An Archetypal Study Of The Flood Myth In The Mill On The Floss

Gorge Eliot has been criticized for the ambiguous ending of her novel The Mill on the Floss, which obscures the author's intention. In the ending an unexpected flood comes, and the waves devour Tom and Maggie in the end though she tries to save him with a boat. Does Eliot intend to make apology to her brother with the ending of the novel? Does the author intend to sing praise of the protagonist's self-sacrifice on which she believes a healthy society can be built? Or does she plan to depict the protagonist as a victim of Victorian social conventions which compel her to yield to her duty or conscience instead of following her passion?This essay is an attempt to analyze the flood myth in the novel. It will first associate the flood in the novel with the one in the Biblical story of Noah's Ark. Three motifs in the Biblical story reappear in The Mill on the Floss: first, the world is evil;second, God has lost control of the world;third, the flood comes and destroys the world.Then, it will interpret the three motifs from a feminist perspective. An analysis of the motifs will help to find out that George Eliot intends to describe a world where women have no voice;and they have no identity of their own;their desire falls victim to the patriarchal power. This world is meaningless to women and deserves to be destroyed.Finally, we will focus on the displacement of the flood myth in the novel. The displacement of the myth reveals Eliot's attitude toward Maggie. In the flood, though Maggie tries to assume the role of Noah's to save her family, she fails and dies with her brother. Her death in the flood implies that Eliot thinks that Maggie is not eligible for the task of rebuilding a new world.We will arrive at a conclusion that the ending of the novel is not abrupt, and the author is not making apology to her brother. It shows her resentment against the Victorian social conventions which compel women like Maggie to yield to her duty or conscience instead of following her passion and her wish that a patriarchal world be destroyed completely.