A Biblical Archetypal Interpretation of George Eliot’s Silas Marner.doc

A Biblical Archetypal Interpretation of George Eliot’s Silas Marner 【Abstract】 George Eliot is one of the famous female novelists in the British literature history; her main literary works are The Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda and so on. Silas Marner is one of her renowned works in her early literary period. Silas Marner describes a bumpy story of a weaver named Silas Marner：he is framed by his friend to steal the church money, the community people confirms his theft in the way of drawing lots and his intended wife also abandons him. He leaves his hometown with the grievance, then he moves to the Raveloe to live. The former experience makes him begin to doubt his belief and he does not go to church any more. He devotes himself to weaving all day long. His only joy is to count his golden coins, one night, the golden coins are absent. At this depressed time, a little girl Eppie scrawls into his door and afterwards becomes his adopted daughter. He begins to get along with neighbors and consequently he regains his golden coins. He starts to realize that God does not abandon him factually. From then on, his belief in God is much firmer. George Eliot?s experience in two religious schools exerts a deep influence on her and her literary works. Silas Marner is just like this with many archetypes embedded in it. This paper is to analyze the novel from the perspective of archetypal criticism with the careful analysis of the archetypal characters. 【Key Words】 George Eliot，Silas Marner，archetypal character，traditional Christian value 【中图分类号】G644.5 【文献标识码】B 【文章编号】2095-3089（2013）17-00-02 The Biblical Archetypes Associated with Silas Marner Silas Marner is the main character in this novel and his life experience is full of hardships and difficulties. He is suffered with the friend betrayal and his fiancee?s abandonment. He is baniched by the church after being doubted to steal the church money. It is noticeable and inferred that the two mai