How does Eliots biography relate to Silas Marner?
Note the theme of loss in Eliot’s life. When she lost her faith, she also lost her closeness to her father, who left her little money in his will despite her having cared for him for years, and she lost her closeness to her brother Isaac, who shunned her until after Lewes’ death. Upon Eliot’s marriage to John Cross, Isaac sent her a note of congratulations. “I have much pleasure in availing myself of the present opportunity to break the long silence which has existed between us,” he wrote. Eliot experienced a certain degree of social isolation for her unconventional beliefs and choices, while others who had committed similar indiscretions, like George Lewes’ wife Agnes, were treated with sympathy. As you read Silas Marner, note the roles that loss, isolation, injustice, religious faith, and family play in the novel. Further Biographical Information George Eliot: Biography . . . From Mary Ann Evans to George Eliot at the University of Virginia George Eliot: 1819-1890 at the University o
