Adam Bede

(1859)

Eliot’s view of human nature is complex. She does not preach, and she does not offer flat characters with whom it is impossible to sympathize. Instead, she offers real characters, whose motivations are sympathetic even when the motivations are tainted. Throughout the Adam Bede novel, assessments against another person’s negative actions are a condemning aim of the novel, e.g., Adam is at times able to see his own failings but is frustrated in attempts to correct them. Eliot contrasts the inner and outer beauty of the characters by portraying that external beauty may be more recognizable and superficially preferred to inner beauty, but it obviously is not the most desirable. This is made clear with Hetty’s lack of individual goodness; she is the more physically beautiful and those around her are often fooled or blinded by her appealing looks—Hetty’s true personality is that of inner ugliness. Adam, however, wrongly assumes she is a good person because of her appearance. The contrasting feelings for Dinah are more real because of being drawn in not only by beauty, but more importantly, by her inner character. Interestingly, at a party, the vain Hetty flirts with Adam because she knows Mary Burge, who loves Adam, is watching them; Hetty is actually only interested with the flashy Captain Donnithorne. Adam is miserable at the thought that she might have the Captain as a secret lover. At this ‘coming-of age-party’ it brings into sharp focus the class questions that permeates life in Hayslope. The party also displays the main characters in their moments of innocence. Hetty’s eventual disgrace will shock the world of Hayslope—I’ll let you figure it out.

Eliot continually discredits those members of the artificial ‘nobility’ who deride the simple pleasures of the lower classes. The party gathering is a microcosm of everything distasteful about class prejudice; however, the empathy of the novel lies with the common people. In fact, the narrator encourages people to enjoy life’s simpler pleasures and not turn their noses up at characters or people just because they are of a lower class. Eliot is concerned and bothered with the many obvious external phoniness that presents appearances without substance or significance; she contrasts this shallowness with the individual’s lack of inner virtues that penetrate below the surface. Human nature is seen as a quintessence of the world or the universe. We are not all alike!

~ Submitted by Egil Steinar Smedvig

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