THE CONCEPT OF HUMANISM AND RETRIBUTION AS REVEALED IN GEORGE ELIOT’S SILAS MARNER: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Taofiki Koumakpai 1 and Barnabé B. Oladjehou 2 . 1. Professor of British Literature, Department of English Studies, Faculty of Arts and Humanities (F.L.A.S.H.), University of AbomeyCalavi (UAC), Benin. 2. LecturerResearcher, Department of English Studies, Faculty of Arts and Humanities (F.L.A.S.H.), University of AbomeyCalavi (UAC), Benin. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History

The Humanist Movement started in Italy, where the late medieval Italian writers Dante, Giovanni, Boccaccio, and Francesco Petrarch contributed to the discovery and preservation of classical works. Moreover, the Italian scholar, Pico Della Mirandola, in his Oration on the dignity of man expressed forcefully humanist ideals. The collection and transaction of classical manuscripts Decame widespread, especially among the higher clergy and nobility. The invention of printing with movable type, around the mid-15 th century, gave a further impetus to humanism through the dissemination of editions of the classics. Although in Italy humanism developed principally in the fields of literature and art, in central Europe, where it was introduced chiefly by the German scholars Johann Reuchlin and Melanchthon, the movement extended into the field of theology and education, and was a major underlying cause of the Reformation.
But that definition should not hold much of our attention as far as George Eliot is concerned in our present article. For George Eliot, humanism is the fact that putting the center of one"s interests in the condition of the human being. Therefore, " it is a system of beliefs and standards, or a philosophy or attitude concerned chiefly with the values, interests and potential of human beings" (2) The concept has been pinpointed by the African writer Leopold Sedar Senghor in his Negritude and humanism (1975) as a reaffirmation of the values of traditional African culture. In this article, I intend to study a humanistic aspects and the political role of women who do not reign by themselves but who have a consideration and respectability during the colonial period as described by George Eliot in her novel.

Kindness and sympathy in Silas Marner
George Eliot is convinced of the great value of human kindness, affection and sympathy. In most of her novels especially in Silas Marner, George Eliot presents women with great imaginative kindness and sympathy. She highlights this principles through many characters. The character of Dolly Winthrop in the novel is a very kind woman. She is a woman of scrupulous conscience. For example when Silas Marner has a problem, Dolly support him in his despair and loneliness ; Dolly gives him all affection. Moreover, when Silas Marner"s trust in men is bruised by the betrayal of his best friend william Dane, Dolly Winthrop helps Silas to come back to Christian beliefs. In the novel, Dolly, at a Christmas-Day, exhorts Silas with a persuasive tone to come to church in order to pray God and to be blessed. First, Marner tries to evade Dolly"s appeal. But in the end he is convinced by Dolly and says : God rest you, merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay, for Jesus Christ our saviour was born on Christmas-Day. Dolly listened with a devout look, glancing at Marner in some confidence that this strain would help to allure him to church'' (3) It is necessary to remind that Marner becomes a poor man as all his money was robbed. There too, Dolly from time to time tries to help Silas by giving him some presents : "" Dolly sighed gently as she held out the cakes to Silas, who thanked her kindly, and looked very close to them, absently, being accustomed to look so at everything he took into his hand-eyed all the while by the wondering bright orbs of the small Aaron, who had made an out-work of his mother's Chair, and was peeping round from behind it."" (4) When Silas Marner finds a little girl in his cottage, he doesn"t know how to react. We can understand his reaction as he is a man and he does not know anything about babies. Dolly takes care of the baby as if it is her own child. She comes frequently at Silas"s house to feed the baby, to give it a bath, and to change its clothes…….
