CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

NYAYA NAGAR, MITHAPUR, PATNA-800001

FEBUARY-2019
TOPIC: “GEORGE ELIOT NOVEL-FELIX HOLT’’
FINAL DRAFT SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
COURSE TITLED

L AW AND LITERATURE

PROPOSAL SUBMITTED BY

NAME:RITESH KUMAR

ROLL NO:1963

SEMESTER:2ND

SESSION:2018-2023

COURSE:BA.LLB(Hons)
SUBMITTED TO

DR.PRATYUSH KAUSHIK

FACULTY OF LAW AND LITERATURE

 DECLARATION

I here by declare that the project entitled “George eliot’s Novel-Felix Holt ”submitted by me at
CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY is a record of bona fide project work carried
out by me under the guidance of our mentor DR. PRATYUSH KAUSHIK .I further declare that
the work reported in this project has not been submitted and will not be submitted ,either in part
or in full, for the award of any other degree or diploma in this university or in any other
university.

------------------------

RITESH KUMAR

ROLL NO: 1963

i|Page
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is a fact that any research work prepared ,compiled or formulated in isolation is inexplicable to
an extend .This research work although prepared by me is a culmination of effort of a lot of
people who remained in veil, who gave their intense support and helped me in the completion of
the project.

Firstly I,am very grateful to my subject teacher Dr. Pratyush kaushik without the kind support
and help to whom the completion of this project was a herculean task for me.He donated his
valuable time from his busy schedule to help me to complete this project .I would like to thank
his for her valuable suggestion towards the making of this project.

I am highly indebted to my parents and friends for their kind co-operation and encouragement
which helped me in completion of this project .I am also thankful to the library staff of my
college which assisted me in acquiring the sources necessary for the compilation of my project .

Last but not least,i would like to thank the almighty who kept me mentally strong and in good
health to concentrate on my project and to complete it in time .

I thank all of them!

--------------------------

(RITESH KUMAR)

ROLL NO:1963

B.A.LLB(HONS)

SESSION :2018-2023

ii | P a g e
CONTENTS

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………..................
 Aims and objectives………………………………………………………………....
 Review of literature ………………………………………………………………....
 Hypothesis…………………………………………………………………………..
 Research questions………………………………………………………………….
 Research methodology……………………………………………………………...
 Sampling method …………………………………………………………………..
 Sources of data collection ………………………………………………………….
 Mode of citation ……………………………………………………………………
2. Major characters of felix holt ……………………………………………………………....
3. Treatment of values in the novel of George eliot…………………………………………...
4. Major themes and critical reception ………………………………………………………..
5. Conclusion and suggestions………………………………………………………………...

Bibliography

iii | P a g e
 1.INTRODUCTION

During the time of the Reform Act of 1832, the story centres on an election contested by Harold
Transome, a local landowner, in the "Radical cause" ("Radical" because Transome's version of
"radicalism" isn't radical at all, but rather an application of the term to his politically stagnant
lifestyle), contrary to his family's Tory traditions. Contrasting with the opportunism of Transome
is the sincere, but opinionated, Radical Felix Holt. A subplot concerns the stepdaughter of
a Dissenting minister who is the true heir to the Transome estate, but who is unaware of the fact.
She becomes the object of the affections of both Harold Transome and Felix Holt1.

Felix Holt, the Radical (1866) is a social novel written by George Eliot about political disputes
in a small English town at the time of the First Reform Act of 1832.

In January 1868, Eliot penned an article entitled "Address to Working Men, by Felix Holt". This
came on the heels of the Second Reform Act of 1867 which expanded the right to vote beyond
the landed classes and was written in the character of, and signed by, Felix Holt.

During the time of the Reform Act of 1832, the story centres on an election contested by Harold
Transome, a local landowner, in the "Radical cause" ("Radical" because Transome's version of
"radicalism" isn't radical at all, but rather an application of the term to his politically stagnant
lifestyle), contrary to his family's Tory traditions. Contrasting with the opportunism of Transome
is the sincere, but opinionated, Radical Felix Holt. A subplot concerns the stepdaughter of
a Dissenting minister who is the true heir to the Transome estate, but who is unaware of the fact.
She becomes the object of the affections of both Harold Transome and Felix Holt.2

As the story starts, the reader is introduced to the fictitious community of Treby in the English
Midlands in 1832, around the time of the First Reform Act. Harold Transome, a local landowner,
has returned home after a fifteen-year trading career in the Middle East. Wealthy from trade, he
stands for election to Parliament from the county seat of North Loamshire. But contrary to his
family's Tory traditions, he intends to stand as a Radical. This alienates him from his traditional
allies and causes despair for his mother, Mrs. Transome. Harold Transome gains the support of

1
via www.imdb.com,02-03-19,5:30 pm
2
Felix Holt, the Radical, Classic Serial - BBC Radio,02-03-19,5:35pm

4|Page
his Tory uncle, the Rector of Little Treby, and enlists the help of his family lawyer, Matthew
Jermyn, as an electioneering agent.

