Silas Marner: Key Character Quotations (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature)

Silas Marner: Key Character Quotations and Analysis

Your essay question in the Eduqas GCSE English Literature exam will focus on a theme, a character or an interaction between characters. That means it’s an excellent idea to learn quotations based on themes and characters, because it makes them flexible enough to use for different arguments. Here are sixteen top quotes from Silas Marner, organised by the following characters:

• Silas Marner

• Dolly Winthrop

• Nancy Lammeter

• Eppie Marner

Silas Marner quotes

“Marner’s eyes were set like a dead man’s” – Narrator, Chapter 1

Key word or phrase: “dead man’s”

Key theme: Isolation and community; belief

What the quotation means

• The narrator is describing Silas Marner’s appearance during one of the seizures caused by his epilepsy (which Eliot calls “catalepsy”)

• When he is having a seizure, his eyes are staring and unfocused, like a dead person’s

Analysis

• Marner’s neurological condition is partly responsible for his exile from Lantern Yard:

  • His unawareness of his surroundings during a seizure enables William Dane to steal the church money and frame him for the theft

• The description of Marner’s eyes as being “like a dead man’s” emphasises a sense of the uncanny; it’s not possible to be certain if he’s alive or dead

• Marner’s eyes are described several times in the novel and create a sense of difference between him and his Raveloe neighbours:

  • His short-sightedness is interpreted by them in superstitious terms; the village children believe that his “dreadful stare” has the power to curse them

• Eliot’s focus on Marner’s eyes conveys the idea that people are unable or unwilling to “see” that Marner is just an ordinary man: 

  • This increases their suspicion of him and his social isolation

“he loved the guineas best” – Narrator, Chapter 2

Key word or phrase: “guineas”

Key theme: Isolation and community; gold

What the quotation means

• The guineas are the gold coins earned by Marner for his weaving, which he loves more than the silver coins that he spends on necessities

Analysis

• Due to his extreme loneliness and alienation, the gold has become the only thing Marner loves:

  • His life has “reduced itself to the functions of weaving and hoarding”

• He counts the gold every night, and looks forward to doing so all day while he works:

  • He thinks of the money as “conscious of him”, and the coins become “his familiars” or companions

• Marner replaces human relationships with his possession of the gold:

  • His obsessive love of the gold is portrayed as the only meaningful thing in his life

“a second great change came over Marner’s life” – Narrator, Chapter 2

Key word or phrase: “change”

Key theme: Gold; belief

What the quotation means

• The narrator announces the theft of Marner’s money at the end of Chapter 5 and the “great change” it causes in his life

Analysis

• Marner’s obsession with his gold is a substitute for human relationships, which means that when the gold is stolen he has nothing left 

• Dunstan is the cause of this change, and his theft of the gold illustrates his greed and moral corruption

• Structurally, the theft of Marner’s gold mirrors the previous theft in Lantern Yard:

  • Both thefts are unsolved and committed by unknown culprits

  • Marner has no part in either theft, but he suffers the consequences

  • The second theft deprives him even further of a sense of agency

“He filled up the blank with grief” – Narrator, Chapter 10

Key word or phrase: “grief”

Key theme: Gold; belief

What the quotation means

• The loss of Marner’s gold creates a mental “blank”, an emptiness where his thoughts about it used to be, and the only emotion he can feel is grief

Analysis

• The gold gave Marner joy and a sense of purpose, and his relationship with it was obsessive

• The word “grief” depicts his overwhelming sadness and despair, as the loss of his gold is devastating and he becomes unable to make sense of the world

• The word “blank” alludes to the emptiness Marner feels 

“The money’s gone I don’t know where, and this is come from I don’t know where” – Silas Marner, Chapter 14

Key word or phrase: “I don’t know”

Key theme: Belief; gold

What the quotation means

• Marner is describing the theft of his gold and the appearance of the child in his dwelling

• He cannot find a rational explanation for either event

Analysis

• Structurally, there is a parallel between Marner’s confusion — “I don’t know” — following the loss of his gold and his confusion over the appearance of the child:

  • Both events are dependent on chance, rather than any rational reason

  • Both events have unknown origins for Marner, further emphasising his lack of agency

• There is also a strong parallel between the gold coins and the appearance of the child:

  • When he sees the gold of the child’s hair in front of the fire, Marner initially thinks it is his gold “brought back to him” 

  • Marner can only explain the child’s appearance by thinking that she has come to replace his lost gold, and that “the gold had turned into the child”