(2 ) Websters II New riverside Dictionary, Berkley Books, New-York, Agust 1984.  This was  the Introduction to a great ceremony with soap and Water, from which baby came out in new beauty, and sat on  Dolly's knee, handling her toes and Chuckling and patting her palms together with an air of having made several  discoveries about herself,…'' (5) . Dolly Winthrop is tactful; she provides things to Eppie to play with, she gets her way over the christening of Eppie, and prescribes the coal-hole punishment which fails but which conditions Eppie"s after-treatment. When Silas"s money was robbed, all the inhabitants of raveloe were incited to pity; they bring Silas their love. Under the influence of the love of Raveloe, Dolly Winthrop and Eppie, Marner"s life has changed. George Eliot, like most of her characters, is a humanist woman, she is also humane.
Tackling the theme of Humanism, it is necessary to glance at the religious aspects. In the Bible, there are many passages which recommend us to help our brothers, our sisters, and our neighbours in general. Among those passages, there are the ten commandments. According to the ten commandments, we must be good towards our fellowmen and we must love them. All these recommendations also exist in the Islam books such as the Koran and in the Buddhism.
As far as Law is concerned, many statues are "" written in order to protect men and women. For instance, the eighth clause of the Beninese constitution qualifies Human as sacred and inviolable.
In Adam Bede, George Eliot depicts the illintentions of men through Arthur Donnithorne and Hetty Sorrel. Arthur Donnithorne who is a honourable man commits sexual immorality with Hetty Sorrel who belongs to a lower social class. Hetty Sorrel also tells some unnumbered lies to Adam that she will marry him; she leaves the Poysers under the alibi of going to see Dinah Morris. Hetty Sorrel has attempted to commit suicide, and later, the worst, she kills her own child inspite of its pure innocence and she leaves it in a hole. Nevertheless, in Adam Bade, there are some idealized characters. Dinah Morris is a kind lady. When Hetty Sorrel was in trouble, Dinah helps her to confess her sins. At the end of the novel, Dinah Morris and Adam Bede marry each other. Adam Bede is also comprehensive man. He forgives Hetty Sorrel all her misdeeds. Then, the principle of wickedness is highlighted through compeyson. In fact, Compeyson is very wicked towards his fellow men. He is also guilty for the death of Arthur in the novel. Miss Havisham, another character of the novel, is a complex man. She ruins the life of Estella and also hostile to some members of her family. Mrs Gargery also has ill-intention towards her husband. What is important to retain here is that whatever we have done ( good or bad) in our life, we have to pay for it. We can notice these in the novel Silas Marner that all the wicked characters are punished for their acts. The example of Dunstan Cass who steals Silas"s money and also blackmails his brother Godfrey Cass is finally found dead with the stolen money in his hand. Godfrey Cass is also punished for his ill-intention, as result, he becomes a childless for the rest of his life. Silas Marner, the poor man of the novel is rewarded at the end. He adopts Eppie who brings him all he had lost: hope, social integration, money, happiness… George Eliot is not the only one who have dealt with the principle of Humanism. Many authors have also developed the theme of Humanism either in fiction, essays or books. Since 18 th century, some philosophers and even some African writers highlighted the theme in their books. As far humanitarian is concerned, it is underlined by George Eliot"s statement of her main theme" "the remedial influences, natural human relations"" It is of course seen functionally in Silas"s reaction to Eppie, but again it is underlined by Dolly Winthrop and her influences on Silas and therefore on Eppie"s upbringing. What Godfrey does by marrying Molly secretly and the rejection of the marriage and the child is unnatural. By concealing the marriage, he suffers from what George refers to as a mild form of Nemesis. But just as the motto to the novel shows that a child brings forwards looking, so the revelations in Godfrey"s own bring a new awareness to him. The worth of Nancy"s remedial influence of the past is further extended by her generosity of spirit, which can at least heal the effect of the revelations in the present day. Nancy"s theme, that nothing is worth doing wrong for, is supplemented by humanity and kindliness which pass over, in deed ignore the sense that she herself has been wronged. She even stresses in order to steer Godfrey towards what she feels is just a compunction, the likeness that Eppie bears to him, her real father. There is a conscious (5) George : Silas Marner(1961), Longman, London, p 179. putting down of self before the interests of another or others, even Silas turned in upon self by his rejection, has to be feelingly educated again into humanity, devoting himself to his child and suffering for her misdeeds.