Much of his electioneering is focused in Treby Magna. In this village resides Felix Holt, who has
recently returned from extensive travels in Glasgow to live with his mother. He meets with Rev.
Rufus Lyon, a Dissenting minister in Treby Magna, and his stepdaughter, Esther. Felix and Mr.
Lyon become ready friends, but he appears to treat Esther with condescension. Felix and Rev.
Lyon both appear aligned to the Radical cause.

Harold Transome learns that Jermyn has been mismanaging the Transome estate and embezzling
money for himself. Transome remains silent during the election, yet Jermyn tries to devise a plan
to save himself from future prosecution. Meanwhile, Felix witnesses some electioneering for the
Radical cause in the nearby mining town of Sproxton. He is upset with the 'treating' of workers
with beer in exchange for their vocal support. Felix relays his concerns to Harold Transome, who
chastises John Johnson for his electioneering methods. However, Jermyn convinces Transome
not to interfere.

Rev. Lyon learns from Maurice Christian, servant of Philip Debarry, about the possible identity
of Esther's biological father. Rev. Lyon decides to tell Esther the truth about her father. Esther's
outlook on life changes upon finding that she is in fact Rev. Lyon's stepdaughter. Her
relationship with her stepfather deepens, while she also desires to emulate the high moral
standards impressed upon her by Felix Holt. Seeing the change in Esther's character, Felix Holt
begins to fall in love with her. However, both share the feeling that they are destined never to
marry each other. Meanwhile, Rev. Lyon challenges Rev. Augustus Debarry to a theological
debate. The debate is initially agreed to, but is cancelled at the last minute3.

Riots erupt on election day in Treby Magna. Drunken mine workers from Sproxton assault
townspeople and wantonly destroy property4. Felix Holt is caught up in the riots, and tries
foolhardily to direct its hostility away from the town. But in the end, Felix Holt is charged with
the manslaughter of a constable who tried to break up the riot. Harold Transome also loses the
election to Debarry.

3
www.gutenberg.org 02-03-19,6:13 pm
4
http://www.meesecret.com 02-03-19 ,6:20 pm

5|Page
Harold Transome begins legal proceedings against Jermyn for the latter's mismanagement of the
Transome estate. Jermyn counters by threatening to publicise the true owner of the Transome
estate. However, Maurice Christian informs the Transomes that the true owner of the estate is in
fact Esther Lyon. Harold Transome invites her to the Transome estate, hoping to persuade her to
marry him. Harold and Esther establish a good rapport, and Esther also becomes more
sympathetic with Mrs. Transome, whose despair has continued to deepen. Esther feels torn
between Harold Transome and Felix Holt. She compares a life of comfortable wealth with
Harold Transome and motherly affection with Mrs. Transome, to a life of personal growth in
poverty with Felix Holt. Meanwhile, at Felix Holt's trial, Rev. Lyon, Harold Transome and
Esther Lyon all vouch for his character, but he is nevertheless found guilty of manslaughter.
However, Harold Transome and the Debarrys manage to have Felix Holt pardoned5.

Harold Transome proposes to Esther Lyon, with the eager support of Mrs. Transome. But despite
Esther's feelings towards both Harold and Mrs. Transome, she declines the proposal. In an
altercation between Jermyn and Harold Transome, it is revealed that Jermyn is Harold
Transome's father. Harold considers he will no longer be suitable for marriage to Esther. Esther
also surrenders her claim to the Transome estate. The story ends with Felix Holt and Esther Lyon
marrying and moving away from Treby, along with Rev. Lyon. Matthew Jermyn is eventually
ruined and moves abroad, while John Johnson remains and prospers as a lawyer. The Debarrys
remain friends with the Transomes, and the contest to the Transome estate, while widely known,
is never discussed.6

5
www.enotes.com 02-03-19,6:45 pm
6
en.wikisource.org 02-03-19,7:10 pm

6|Page
 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1. The researcher tends to throw some light on the plot summary of the novel.
2. The researcher tends to throw some light on the major characters of this novel.
3. The researcher tends to throw some light on the literary significance and criticism of the
novel.

