Silas Marner Essay, Research Paper

A Comparison of Silas Marner and Godfrey Cass

Godfrey Cass and Silas Marner are perfect foils. They each developed along similar lines but each differed at certain points. Both were affected by Eppie but Silas was the one who benefitted the most from it. Eppie?s interaction with both also shaped the way they love each?s closest people.

Godfrey and Silas were both self imposed loners. Godfrey had a to keep his first wife a secret from everybody especially, Nancy Lammeter. This meant he had to keep more than a polite distance away from her. Cass had a traitor near to his heart. His brother, the theif and all around scoundrel blackmailed poor Godfrey to keep his secrets

hidden. Silas was betrayed by his whole previous life. The church had let him down and his closest freind had robbed him. This supposed freind even set him up for an accusation of murder. To top it all off, Silas?s wife to be was also taken by this wolf in sheep?s clothing. This type of betrayal makes a person hate humanity especially in such a close knit community. Silas moved himself to the fringes of

civilization. He cared for no one and wanted no to care for him.

Both of their attitudes changed when Eppie arrived. Godfrey knew that he could marry Nancy now beacuse his old wife had died. This also showed how shallow he was. Godfrey thought he could throw money at Silas and he would be very compliant to give Eppie back to her ?rightful? father. Yet at the final moments of ths confrontation Eppie?s arrival unleashed a side of Silas not seen for fifteen years. He became a caring human being again. Silas took great steps to

insure Eppie?s happiness even going to church again and associating with the other villagers. While the Church part was somewhat bewildering to him, the villagers were much worse. It took him months to understand what they were saying and then months more to be able to hold a conversation with them. Yet through the growth of Eppie,

something took over Silas. He made more freinds and worked less on his loom. The loom was the symbol of his old life, the time when he could undterstand nor trust any one. Breaking away from the loom Demonstrated that he was human again and oculd be a part of society too.

The quality of love was directly shaped by Eppie. For Godfrey, he realized that his actions towards his current and previous wife were not the best. Firstly, by running away from his first wife he had forced her into an even deeper addiction. He did not mean to do this but he had no idea how to handle the disgrace of being married to an opium addict. When Eppie came under Marner?s charge, Godfrey realized he must make up for previous mistakes. Like most men of wealth he decided that throwing money at the problem would fix it. This still didn?t cover up the fact that Godfrey ,someday, would have to confess to the world that he was the father of Eppie. This made his second marriage somewhat strenuous. The money he spent on Eppie?s well being

was money that was meant for starting Godfrey?s second family. This partly explains the absence of children in his household. Once Eppie came of marrying age, Godfrey thought that he could simply take charge of Eppie and everything would be alright again. While Godfrey did not gain his rightful mantle as father of Eppie, he did manage to finally

secure his marriage to Nancy. The rejection had finally opened his eyes to the future and that future was a family with Nancy Lammeter Cass. Silas learned how to love from Eppie. Ever since her arrival in his home Silas learned about the strange feeling that manifested in him. HE learned how to be a caring father. Also Silas became less reclusive. Even though he lived on the out kirts of the village, people came to see how he was doing with the raising of Eppie.

People were surpirsed at how personable he became. Of course

Eppie meant the world to him. He was very defensive about

how he would be able to raise her. Many times he had

commented on how he must be the only she knows as a father

and no one else.

In conclusion, Godfrey Cass and Silas Marner shared many charcter traits becuase of Eppie. They both changed dramtically as Eppie grew older. Their personal ives came more to the front also. Each took special (or least what Godfrey believed) care of Eppie. By doing SIlas ad Godfrey revealed intersting part of themselves.