George Eliot

Analysis of George Eliot as a great

novelist and her Autobiographical
ton.

George Eliot occupies an important

place in the history of English Literature.
She is a cautious, scholarly pain staking
talent. She is an intellectual talent. She is
an intellectual writer. Her mind is always
active and she has a sharp observation.
She has a Sharp observation. She lives in
a much larger world of ideas, which
conditioned hers views of fiction, the
shape of her novels take and the very
imagery of her works.
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 She deserves to be regarded as the
greatest Victorian novelist. In this
connection David Deices says- It
must be remembered tat George
Eliot was one of the Victorians, one
of those who worried and though and
argued about religion, ethics,
history, character with all the
concert felt by those most receptive
to many currents of new ideas
flowing in Victorian thought and
most ,, Sensitive to their
implications.

Modern Novelist :- In England the new

trend was ushered in by George Eliot. The
newly emerged novel is known as modern
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novel. That is why George Eliot is con side
red as a pioneer of the modern novel. It is
she who has changed the very spirit
behind the novel.

D.S. Neil, writes about her, It is one of

the principal claims to fame that she
is modern novelist unlike the typical
instructive Victorian novelists she is
an intellectual writer

She is the first modern

novelist who casts an influence .her
modernity reveals in her high conception
of art, and her conviction is also modern
that novel is a serious form of writing. Her

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novels possess a really modern
atmosphere .

Realism :- George Eliot believe to

present a picture of real society, or world.
Realism is a basic and fundamental
principle of George Eliots fiction. She
observes every thinking deeply and
minutely and then she presents an
accurate description of that thing. That is
why her description has reality as well as
depth.

Her description is always far from

fancy, fantastic and grotesqueness but it
is very close to the reality. The Mill on

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Floss has a touch of reality to a great
extent.

Psychological Novelist :-George Eliots

remarkable quality is that she pas more
attention to present the psychological
description of a character. In this field she
is really a psychological novelist. She
presents her character out worldly,
success fully and realistically as well as
inwardly. She depicts that working of the
mind of a character. She gives a picture of
a real society and people, with whom she
is personally familiar. Her most complex is
true because the changes and apparent
contradictions in them are always firmly
related as they are in life. She possesses
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the power of psychological portrayal. She
represents the inner struggle of a soul
and to reveal the motives, impulse and
hereditary influence which govern content
until she has minutely explained the
motives of her character and the moral
lesson to be learnt from of a soul, the
development of a soul, the slow growth
or, decline of moral power, which chiefly
interests her. George Eliot has a
marvelous knowledge of human
psychology which enables her to analyses
her character psychologically.
Psychological realism is one of the
qualities of The Mill on the Floss.

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Her Plot-Construction:- George Eliots
art of plot construction is superb. She is
unlike Victorians in this field. She avoids
the traditional style of plot making. She
constructs her plots perfectly and her plot
is integral part of her novel. Her plots are
organic and her plot is integral part of her
hovel. Her plots are organic and compact,
well integrated works of art; It is a feature
of her plots. She never creator her plots
carelessly and they develop logically
according to the need of situation and
character. There is not any looseness in
her plot but they are well organized and
united. Though there are a number of
episodes yet they are related to one
another and these episodes do not create
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any obstacle but contribute the main
story of the novel and give an impression
of a single whole. She interweaves her
ideas with plot very cleverly and
beautifully.

Her Art of Characterization:-

One of the chief characteristics of George

Eliots novel writing is her art of
characterization. David Cecil Writes :-
Yet we can
not regret her intellect. For it is the
source of her most original
characters and her most memorable
passage. In it is engendered that
penetration to our literature.
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 She has a conception of character that
it is both dramatic and dynamic. She has
a clear sighted vision of essential
character. Her characters describe the
nature of man. She knows the art, how
characters are developed she has a
power to describe the mixed character
skillfully. She pays more attention in the
portrayal of her character inners elves.

An Analyst and Observer:- She is an

analyst and has a sharp observation. She
observes everything minutely and after

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studying well. She presents it in her
works.

As a Philosopher:- She has her own

philosophy and it is quite clear in her
novels, for they are highly philosophical.
It seems to her impossible to have a blind
faith in religion is not conventional but
modern.