HYPOTHESIS

The researcher presumes that:

1. The researcher presumes that whole plot is based on the political senario.
2. The researcher presumes that the novel felix holt is the expression of the personality of
the George Eliot .
3. The researche presumes that the novel deals with the fictitious community.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the status of juvenile in Bihar?

2. What are the main reason for their worst condition as compare to another state?
3. How their condition can be improved ?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The researcher use both doctrinal and non-doctrinal research methodology.

SAMPLING METHOD

Researcher has used purposive and convenient method of sampling due to paucity of time and
various limitations while doing research.

SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION

The research is based secondary sources of data

7|Page
 MODE OF CITATION

The researcher have followed a uniform mode of citation throughout the course of this project.

8|Page
 2.MAJOR CHARACTERS OF FELIX HOLT

Some of the major characters who played very vital role in this novel7:-

 Felix Holt – Young, earnest and opinionated Radical recently returned to Treby Magna from
a medical apprenticeship in Glasgow. Felix Holt prefers a life of working-class poverty over
a life of comfortable wealth. He works as a watchmaker, supporting his mother and an
adopted child, Job. Although not a churchgoer, he befriends the Dissident minister in Treby
Magna, Rev. Rufus Lyon. Felix is initially disdainful of Rev. Lyon's refined daughter,
Esther, but his attitude towards her eventually begins to soften and he falls in love with her.
His earnest but imprudent actions earn the disdain of many Trebians, and land him in trouble
during the election day riots.
 Harold Transome – 35-year-old wealthy landowner recently returned to Treby from a 15-
year trading career in the Middle East. He returns to England a widower with a young son,
Harry. He runs for the county seat of North Loamshire in parliamentary elections as a
Radical, contrary to his family's Tory traditions. Not long after his return to England, he
discovers Jermyn's mismanagement of the Transome estate, and while using Jermyn as an
electioneering agent, Harold Transome devises legal proceedings against him. The
relationship between the two men deteriorates as the story progresses. Jermyn confronts him
with information on a possible contestor to the ownership of the Transome estate. Harold
Transome also takes a liking to Esther Lyon later in the story.
 Esther Lyon – Stepdaughter of the Dissenting minister in Treby Magna, Rev. Rufus Lyon.
Esther earns a modest income as a teacher. She also has a refined sense of fashion and
manners. Her refined appearance and behaviour appear repugnant to Felix Holt at first, but
her developing earnestness softens his disdain. Learning that she is not Rev. Lyon's
biological daughter does not diminish her filial affection, but rather it strengthens their
relationship. Her new past brings her potential new wealth when she learns that she is the
true heir to the Transome estate. Later in the story, Esther feels torn between Felix Holt and
Harold Transome, both of whom are in love with her.8

7
www.georgeeliot.org 02-03-19, 7:30 pm
8
www.georgeeliot.org,02-03-19,7:45 pm

9|Page
 Rev. Rufus Lyon – Dissenting minister in Treby Magna, who has one stepdaughter, Esther.
He befriends Felix Holt, a Radical. He also learns from Maurice Christian the possible
identity of Esther's biological father. Throughout the story, the bond between his
stepdaughter and him grows stronger, and he remains a helpful friend to Felix Holt.
 Matthew Jermyn – Transome family lawyer and former manager of the Transome estate.
He agrees to act as Harold Transome's agent during county elections. However, after
Transome discovers his mismanagement of the estate, Jermyn devises plans to stave off
prosecution. He discovers a possible contestor to the ownership of the Transome estate,
information which he tries to use against Harold. Jermyn also earns the disdain of John
Johnson and Maurice Christian. He also holds one other secret from Transome.
 Mrs. Transome – Mother of Harold Transome. Her husband's senility has left her in charge
of the Transome estate while her sons are absent. Prior to the beginning of the story, her
irresponsible oldest son has died, and she is eagerly anticipating her younger son's return to
England. Harold Transome does return, but her expectations of their happy future life are
dashed soon after. Her son treats her kindly but insensitively, and Mrs. Transome's despair
over her changing situation deepens as the story progresses.
 Maurice Christian – Servant of Philip Debarry. He discovers and reveals critical
information to various characters at different stages throughout the story. Sir Maximus
Debarry learns through Maurice Christian that Harold Transome is a Radical candidate. Rev.
Lyon learns through an interview with Christian the possible identity of Esther's biological
father. Jermyn confronts Christian about his past, identifying him as Henry Scaddon, a
criminal who was held in a French prison with one Maurice Christian Bycliffe, with whom
he swapped names. Mr. Bycliffe was thus discovered to be Esther Lyon's biological father.
Maurice Christian encounters a bill sticker named Tommy Trounsem who has a rightful
claim to the Transome estate. But upon Trounsem's death, Maurice Christian informs Harold
Transome about Esther Lyon's rightful claim to the Transome estate.
 John Johnson – Electioneering agent working for Harold Transome. Mr. Johnson receives
the patronage of Matthew Jermyn, although he harbours a growing sense of resentment
towards his patron. He encourages a group of miners in a Sproxton pub to vocally support
the Radical cause, by 'treating' them to beer, over the objections of Felix Holt and Harold

