ELIOT’S PARSONS AND THEIR ROOTS IN SCOTT’S ABBOT OF UNREASON

Abstract

Critical studies have analyzed George Eliot’s unconventional religious stance, Feuerbach’s influence and her atheism/religion of humanity. An early biography reveals, however, an interesting fact: “On the same grounds it is likely that the presentation of social virtues, apart from evangelical motives, would impress her; and I have authority
for stating that to the inquiry of a friend in after-years, as to what influence she attributed the first unsettlement of her orthodox views, she quickly made answer: ‘Oh, Walter Scott’s…’” (Cross 1878: 395).
Taking into account the quote above regarding probably the first source of her “unorthodox views”, the question naturally arises: are her fictional pastors and religious men fashioned according to her religious views and under the influence of Feuerbach’s doctrine? Can we assume a subtler influence at work coming from Walter Scott?
It is my claim that we can identify important elements in Eliot’s fictional parsons which point in the direction of Scott’s model of a hero: the ability to promote an ironic discourse; the ability to promote the flow of sympathetic exchange in dialogue with other people. Eliot’s parsons may have been outlined according to a literary, rather than religious pattern. How to account for Farebrother’s unconventional way of earning money or parson Jack’s turning the other cheek by throwing nuts at the audience that had bombarded him with rotten eggs? Unawares, Eliot’s clever moral system may have been influenced by her early readings. Small scale carnivalesque skills, unconventional behaviour and the ability to preserve dialogue with marginal characters point rather in the direction of Scott’s fictional hero.
While the research so far has focused on the model of historical novels in George Eliot’s work, little attention has been given to Scott’s influence on Eliot’s moral and psychological insights and the way in which she constructed important characters such as Rev. Farebrother, Rev. Rufus Lyon, parson Jack and other clergymen and religious non-conformists in her novels.