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Silas once became rigid and unconscious during a
prayer meeting of his religious sect in Lantern Yard, where he formerly
resided arousing curiosity in his fellow church members. He has a close
friend named William Dane who suspects that this fit may have been the
result of a visitation from the devil rather than a calling from
God. Silas is quite troubled by this suggestion and asked his fiancee, a
young servant, if she wished to call off their engagement, but she does
not.
One night, Silas is staying up with a sick senior deacon of his chapel ,
waiting for William to come in to relieve him when his shift was
over. William never comes, and Silas noticed that the deacon had stopped
breathing. He wondered if he had fallen asleep on his watch. The truth is
that he has had another fit and William has in reality stolen the bag of
money belonging to the deacon. Later he is accused, by William and the
other church members, of stealing money from the deacon's bedside. Silas
expects to be cleared of the crime by God, but instead is excommunicated
from the church. His fiancé calls of their engagement and marries William
instead.
Dejected, he leaves the place and settles in
Raveloe. This place is completely unfamiliar to Silas Marner, and his
religious faith is disturbed by his separation from the objects and
symbols with which he is familiar. He works at his loom all day in order
to keep himself occupied, weaving more speedily than necessary. He
receives five guineas for a tablecloth, and for the first time, he keeps
these earnings all for himself, no longer having to share them with the
church.
Silas is a kind man at heart and when he notices that the
cobbler's wife, Sally Oates, is suffering the symptoms of heart disease he
offers her foxglove, a folk remedy. When this works well, the villagers
conclude that Silas must have some occult curative powers. Mothers begin
to bring their sick children to his house to be cured, and men with
rheumatism offer him silver to cure them. Silas sends them away saying
that he cannot help but from then on every accident or misfortune that
befalls them is blamed on Silas and he is even more isolated from the
townsfolk. Gradually Silas begins to earn more, working sixteen hours each
day, at the end of which he sits and counts his money. He enjoys the
physical presence of the gold coins, and handles them joyfully. He keeps
them in the floor beneath his loom, in an iron pot, and only pulls them
out at night. When the iron pot overflows, he begins keeping the money in
two leather bags.
Squire Cass, is a man of much repute in Ravaloe
but his sons turn out rather disappointing. His younger son, Dunsey, has a
habit of gambling and drinking. The elder son, Godfrey, is more stable and
is rumored to be engaged to Nancy Lammeter, a lady. The two brothers argue
over rent money that Godfrey lent to Dunsey but now must give to their
father. Dunsey tells Godfrey that if he does not pay his father himself,
he will tell him about Godfrey's secret marriage to a drunken wife.
Godfrey responds by saying that he will tell their father everything
himself, eliminating Dunsey's threat and getting him into trouble.
Dunsey offers to sell Godfrey's horse in order to get the money, saying
that it is Godfrey's responsibility to bring the rent money to their
father--he should be punished for not carrying out this duty and lying in
order to give the money to Dunsey. Godfrey sees that his marriage is a
major problem, and that it was probably a trap laid by his brother to keep
him in debt. He till loves Nancy, and still wants merely to see her when
possible. He cannot go to the hunt to sell his horse because he wants to
see Nancy at a dance that night, and so agrees to let his brother perform
the task.
Dunsey sets off the next morning to sell his
brother's horse, and passes by the Stone-pit near Silas Marner's house. He
knows that Silas Marner is rumored to have a store of gold hidden away in
his cottage, and he wonders why he never thought of persuading his brother
to ask the weaver for a loan.
On his way to sell the horse, Dunsey meets some acquaintances on the way
to the races, and agrees to sell the horse, Wildfire, with payment to be
handed over upon safe delivery to the stable. He decides not to deliver
the horse right away, and instead takes part in a fox hunt While
trying to jump a fence, his horse is injured and dies. Since there are no
witnesses to this accident he decides to head back and ask Silas for a
loan.. He sees a light on in Silas’s cottage and knocks. He sees that the
door is open and there is no one inside. Taking this opportunity, he
begins looking for the money, and finds a spot in the floor with fresh
fingerprints where the gold is buried and hastily departs with it.
When Silas Marner returns to his cottage he is
looking forward to the roast pork cooking on his fire which is a gift from
a customer, which he left cooking while he ran an errand. He enters the
house, noticing nothing out of the ordinary, and sits down before his
fire. He cannot wait to pull his money out, and so he decides to lay
it on the table as he eats. However when he removes the bricks and
finds the gold gone. He desperately searches the cottage for his gold,
thinking that maybe he decided to store it someplace else for the night,
but eventually realizes that the gold is stolen. He is very upset and
tries to think of who may have stolen his gold. He finally decides that a
well-known poacher might have taken the gold. Silas goes to the Rainbow,
the village inn, to find some important people of the village who can help
him, but there are only a few people there as most of the town are at the
same birthday dance attended by Godfrey. He walks in on a conversation
between the farrier, the publican, the butcher and other local people
about a newly-bought cow. When Silas suddenly appears in the doorway, he
surprises the villagers with his ghostly appearance . He declares angrily
that he has been robbed and pointing to Jem Rodney, the poacher, accuses
him of the theft. He then begs Rodney to give him back his money and
promises to give him a guinea and not press charges. Rodney reacts
angrily, saying that he will not be accused for a crime that he has not
committed.
They all calm down, and when Silas tells them the story of the robbery,
they become more sympathetic, The landlord vouches for Jem Rodney, saying
that he has been in the inn all evening drinking. Silas apologizes to
Rodney, and the farrier asks how much money was lost. Silas tells him the
exact figure, which is over 270 guineas, and the farrier suggests that 270
guineas could be carried out easily. The farrier offers to visit the
cottage to search for evidence, since Silas' eyesight is poor and he might
have missed something; he stops first at the constable's to be officially
appointed as a deputy. Silas heads off with the farrier, Mr. Dowlas, and
the tailor, Mr. Macey, to the constable's office.
Godfrey returns home from the party to find that
his brother has not yet returned from the market However, he is distracted
by thoughts of Nancy Lammeter, and does not think very much about it. By
morning, everyone is discussing the robbery, and Godfrey visits the
cottage along with many other residents of the village to gather
evidence. A tinder-box is found on the scene, and is thought to be somehow
connected to the crime. Some villagers suspect that Silas Marner is simply
mad or possessed, and has lied about the crime, but others defend him. The
tinder-box is thought to belong to a peddler that visited the village a
month before, and the discussion turns to determining the peddler's
appearance and whether or not he wore earrings. Silas remembers the
peddler's visit, and that he did not invite him inside. He is now
convinced that it is the peddler who has committed the theft.
Godfrey is now worried about his brother’s
absence and thinks that he has run away with his horse. He meets
Dunstan's friend, who tells him that the horse was found dead on the
hunting grounds. He resolves to tell his father that he gave away the rent
money he was meant to collect, but by morning he changes his mind
again, and decides to try to keep his father calm despite what Dunstan has
done.
Godfrey speaks to his father after breakfast, first telling him about
Wildfire's death. He then confesses that he gave one hundred pounds in
collected rent money to his brother, but the Squire does not believe him.
He threatens to disown his sons and marry again. He says that he will
disown Dunsey, but when he cannot be found, he turns back to accuse
Godfrey of stupidity. The Squire then tells Godfrey to marry Nancy
Lammeter; he thinks she will refuse him, but agrees to ask anyway.
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part 2 of the summary of Silas Marner |