  • As their relationship develops, Eppie becomes Marner’s “treasure” instead of the gold

“warming him into joy because she had joy” – Narrator, Chapter 14

 Key word or phrase: “joy”

Key theme: Isolation and community 

What the quotation means

• Marner’s relationship with Eppie makes his emotions come alive again, and her joyful reactions to everything makes him joyous too

Analysis

• Marner’s emotions had hardened and dried up after his experiences in Lantern Yard: 

  • Prior to Eppie’s arrival, his life was defined by isolation and a focus on material wealth

  • The imagery of “warming” suggests a renewal and redemption for his character

  • Eppie’s “joy” could be viewed as a symbol of light that penetrates the darkness of Marner’s isolation

• Eliot draws a parallel between Marner’s gold and Eppie: 

  • The narrator points out that the gold “needed nothing”, but Eppie demands his attention and brings him new experiences and hopes

  • This emphasises the importance of human connection in the novel
    
    

“for the little child had come to link him once more with the whole world” – Narrator, Chapter 14

Key word or phrase: “link”

Key theme: Isolation and community

What the quotation means

• Marner’s relationship with Eppie makes him part of a community, something he had not experienced since his life in Lantern Yard

Analysis

• As Eppie’s adopted father, Marner finds that people who were once suspicious of him are friendlier: 

  • People admire Marner for being such a good father and are interested in Eppie’s progress

  • Even the children stop being afraid of Marner when he is with Eppie

  • The word “link” conveys how he is reconnected to the world around him

• Marner is also more interested in his neighbours:

  • He begins to ask for and listen to people’s advice, so he can be the best possible father to Eppie

  • He starts to go to church in Raveloe, first of all to have Eppie christened, and becomes more involved in the community 

  • He connects with his own memories and starts to discuss his history with Dolly Winthrop, showing that he has learned to trust people again

“Any superstition that remained concerning him had taken an entirely new colour” – Narrator, Chapter 16

Key word or phrase: “superstition”

Key theme: Isolation and community; belief

What the quotation means

• Marner is still seen as different, but the unexplained things that have happened to him are regarded as being due to fate, rather than a result of his strangeness

Analysis

• Attitudes towards Marner have changed from alienation to sympathy, but he is still regarded with superstition: 

  • This is because, like Marner, they can see no natural cause for the events that have occurred, so they attribute them to the supernatural

• Eliot’s portrayal of the rural community of Raveloe often focuses on their customs and traditional beliefs alongside their religious faith:

  • For instance, there is a strong emphasis on ideas of fate and consequences

  • Mr Macey thinks Marner will get his money back because he’s adopted Eppie, which reflects a belief in moral consequences

• This illustrates a strong faith in the actions of forces beyond human control, which is another main theme of the novel

“The old home’s gone; I’ve no home but this now” – Silas Marner, Chapter 21

Key word or phrase: “home”

Key theme: Isolation and community

What the quotation means

• Marner and Eppie have tried to find Lantern Yard, Marner’s old home, but it has been replaced by a factory building

• This makes Marner reflect that Raveloe is now his only home

Analysis

• Marner’s connection with his community is reflected in his reconnection with his own memories as he tries to make sense of his experiences in Lantern Yard:

  • However, he finds that his memories have been overtaken by reality when he discovers that Lantern Yard has disappeared

• The absence of concrete evidence for his memories makes Marner realise that his only reality now is his home in Raveloe

• Eliot’s moral theme of the importance of family and community is illustrated by Marner’s acceptance that his past no longer matters 

“He had brought a blessing on himself by acting like a father to a lone motherless child” – Narrator, Conclusion

Key word or phrase: “blessing”

Key theme: Belief

What the quotation means

• The Raveloe villagers, discussing Marner’s history, conclude that his good fortune has been caused by his adoption of Eppie

Analysis

• The “blessing”, a term usually associated with religion, refers to Marner’s luck in getting his gold back

• This implies a moral dimension to Marner’s luck: he did a positive thing, so the consequences are also good, restoring the moral balance

• The villagers’ attitudes illustrate the interweaving of faith, fate and superstition throughout the novel

Dolly Winthrop quotes

“all as we’ve got to do is to trusten, Master Marner” – Dolly Winthrop, Chapter 16

Key word or phrase: “trusten”

Key theme: Belief

What the quotation means

• Dolly, Marner’s first friend in Raveloe, is advising him to trust that there’s a reason (specifically a divine one, behind everything that happens in life

