Chapter 20 and 21
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Summary
Find 2 – 3 quotes to support each point below.
 Nancy and Godfrey agree to keep secret his true
relationship to Eppie. –”You won’t make it known then
about Eppie’s being your daughter..”
 Nancy is pleased that Eppie will marry Aaron –”sober
and industrious” (about Aaron)
 She is sorry for her husband but feels that he deserved
Eppie’s rejection – “her spirit of rectitude would not let
her try to soften the edge of what she felt to be a just
compunction”.
 She encourages him to accept what has happened.
Analysis and commentary
 We return home with Nancy and Godfrey. They realise
Eppie will never be their daughter. In the circumstances
they agree to continue hiding that Godfrey is Eppie’s
birth father. He decides to reveal it in his will. He has
had enough of hidden crimes like Dunstan’s. Nancy is
relieved that her relations will only know of Dunstan
robbing Silas
Analysis and commentary
 Godfrey guesses that Eppie will marry Aaron Winthrop.
Nancy feels Aaron is a good choice because he is serious
and hard-working. They discuss Eppie’s character and
her resemblance to Godfrey. He feels that his
punishment for rejecting her is that she dislikes and will
misjudge him. Nancy feels it is right that Godfrey
suffers. She tries to cheer him up by telling him he has
always been a good husband. She encourages him to try
to accept what has happened and the position he is in.
Analysis and commentary
 Godfrey’s character has at last grown as he realises that
some wrongs cannot be put right and that money
cannot solve everything.
 He comments on the irony of his situation – he once
wanted to appear to have no children, now he is forced
to seem childless.
Questions
Provide supporting evidence from the text in every answer
 Godfrey’s last test has been his attempt to reclaim Eppie –
what does he realise about the nature of human contacts?
 How is the contrast between Eppie and the gold furthered in
this chapter?
 How is the image of Eppie as a blessing renewed?
 Is Godfrey’s childlessness gratuitous poetic justice? (What is
he being punished for? How is this linked to his past error?)
 Godfrey thinks his punishment is divine retribution. Does Eliot
share this view?
 How does Eliot soften the readers impressions of Godfrey –
especially in light of the previous chapter?
 Describe Godfrey and Nancy’s marriage.
 Godfrey goes against his desire, he decides to do what? How is
this different from the Godfrey we have come to understand?
Chapter 21 - Summary
Find 2 – 3 quotes to support each point below.
 Silas decides to revisit the scene of his former
humiliation at Lantern Yard
 He is unable to recognise anywhere except the jail
where he had once been imprisoned.
 Where Lantern Yard stood, a factory has been built.
 He returns now to Raveloe, the place he can finally call
home.
 He has regained his faith and a true family
Significance
Silas emerges from darkness – gather evidence for the
points below:
 The rapid changes of the Industrial Revolution have completely
transformed the town.
 Silas and Eppie are both appalled by the conditions and noise.
 Prison Street and the jail are images of the misery of factory
workers’ lives.
 Light and dark are images of faith. The town is dark and the
streets narrow. The narrow religion of Lantern Yard has
disappeared – the light Silas once lived by. Dolly told Silas she
would be glad of any light he could bring back from his visit and
comfortingly accepts the truth is in the dark unknown when he
returns. Silas realises he himself received light (or faith) when
Eppie came. It will be enough, now she has promised to stay
with him.
Conclusion
The loose ends are tied up.
1. Eppie and Aaron are married.
2. Godfrey has paid for the happy couple’s reception but
feels unable to attend the wedding itself.
3. The villagers welcome the couple as full members of
their community.
4. They return to Silas’s cottage which has been extended
and improved by its owner, Mr Godfrey Cass.
Significance
Justice is done! Gather evidence for the points below:
 Godfrey has generously provided the wedding feast but
has absented himself for the day.
 It is Silas who appears as Eppie’s father.
 The villagers feel Godfrey’s action is right, considering
the hurt Dunsey did to Silas. Ironically, Godfrey’s secret
wrong to Eppie was greater.
 Eliot ends the book with conventional happiness which
reflects the moral code, that the good are rewarded
while the evil are punished.
Essay question
“At the end of Silas Marner, there is a feeling that justice
has been done, that the bad have been punished and the
good rewarded.” To what extent is this statement true.