Eliot As a Regional Novelist:- In this

field George Eliot was very much
influenced by sir Walter Scott who
immortalized his native land. Like she has
successfully drawn her native land. She
presents the features of Warwickshire,
Derbyshire, Lioncolnshire. She depicts the
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locality, countryside and character which
a typical regional background. She has
also produced faithfully the mannerism
rustic habit and speech, dialect with a
regional flavor.

As a Moralist:- George Eliot believes in

morality. That is why she always wants to
give moral message through her works.
She considers novel as not any a thing of
entertainment but it is something with a
definite moral significance the ethical
basis of human conduct is examined by a
work of art and it should be the purpose
of a work. She always maintains
standards of morality in her novels.

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Autobiographical Tone:- The Mill on
the Floss is one of the greatest novels
of George Eliot. Thought it is not
completed an autobiographical novel yet
it has auto biographical element to a
great extent. The study of George Eliots
life makes it most auto biographical of all
her novels and she is emotionally
involved with it. Infect her entire life has
been put by her into this novel.
In this regard W.R. Nicoll Says;-
So long as
Georg Eliot is read, wise readers will
turn to The Mill on the Floss As the
best, the truest and the most
authoritative account of her own
complex character.
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 The novel is filled with the earth
memories of places and persons. The
story of Maggie is not wholly like the
novelist but most of the events of Vs life
are presented in the novel, though not
exactly.

Maggie Reflects George Eliot :-Maggie

is in may ways close to the novelist, Mary
Ann Evans is real life. She resembles her
to a great extent. Infect her character is
an image of Mary Ann. There are various
things, which are common to both Mary
and Maggie. Like the novelist, Maggie is
close to her mother for her dark-hair and
ugliness. Her mother constantly scolds
her to keep her locks of hair properly tidy
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but she does it of her own accord like
Mary Ann.
Experience of Childhood :- The early
experiences and memories are presented
by Mary Ann in The Mill on the floss. The
Childhood memories linger in our lives.
The beautiful flowers singing of birds,
bright sky and grassy fields all these
things remind childhood.

George Eliots childhood is reflected by

he childhood of Maggie and Tom. Here
she makes us see her loving memories of
the part. Mrs. Tulliver considers Maggie
half an idiot as, he says, If I sent her
upstairs to fetch anything, she
forgets what Shes gone for and will
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some-times sit down on the floor in
the Sunshine and plaint her hair and
sing herself like a mad creature, all
the while I am waiting for her down
stairs. And that brown skin and hair
of hers! I sometime think it seems
hard that I should have only on girl
and her so comical:

The same was with Mary Evans who

did not help her mother in housed work
and had unmanageable hair which was
not liked by her mother.

Other Similar Facts :- Maggie seems to

resemble the novelist on emotional level
as well as on spiritual level.
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 A.E. Bakers was of the opinion, It
is no doubt, the poetic freedom with
which she poured herself out in
Maggie that renders this character
the most magnetic of all her
heroines.

Maggie expresses the conviction of

George Eliot. The novelist has put some
facts of her life in The Mill on the
Floss George Even was the grandfather
of the novelist. He got an accidental
death by drowning. The novel also
concludes with the death of Tom and
Maggie by drowning. Maggies father Mr.
Tulliver Seems to present a true English
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nature and temper of Mr. Robert who was
George Eliots father. Like Maggie, She
was also very dear to her father. In the
novel the portraits of the Dodsons sisters
are identical with Christian sisters who
were embodiment of social financial
superiority and snobbery George Eliot had
her own teachings of the morality and she
clung it throughout her religious doubt. It
was her morality on which the ground of
Maggies resistance to Stephen is based.

In the Scenes of clerical life. She had

made use of the stories current in the
early domestic circle. In Adam Bede she
had drawn a portrait of that circle itself;
and she how took herself for a heroine,
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and the first two volumes become
virtually a spiritual autobiography.
The Summing:-
Thus, We can say that now the novel
The Mill on the Floss has touches of
the life of Mary Evans. It is identical with
her life at many points. About the portrait
of Maggie Tulliver F.R. Leaves remarks,
Maggie Tulliver is essentially
identical with the young Mary Ann.

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