10 | P a g e
 Transome. This tactic backfires when the intoxicated workers become a riotous mob on
election day.
 Thomas Trounsem – Bill sticker and resident of the Transome estate. He is in fact a
member of the Transome family who lives in disempowered poverty. While he remains
alive, the Transome estate legally remains with the Transome family. However, when
Tommy Trounsem dies in the election day riots, Esther Lyon becomes the rightful owner of
the Transome estate.
 Sir Maximus Debarry – Tory baronet. He is a neighbour and traditional ally to the
Transome family. However, his friendship with the Transomes is suspended when he
discovers Harold Transome's position as a Radical. But after the election the friendship
between the two families is restored. Sir Maximus Debarry also works to get Felix Holt
pardoned.
 Rev. Augustus Debarry – Rector of Treby Magna, brother of Sir Maximus Debarry and
uncle of Philip Debarry. Rufus Lyon challenges him to a theological debate, which Rev.
Debarry defers to Rev. Sherlock. The debate is called off when Rev. Sherlock absconds.
 Philip Debarry – Nephew of Rev. Augustus Debarry and Tory candidate for the seat of
North Loamshire in parliamentary elections. He sends Maurice Christian to meet with Rev.
Lyon to retrieve lost personal property. Philip Debarry wins the election for the seat of North
Loamshire in Parliament and is the means by which Felix Holt receives a pardon from the
Home Secretary.
 Mr. Transome, Snr – Father of Harold Transome. Mr. Transome, Snr is senile, and the
estate is managed by Mrs. Transome and Matthew Jermyn, prior to Harold Transome's return
to England. He enjoys playing with Harold Transome's young son, Harry.
 Mary Holt – Mother of Felix Holt. Her situation in the story reflects that of Mrs. Transome:
both of them are treated kindly but insensitively by their sons.
 Rev. John Lingon – Rector of Little Treby and uncle to Harold Transome. Despite his own
Tory background, he agrees to help Harold Transome with the election.

11 | P a g e
 3.TREATMENT OF VALUES IN THE NOVEL OF GEORGE ELIOT

Literature is an expression of the personality of the writer, and that personality itself is formed
and moulded by the times in which he or she lives. It is more so in the case of a writer as
sensitive as George Eliot . She is born in 1819 and her first novel is written in 1858. Thereafter,
novel after novel flowed from her pen in quick succession. In other words, the formative years of
her life were passed in the opening decades of the Victorian era. There was an intellectual
ferment in England, such as had never been witnessed before. This spirit of questioning, this
intellectual unrest is every where reflected in her works.9

In the beginning of the Victorian era, there was a widespread faith in unlimited progress. This
sense of self-satisfaction of complacency resulted from the immense strides that England had
taken in the industrial and scientific fields. The nation was prospering and growing richer and
richer everyday. The British empire was already a reality, the white man’s burden, or the
colonizing mission of the English was already bringing in rich dividends. They attributed all this
prosperity to their glorious and dominant Queen Victoria. It was an era of prosperity, an era of
aggressive nationalism, an era of rising imperialism.

