A Study On Fatherhood In George Eliot’s Novels

The studies of fatherhood historically, sociologically, and in literary discourses, received growing attention at the end of the twentieth century. The fathers of nineteenth century Britain attracted scholars in particular as the role of fatherhood then changed dramatically due to the Industrial Revolution. Fathers were withdrawn from the home to the workplace and home, or domesticity, became the hub of change. Responsibilities of fathers were reshaped by the remoteness of industrial labour, and over time, their family roles shrank to that of being mere providers. This shift in the roles of fathers, and the anxieties generated by this change, were depicted in memoirs and memories, fiction and other writings. This dissertation aims to explore this shift in the role of fatherhood in the nineteenth century as represented in the novels by George Eliot. Furthermore, by showing the damage done by the Industrial Revolution in undermining the role of fatherhood, it intends to shed light on how Victorians yearned for the ideal father.George Eliot’s representation of fatherhood has, specifically, been the subject of interest for many critics of her novels because of the nature of the recorded relationship she had with her father. Eliot’s refusal to attend Anglican Church services with her father created a great conflict between them.1 This conflict, which Bodenheimer calls "Holy Wars,"2 has attracted scholars to study its influence on the depiction of father-daughter relationships in her writings.Deborah Epstein Nord is one of those critics who analyzed the father-daughter relationship in Eliot’s novels. In her essay "Feminism, History, and the Nineteenth-Century Novel" she points out that the heroines in George Eliot’s novels are "victimized but heroic daughters" who "maintain family equilibrium through their relationship to the father and who are destined to become the shaping force behind social organization as the nuclear family breaks down."3 The empire of fathers in the novels of George Eliot is always usurped by the daughters. Patricia Emerick, in her doctoral dissertation Irresistible Forces, asserts that daughters wished and struggled for self-definition and independence from their fathers’domination in the nineteenth century. She points out that Emma Woodhouse in Jane Austen’s Emma, Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, and Dorothea Brook in Eliot’s Middlemarch "manifest a profound desire to possess the comfort and security of the father or the figure they love in conflict with opposing desire to transcend the confines of home in order to define one’s self as fully as possible."4 Dianne Sadoff offers the same argument in her Monsters of Affection where she characterizes the father-daughter relationships as "Scenes of Seduction" by applying psychoanalytic theory, and where she shows that this story of seduction "narrates the origin and history of the daughter’s desire."5Judith Wilt in "Fictions of Resolution in Three Victorians" and Deirdre David in "He Would Come Back" also read the "seduction" trauma in Daniel Deronda, arguing that Gwendolen "killed" her stepfather by killing Grandcourt. They both study stepfathers and father figures in Daniel Deronda from the point of view of the Freudian theory of the female castration complex.6,7In her article "George Eliot’s Fantasy on Parenthood", Komiya Ayaka gives a glimpse into the settings of Silas Marner and Felix Holt, where the children are raised by nurturing foster fathers rather than by biological fathers, explaining that "instead of having an authoritative father and a loving mother bringing up their children, Eliot’s fictional homes have fostering fathers, adulterous mothers, unloving children, imbecile fathers and wives full of regret.8 Ayaka relates all of these elements to Eliot’s own biographical details. In both novels mentioned above, the children refuse to go with their biological fathers and instead decide to live with their fostering fathers. In this juxtaposition of fathers, Eliot makes the fostering fathers successful.Studies by Emerick, Sadoff, and Ayaka apply psychoanalytical techniques to explore the father-daughter relationships in Eliot’s novels and validate the assumption that Eliot’s relationship with her own father influenced her writing. But these studies more or less ignore the influence of historical changes on the family during the nineteenth century. Therefore, this dissertation studies the depiction of fathers in George Eliot’s novels in the context of historical, social, religious, and economic changes during the nineteenth century and lays particular emphasis on the novels Scenes of Clerical Life, Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda, and Felix Holt.Like the studies just mentioned, this study argues that Eliot’s dispute with her father undoubtedly moulded her representation of the fathers of her time, but this conflict should be considered as only one factor among others, including the impact of the historical changes on family life in the nineteenth century. My study pays particular attention to the fathers’ responsibilities towards children, regardless of gender, and dismantles Eliot’s depiction of the gender-based perspective of fathers towards children. Moreover, Eliot’s representation of fathers encompasses the biological, surrogate, adoptive, foster, absent, and tyrannical fathers within different social classes. By demonstrating these different aspects of fathers, Eliot shows admiration for the "’rare manly fathers," which John Tosh calls the "intimacy" of fathers.9 I argue that this admiration of involved, or intimate, fathers does not appear in all of her works; rather, Eliot goes through portraying the varying strengths and weaknesses of fatherhood from the beginning of her writing career until the