Daniel Deronda: Difference between revisions

''[[Daniel Deronda]]'' (1876), [[George Eliot]]'s final novel, explores highly unusual territory for Victorian fiction: the title character, raised as a Christian, discovers and embraces his Jewish heritage. The novel has two main plots. In one, Daniel Deronda transforms from a serious but rootless young man, convinced that he is the illegitimate son of his guardian, Sir Hugo Mallinger, into a man of purpose, committed to the welfare of the Jewish people. He is inspired along the way by Mirah Lapidoth, an innocent Jewish singer whom he rescues from an attempted suicide, and by Mordecai, a Jewish mystic. In the other plot, the lovely but chilly (and self-involved) Gwendolen Harleth rescues her family from ruin by marrying the sadistic Mr. Grandcourt--even though she knows perfectly well that Grandcourt has fathered two children with his mistress, Lydia Glasher. As the novel progresses and Gwendolen sinks further and further into despair, she desperately turns to Daniel for moral support.

 

* [[Accidental Murder]]: {{spoiler|Grandcourt's drowning.}}

* [[Ambition Is Evil]]: Alcharisi, who wants to pursue her successful theatrical career, gives up her son to do it; when she thinks her voice has been wrecked, she makes an aristocratic marriage. The result: misery and {{spoiler|an agonizing death from cancer.}} Mirah Lapidoth, however, enjoys singing, but she loathes public performance. The result: {{spoiler|she is reunited with her brother, freed from her horrible father, and married to Daniel.}}

* [[Break the Haughty]]: Gwendolen, who has already treated one suitor badly, marries Grandcourt to avoid having to work for a living--even though she knows what this will mean for Grandcourt's mistress, Lydia. This turns out to be a bad, ''bad'' idea.

* [[Character Tics]]: Grandcourt. Speaks. Slowly.

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Mirah Lapidoth; averted, however, when Daniel manages to rescue her.

* [[Hard Work Hardly Works]]: Sternly subverted by Klesmer, the musician who itemizes all of Gwendolen's faults as a potential actress. Similarly, even though Mirah has [[The Gift]], she nevertheless has spent her life in training for performance.

* [[Hates Being Touched]]: Gwendolen's aversion to anything sexual.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Daniel Deronda]]