This break- up of Victorian Compromise, traditions and conventions was accelerated by the rapid
advance of science. Science with its emphasis on reason rather than on faith, encouraged the
spirit of questioning. Victorian beliefs, both religious and social were subjected to a searching
scrutiny and found wanting. The publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859 is of special
significance from this point of view. His celebrated theory of Evolution contradicted the account
of Men’s origin as given in the Bible. His theory carried conviction as it was logically developed
and supported by overwhelming evidence. Before Eliot, the English novel had been almost
entirely the work of those whose primary purpose was to entertain. Not that earlier novelist had
lacked moral purpose; Richardson taught the passions to move at the command of virtue, and the
same might have been said of Goldsmith in his Vicar of Wakefield. Of Thackeray’s moral
feelings we can never be in doubt and Dickens, too, worked within a clearly suggested bunch of
values. But no English novelist from Defoe to Thackeray could have been called b man of great
philosophical powers and unusual erudition. Their presentation of the human scene was never in

9
www.jstor.org 02-03-19,7:45 pm

12 | P a g e
any degree conditioned by the depth of their intellectual penetration or the profundity of their
moral speculations. They were content to follow the patterns of thought of their day and to
handle ideas only obliquely and symbolically. Their job was to entertain through the 3
construction of stories, not to exhibit new ideas. Though the poets in England traditionally
moved in the intellectual vanguard, George Eliot was the first English novelist to move in the
vanguard of the thought of learning of her days, and in doing so added new scope and dignity to
the English novel. Unlike to accept simple supernatural sanctions for morality, the writers like
Dickens and Thackeray found no alternative, except a facile appeal to feeling and as b result
could not cope convincingly with moral problems like the suffering or death of b good character.
George Eliot, who was both an idealist and agnostic and derived her idealism and agnosticism
from her own intellectual inquiries into moral and religious question, had her own answers to
these problems.

She was the daughter of a self-educated estate manager and land agent, Eliot grew up in rural
Warwickshire, attending local boarding schools from an early age. From 1837 she acted as her
father’s housekeeper, moving with him to Coventry in 1841. After her father’s death, Eliot lived
briefly in Geneva, returning, in 1850, to act as de facto editor of the Westminster Review under
John Chapman’s ownership. She wrote a series of successful novels: Scenes of Clerical Life
(1858) followed by Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Mariner (1861),
Ramola (1863) and Felix Holt (1866).She also published two volumes of poetry (The Spanish
Gypsy, 1868 and The Legend of Jubal, 1874). But it was the publication of Middlemarch (1871)
and Daniel Deronda 4 (1876), which confirmed her status as one of the greatest 19th century
Victorian Novelists.10

In all her fiction, Eliot was concerned with moral problems of characters but she never abstracted
her characters from their environment in order to illustrate their moral dilemmas. She was well
aware of the varied social contexts in which nineteenth-century men &women lived.

George Eliot took up novel writing very seriously. She was inspired by Jane Austen and
considered her novels as models of unexaggerated depiction of real life. Those who want to have
excitement and sensation through art, would be sadly disappointed by Austen’s works. In Eliot’s

10
www.revolvy.com 02-03-19 8:10 pm

13 | P a g e
opinion, any kind of exaggerated picture or portrayal of human life or character is a sin against
art; and that’s why, she could not appreciate the works of Mrs. Gaskel who used to point lights
and shadows in most of her novels. She says with regard to her artistic creed, “My artistic bent is
directed not at all to the presentation of mixed human beings in such a way, as to call forth
tolerant judgment – pity and sympathy.” She firmly believed that the aim of the novelist should
be always to give a faithful picture of things as they are in nature, not as they should be
according to the wishes or desires of the artist.

The ambivalence of Eliot’s own social position was undoubtedly reflected in her equivocal
relationship to subjects such as the woman issue or the public identity of the author. She was a
writer of profound 5 intellect, blending contemporary science and philosophy into a secular
realist ethic based on the principle that ‘if art does not enlarge men’s sympathies, it does nothing
morally’. Actually Eliot was a natural descendant of the English Romantics and her novels are
imbued with their scrupulous habits of description and essential conservatism. Although she was
a formidable intellectual, she was concerned that general doctrine could eat out one morality if
unchecked by the deepseated habit of direct fellow men. In her novels, she took up the romantic
theory that human beings must overcome their egotism by the perpetual exercise of a vivid moral
sympathy. Her art, like that of the great Romantics, reproduces the common universe, lifting the
film of familiarity, which obscures from us the wonder of our being. The thesis aims to deal with
moral vision dealt by George Eliot in her fiction. The study is confirmed to her four novels-
Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, and Middlemarch11.

In all her fiction, George Eliot was concerned with moral problems of character, but she never
abstracted her characters from their environment in order to illustrate their moral dilemmas. She
was familiar with and responsive to the varied social contexts in which 19th century men and
women could live; she saw the relationship between town and country, between landed families
living in an ever diminishing feudal atmosphere and neighbouring provincial towns where farmer
and tradesman, banker and politician, jostled each other in a word and country metropolitan and
provincial, agricultural, commercial, industrial, professional, and she used her knowledge to
make her characters move naturally in their daily occupations.

