George Eliot’s Ambivalent Attitudes

George Eliot is an outstanding Victorian female writer. The Mill on the Floss is asemi-autographical novel written by George Eliot in1860. Since its publication, it hasbeen drawing much attention from readers and critics. Maggie in the novel isconsidered to have been the most perfect heroine Eliot ever created. Researchers havestudied the figure with different literary theories and perspectives, and have drawndifferent conclusions. However, in the eyes of most critics, Maggie is a victim underthe double oppressions of the patriarchal system and industrial society in the Victorianera. At present, there are few people who have studied Maggie from the perspective ofparadox. Paradox is an apparently logically self-contradictory yet essentially truestatement or theory.This thesis studies the heroine’s rebellion, self-renunciation, and suffering fromthe perspective of paradox, and Eliot’s ambivalent attitudes towards females, the pastand religions are revealed. One purpose of the portrayal of Maggie’s rebellion is thatthe author meant to rid Maggie of the restraints old society imposed on women andbecome the model of new women, but the more important one is that the authormanages to reveal Maggie’s obedient nature behind her rebellion. Thus Maggie’sparadoxical rebellion shows Eliot’s ambivalent attitude to females. On the one side,she supports the pursuit of equality for women. On the other side, she approves of thetraditional roles of men and women, and encourages the spirit of women’s submissionand devotion; Maggie’s renunciation of the pursuit of friendship and love, on the one hand, is to express the author’s strong disapproval of the constraints of old traditionson personal development. On the other hand, the author manages to convey Maggie’stolerance for the limitations of old traditions. Thus the paradox of Maggie’sself-renunciation shows Eliot’s ambivalent attitude to the past. While sheacknowledges the constraints of old traditions and hopes to cast off the restraints ofthe past, Eliot deems there must be close relationships between individuals, betweenthe individual and society, between the present and past, and between the present andfuture. So people should have enough sympathy and tolerance for the restraints of oldtraditions on the development of individuals and society; Maggie has gone throughvarious kinds of hardships since she was thirteen years old. That the author condemnsthe formalism of religions through the portrayal of Maggie’s sufferings is only oneside of the matter. What the more important thing is to express author’s credit forMaggie’s universal love and tolerance in face of her harsh life. Hence Eliot’sambivalent attitude to religions is demonstrated in the paradox of Maggie’s suffering.She advocates the discard of those unreasonable religions. But meanwhile she thinkspeople should put others’ benefits in the first place and keep tolerance in mind, whichis exactly the true essence of Christianity.