Silas Marner: novel

Introduction and brief Summary of Silas Marner:

‘Silas Marner’ is a fine novel by George Eliot. It is a story about how a great wrong was set right. Silas Marner was a weaver by occupation. He was a young man of fervid and exemplary life. He was a hardworking and honest man but he was subjected to sudden attacks that left him in a kind of sleep in which he did not know what was happing around him. He did not what he did during the sleep. He was a member of a religious community. However, a false charge of theft was brought against him by a friend. The friend acted like an enemy that almost ruined his life. Silas was utterly disappointed and left the town forever. He went to a village called raveloe. It was an agricultural village with peaceful surrounding.

At raveloe he lived in seclusion away from people. Some of his neighbours looked at him suspiciously. He lived by himself meeting almost n one. He had earned a good about of gold (money) which he counted again and again. This gave him joy and company he badly needed. He denied himself all comforts and hoarded as much gold as he could. Thus, accumulation of money and gold became the purpose of his life.

But one day, this only joy of his life was also taken away from him. Squire Cass reprobate son stole gold from his cottage. His name was Dunstan Cass. His elder brother was Godfrey. He was also a man of loose morals. He had married a low type of woman who was addicted to intoxicant called laudanum. Godfrey loved this charming woman named molly. He kept his marriage secret and bribed his brother to help him in keeping it a secret.

The loss of money made silas’ life very miserable. Efforts were made to trace the theft but it was in vain. Dunstan had disappeared from the village for long none suspected him as he often disappeared from the village for long periods. In the meantime, Godfrey began to love Nancy. Molly on New Year’s Eve died near silas marner’s cottage in the snow. Her child Eppie found its silas marner’s house.

Silas adopted the child and brought her up. She became an apple of his eye. He began to love her more than anything else. Godgrey was relieved at the death of his wife molly as his way to marriage with Nancy was now clear. He kept this fact secret from Nancy fearing that she would not marry him if she came to know that Eppie was Molly’s daughter through Godfrey.

Godfrey and Nancy were married and lived peacefully but they were not blessed with a child. Godfrey suggested to Nancy that they should adopt Eppie(his own daughter by his former wife) Nancy was against adoption and did not agree to adoption of Eppie.

Eppie turned into a charming young girl of eighteen. She knew no one as father except silas. She knew that he loved her selflessly and devotedly. She too loved him very dearly. Silas was brought into contact with neighbours through her.

In the end, Godfrey told the secret of Eppie to his wife Nancy. Dunstan’s dead body was found drowned in a pond near Silas Marner’s cottage with the stolen money.  Godfrey was under the evil influence of his evil-minded brother. Now he was free from that evil. Godfrey and Nancy went to silas’s cottage and claimed Eppie as their rightful child. Eppie refused to acknowledge anyone as her father except silas. She refused to go with Godfrey. She married an honest, good natured young man and lived happily with silas Marner. The novel ends with a note of happiness.

‘Silas Marner’ describes peaceful rural life of Raveloe village very vividly. It is a charming and widely read book that shows George Eliot’s love for simple rustic life. The moral element dominates the novel. There is a fine mingling of humour and pathos. It is considered a fairy story because of its dreamy quality. It is also an allegorical tale depicting the victory of the good and the virtuous in the end. George Eliot believed in the law of nemesis and poetic justice. She believed that virtues are rewarded and vices are inevitably punished. 

Wuthering Heights novel

Wuthering Heights

In the late winter months of 1801, a man named Lockwood rents a manor house called Thrushcross Grange in the isolated moor country of England. Here, he meets his dour landlord, Heathcliff, a wealthy man who lives in the ancient manor of Wuthering Heights, four miles away from the Grange. In this wild, stormy countryside, Lockwood asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to tell him the story of Heathcliff and the strange denizens of Wuthering Heights. Nelly consents, and Lockwood writes down his recollections of her tale in his diary; these written recollections form the main part of Wuthering Heights.

           

                      

Nelly remembers her childhood. As a young girl, she works as a servant at Wuthering Heights for the owner of the manor, Mr. Earnshaw, and his family. One day, Mr. Earnshaw goes to Liverpool and returns home with an orphan boy whom he will raise with his own children. At first, the Earnshaw children—a boy named Hindley and his younger sister Catherine—detest the dark-skinned Heathcliff. But Catherine quickly comes to love him, and the two soon grow inseparable, spending their days playing on the moors. After his wife’s death, Mr. Earnshaw grows to prefer Heathcliff to his own son, and when Hindley continues his cruelty to Heathcliff, Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college, keeping Heathcliff nearby.

Three years later, Mr. Earnshaw dies, and Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights. He returns with a wife, Frances, and immediately seeks revenge on Heathcliff. Once an orphan, later a pampered and favored son, Heathcliff now finds himself treated as a common laborer, forced to work in the fields. Heathcliff continues his close relationship with Catherine, however. One night they wander to Thrushcross Grange, hoping to tease Edgar and Isabella Linton, the cowardly, snobbish children who live there. Catherine is bitten by a dog and is forced to stay at the Grange to recuperate for five weeks, during which time Mrs. Linton works to make her a proper young lady. By the time Catherine returns, she has become infatuated with Edgar, and her relationship with Heathcliff grows more complicated.