11
www.greengeotechnics,02-03-19,8:30 pm

14 | P a g e
She was one of the Victorian ‘sages’ as well as novelists, one of those who worried and thought
and argued about religion, ethics, history, character, with all concern felt by those most
respective to the many currents of new ideas flowing in Victorian thought and most sensitive to
their implications.

A sage whose moral vision is most effectively communicated through realistic fiction is
an unusual phenomenon- or, at least, was unusual at the time when George Eliot began to write.
If it has become less unusual since, that is because George Eliot by her achievement in fiction
permanently enlarged the scope of the novel.

Silas Marner (1861) a simple novel, much quieter in tone, is little more than a symbolic fable,
though a brilliantly executed one. It has something of the tone of a fairy tale, with its story of a
baby, left at the door of the lonely weaver after his gold had been taken from him, and the
change in his character and way of life which his rearing of the baby brings. This novel of
redemption might be considered as an antitype to Hawthornr’s Scarlet Letter, the latter being the
story of the discovery of guilt and former of the rediscovery of innocence. In a sense, the novel is
one of moral discovery, each of the more important characters learning the truth about himself or
herself of what happens to him. But the ending is the least important part of the novel, whose
richness of texture belies the simplicity of its conclusion

There are other features of Middlemarch which contribute to making it one of the very greatest
of English novels. The different characters and different contexts of living in town and country
are shown interesting in their interests and activities in a way which is fruitful symbolic not only
of the relationship between the individual and society, but also of one part of society with
another. Country squire, clergyman, farmer, agricultural labourer, banker, doctor, workers and
idlers in town and country, are shown in the complex network of interrelationships which itself is
a microcosm of man in the world. The characters presented are thus more than individuals
brought in as examples, illustration, psychological types, or carth real and symbolic, both highly
individual portraits and organic parts of a carefully organized plot. The almost melodramatic
apparatus George Eliot used to project certain important developments in the plot may strike the
modern reader as somewhat forced, but it is not prominent enough to weaken the novel as a
whole or to spoil the effect of life as it is lived, of provincial England at work, which is so
important in the book.

15 | P a g e
It must be remembered that George Eliot was one of the Victorian ‘sages’ as well as novelists,
one of those who worried and thought and argued about religion, ethics, history, character, with
all concern felt by those most respective to the many currents of new ideas flowing in Victorian
thought and most sensitive to their implications. A sage whose moral vision is most effectively
communicated through realistic fiction is an unusual phenomenon- or, at least, was unusual at the
time when George Eliot began to write. If it has become less unusual since, that is because
George Eliot by her achievement in fiction permanently enlarged the scope of the novel.

16 | P a g e
 4.MAJOR THEMES AND CRITICAL RECEPTION

Felix Holt is concerned with the social and political changes taking place in England between the
1830s, the setting of the novel, and the 1860s, when the novel was written. The values of the old
order, represented by the landed interests, are set in opposition to the working class values of
Felix Holt. This struggle between power and moral virtue is the most prominent theme of the
novel, with the values of the working class Felix and his bride-to-be represented as superior to
those of the aristocracy, represented by the Transomes, and the bourgeoisie, represented by
Jermyn and Johnson.12

The novel also criticizes the shallowness associated with middle-class women during this period;
such women are guilty of materialism, coquetry, sensuality, and “fine-ladyism,” as Holt calls it.
Esther's rejection of these values, along with her inheritance, suggests that moral seriousness will
triumph over a love of luxury and idleness.

While Eliot's personal vision of political and social reform enters into the construction of Felix
Holt, the Radical, neither Eliot nor her title character are as radical as appearances suggest.
While the landed interests come under fire for their conservative attempt to retain power, the
working class is also criticized; the workers demonstrate their unworthiness to gain the franchise
they seek by their susceptibility to bribes and demagoguery. Until the working class is educated,
Eliot implies, they cannot be in charge of their own political destiny.

