Silas Marner: Writer's Methods and Techniques (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

Silas Marner: Writer’s Methods and Techniques

In your Eduqas GCSE exam, you’ll be asked to write about how an aspect of Silas Marner is presented. Understanding how Eliot uses structure, language and imagery in Silas Marner will enable you to take the whole-text approach that your examiners are looking for. Here are some of the main methods and techniques that Eliot uses in Silas Marner: 

• Form and structure

• Language and imagery

• Narrative voice

Form and structure

• The plot of Silas Marner is chronological and linear:

  • Chapter 1 tells Marner’s backstory and explains why he is so isolated and alienated from other people 

  • The main part of the novel, set in the village of Raveloe, covers around 30 years

  • The events of Marner’s life are interwoven with the story of Godfrey Cass, his secret marriage and his daughter, Eppie

• Eliot wished to write a “kind of legendary tale” but to give it a “realistic treatment”:

  • From the beginning, she combines realistic depictions of village life with elements that give the novel a traditional, fairy-tale quality:

    • For instance, the role of chance, or coincidence, is integral to Eliot’s plot

    • The theft of Marner’s money, the appearance of Eppie, Dunstan’s death in the stone-pit and the recovery of the gold are all events that depend on chance and coincidence

  • Events like these give Silas Marner the quality of a myth or a legend, as they are beyond human control and convey the idea of actions having inevitable consequences

• Eliot uses parallels in her plot structure: 

  • The main parallel is the loss of Marner’s gold and the appearance of Eppie, whose golden curls make him think his gold has returned

  • Creating a parallel between the gold and Eppie promotes Eliot’s idea that true value is not monetary, but dependent on human love and connection

  • The contrasting settings of Lantern Yard and Raveloe serve as parallel worlds within the novel and link to the themes of belonging and alienation

• Eliot uses foreshadowing to link an event to something that happens later in the plot, such as the earlier theft by William Dane and the later theft by Dunstan Cass:

  • Both events contain elements of brotherly betrayal, greed and trickery

  • Marner never gets a chance to prove his innocence of the first theft, but when the mystery of the second theft is solved, justice is restored

  • This reinforces the novel’s traditional quality, where virtuous characters find happiness while those who act unjustly face consequences for their misdeeds

• Eliot chose to begin the novel with an epigraph taken from a poem by William Wordsworth:

  • It sets the tone for the novel and connects to the themes of redemption and renewal

Language and imagery

• Eliot emphasises the “legendary” aspect of Silas Marner by including supernatural and fairy-tale imagery:

  • The “alien-looking men” described at the start of Chapter 1 are simply linen-weavers, but Eliot’s description makes them appear otherworldly

  • This type of language is echoed in the description of Marner as “a useful gnome or brownie” in Chapter 14

• Natural imagery is used to convey a sense of growth and inevitability:

  • Marner’s desire to give Eppie the best life he can is described in Chapter 14 as “nurturing” a “precious plant” in “new soil” and protecting “leaf and bud” from harm

  • Eppie’s mother’s death in Chapter 14 seems “as trivial as the summer-shed leaf” to the people who don’t know her identity

• Eliot uses a number of motifs to describe Marner’s personality and occupation: 

  • The loom represents Marner’s life in Raveloe and is a symbol of his isolation

  • In Chapter 2, Eliot compares his work as a weaver to a “spider” weaving a “web”:

    • The “web” is referred to again in Chapter 14, emphasising the insect motif

  • Marner’s eyes are described as “strange”, “protuberant” and “like a dead man’s”, which gives them a supernatural quality and adds to his strangeness:

    • It further alludes to his detachment from the living world

• Repetition contributes to the patterns and parallels in the novel: 

  • Family relationships are central to the novel, and Eliot makes repeated references to fathers:

    • Absent fathers (like Godfrey)

    • Adoptive fathers (like Marner)

    • Motherlessness (Godfrey’s and Eppie’s)

    • Adoption (Marner’s adoption of Eppie and Godfrey and Nancy’s desire to adopt her)

  • Eliot’s repetition of single words or phrases, such as “lone” and “link”, draws attention to other themes, such as isolation and social connection

  • Gold is also referred to many times, both in relation to Marner’s money and to describe Eppie’s golden curls, creating a connection between them

Narrative voice

• Silas Marner is narrated in the third person:

  • This enables Eliot to explore many characters’ internal thoughts and emotions

  • Eliot’s omniscient narrator can, therefore, interpret events and characters in a way that influences readers’ responses 

• The physical settings and time frame of the novel are conveyed by the narrator’s description of them:

  • At the beginning of the novel, the narrator refers to “the days when the spinning-wheels hummed busily in the farmhouses”, “that far-off time” and “old times”:

    • This indicates the rural location and a period many years before the novel was written

  • This makes the novel feel like a traditional tale set in a lost world, despite Eliot’s realistic treatment of her characters’ everyday lives

• Eliot’s narrative voice shapes how readers understand the characters, themes and moral message in Silas Marner:

  • The narrator frequently offers opinions that are independent of any character’s point of view:

    • For example, on hoarding money, or the villagers’ beliefs and superstitions

  • The narrative voice often influences readers to take a particular view of characters:

    • For example, in the description of Nancy Lammeter in Chapter 11: “I will add that she was slightly proud and exacting” which could allude to her adherence to a rigid set of principles and beliefs

    • The narrator acts as a compassionate observer, particularly towards Silas Marner, which fosters empathy for him and makes the reader root for his redemption

  • The omniscient narrator signals events that are about to happen and comments on events that have occurred:  

    • At the end of Chapter 2, the narrator announces the “second great change” in Marner’s life, which is the theft of his money, but this doesn’t occur until Chapter 5

    • At the end of Chapter 14, which describes Eppie’s positive effect on Marner, the narrator compares “a little child’s” influence to an angelic force

  • This narrative strategy is intended to guide readers’ responses and promote Eliot’s themes and ideas

Sources:

Eliot, George (1996). Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, ed. David Carroll. Penguin.