Quote 1
See the
difference between the impression a man makes on you when you walk
by his side in familiar talk, or look at him in his home, and the
figure he makes when seen from a lofty historical level, or even
in the eyes of a critical neighbor who thinks of him as an embodied
system or opinion rather than as a man.
In chapter 5,
the narrator describes Mr. Irwine from the perspective of his domestic
situation. Mr. Irwine has chosen to remain a bachelor in order to
care for his mother and sisters, likes a leisurely morning before
a day of hard work, and is kind to his dogs. These details make
Mr. Irwine a real man, rather than a mere figurehead or even merely
the rector of Hayslope. This interjection comes after first meeting
Mr. Irwine, whom the narrator has gone to great lengths to personalize.
Eliot uses this personal approach to all of the characters
for two reasons. First, Eliot encourages readers not to judge their
neighbors harshly but rather to accept those them for who they are.
This approach to interpersonal relationships stems in part from
Eliot’s realist approach to novel writing and partly from her worldview. Realism
demands that Eliot describe her characters as they are, not as ideas
or in conformation with some literary ideal. Real people, of course,
have domestic lives as well as public ones, so it is important that
Mr. Irwine’s home life be part of the realist novel. Eliot’s worldview,
which requires suspension of judgment on the basis of things like
class, religion, and gender, also fits with this kind of description. None
of the characters in Adam Bede is wholly good or
wholly bad. None of them is easy to judge.
Second, the personal approach encourages religious tolerance,
of which Mr. Irwine is a prime example. Eliot writes in an age of
religious tension in England, and she wants to encourage a gentler approach
to conversion and religion. Mr. Irwine, with his tolerance of Dinah
and the other Methodists, might be viewed by some readers as too
lax. Eliot seeks to show that he is motivated by love. To reveal
his motivations, she must show him in his home and help us understand
and respect him. That is why it is important to Eliot that Mr. Irwine
not be seen as an “embodied system or opinion.”