Felix Holt, the Radical is one of Eliot's least admired novels. Many scholars consider that its
parallel narratives—political and domestic—result in a confusing, even incoherent plot. The fact
that there are two subplots involving secrets of paternity has also led to charges that the narrative
is contrived and convoluted. Nonetheless, at least two critics have emerged in the late twentieth
century to make a case for the novel's unity. Florence Sandler argues for the “architectonic unity”
of the political and domestic narrative strands—a unity which she believes is based on “the
centrality of Esther, and the significance of her final decision; the role of Rufus Lyon; and the
nature of the radicalism of Felix Holt.” Norman Vance concentrates on issues of land ownership

12
www.enotes.com,02-03-19,8:45 pm

17 | P a g e
and religious dissent, claiming that the novel's unifying factor is the comparison between the
period in which it is set and the period in which it was written.

Several critics claim that the character of Felix Holt articulates Eliot's personal vision of the
appropriate reform of English society. With that in mind, many take issue with Holt's “radical”
credentials, maintaining that, like Eliot, the character is more conservative than the novel's
subtitle suggests. The ambivalence surrounding the character's politics leads to additional
charges of incoherence within the narrative and suggestions that Holt is not always a sympathetic
character. Fred C. Thomson claims that “the dearth of camaraderie in Felix, his belligerent
pedantry, his aloofness from the community life in Treby, to say nothing of the shadowiness of
his background and motivations and the wooden dialogue, injure his effectiveness as a
spokesman for George Eliot.” Feminist scholars have also criticized Holt's character, claiming
his objections to Esther's refinement and aesthetic sensibilities make him no more desirable as a
suitor than Transome, who believes that women are meant to be decorative rather than
functional. Such critics claim that, despite the title, the main character of the novel is actually
Esther, who must choose between two “misogynist radicals,” that is, “between the radical who
sees women as useless delights and the radical who sees women as temptations unless useful,” as
Alison Booth describes Esther's dilemma. Nonetheless, the novel was apparently much
appreciated by Leo Tolstoy, who, according to Philip Rogers, admired it principally because of
its criticism of “fine-ladyism”—materialism and frivolity in middle-class women, the very things
Felix criticizes in Esther.

Many scholars consider Felix Holt a precursor to Eliot's masterpiece Middlemarch, suggesting
that the concerns the author resolved unsuccessfully in the former novel were perfected in the
latter. According to L. R. Leavis, “Felix Holt is a key novel in George Eliot's development not
because of its own merits, but because of its failure in fundamental issues that establish the
success of her next novel, Middlemarch.”

18 | P a g e
 5.CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

George Eliot's primary interest in analysing a character from its moral perspective has provided
her art of characterisation with a new height. She firmly believes that a human character is not
cut in marble but it evolves as time passes. A chronological study of her novels reveals that
almost all her major characters have evolved from egoism and moral blindness to strict morality
and vision. In other words, the characters who are receptive to this positive growth have emerged
as the leading figures in her novels. In her first full-length novel Adam Bede (1859), George
Eliot criticizes the moral flaws of the major characters in the novel. On the one hand Hetty
Sorrel's and Aurther Donnithorne's moral weakness in the form of temptation, falsehood,
.licentiousness, narcissism, and unbridled, reckless living is condemned and on the other hand,
the extreme moral rigidity and lack of sensitivity shown by Adam Bede does not find any
support. His fault lies ln the fact that he appears to be lukewarm and unresponsive to the
surroundings he lives in. He has to learn that there is more in life than good worksmanship. Only
through the character of Dinah Morris, the novelist tries to represent the moral centre of her
novel. However, at the end, her character becomes perfect and more sublime when she is able to
get rid of doctrinal and abstract religious practice by marrying Adam out of love, compassion
and humanity.

In her second novel The Mill on the Floss (1860), which is an autobigraphical study, George
Eliot deals with the moral tension and moral dilemma of Maggie Tulliver in the backdrop of a
narrow provincial society of Victorian England. Maggie suffers because of her penchant for
individual freedom and her attraction towards a passionate, reckless and venturesome life. The
moral conventions of the society in which she lives is amply represented by her brother Tom
who denies to accommodate Maggie's libertinism and disowns her. In fact, Maggie's conflict
with her brother and her own self and .upbringing are the parts of her rebellion with the time and
society in which she lives. For Maggie, as for Romola and Dorothea, rebellion against the
accepted norms of society is justified as the society which they inhabit is imperfect. It is a matter
of debate whether George Eliot consciously places her heroine in the dilemma of finding their
own religion and to redifine morality within a world where the old values are no longer effective
and the new is yet to be born.

