Persuation(Austen) vs Silas Marner(Eliot) - Essay Example

They showed through their characters what women of that time could accomplish if they refused to believe that their femininity was a barrier. According to Eliot marriage meant being "absorbed into the life of another, and only [being] known in a certain circle as a wife and a mother" (George Eliot) whereas Austen almost unquestioningly accepted it. Eliots writings were not about a polite society, but by writing about abusive relationships, went beyond it. (Melanie Shelton). These two authors do not belong to the "silly lady novelists" (Eliot) category, which George Eliot has referred to in one of her writings.

Austen portrays the daily lives of her characters that are mainly upper-middle-class men in England of early nineteenth century. She focuses on themes that never die, such as marriage, social pressure, and the generation gap (N. Zeynep Yelce) Anne Elliot, the heroine in Persuasion, suffers the consequences of a decision she had to take years ago to severe relations with a man she loved. Her family had forced this decision upon her. The thoughts of Lady Russell in this context "Anne Elliot, with all her claims of birth, beauty and mind, to throw herself away at nineteen; involve herself at nineteen with a young man, who had nothing but himself to recommend him, and no hopes of attaining affluence, but in the chances of a most uncertain profession, and no connexions, to secure even his farther rise in that profession; would be indeed a throwing away which she grieved to think of.

" (Austen Jane) aptly describes the kind of advice Anne got from her family. Austen while putting forth the causes and consequences of this action gives an incisive account of the narrow-mindedness of the British class system. Silas Marner portrays a realistic portrait of life in a traditional English village of the 19th century where kindness and cooperation take precedence over petty differences. It centres on Silas Marner, a weaver living in the