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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Eliot paints a grim picture of poverty in Victorian England. We see struggling farmers and a modest craftsman. Religion played a major role. A methodist preacher strolls around the country to spread a message of devotion and puritanism. Class was another major factor. A woman from the lower classes couldn't get married to a nobleman. There were unequal standards. Pregnancy outside of wedlock meant to be judged as a "fallen woman".
This may be a coincidence, but Adam Bede is an anagram of Bad Medea.
Eliot's prose is quite wordy and she uses vernacular in the dialogues, so it can be challenging for a modern reader. It takes a while to get going, but it's worth continuing until the end
This may be a coincidence, but Adam Bede is an anagram of Bad Medea.
Spoiler
Medea also murdered her own child. The story is a kind of tragicomedy, because in spite of the tragic events Hetty doesn't die, and it ends with Adam's marriage.Eliot's prose is quite wordy and she uses vernacular in the dialogues, so it can be challenging for a modern reader. It takes a while to get going, but it's worth continuing until the end
I was disappointed by this novel, coming to it after Scenes of Clerical Life. I can see why George Eliot needed more space to tell this story but it didn’t hold my interest as much as the stories in her earlier book and I thought it was too long.
No-one can accuse George Eliot of lacking a sense of humour but there was a pall of gloom hanging over the novel that I found oppressive. The opening was morose enough with the way Adam’s father died but you could tell there was a deeper tragedy brewing. It took a long time to materialize and when it did, even though I was prepared for the worst, I was shocked by how dark the story became.
George Eliot’s stance towards the story is somewhat strange. At times she holds herself very distant from the events she is describing. She seems particularly neutral towards Dinah Morris, as if she doesn’t trust herself to comment on her behaviour, disappearing altogether when Dinah, expressing her true emotion at last says, “Adam, it is the Divine Will.”
But at other times George Eliot steps right in and tells us what she thinks. She is especially critical of “that poor wandering lamb”, Hetty Sorrel, expecting us to join her in reproaching Hetty for being vain, silly, coquettish, manipulative and superficial. She can be very harsh on beautiful women in her novels. She accuses Hetty, sarcastically, of self-worship before her mirror and shows her actively disliking the children trusted to her care, all of which predisposes the reader to view her in a negative light. Adam Bede’s principal failing is that, unlike us, he is unable to see these flaws in Hetty’s character.
The author is more objective with Irvine, the Rector of Broxton, excusing his failure to give Arthur Donnithorne any moral advice on the grounds of naturalism. Rather than portray things as they have never been and never will be, she tells us, and “refashion life and character entirely after my own liking … my strongest effort is to avoid any such arbitrary picture, and to give a faithful account of men and things as they have mirrored themselves in my mind.” This is a very lofty ambition but if the mirror is cracked, “the outlines will sometimes be disturbed.”
I did find it disturbing that she sees so little good in Hetty and so little ill in Dinah. I enjoyed the novel less because of it. I think it’s not enough to engage our sympathies by showing Hetty overcome by circumstances. Nor is it enough to allow Arthur, who she describes perhaps with a shade of irony, as “a good man”, to disappear from the narrative until the very end, when he returns much weakened, as though he has done his penance. I was frustrated that Arthur and Hetty were just supporting characters in the story of Adam Bede’s life. I was not satisfied with the way George Eliot introduced these major dramatic upheavals but left them to be resolved almost on the sidelines of her central story.
But her focus on Adam Bede and his immediate family circle was, of course, deliberate. It was one of George Eliot’s ambitions as a novelist to place the focus there and portray the richness of ordinary life. She is at her best and most relaxed when she is describing these everyday scenes.
One thing that she is very good at is showing people’s motives and how they can convince themselves they are doing what is inevitable and right even when they are doing something that is avoidable and wrong. She can expose true motivations very lightly as when she shows Wiry Ben rushing to hear Dinah Morris preach:
“An’ there’s the pretty preacher woman! My eye, she’s got her bonnet off. I mun go a bit nearer.”
But she can also take several pages to show the workings of a character’s thoughts as they gradually come around towards justifying an act that can have only tragic consequences. Her expositions of how Arthur convinces himself to go on seeing Hetty and how Adam convinces himself that Hetty cares only for him, are masterful. She also shows her skill at making Hetty sympathetic in the end by allowing her to account in her own words for her actions in Stoniton.
Giving ordinary characters a voice is something she does brilliantly throughout. One of the strongest characters in the novel is Mrs Poynton whose irreverent humour, bravery and country wisdom literally speaks for itself. She is one of the few characters not to be fooled by appearances:
“I’m not one o’ those as can see the cat i’ the dairy an’ wonder what she’s come after.”
For the rest, their perceptions are questionable. And, although I greatly respect George Eliot’s skill as a novelist, I am not sure she escapes bias herself. I found Adam to be a bit too good to be true, in spite of his one principal flaw, and Seth was altogether too obliging towards his brother. She is being playful when she says of herself, continuing from the passage I quoted above, “The mirror is perhaps defective”; but perhaps it is. We all see a different version of reality. Yet no one can question her commitment or integrity when she says “I feel as much bound to tell you as precisely as I can what that reflection is, as if I were in the witness-box, narrating my experience on oath.”
