Weaving a New Ethics in George Eliot’s Silas Marner

Abstract

Sensitive to the moral problems of their time, Victorian writers in general strive to invent a more appropriate moral code to bridge the axiological gap and foster the advent of a more humane society. George Eliot is one of them. In her novels, she keeps expounding moral principles that constitute her ethical philosophy. Drawing on New Historicism and intertextuality, this paper aims to explore Eliot's ethical thinking in Silas Marner. Specifically, it looks at how Eliot, drawing on her own experiences and the various intellectual sources of her time, forges a moral philosophy through her narrative. The analysis concludes that Eliot proposes humanist values such as love, altruism, honesty, understanding, and compassion to counteract the malevolent forces of egoism and wickedness that are corroding society and have ultimately revealed the moral and social danger of Christian doctrine.