests that fluent tongue is somewhat sinister. The narrator understands why the saints should prefer candles to words (p. 338), and the servants find Christian's clever puns a little Satanic (p. 91). The most articulate characters, like John Johnson and Matthew Jermyn, are mean-spirited and deceitful, while sincere speakers like the Rev. Rufus Lyon and Felix Holt are ineffective. Honest, direct discourse seems to have no place in the novel. The listeners are often unable to formulate an intelligent response to the orations delivered in church, at the hustings, and in court. Some Trebians refuse to take position for fear of adversely