This theme of the need for man"s humanity to man is subserved by a love of nature, seen in Silas"s early and innocent collecting of herbs, and in Eppie"s last wish for a flower garden. It is given symbolic weight by her moving the bush where Molly died, thus bringing the past she hardly knew into the orbit of the present by this simple act of simple love.
If one of the major themes of Silas Marner is love, one must add that it registers the triumph of good over evil. Despite the realism of most of the action, it is curious that George Eliot thought that verse might be appropriate to the psychological presentation of Silas, the fairy tale theme referred to above must be looked at in terms of treatment. William Dane and Dunsey both represent evil, but William Dane is seen in the outline rather than the flesh. He is the one dimensional stereotype of the fairy tale, just as Eppie for the most is too, with Aaron as a rustic fairy prince who marries her.
Thus , William Dane"s corruption not only injuries Silas, but himself. He is putting himself beyond the "remedial influences", while Eppie"s innocence helps other to the new life or realization. It is certainly important to note the corruptive influences of gold, which by analogy, means money, and the remedial influence of natural gold, the colour of Eppie"s hair. The theme of the novel is expressed through realism and fable or fairy tale, but the balance as in Eliot"s work, lies within the sphere of her realism. Simple symbolic dimensions cannot convey thematic power in the same sense that positively human ones can. However, they can give a universality to what we have seen in particular.

Betrayal in Silas Marner
In Lantern Yard, a village where Silas Marner spent his youth as a linen-weaver, he lived with an old friend of William Dane in the spirit of assurance of salvation. He was too engaged to Sarah, a young servant woman whom he laid all his hope in as a partner in his future nuclear family. Before he took a refuge at Raveloe, he was bitterly hurt by his colleague who built up a plot. Silas Marner saw him coming with the church members to arrests him for having stolen the church money. Despite his innocence, the minister convinced totally by the proof advanced by a conscious eye -witness, suspected too.
Nevertheless, according to the principles of the church, in such cases, other measures were put into practice to find out the truth. They resolved on praying and drawing lots. Marner could nothing but lay his naïve faith and innocence into the providence. To his great astonishment "the lots declared that Silas Marner was guilty" (6) Consequently, he was not only suspended from the church membership, but also called upon to render up the stolen money. Therefore, the minister only offer to shrive him. The verdict sentenced him guilty and God was on their side. This prevailing situation gave rise to a rejection of God and man for bath have plotted against him.
There was only one human being who would defend him for they were linked together by indissoluble bonds, not hidden from the neighbours but rather known to the church and could not off accordingly. It was on the contrary who turned down her engagement and managed to cope with William Dane, the betrayal whom she got married with in a lapse of time. Sorrow and loneliness show Silas Marner"s deprivation, his need for love and human contact. His trust in man and God had been cruelly bruised.
As far as Silas Marner"s isolation is concerned, we can notice that the man is full of experience. More often, it is the lessons drawn from one"s background that improve the present livelihood and undoubtedly, assure the prospects for the future. Yet, it does no exception for Silas, who makes up his mind to retire from Lantern-yard and settle southward at Raveloe. Regarded as an alien who invaded the rustic villagers, he was compelled to live in loneliness.
Apart from his neighbours, and aloof from communal beliefs and faith, passive to any other family life share. He set up his loom and contended himself in collecting gold coins in an absorbing passion. Isn"t it worth for him replacing (6 ) George Eliot : Silas Marner(1961), Longman, London, p 12.
William Dane"s friendship and Sarah"s love by the bright faces of the gold coins? Indeed, the known trusting young Weaver of Lantern-yard becomes the man withdrawn into a solidarity.
Silas Marner has to face another misfortune: his cherished gold is stolen. Who could imagine that an unknown person with no relation to any other human being, could be stolen in his cottage? This situation dragged him in a more complete isolation. Many passages in the novel show Silas"s betrayal by William Dane and his isolation.
