’Adam Bede’ , written by George Eliot deals with the psychological aspects of the characters. Many critics have pointed out that George Eliot focuses much on the inner world of the characters rather than the outer reality. She has tried to project the impact of outer reality inside the psyche of the characters. Eliot explores the individual mind and forecasts the mental state , responses and their behaviour.
In the novel, Eliot focuses on the inner world of Hetty’s mental psyche and her brain and health rather than the outer reality where she spends time in thinking about her runaway lover. There are continuous flow of human thoughts and perceptions which are largely focused and magnified. The characters such as Lisbeth contemplated her own life which reflects the flow of inner time when she lays on a chair after purifying the chamber and bed once her deceased husband laid.
However, Eliot’s psychological development is strictly forward and neither complex. Many modernist writers who uses stream of consciousness technique relies much on the characters behaviour to insinuate the mental psyche and their responses through silence. Eliot projection is direct and she also evokes the psychological self in an elaborative way. It is clearly reflected when Arthur fully trusted Adam when he encountered him with Hetty. Arthur trusted his loyalty towards Adam but yet one find that he misunderstood him. Adam knew the deceptive nature of Arthur who was using Hetty for his sexual satisfaction. This flow of inner self and outer self is reflected in the novel where Arthur successfully deceives Hetty but his deceptive outer self was illuminating for Adam Bede through his perceptions. This justifies Eliot’s psychological development which is based on the characters mental psyche and their perceptions rather than on the outer reality.
In addition to this, the moral conflicts that the novel draw is completely psychological. There are strong forces of unconscious desire among the characters. According to Sigmund Freud, the unconscious and conscious desires stems within Id, ego and superego, The unconscious desire of Id is seen in the character of Arthur who only slept with Hetty to satisfy his inner sexual desires or libidinal desires. Arthur symbolizes the psychology of Id. However, Hetty’s desire stem from ego where she has a desire for Arthur’s love and affection and her ego balances her Id by her desire to marry him off at the end. Hetty could symbolise the psychology of ego. Adam Bede symbolizes the desire of Id as well as superego . His love and affection for Hetty is Id at the beginning as well as his caring nature towards Hetty when he tells her of Arthur’s deceptive nature. Adam Bede becomes a strong religious force evoking a sense of superego in his desire when he asks Arthur to write a letter claiming that he was using Hetty for only his sexual desires and not for marriage or love. This desire of Adam resonates strong moral force of superego to save the person he once loved and suppress the Id of Arthur.
However, the character psychological development is seen in the novel. It is very much portrayed symbolically where the character of Arthur proceeds from Id to Ego. His desire of ego is very much seen perhaps of the guilty that he had given to Hetty. This feeling of guilty that a characters is able to feel is also a major achievement of Eliot’s art which she is able to do it from a mental process rather than just a story telling narrative. Arthur came to rescue Hetty at the end from the accusations of infanticide and this arrival to rescue her is symbolic of his moral redemption and guilt and the conscious force of ego. This is one of the important aspect of moral and character development in the novel. The other important character development is the moral force of Adam Bede who remains strong and eventually married to Dinah Morris, a methodist religious woman who also symbolizes superego.
Critical Analysis of George Eliot Daniel Deronda