19 | P a g e
Maggie, Romola and Dorothea try to prove that a truly moral conduct is that which conduces to
greatest length, breadth, and completenes of life even if the society is not ready to accept that for
the time being. Even Simmone De Beuvior in her illustrated book 'Second Sex' salutes Maggie's
inhuman conflict with her society.13

In the next novel, Silas Marner (1861) George Eliot depicts the moral transformation of Silas
from a brute money- grabber to a sensitive human being by the touch of an abandoned new -born
baby, who is baptised as Eppie. Silas is completely regenerated through the love and compassion
of this little form of humanity. He is able to forget the land of his defamation and start a new life
and he also leaves behind the blurred consciousness of 'Lantern Yard' God who punishes without
just cause and owns the religion of humanity, love and fellow-feeling. Though Eliot's next four
novels --- Romola (1862) Felix Holt (1866), Midd/emarch (1872) & Daniel Denonda (1876)-
explore wider fields of intense intellectual and ideological struggles, the conversion of her major
characters from moral blindness to love and sympathy is the quintessence of all her novels.
Romola (1862), notwithstanding its historical perspectives, mainly depict Romola's drastic
decision to break away from her husband Tito and her urge to lead a meaningful and moral life.
Her realization that moral activities are the expression of direct and spontaneous feeling and not
the outcome of any theological, ideological or intellectual obligations, is the ultimate message of
the novel. Felix Holt (1866), though contains important political deliberation of the time . during
(1831 - 32), mainly charts the moral evolution of the protagonists in their outlook towards life
and people. At first, the heroine Esther Lyon, shown as vain and discontented hankering after a
life of refinement in Transome household. However, Esther slowly feels the moral void of the
members of the Transome household . She is quickly convinced of Felix's superiority , and
accepts his criticisms of her. Her spontaneous defence of Felix at the latter's trial to the dismay of
Harold Transome, confirms her moral ameleoration. Felix, also evolves as a complete human
being when his prejudice about the role of woman in the private and public life of a man is
removed through the upright and bold gesture of Esther in the trial scene.

In her magnum opus, Middle march (1872) the novelist observes' we are all of us born in moral
stupidity, taking the World as an udder to feed our supreme selves' .1 This novel, written on a

13
www.britannica.com,02-03-19,8:18 pm

20 | P a g e
vast panorama and having the scope of Tolstoy's War and Peace, mainly centres around the
moral growth of two impractical visionaries.

Dorothea Brooke, unlike Maggie Tulliver, appears to be a bold and mature woman as she
displays the ability to withstand the criticisms of her individual choice and decision. However,
Dorothea's decision to accept happy conjugal life and motherhood has put a question mark on
woman's intellectual abilities and her sphere of activities. Lydgate's predicament is the result of
his being of man of a weak moral fibre. He decides to marry Rosamond only being attracted by
her outer beauty who ultimately brings his downfall. A feminist scholar observes 'Dorothea
represents a woman's desperate attempt to establish an identity for herself, to create a space for
her self-expression. Her muted plea to make life good for anything is the cry of an entire
generation of women seeking some form of identity. Eliot shows her entrapped in a male-
dominated society desperately trying to seek opportunities to realize her latent qualities' .14
Though George Eliot's last novel Daniel Deronda (1876), dwells on the 'Jews question', the
central attraction of the novel lies in the moral upgradation of the heroine Gwendolen Harleth
and the moral enlargement of the hero Daniel Deronda. In conclusion, my humble submission is
that though the world has undergone a considerable progress and has become sensitive and
liberal, true to admit, the puritan 'moral code' practised in Victorian era has not changed.

lock, stock and barrel. What was condemned in Eliot's time would be criticised in these days as
well. The act of Maggie's elopment, Hetty's illicit sex, Rosamond's extra-marital affairs,
Romola's unilateral decision to break the wedlock or Gwendolen's loyalty towards Deronda
would be questioned in present society as well. So an act of morality or immorality has a
universal dimension.Herein lies the relevance and acceptability of George Eliot's novels.

14
Sheila Lahiri Choudhury, The Reclining Ariadane ; A Gender Reading of George Eliot's Middlemarch in
Chaudhuri & Mukherjee Literature and Gender; Orient Longman Pvt. Ltd.2002, 02-03-19,9:20 pm

21 | P a g e
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Holt,_the_Radical
2. https://www.enotes.com/topics/felix-holt-radical
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Holt,_the_Radical#Literary_significance_and_criticis
m
4. http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/61958/13/13_conclusion.pdf
5. https://www.scribd.com/document/318283486/George-Eliot
6. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/eliot/felixov.html

22 | P a g e