House of Notes

Q5:  Discuss the local colour and comic relief in Adam Bede.   Answer:  As a literary term, local colour refers to description of life and character in particular locality. The customs of the people, their speeches, their particular way of looking at things is presented to the reader often in a slightly sentimentalized or desirous way. Dickens and Bret Harte are probably the best known practitioners of this type. Comic relief is familiar term which needs careful examination. An author wants to relive the intensity of the serious plot-line by inserting comic characters or situations. These entertaining devices help keep the reader’s interest lively and balance out the fictional picture of the half tragic, half comic world. Probably, the most famous comic relief in English literature is the knocking at the gate in “Macbeth”, where sight of drunken porter relaxes the audiences after the murder of Duncan. Eliot uses both these devices in “Adam Bede”. In a stri...

Q 4:  Give a character sketch of Dinah Morris.   Answer:   To most of the readers sweet pity of  Dinah seems distasteful. It seems like too much of a good thing. But this reaction is based on an unhistorical view of the character, it is not valid . Dinah Morris’s style of speech seems quite odd to the modern reader but this was a fact that such type of speech was common in 18 th century. The reader of 21 st century finds it unnatural but George Eliot was creating a historically accurate picture and this should be kept in mind while judging her characters. On the other hand, this wrong reaction to Dinah’s character is quite valid. Most critics of the world urge that Dinah  is not a realistic character. She is an ideal and a perfect woman who has no fault. Perhaps she is the personification of abstract goal of Eliot’s ethical system. There are perfect no women in the world, nor there likely to be. Dinah is rather clea...

Q 3:  Give a character sketch of Adam Bede.   Answer:   Adam is an intelligent but not well educated rural carpenter who feels that he understands the nature of the things. For him life is very simple and he believes that the world operates according to certain mechanical principles which never change. He also believes that one should spend one’s life according to certain principles of right conduct. He is an unemotional person and believes that one should always do one’s duty no matter what the circumstances are. For this reason he is a sober young man, totally dedicated to his work. He rarely does things for his own pleasure but always tries to do the right thing in every  situation. Such a kind of attitude creates many fine qualities in him.  Adam has a strong nature. He is brave and aggressive and does not yield under pressure, because he thinks he knows what right is. He is self-confident and expresses himself honestly. His dedication to...

Q 2:  Discuss George Eliot’s art of characterization with special reference to “Adam Bede’.   Answer:  In novel writing, like the dramatic art the significance of characterization cannot be denied. Particularly the modern novelists lay great emphasis on the true and forceful delineation of characters. The great the quality of characterization, the higher is the appeal of fiction writing. This is exactly what we find in almost all the great writings of  George Eliot  . She is rightly credited with introducing an almost revolutionary change in the delineation and presentation of characters. The novelists of later generation have fully acknowledged the greatness of  George Eliot  in this regard. D. H Lawrence , one of the most influential modern novelists pays tribute to George Eliot in the following words: “It was she who started it all; it was she who started to put all the action inside her characters.”...