When Frances dies after giving birth to a baby boy named Hareton, Hindley descends into the depths of alcoholism, and behaves even more cruelly and abusively toward Heathcliff. Eventually, Catherine’s desire for social advancement prompts her to become engaged to Edgar Linton, despite her overpowering love for Heathcliff. Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights, staying away for three years, and returning shortly after Catherine and Edgar’s marriage.

When Heathcliff returns, he immediately sets about seeking revenge on all who have wronged him. Having come into a vast and mysterious wealth, he deviously lends money to the drunken Hindley, knowing that Hindley will increase his debts and fall into deeper despondency. When Hindley dies, Heathcliff inherits the manor. He also places himself in line to inherit Thrushcross Grange by marrying Isabella Linton, whom he treats very cruelly. Catherine becomes ill, gives birth to a daughter, and dies. Heathcliff begs her spirit to remain on Earth—she may take whatever form she will, she may haunt him, drive him mad—just as long as she does not leave him alone. Shortly thereafter, Isabella flees to London and gives birth to Heathcliff’s son, named Linton after her family. She keeps the boy with her there.

Thirteen years pass, during which Nelly Dean serves as Catherine’s daughter’s nursemaid at Thrushcross Grange. Young Catherine is beautiful and headstrong like her mother, but her temperament is modified by her father’s gentler influence. Young Catherine grows up at the Grange with no knowledge of Wuthering Heights; one day, however, wandering through the moors, she discovers the manor, meets Hareton, and plays together with him. Soon afterwards, Isabella dies, and Linton comes to live with Heathcliff. Heathcliff treats his sickly, whining son even more cruelly than he treated the boy’s mother.

Three years later, Catherine meets Heathcliff on the moors, and makes a visit to Wuthering Heights to meet Linton. She and Linton begin a secret romance conducted entirely through letters. When Nelly destroys Catherine’s collection of letters, the girl begins sneaking out at night to spend time with her frail young lover, who asks her to come back and nurse him back to health. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Linton is pursuing Catherine only because Heathcliff is forcing him to; Heathcliff hopes that if Catherine marries Linton, his legal claim upon Thrushcross Grange—and his revenge upon Edgar Linton—will be complete. One day, as Edgar Linton grows ill and nears death, Heathcliff lures Nelly and Catherine back to Wuthering Heights, and holds them prisoner until Catherine marries Linton. Soon after the marriage, Edgar dies, and his death is quickly followed by the death of the sickly Linton. Heathcliff now controls both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He forces Catherine to live at Wuthering Heights and act as a common servant, while he rents Thrushcross Grange to Lockwood.

Nelly’s story ends as she reaches the present. Lockwood, appalled, ends his tenancy at Thrushcross Grange and returns to London. However, six months later, he pays a visit to Nelly, and learns of further developments in the story. Although Catherine originally mocked Hareton’s ignorance and illiteracy (in an act of retribution, Heathcliff ended Hareton’s education after Hindley died), Catherine grows to love Hareton as they live together at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff becomes more and more obsessed with the memory of the elder Catherine, to the extent that he begins speaking to her ghost. Everything he sees reminds him of her. Shortly after a night spent walking on the moors, Heathcliff dies. Hareton and young Catherine inherit Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, and they plan to be married on the next New Year’s Day. After hearing the end of the story, Lockwood goes to visit the graves of Catherine and Heathcliff.

Wuthering Heights

In Wuthering Heights, Catherine falls in love with a boy named Heathcliff, her father adopts. Their love is doomed, and both are forced to marry other people for money. Catherine dies in childbirth, and Heathcliff joins her in death after enacting his revenge upon the next generation.

Heights summary key points:

In Wuthering Heights, Mr. Lockwood narrates his visit to Wuthering Heights and recalls dreaming of a ghostly child trying to come in through the windowpane.

Nelly, Lockwood’s housekeeper, recalls working at Wuthering Heights and witnessing Mr. Earnshaw adopting a boy. His daughter Catherine develops a close friendship with Heathcliff, but his son Hindley envies Heathcliff’s relationship to their father.

After Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley returns for the funeral and relegates Heathcliff to servant status.

Edgar and Catherine marry, and Heathcliff marries Edgar’s sister to inherit her money.

Catherine dies in childbirth. Edgar’s sister also dies after running away from Heathcliff’s maltreatment and giving birth to Linton.

Heathcliff gains ownership of the Earnshaw estate, Edgar and Linton die, and Heathcliff dies after realizing that he wishes to rejoin his beloved Catherine.

Isabella- By John Keats

Isabella- By John Keats   

                                       

Isabella was a lady from Messina who falls in love with Lorenzo, the administrator of her brothers’ fortune. They learn about the meetings of the lovers. At first they are silent to avoid scandal, but one day they invited Lorenzo to a festival outside the city and murdered him.

Isabella was told that Lorenzo had had to make a long journey abroad. But months pass and he does not return. Isabella mourns and pines the departure of her lover. One day as she lay exhausted and sleeping, Lorenzo’s ghost suddenly appeared before her. He was pale, blood-drabbled, with garments rent and mouldy.

He told her of her brothers’ deed and asked her to find his body where it lay. Isabella finds the grounds where Lorenzo had been murdered. She brings back his head and buries it in a pot of basil. She tends to this obsessively, arousing the suspicions of her brothers’. One day they steal away the pot and Isabella is left alone to die in pain, mourning the death of her one true love.