Marner listened in silence. At least, when everyone rose to depart, he went towards William Dane and said in a voice shaken by agitation: "The last time I remember using my knife, was when I look it out to cut a strap for you. I don't remember putting it in my pocket again. You stole the money, and you have woven a plot to lay that sin at my door. But you may prosper for all that; there is no just God that governs the earth righteously, but a God of lies, that bears witness against the innocent…" (7) Silas"s ardent religious nature is replaced by rejection of God and man, for both have rejected him. William Dane"s friendship and Sarah"s love are replaced by what we call the "bright faces" of the gold coins he earns from his unremitting work at the loom. The trusting, impressionable and vulnerable young weaver of Lantern yard is replaced by the man withdraw. Today, English society has clearly understand the complexity of the nature of men. It is the reason why modern and new strategies have been developed to prove the guilty or not of human-being. Indeed, people from the rest of Europe, America, and especially Africa are all concerned with this theme. So the human natures described in the novel are common to all human beings.
In his work, Du Contrat Social, J.J Rousseau highlights this saying: "L"homme est naturellement bon, c"est la societé qui le corrompt". In other words, in every society, things are going on this way. But the innocent people represented by Silas Marner in the British culture, behave like him by leaving the fake friends like William Dane and approaching the true ones like Dolly Winthrop. It is necessary to mention how the theme Humanism is important for George Eliot. She is humane and humanist, that"s why in most of her novels she develops humanism.
George Eliot"s humane nature is a consequence of the religious education she receives from her father. Under the influence of early religious creed, the author thought to submit herself to the will of God and to live for him only. But George Eliot has rejected evangelical Christianity. She practiced asceticism which is the doctrine of putting into practice moral principles. She regarded the world of material things as a sin to the soul. Then, became addict to selfrepression. She abandoned the dogmas of Christianity but her Christian consciousness remained with her all life.

Silas Marner as a myth
We are reminded a little of those traditional British fairy tales in which people have dealt with the fairies. Fairy gold for instance was supposed to turn into dead leaves overnight or to fly away. Nobody knows where like the white frost, and the idea that something of the sort might have happened to Silas"s gold when it disappeared is never far from the minds of the villagers, who have many superstitious beliefs, although the reader knows what really happened to it.
In the novel Silas Marner, when Silas awoke from his inner cataleptic trance, he saw a human being, a baby. His first reaction was to think of his sister. The mysterious arrival of the child who the later was christened Eppie, was supernatural to him.

"It is a lone thing, and I'm a lone thing. My money's gone. I don't know where and this is come from I don't know
where. I know nothing I'm partly mazed" (8 ) Silas is forced to reach out from his narrowed isolation, and the remedial influences of human interaction begin. Even his grasping hysteria, his promise to give Jem Rodney a guinea if he will return his gold, has the force of (7 ) George : Silas Marner(1961), Longman, London, p 61. (8) George : Silas Marner(1961), Longman, London, p 142 natural release what his neighbours see as "convincing simplicity of his distress". His acknowledgement that he has been wrong over Jem shows the essential, straightforward, including goodness of the man despite his "bewildered misery". This is what Eliot calls earlier in chapter fourteen , "the smallest sign of the bub". Silas"s responses the need for action, like the removing of the child"s wet boots, shows Silas in human work as distinct from the mechanical action of the loom. He has to link and act for another instead of himself; when he carries the child to the red house, and it asked to leave it, there he experiences the revelation of not being able to part with it. Always the workings of Silas"s subconscious mind are revealed to us, so that we are made aware of the complete man and not just what he appears to be. Silas reasoning has all the logic of deprivation, all the power of loneliness and submerged love as he asserts his claim to the child whose remedial influences are already apparent.