She has certainly done that and though Adam Bede may not be her best novel, it is clear even here that George Eliot is nevertheless one of our best novelists.
No-one can accuse George Eliot of lacking a sense of humour but there was a pall of gloom hanging over the novel that I found oppressive. The opening was morose enough with the way Adam’s father died but you could tell there was a deeper tragedy brewing. It took a long time to materialize and when it did, even though I was prepared for the worst, I was shocked by how dark the story became.
George Eliot’s stance towards the story is somewhat strange. At times she holds herself very distant from the events she is describing. She seems particularly neutral towards Dinah Morris, as if she doesn’t trust herself to comment on her behaviour, disappearing altogether when Dinah, expressing her true emotion at last says, “Adam, it is the Divine Will.”
But at other times George Eliot steps right in and tells us what she thinks. She is especially critical of “that poor wandering lamb”, Hetty Sorrel, expecting us to join her in reproaching Hetty for being vain, silly, coquettish, manipulative and superficial. She can be very harsh on beautiful women in her novels. She accuses Hetty, sarcastically, of self-worship before her mirror and shows her actively disliking the children trusted to her care, all of which predisposes the reader to view her in a negative light. Adam Bede’s principal failing is that, unlike us, he is unable to see these flaws in Hetty’s character.
The author is more objective with Irvine, the Rector of Broxton, excusing his failure to give Arthur Donnithorne any moral advice on the grounds of naturalism. Rather than portray things as they have never been and never will be, she tells us, and “refashion life and character entirely after my own liking … my strongest effort is to avoid any such arbitrary picture, and to give a faithful account of men and things as they have mirrored themselves in my mind.” This is a very lofty ambition but if the mirror is cracked, “the outlines will sometimes be disturbed.”
I did find it disturbing that she sees so little good in Hetty and so little ill in Dinah. I enjoyed the novel less because of it. I think it’s not enough to engage our sympathies by showing Hetty overcome by circumstances. Nor is it enough to allow Arthur, who she describes perhaps with a shade of irony, as “a good man”, to disappear from the narrative until the very end, when he returns much weakened, as though he has done his penance. I was frustrated that Arthur and Hetty were just supporting characters in the story of Adam Bede’s life. I was not satisfied with the way George Eliot introduced these major dramatic upheavals but left them to be resolved almost on the sidelines of her central story.
But her focus on Adam Bede and his immediate family circle was, of course, deliberate. It was one of George Eliot’s ambitions as a novelist to place the focus there and portray the richness of ordinary life. She is at her best and most relaxed when she is describing these everyday scenes.
One thing that she is very good at is showing people’s motives and how they can convince themselves they are doing what is inevitable and right even when they are doing something that is avoidable and wrong. She can expose true motivations very lightly as when she shows Wiry Ben rushing to hear Dinah Morris preach:
“An’ there’s the pretty preacher woman! My eye, she’s got her bonnet off. I mun go a bit nearer.”
But she can also take several pages to show the workings of a character’s thoughts as they gradually come around towards justifying an act that can have only tragic consequences. Her expositions of how Arthur convinces himself to go on seeing Hetty and how Adam convinces himself that Hetty cares only for him, are masterful. She also shows her skill at making Hetty sympathetic in the end by allowing her to account in her own words for her actions in Stoniton.
Giving ordinary characters a voice is something she does brilliantly throughout. One of the strongest characters in the novel is Mrs Poynton whose irreverent humour, bravery and country wisdom literally speaks for itself. She is one of the few characters not to be fooled by appearances:
“I’m not one o’ those as can see the cat i’ the dairy an’ wonder what she’s come after.”
For the rest, their perceptions are questionable. And, although I greatly respect George Eliot’s skill as a novelist, I am not sure she escapes bias herself. I found Adam to be a bit too good to be true, in spite of his one principal flaw, and Seth was altogether too obliging towards his brother. She is being playful when she says of herself, continuing from the passage I quoted above, “The mirror is perhaps defective”; but perhaps it is. We all see a different version of reality. Yet no one can question her commitment or integrity when she says “I feel as much bound to tell you as precisely as I can what that reflection is, as if I were in the witness-box, narrating my experience on oath.”
She has certainly done that and though Adam Bede may not be her best novel, it is clear even here that George Eliot is nevertheless one of our best novelists.
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Adam Bede es la primera novela de larga duración de George Eliot y encarna los objetivos realistas que continuaría desarrollándose a lo largo de su carrera. Publicada en 1859, ambientado 60 años antes en el pueblo ficticio de Hayslope, donde un carpintero moralmente recto llamado Adam Bede está enamorado de Hetty Sorrel, una grajera bonita y ensimismada. Cuando Hetty queda embarazada del joven hacendado del pueblo, Arthur Donnithorne, ella huye, da a luz en secreto y mata a su bebé. Ella es enviada a prisión y sentenciada a muerte. Le corresponde a su prima, la predicadora metodista Dinah Morris, inculcarle la gravedad de su situación y dirigir su mente al arrepentimiento. Mientras tanto, Adam, conmocionado por el crimen de Hetty y por el descubrimiento de su relación con el escudero, tiene que reevaluar sus rígidos puntos de vista sobre la moralidad. La sentencia de Hetty se conmuta a la deportación, y Adam y Dinah finalmente se casan. Eliot dijo que se inspiró para escribir la novela al recordar a su tía metodista, quien oró de manera similar con una mujer condenada por infanticidio.
