Characters in Silas Marner Essay

In the book Silas Marner there are many positive characters along with negative ones. In my opinion Silas Marner was my favorite character in this book because he should how much one persons actions can effect other people, and I think he shows how it effects people, because at first when his supposedly best friend William Dane commits a crime and then places false evidence blaming Silas for the crime. After that he changes completely. Second when someone else steals his gold, he changes again, but this time his life starts to change in both a positive and negative way. Third when he finds Eppie in his house, and decides to adopts her, he starts to change again, but this time its in a more positive way. Throughout the whole book a few things he does not ever change are internal qualities he has. He is a good natured man, and is caring, honest, kind, and unselfish, and throughout the whole book shows this. Even when he has his gold he isnt being selfish about it, its actually a replacement because he doesnt have other humans in his life, and hes lonely, so the gold brings him that happiness he isnt getting because he is so isolated.

During the book he shows a lot of change within himself because other peoples actions showing he is a passive character. For instance in Lantern Yard when he is framed robbing the deacons money, when he realizes he didnt have his knife and that his most trusted friend did, he doesnt speak up and tell anyone his side of the story, he just puts his trust in god and says, god will prove he is innocent. But after that, he ends up moving to the isolated town of Raveloe. He also goes from being religious and living near the church, to not going to church at all, even when after his gold is stolen, and Dolly Winthrop tried to convince him to go. Which leads me into his next change, is when his gold is stolen from him, this starts to change him in both a positive and negative way. The negative way is because the one thing he loved and cherished the most was taken from him. But the positive way was because the town people start to sympathize for him and I believe this is his first step to becoming less isolated. His next major change is when he finds Eppie in his house and decides to adopt her, because he doesnt belong to anyone and neither does she. This is a really big step into him changing because now since he has Eppie he isnt isolated from the town at all, and becomes friends with Dolly Winthrop.

In my opinion Silas Marner is an inspiration because all of the changes he makes during the time in this book. He goes from an active part of the community, to being completely isolated, back to being an active part of the community, and having someone to live for.