Silas"s withdrawn nature has to respond to the daily demands of the child, her mischief and the problem of punishment showing him , the incompatible demands of love. The depth of that love is constantly before us, when Eppie escapes from the linen tie which holds her to the loom, Silas"s anxiety is such that when he finds her innocently employed by a pond he could do nothing but snatch her up, and cover her with half-sobbing kisses. The result of Eppie"s execution is the coal-hole punishment which proves to be no, punishment, but such now is Silas"s Silas"s capacity for giving and loving that his gentleness of nature rules out any idea of disagreement with Eppie. Tremulous and fearful of losing the love of the golden-haired child who has come to him in the place of his gold, Silas bears "the burden of her misdeeds". Silas thinks that Eppie shall have everything that was good in Raveloe. The pale young weaver whose simply faith was shattered by the drawing of lots in Lantern Yard, the betrayal of the friend and the loss of a woman"s love, is manifestly the same man whose faith is rekindled by the advent of the child.
In the novel, Godfrey comes to claim his child, Silas is at first bewildered, then he is greatly moved by Eppie"s response. Godfrey"s revelation that Eppie is his child moves Silas to a touch of parental fierceness and he answers with an accent of bitterness before Eppie relieves his anguish by her final rejection of Godfrey. Eppie resumed herself through this passage: "All obligations and affections awed to those who have brought you up whether they are your true family or not" (9) Silas Marner"s return to the new industrialized Lantern Yard marks his wish to find his roots; they are gone but his faith has been restored. Eppie has none of the convincing characteristics which distinguish George Eliot portrayal of children in the other novels.It is particularly the case of Totty in Adam Bede, Jacob and Adelaide Rebekah in Daniel Deronda.
Eppie"s life is functional. Her baby cries and childlike reactions are nothing more than the conventional effusions necessary to investigate Silas"s recovery. As a young woman, she is devoted to Silas. She rightly consults him about her marriage to Aaron, asserting that she will never leave Silas. It is important to note the corruptive influence of gold, which by analogy means money, and the remedial influence of natural gold, the colour of Eppie"s hair.
Moreover, Silas is changed by the influence of the friendship with Dolly Winthrop through which he regains his former faith in Gad. He is bound to the nature in honouring her invitation to flower the stone-pits environment. He is welcomed and respected as a member of the village community until his gold is discovered and returned into his hands.
Eppie brings Silas back to normal life and happiness. He becomes friend with his neighbours and Dolly Winthrop. It helps him to regained his faith in God and to feel that ""there is good life in this world".
Inspite of the trouble and the wickedness, we notice that when Godfrey comes to claim his daughter, Silas Marner tells him that he has now no right to her, speaking out directly end with dignity. But when at the suggestion of selfishness, he leaves the choice of her future freely to Eppie, he has his reward when she chooses to stay with him. So, the link between Silas and Godfrey first lays on one person: Eppie. As Eppie grows older, she develops a healthy capacity of mischief, which worries Silas, who cannot bring himself to punish her. She grows up to be a pretty girl with "curly auburn hair", more sensitive than the ordinary village girl, and with instructive fine feelings. She is not temped for a moment by the idea of being a gentleman"s daughter, and tells Godfrey that she can never leave Silas Marner. When she marries Aaron , they leave in the weaver"s cottage to look after Winthrop.
The villagers of Raveloe form a background to Silas"s part of the story. Firstly, they are suspicious of him, feeling that his knowledge of "medicinal herbs may be the results of dealing with the devil, later, they are kind but clumsy. George Eliot gives a definite picture of everyone who appears, even if it is only for a moment.

Silas Marner as a realistic work
George Eliot begins the novel with real event. The first and the last chapters describe Lantern Yard, a northern manufacturing town where Silas Marner worked and prayed in a non-conformist religious sect. All the events narrated in the two chapters are real.
Indeed, Silas Marner had been falsely accused of theft by his best friend William Dane. Church money had been stolen from the house of a dying member of the strict Christian group, meeting in Lantern Yard, to which they both belonged.
"  (10) William Dane, a young weather of about Silas"s age, had become jealous of Silas for two reasons. Firstly, Sarah, the servant to whom Silas was engaged ; and secondly, the respect given to Silas by other members of their religious group because of his good life and fits. Silas suffers from cataleptic fits. He went rigid and into a kind of trance but remained upright. He had had one of these fits as he watched over a dying leader of the church. William Dane, who should have later, had seized his chance to steal the money. He accused Silas Marner and later marries Sarah himself.