end, ultimately reaching a point where she perceives and renders reconciliation with the biological father as inescapable and inevitable.I see Eliot’s representation of fatherhood as a circular voyage. In the beginning of her writing career as a novelist, Eliot created intimate and involved fathers, although with weaknesses. Later she created distant, absent, and tyrannical fathers. In her final novels, she created adoptive fathers, where the biological fathers are rejected. All of this leads to a climax in her last novel where Eliot reconciles with, and yearns for, the intimate biological fathers.The main discussion of this paper is based on the exploration of the core components of Victorian fatherhood as defined by Claudia Nelson-"authority, guidance and financial support."10 This study explores a diversity of paternal roles from the protector to the provider, from the playmate to the guide, from the nurturer to the teacher as portrayed in Eliot’s novels. By mapping the context of each type of paternal role, this study shows how changing institutional practices, priorities, and material conditions played key roles in reshaping the nature of fatherhood during the Victorian era. Moreover, this study also explores Eliot’s representation of many factors affecting the perception of fathers and the practice of fathering, the experience and expectation of being a father in the nineteenth century, and how the children in each story ultimately accept their fathers’perspectives and ideologies. This study examines how the absence or presence of the father contributes to the lives of their children and how substitute fathers as fostering, surrogate and adoptive fathers accomplish their paternal duties.The study concludes that George Eliot depicts a wide variety of fathers and their struggles during great social change and she elucidates the weaknesses and strengths of fathers, and brings forth her yearning for an ideal fatherhood. She emphasizes duties in the private sphere of home and thinks that an ideal society is only possible through individuals’ recognition and acceptance of their duties. The father, being the authority in the family, governs, guides and provides for his dependents. In her presentation of patriarchy and authority, Eliot aims to find ways to redefine, rather than shun, fatherhood. Because fatherhood is inherently important, and George Eliot’s writings are a historical, albeit subjective, record of the development of a type of fatherhood that is still linked to societies of the world today, the study of fatherhood, and of the family as a whole, is not only meaningful but also necessary to the understanding of the human society.To examine Eliot’s novels, this dissertation is divided into five parts. The Introduction will review the literary and sociological studies on fatherhood of nineteenth century Britain, survey the analyses of fatherhood in the novels of George Eliot, and will propose to conduct further research on this subject.Chapter 1, The Core of the Father’s Role, will focus on fathers in Eliot’s novels according to the core components of Victorian fatherhood. This chapter is divided into two parts. The First Part, Domesticity:The Empire of the Father, will explore issues related to the domestic setting and the father’s role. The Second Part, Fathers outside Home:The Efforts of the Provider, will unfold the father’s activities in the public sphere, where he struggles to fulfil his role as the provider.Chapter 2, Distant, Absent and Tyrannical Fathers:Disjointed World of George Eliot, will analyze the distant, absent, and tyrannical fathers and the effect of these fathers on the lives of their children, as presented by George Eliot. It is important to note that this absence of the father means the absence of guidance, protection, or financial support for the children.This chapter is divided into three parts. The First Part, Futile and Barren Presence:Thais Bede, Squire Cass and Mr. Transome’s Departed Existence, will disclose the reasons and consequences of the absence of the fathers in George Eliot’s novels. The Second Part, Dorothea and Lydgate:The Independent and Self-determining World of Middlemarch, will study Dorothea Brooke and Lydgate in Middlemarch as independent youth without guidance and authority. The Third Part, Victimized, Resisting and Embracing Children:Mirah Lapidoth, Maggie Tulliver and Adam Bede, will explore the reaction of children towards the shortcomings of their fathers and their resistance to tyrannical fathers. This part will also explore how children come forward with redeeming and vindicating efforts to fill the gaps and compensate for the damage done by the fathers.Chapter 3, Filial and Family Tics:Adoptive versus Biological Fathers, will examine fostering and surrogate fathers, which Eliot presents as the substitute to the absent and failed biological fathers, as well as matters related to social class, inheritance, and identity. This chapter consists of three parts. The First Part, Fathering, Fostering and Class Anxiety and the Second Part, Adoption and Inheritance, will show how Eliot’s adopted children prefer filial and familial affection over class, inheritance, and even over blood ties. The Third Part, Search for the Identity/Origin, will explore how Eliot, in her last novel expresses a longing for unearthing the fatherly root, which underlies her reconciliation and reunion with the father. Moreover, this part will also provide evidence from social and historical phenomenon showing how the familial origin plays a role in defining the identity of the characters.The Conclusion discusses how George Eliot’s depiction of a wide variety of fathers, and the struggles of these fathers during great social change, elucidate the weaknesses and strengths of fathers, and brings forth Eliot’s yearning for an ideal fatherhood.