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Inbisat Shuja

Victorian Novel
Semester 3

Topic: George Eliots writing style in The Mill on the Floss


George Eliot creates her art not merely for the entertainment of reading public but in a lucid and
simple style she explores new ideas, projects womens point of view in a mens world, rebels
against the rigidity and conventions of the society, depicts the inner struggle within a character
and rejects courageously the pure idealism.
Historically speaking, George Eliot is placed at the middle of the 19th century but practically she
belonged to the literary and intellectual tradition of the 20th century. She is considered to be the
most intelligent and gifted writer of her age and the qualities which characterized her creative
achievements are those which are usually found in the writings of the artist of the modern
century. It means that she is far ahead of her own age and it is this very thing which effects a
close link between her and the modern writers.
George Eliot is a Victorian novelist, but in more ways than one she is a pioneer of the modern
novel. In Dickens, the emphasis is on the society and on the individual but in George Eliot the
emphasis is on the psychology of the individual. Therefore with her rare penetration through
understanding of human weaknesses and generous sympathy, she is concerned with the very
basic problems, experiences, encroachment and impingement upon the individual by his general
surroundings. It is revealed through Maggies struggle to seek her identity in such a society
which considers religion, conventions and family reputation and appearances more important
than individuals personal characteristics. Naturally this attitude of the society, according to
George Eliot can result only in a severe reaction, rebellion and dejection, a sense of isolation
within the individual.
Jane Austen is considered to be the writer of ego while George Eliot brilliantly interweaves ego
and its relationship to super ego. The social scene of the St. Oggs in The Mill on The Floss is no
mere landscape painting but has been described in order in order to depict the relationship of the
individual with the society. There is no denying the fact that Eliot wants to preserve the
individuality of a person but at the same time expects him to merge in the society thus taking all
the burden of his surroundings upon her. It reveals her perceptive sensibility, which does not
only fulfill an individuals physical and emotional needs but does caters the whole society.
Dickens discusses different problems in different novels but George Eliot deals with religion,
psychology, economy, philosophy, emotions and intellect at the same time. She cannot

compartmentalize any aspect of life and naturally in her struggle to look at the reality as a whole,
there rises a conflict within her characters.
With her command over the inner life of man, George Eliot for the first time in English
novels, delineates complex personalities having contradictory forces within them but who are a
part of the society. Therefore we are not surprised when a sensitive and responsible girl Maggie
is torn between the conflict of desire and responsibility, as she can neither be insensitive to her
own emotional needs which can be satisfied by the love of Philip nor can be inconsiderate and
disloyal to her father and brothers feelings. Here Eliot using omniscient technique decides in
favour of duty and makes Maggie search true love rather than selfish love.
She is a philosophic critic of life and an intellectual writer who does not lapse into vague
abstractions. When she lets Maggie overcome by her sensual feelings for Stephen, she is actually
busy in searching the motivation behind a wrong act. Her psychological insight helps her to
know that a love thirsty individual is easily influenced by someone, who can satisfy her
emotional needs. The same is the case with Maggie but she is torn between the intense and
strong conflict of intellect and passion. For the first time being she is led by temptation but soon
realizes that her pleasure must not be a cause of misery to others. To this call of her conscience,
she sacrifices her own passion and love which is a true reminiciation. However a wrong has been
committed which becomes a decisive factor in her tragedy.
George Eliots tragic vision of the life grows out of her moral and philosophical ideals. No
human being is free of weakness and victim to that weaknesses bound to bring its own
inescapable consequences. With her deep penetration, moral chaos and mental agony of a mind
for its wrong choice. Her stories are mainly of sufferings but her pathos never degenerate into
sentimentality. She is a truth teller who does not idealize or caricature like Dickens but with her
generous sympathy makes the character realistic, so that we can easily identify with them.
Her characters develop in the course of story, going from weakness to strength or from strength
to weakness. Thus her characters are never flat. Maggies mind is analyzed and is presented
before us from her childhood to her death. She is a passionate, sensuous, and love thirsty girl but
this is not what she remains. As the novel develops, she is influenced by the philosophy of
Thomas and Kempis. Then come Philip and Stephen in her life, who combat and attack the
philosophy from two different angles. The result is that Maggie at twenty two is quite different
from her childhood. Using dramatic technique like Dickens and Jane Austin, Eliot treats plot as
an instrument for the development of characters. Catastrophe in her novels results when a
particular set of circumstances. Each incident flows from character and in its turn moulds the
character so there exists an organic relationship between the two.
George Eliot picks her character from the world of her personal experience. Her characters are
ordinary in looks, habits and status but they do have prompting of conscience and suffer

unspoken sorrows and sacred joys. They seem busy in exploring new ideas and knowing the
whole reality of life which is beyond their capacity and which ultimately leads them to tragedy.
Depiction of society and social analysis are closely related to her realism and philosophy that no
private life exists without a public life. Society has its petty foibles and she recognizes that her
duty as an artist is to paint them as they are, without exaggerating them into worse lives.
Therefore in her novels humour prevails and bitterness is not allowed to appear. Her tone
becomes sharp only when she describes how the societys mind-work to exploit someone.
Almost all the Victorian novelists satirize snobbery, hypocrisy and the dubious value of the
society but she is the first sociological novelist to establish an organic relationship between the
human nature and the nature of the society.
The use of economic factor being a decisive one in the determination of human attitude is
another trend of the writings of the 20th century. George Eliot was so intelligent as an artist that
she recognized the importance of the economic factor as the most powerful determining force at
a time when people in general were not aware of its implication in life. Although she does not
rise to the exalted level of a socialist with a scientific approach in the recognition of the
significance of the economic factor in life yet she seems to be fully aware of the reality that it
exercises great impact on human thinking and behavior. This can easily be confirmed by having
a look at her characters in The Mill on the Floss in which their mutual relationships are
largely affected by the rise and fall in their economic positions.\
George Eliot as an artist fully understands the significance of symbols as the most effective
device, impart to her literary works a richness of meanings and depth and employs them with all
skills and effect. If we go through The Mill on the Floss with a critical penetrating eye, we
are pleased to find that the novel under discussion is a long series of symbols employed both
skillfully and effectively. Some critics goes the extent of saying that this novel is a symbolic
representation of the conflict that exists between the industrial and the agrarian set up.

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