William Dane had planted evidence against Silas in his loom and managed to fix the drawing of lots which proved Silas guilty and expelled him from the church.
Silas Marner decided that God could not exist, and after his move to Raveloe, he lives only for his work and the money it brings. He continued unfriendliness and his refusal to help others with herbal cures (apart from Sally Oates) combine to keep the superstitious villagers continually distant and afraid, despite Silas"s growing wealth. I also notice that at the end of the second chapter, William Dane had married Sarah.
A religion of humanity derived from the theories of the French philosopher Auguste Comte, to which she subscribed for some time, is at the heart of Silas Marner. It means being generous to one"s fellow creatures, loving openly and stilling one"s egoism, serving others, (because the secret of happiness is in service to others), being tolerant and forgiving, observing and loving the traditional community and family life.
The stress on the family life is very important, and in Silas Marner, the broken family unit, such as Squire Cass"s, leads to a moral desintegration certainly in his sons and also in his part himself. This family is seen in contrast with that of the Lammenters, where despite the wife being dead, the family unit is strengthened by the moral, code and the loyalty of the father and the two daughters to each other. Mr Lammeter"s pride in himself Nancy"s nattiness and propriety on all occasions, Priscilla"s blunt honesty, particularly about herself, cohere to, provide an impressive family integrity. Beyond the immediate family, we have wider interactions, the life of the community, based on roots and traditions which, through ironically observed by George Eliot, obviously embody her deepest concerns.
Silas Marner has uprooted himself, and can only put down new roots in Raveloe. It is significant that when Silas Marner returns to Lantern Yard he finds that fragile roots of his own past have been torn up, and this embodies George Eliot"s comment on the spread of industrialization. perhaps, the tenuous nature of extreme sects, like the church assembling in Lantern Yard, whose roots are set in dogma and superstition rather than real and pratical Christianity. There is in Silas Marner and in other Eliot"s novels a constant link established between tradition, community and religion, and it is part of her broad humanitarian tolerance that they should be seen, so to speak, warts and all. Thus the Rector and the Squire are accepted, despite any individual failings, their status and position avidence of an identifiable order of things. Raveloe group assembling in the rainbow Inn have an important choric function in the action of the novel, but even more important one because of what they represent, the working men whose lives are bound in geographical and historical continuity. Their religion, unlike that of the church assembling in Lantern Yard, is that of their forebears, whose they now occupy, just as their seats will be occupied by their descendants. Their mythology is based on the anecdoctes of the past and the vivifying grossip of the present, which will in turn, pass into the mythology of the future. This sense of time, place and permanence is reflected in George Eliot"s own sense of the solitary weavers, a reminiscence which approximates to Mr Macey"s variegated memories of the past made present in his listeners" minds.

Conclusion
In most of her novels and especially in Silas Marner, George Eliot focuses her effort on the welfare of human beings. She also adds to that concern, the social environment in which the community is linked together through traditional values which are presented as an incomparable reservoir of vertues to uphold the harmony of humane development. George Eliot then assumes her responsibility by reasserting her wish to see humanity in general, the English society in particular to be ""humanized"" from humanitarian principles.
In this regard, in a world of constant change which was dominated by wickness, and betrayal, a humanitarian awareness and sympathy become for the novelist an obligation, a duty.To achieve that duty, George Eliot draws people"s attention to the negative consequences of those misdeeds revealed in the novel, which delay the full bossoming of men and invites them to change their behaviour for, a property which is dishonestly acquired does not profit to the holder. She explains this truth through the character of Dunstan Cass, who after he blackmails his brother Godfrey Cass about the latter"s horse, does not gain money because it dies before it is sold. It is the same misfortune when he steals Silas"s cheriched treasure, he is finally found dead with a bag of money in his hand a few year later.
So, George Eliot, in this novel, invites people in the world, the English people in particular to be members of the religion of humanity as she herself has been. Then he or she who wants to like God should at first like human beings because the love of God is manifested in the love of manhood. To love mankind is to love God.