Analysis

• This suggests that things that are hard to understand, like the past injustice suffered by Marner, were meant to be

• It is an attempt to explain events that make the universe seem chaotic and meaningless

• The use of the dialect word “trusten” (trust) emphasises Dolly’s “simple belief” and uneducated background

“It’s the will o’ Them above as a many things should be dark to us” – Dolly Winthrop, Chapter 21

Key word or phrase: “dark”

Key theme: belief

What the quotation means

• Divine forces (“Them above”) have ruled that the reasons for life’s misfortune’s should not be revealed to human beings

Analysis

• Dolly is arguing that there is a reason for everything, even when we can’t see it:

  • She believes that human beings are metaphorically in the “dark” when it comes to making sense of God:

    • The idea that humans cannot understand God is central to most religious faiths

• Dolly is implying that Marner’s suffering happened for a reason:

  • Events in the novel support this view, as Marner eventually finds happiness that balances his previous suffering 

Nancy Lammeter quotes

“not the most dazzling rank should induce her to marry a man whose conduct showed him careless of his character” – Narrator, Chapter 11

Key word or phrase: “careless of his character”

Key theme: belief

What the quotation means

• Nancy would never marry a man whose behaviour is immoral, regardless of his wealth or social status

Analysis

• Nancy’s sense of right and wrong (her moral certainties) are based on her religious beliefs and her sense of propriety (doing what she feels is socially acceptable)

• Even though she loves Godfrey Cass, whose social status and wealth make him an attractive marriage prospect, she disapproves of his behaviour, or “conduct”

• Nancy doesn’t know about Godfrey’s secret marriage or his daughter at this point in the novel, but she sees his lack of direction and occupation as a moral weakness:

  • This makes her feel that he is “careless of his character” and doesn’t appear concerned about behaving in a morally correct way 

“I wasn’t worth doing wrong for — nothing is in this world” – Nancy Lammeter, Chapter 18

Key word or phrase: “doing wrong”

Key theme: Belief

What the quotation means

• Nancy is reacting to Godfrey’s revelation about his secret marriage to Eppie’s mother

Analysis

• Godfrey tries to excuse his decision to conceal these things from her by arguing that she would not have accepted his marriage proposal if she had known about his conduct

• Nancy’s morality is dependent on very strict beliefs about right and wrong:

  • Her argument that she “wasn’t worth doing wrong for” is a manifestation of her moral beliefs

• Nancy’s earlier refusal to adopt Eppie was based on her belief that her childlessness is God’s will, and that adoption would be going against “Providence”, or God’s plan:

  • However, her acceptance that she and Godfrey should now try to adopt Eppie is based on her belief that Godfrey should do his “duty” by Eppie and try to right the wrong he has done

Eppie Marner quotes

“you’ll never be lone again, father” – Eppie Marner, Chapter 16

Key word or phrase: “lone”

Key theme: Isolation and community

What the quotation means

• Eppie is responding to Marner’s comment that he was “a lone man” until he adopted her

• She is reassuring her adopted father that she won’t leave him alone again, even if she marries Aaron Winthrop

Analysis

• Eppie’s response highlights the theme of loneliness and social isolation, from which Marner had suffered before adopting her

• It emphasises the importance of family relationships as the basis for becoming part of the wider community:

  • Marner had only started to interact with his neighbours in Raveloe when his gold was stolen

  • However, his adoption of Eppie brought him into increasing contact with the villagers, and increased their sympathy for him

  • Marner’s status as Eppie’s father is the factor that makes him finally become part of his community 

“I should have no delight i’ life any more if I was forced to go away from my father” – Eppie Marner, Chapter 19

Key word or phrase: “my father”

Key theme: Isolation and community

What the quotation means

• Eppie is responding to Godfrey and Nancy’s proposal to adopt her

• She insists she is happy with Marner, and would be unhappy if she had to leave him to live with Godfrey and Nancy

Analysis

• The fact that Eppie refers to Marner as her “father” illustrates the idea that family is not solely based on blood relationships:

  • Instead, the love Eppie has for Marner is the result of his love and care for her, which has created a bond between them

• Their bond illustrates one of Eliot’s central ideas: the concept of sympathy:

  • Sympathy, for Eliot, doesn’t just mean feeling sympathetic towards someone when they’re feeling unhappy:

    • It also means having the ability to put oneself in another person’s position in order to truly understand them

Sources:

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