En la introducción que nos hace el narrador a la figura de Adam Bebe, escrita por George Eliot, la encontramos en el primer capítulo: «un hombre de huesos bien desarrollados, rostro grande, de facciones poco delicadas, quien no tenía obra belleza que la expresión de un semblante inteligente, honrada y alegre». Joven trabajador de unos veintiséis años en la ciudad de Hayslope en Loamshire. Capataz de una carpintería. Si bien el nombre de este personaje del cual se debe el título de la novela, hay otros personajes que juegan un papel esencial en toda la trama, como es el caso de la predicadora Dinah Morris afiliada el metodismo, de quien el hermano de Adam, Seth, estaba enamorada.
Un hecho da al traste de que todos los personajes se dieran cita para lo que prosigue en la trama, mientras Adam iba para su casa, se enteró por su madre, Lisbeth, que su padre, Thias, se fue a beber en lugar de terminar un ataúd que habían contratado. Trabajando toda la noche, Adam termina el ataúd y él y Seth lo entregan por la mañana. De camino a casa, encuentran el cuerpo ahogado de su padre en un arroyo. Dinah se presenta para dar soporte, como metodista, mientras que el clérigo Joshau Rann, informa a su secretario Sr. Irwine de las disensiones que estaba provocando los metodistas en Hayslope, a la cabeza con Dinah. En la escena aparece Hetty Sorrel, una simple grajera, de quien el heredero del Sr. Irwine, Arthur Donnithorne quedo impresionado, y a quien coqueteo……
Un texto que retrata el realismo moral de los personajes, unos caracterizados por sus principios rígidos, otros por las desconsideraciones del hecho, que reflejan su construcción humana donde las virtudes queda a medio escalón, o si no vemos como el caso de Adam y Dihan que muestran su rectitud moral, uno aliviano el camino de la compresión de los débiles. Donde el matrimonio sin amor es degradante, según Adam. La imaginación humana puede estar propensa al exceso destructivo, como las fantasías fatalmente tontas de Hetty, pero también es benignamente constructiva, creando la base de la cultura en las ilusiones compartidas que mantienen unida a una comunidad como Hayslope. Las ideas, el carácter a principio del texto de Adam y Dihah sentaron las bases para un avance de lo que serían dichos personajes, pero ambos mermaron sus posturas quedando entrelazados.
En la introducción que nos hace el narrador a la figura de Adam Bebe, escrita por George Eliot, la encontramos en el primer capítulo: «un hombre de huesos bien desarrollados, rostro grande, de facciones poco delicadas, quien no tenía obra belleza que la expresión de un semblante inteligente, honrada y alegre». Joven trabajador de unos veintiséis años en la ciudad de Hayslope en Loamshire. Capataz de una carpintería. Si bien el nombre de este personaje del cual se debe el título de la novela, hay otros personajes que juegan un papel esencial en toda la trama, como es el caso de la predicadora Dinah Morris afiliada el metodismo, de quien el hermano de Adam, Seth, estaba enamorada.
Un hecho da al traste de que todos los personajes se dieran cita para lo que prosigue en la trama, mientras Adam iba para su casa, se enteró por su madre, Lisbeth, que su padre, Thias, se fue a beber en lugar de terminar un ataúd que habían contratado. Trabajando toda la noche, Adam termina el ataúd y él y Seth lo entregan por la mañana. De camino a casa, encuentran el cuerpo ahogado de su padre en un arroyo. Dinah se presenta para dar soporte, como metodista, mientras que el clérigo Joshau Rann, informa a su secretario Sr. Irwine de las disensiones que estaba provocando los metodistas en Hayslope, a la cabeza con Dinah. En la escena aparece Hetty Sorrel, una simple grajera, de quien el heredero del Sr. Irwine, Arthur Donnithorne quedo impresionado, y a quien coqueteo……
Un texto que retrata el realismo moral de los personajes, unos caracterizados por sus principios rígidos, otros por las desconsideraciones del hecho, que reflejan su construcción humana donde las virtudes queda a medio escalón, o si no vemos como el caso de Adam y Dihan que muestran su rectitud moral, uno aliviano el camino de la compresión de los débiles. Donde el matrimonio sin amor es degradante, según Adam. La imaginación humana puede estar propensa al exceso destructivo, como las fantasías fatalmente tontas de Hetty, pero también es benignamente constructiva, creando la base de la cultura en las ilusiones compartidas que mantienen unida a una comunidad como Hayslope. Las ideas, el carácter a principio del texto de Adam y Dihah sentaron las bases para un avance de lo que serían dichos personajes, pero ambos mermaron sus posturas quedando entrelazados.
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Quite possibly the most tacked-on marriage at the end of a Victorian novel I've ever read (and that's really saying something)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Misogyny
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes