A C T A U N I V E R S I T Ä T I S L O D Z I E N S I S
F O LIA U T T E R A R IA 36, 1994
Adela S tyczy ńsk a
R O M O L A AS A P S Y C H O L O G IC A L N O V E L - A ST U D Y O F M O R A L D E G E N E R A T IO N
C ritics and biog raphe rs o f G eorge E liot indicate several 19lh century th eo logian s and philoso phers whose w ork shaped her a ttitu d e to religion - S trau ss, B ray, H en nell, and abo v e all, C o m te and F eu e rb ac h . T h e “ religion o f h u m an ity ” preached by the F rench philosopher and F e u e rb a ch ’s an tro p o m o rp h is a tio n o f religious belief are clearly reflected in the nov elist’s w ork. In his study Religious Humanism and the Victorian N ovel U . C. K n ocp flm a cher says:
The negative implications o f her subsequent break with her father’s faith, her despair over “ leathery Strauss” , her typical refuge in the pantheism o f Spinoza and W ordsw orlh, and, finally, her confrontation with the anti-theological theology o f F euerbach have all been analyzed so scrupulously and so well, that it is often forgotten that, much as the “ H igher Critics” helped to underm ine G eorge E liot’s belief, they also provided her with substitute values and ideals she incorporated in her novels'.
T he values and ideals are evident in the d ram a o f “ ardent souls” - M aggie, R o m o la and D o ro th ea . W hile M aggie dies before she has been able to reach full self-realization th ro u g h m o ral choice the latter tw o ch aracters find the m eaning o f existence in selfsacrifice, in m aking “ the world a better place to live in ” th ro u g h th eir “ incalculable diffusive influence” over those aro u n d them: p otential St. Th eresas who live a h idden life and rest in unvisited tom bs. But G eorge E liot rem ains also vividly aw are o f the hum an d epravity the source o f which she sees in egoism. In m ost o f her novels she focusses her a tte n tio n on egocentricity, as the vice which destroys hu m an interrelatio ns. T h e A m erican critic observes in an o th e r place:
1 Religious Humanism and the Victorian Novel, George Eliot, Walter Pater and Samuel Butler, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1970, p. 44.
The close introspection of her early Puritanism, with its meticulous dissection o f the hidden motives which prompted men to selfish actions, its deep sense o f hum an depravity, and concomitant belief in self-denial found outlets in the new emphasis on a mancentred order. Metaphysics had been dissolved into psychology and Victorian psychologists such as Lewes believed th at their main task consisted in careful differentiation of m an’s faculties from those of the animals with which he shared a basic instinct of self-preservation and self-gratification. M an’s animality, however, his innate egoism, could be tem pera! by a stoic acceptance of the natural order and his willingness to annul the self in the general advancement o f his fellow-men (31-32).
Y et, how ever im po rta nt was Lewes’s influence on G eorge E lio t’s opinions, in her novels m etaphysics has no t been entirely dissolved into psychology. T he m ethaphysical dim ension arises from the m ain them e o f Rom ola, it is present in M iddlem arch and in Daniel Deronda. M o st o f E lio t’s novels offer excellent studies o f egoists analyzed by em inent critics2. In Rom ola the cha rac ter o f T ito M elem a and the process o f his m oral d eterio ration presents an interesting exam ple o f G eorge E lio t’s essentially religious view o f the m oral d ra m a in spite o f her agnosticism .
T he funda m en tal relation ship in which the destructive w orking o f an egoistic c ha racter reveals itself in a m ost striking way is m arriage. In three o f her great novels - Romola, M iddlemarch and Daniel Deronda G eorge E liot presents studies o f ill-matched unions. In each ease we follow a proccss o f the d eterio ratio n o f m arital life - the result o f the w rong choice o f the p a rtn e r by b o th parties. In each case we have to do with egoists w ho bring d isaste r to the w om an they ch oose an d u ltim ately to them selves. In M iddlem arch D o ro th e a m arries an elderly m an in spite o f the objections and w arnings o f her sister and friends. T o her naive and idealistic vision he ap pears as a sage, a scholar and a philosopher. E veryday life reveals to h er a n arrow , selfish m a n, pedantic and m ediocre in his scholarly w ork, m ean tow ards his wife and nephew , intolerant o f criticism. T h e incom patibility o f ch aracters brings com plete estrangem ent; on his death D o ro th e a feels n o th ing but co ntem pt for him. G w endolen m arries for m oney and position, because she ca n n o t face a life o f privation. She w ants to shine in society and naively expects th a t she will im pose her will on her hu sb and. But G ra n d c o u rt is evil and despotic, tho ug h his brutality is well m asked by polished m anners. His aim is n o t so m uch to possess her body and soul as to break her spirit and bring her to com plete subjection. G w endolen’s opposition and rebellion lead to a grow ing hatre d betw een them which ends w ith G ra n d c o u rt’s death. G w endolen rem ains with a to rm entin g sense o f guilt to the end o f her life; she feels responsible for w hat had happened: the fractio n o f a second when she hesitated before reaching help to her hu sb an d w hen he was dro w ning actually decided a b o u t his death.
T h e story o f R om o la an d T ito is different from th ose o f D o ro th e a -C a s a u b o n and G w c n d o len -G ran d c o u rt. R om ola m arries T ito for love. H e seem s to brin g h ap p iness to her a fte r a long period o f sadness and self-denial. H e seems to be a personification o f beau ty and joy , brilliance o f m ind and delicacy o f feelings. T ito, too, falls in love w ith R om ola. She appeals to his aesthetic sense as a beautiful w om an. W ith his personal ch arm and intellectual gifts he m ight have m arried one o f the rich F lo ren tine ladies, yet he chooses R om ola, th e d au gh ter o f a lonely, blind scholar. T his choice o utw ard ly seems to testify to a nobility o f feelings. In fact it is the choice o f a hed onist and egoist, while the w ork fo r B ardo B ardi is a step up w ard in his fu rth e r career. M utu al d isapp oin tm en t, as in the case o f the o th e r tw o couples in G eorge E lio t’s later novels, is fatal to b o th p artn ers as far as their union is concerned, but while R om ola reaches m o ral m a tu rity th ro u g h p rofou nd disillusionm ent and suffering, T ito ’s story unfolds as the d ra m a o f betrayal which ends in his death. C asaub o n and G ra n d c o u rt enter the stage as w ell-form ed characte rs; the form er is in his fifties, the la tter in the prim e o f his life, still young. M arriag e brings o u t those features o f their charac te rs which are well concealed from their p artn ers th ou g h no t u n k n o w n to o th e r persons. T h e p e d a n try and m eanne ss o f o ne, the co rru p tio n , bru tality and despotism o f the o ther are fully b ro u g ht o u t in the relationship w ith the wom en o f their choice, in response to their rebellious reaction. T ito on the co ntrary , begins his career as a young m an w ho, so far, h as n o t revealed any perverse features. H is c ha racter seems sm oo th and easy-going, his potential for good and for evil is n o t know n to anyone. T ito ’s story, m o re th a n any oth er in G eorge E lio t’s novels, has a m etaphysical dim ension: it is the universal d ra m a o f the fall o f m an. T h ro u g h pleasure-seeking a handsom e, talented young m an dedicates him self to evil. W e follow the process o f his deg rad ation step by step until, at the end, he becom es the inca rn ation o f evil itself. H is d eath is th e inevitable consequence o f his choice.
T h e psychological analysis o f this process o f self-destruction is carried o u t by G eorge E liot in a m asterful way. T h e a u th o r-n a rr a to r reveals her subtle relentless p en etratio n o f hidden and co ntra d ictory m otives o f hum an behaviour. T ito ’s character unfolds in action. C ritical stages in his degradation are accom panied by the com m entary o f the n a rr a to r - a p hilosop her and a sage. A t the beginning o f th e action T ito app ears as a young m an w ho a ttra cts a tte ntio n and sym pathy by his beauty and charm . T essa calls him “ as beautiful as tho se w ho go to P aradise” ; R o m o la associates his beauty w ith goodness. N ello the hairdresser, gives him a h aircu t free o f charge and intro duces him to F lorentin e scholars. T he fact th a t he was rescued from shipw reck can only heighten friendly interest in his person. T it o ’s m ind an d conscience are at the beginning in a state if inertia, his po ten tial,
b o th for good and for evil, seems to be at balance. Y et, Piero di C osim o w ith the insight o f an artist, penetrates the inclinations d o rm a n t in T ito and calls him “ a perfect m odel for a tr a ito r” :
Y oung m an, 1 am painting the picture of Sinon deceiving old Priam, and I should be glad of your face for my Sinon, if you’d give me a sitting1.
T ito looks a t him “ w ith a pale astonishm ent as if at a sudden accusatio n” , and the painter is unaw are th a t he had hit the vulnerable spot: T ito will indeed ab a n d o n an d deny his adopted father, he will be false to his wife; involved in politics as a secret agent he will betray B ernardo del N ero and S avo narola and die a violent death. In th e m om ent when P iero di C osim o asks him to give him a sitting the idea o f aban do ning his father has not yet crystallized in his consciousness; P iero ’s rem ark m akes him aw are o f the deeply h idden bu t not yet form ulated intention. A t this stage his conscience is still alive. D u rin g the m eeting w ith the B ardis, enchanted with R o m o la ’s beauty, he m akes his first m ove: he speaks ab o u t his lost fa ther as if he were dead. T h us begins the stage o f conccalm cnt. T ito conceals the fact th a t his father is alive, in T urkish slavery, and th a t he expects help from him . T h e m om ent when he sells the gems and o btain s a large sum o f m oney equal to “ a m a n ’s ra n so m ” or m ore and m akes his decision ab o u t locating the m oney at a good profit, is the “ generating inciden t” from which, as in classical d ra m a, all futher action proceeds. So far, how ever, the first act which launches T ito ’s m oral d eterio ratio n is know n only to himself. Very soon it is accom panied by ill-wishes tow ards those w ho becom e inconvenient o r dangerous to him: T ito wishes his fa th er dead, then he extends this wish to R o m o la’s b ro th er who brings the m essage from B aldassare. Y et, even at this stage, when he has already em barked on th e course o f pleasure-seeking th rou gh betrayal, T ito still has a conscience. T he n a rr a to r very subtly suggests th a t a change o f heart m ig ht still be possible. T ito reacts to allusions w hich are u nd erstoo d only by himself, while the speakers are un aw are o f the doub le m eaning o f th e w ords they have uttered. T h us he looks “ w ith pale aston ishm ent” a t the painter, he is shocked by B ardi’s evaluation o f the sum he got for his gems, he is afraid th a t he will lose R o m o la w hen she has learned from D in o th a t he had failed to answ er the m essage delivered by her bro th er. H is conscience, how ever, acts now in self-defense to signal the d ang er to his egoistic plans, no t to w arn him th a t by subm itting to a life o f pleasure he gradually destroys him self as a h u m a n being.
T he process o f T ito ’s m oral degeneration is presented in three relationships, perfectly interconnected: his relationship to B aldassare, to the tw o w om en
3 G . E l i o t , Romola, ed. and introd. A. Sanders, Penguin Books, London 1980, p. 87. All subsequent quotations are from this edition.
he deceives - his wife and T essa; and his political gam e in w hich he sinks from the position o f an esteem ed citizen o f F lorence to the statu s o f a triple agent eventually forced to escape from this city. T he c ha p ter A M an's R ansom is an excellent analysis o f T ito ’s inner struggle, “ his first real colloquy w ith him self” . A pparently the scene which presents a young m an deep in th o u g h t in his small roo m , in R enaissance F lorence, is very far from the extrem e situ ation o f C o n ra d ’s characters: Jim on bo ard th e P atn a, listening to the shouts “Jum p!, G eorge, jum p !” o r H eyst facing the three gansters invading his lonely island. Y et in the m oral sense it is also one o f th e extrem e situations in which a m an m ak e his choice - the choice w hich will determ ine the rest o f his life:
[...] This was his first real colloquy with himself: he had gone on following the impulses o f the moment, and one of those impulses had been to conceal half the fact; he had never considered this p art of his conduct long enough to face the consciousness of his motives for the concealment. W hat was the use of telling the whole? (149)
[...] D o I no t owe som ething to myscll? - said Tito inw ardly [...] Am I to spend my life in a wandering search? I believe he is dead. Ccnnini was right about my florins: I will place them in his hands to - morrow (150-151).
T h e n a r ra to r analyzes the m oral im plications o f T ito ’s decisions:
W hen the next morning, Tito put his determination into act he had chosen his colour in the game, and had given an inevitable bent to his wishes. He had made it impossible th at he should not from henceforth desire it to be the truth that his father was dead; impossible that he should not be tempted to baseness rather than that the precise facts o f his conduct should not remain for ever concealed.
U nder every guilty secret there is a hidden brood of guilty wishes, whose unwholesome infecting life is cherished by the darkness. The contam inating effect of deeds often lies less in the commission than in the consequent adjustm ent of our desires - the enlistment o f our self-interest on the side o f falsity; [...] Besides, in this first distinct colloquy with himself the ideas which had previously been scattered and interrupted had now concentrated themselves; the little rills o f selfishness had united and made a channel, so that they could never again meet with the same resistance (151).
T h us T ito becom es a “ son o f dark ne ss” - he leads a life o f falsehood an d intrigue w hich ultim ately brings him to cynicism and nihilism.
O n th e surface he is the incarnation o f beauty, jo y and youth. He is called jokingly “M esser E ndym ion” , com pared to Bacchus or Apollo; the w edding gift he m ak es to R om o la representing Bacchus crow ning A riad ne co ntain s his self-portrait and th at o f his wife. T he inner reality, the truth about his inner self, is suspected by tw o people: B ernardo del N ero, w ho m istrusts him from the beginning and latter calls him a “dem on” , and Piero di Cosim o, who intuitively sees in him a m odel fo r a tra ito r and later discovers a secret fear h aun ting the young m an . W ith the m o ral insight o f an artist he sees u nd er the surface o f things. H is statem ent: “T h a t young m an has seen a g h o st” - sums up T it o ’s m o ral predicam ent afte r he has denied B aldassare.
In her m inute analysis o f T ito ’s deterioration the n a rra to r shows how “ his talen t for concealm ent develops fast” in every new situation. T he im agery used by the n a rra to r suggests destruction and death; it is taken from scientific observation, very characteristic o f G eorge E liot’s interest in co n tem p o ra ry science, o r is poetic and allegorical co n tain in g Biblical allusions. T h us T ito ’s tho ug ht “ showed itself as active as a virulent acid eating its rapid way through all the tissues o f sentim ent” (168). F ra L u ca’s vision, o n the other hand, is a poetical com m entary on R o m o la ’s disastrous choice. It contains all the trad itio nal elem ents o f the im agery o f evil - the desert, droug ht, barrenness of the place w here the Devil lives. T h e blank face o f R o m o la’s h usband which finally takes the features o f the G re at T em pter himself, is in agreem ent with the intuitive assessm ent o f T ito ’s ch aracter by P iero di C osim o and it confirm s the epithet “ dem on ” with w hich B ernardo del N ero later refers to R o m o la’s h usb an d, - a tr a ito r’s face, whose m oral ugliness will be revealed at the end o f the dram a. It is m utatis mutandis - an anticipation o f the m o tif o f Dorian Gray: the beautiful surface opposed to a hideous inner reality. F r a L uca’s vision, very successful from the artistic p o in t o f view, is in agreem ent w ith the theological image o f Evil, associated with and sym bolized by w asteland.
T h e n a rra to r m ain tains a critical distance from T ito, which the reader shares w ith her. She shows T ito successful in his falsehood, and unaw are o f th e extent o f his subjection to evil; the contradictions in his th oug hts and m otives reveal th e contradiction s in hu m an n atu re m orally w eak, tem pted by pleasure:
[...] He was not out o f love with goodness, or prepared to plunge into vice: he was in his fresh youth, with soft pulses for all charm and loveliness; he had still a healthy appetite for ordinary hum an joys, and the poison could only work by degrees. He had sold him self to evil, b ut at present life seemed so nearly the same to him th at he was not conscious of the bond (170).
H e is still capable to speak self-critically to R om ola, to jud ge him self in term s o f good a nd evil and thus, paradoxically and perversely, m ain tain his good rep uta tion: “ Y ou are right, R om ola, except in think ing too well o f m e” (190).
In his first public denial o f B aldassare T ito acts spontaneously - he rejects his ado pted father as “ som e m a d m a n ” . F ro m this he proceeds to a calculated falsehood, a deliberate lie involving also a great risk, in Rucellai G ardens, b u t w hich ends w ith his success; the im prisonm ent o f B aldassare and his confinem ent to a m ental asylum. Y et, the first rejection, tho ug h o n the sp ur o f the m om ent, is in the n a rr a to r’s assessm ent, only apparently unprem editated. T ito ’s first public denial of B aldassare, is actually the result o f a long m o ral process:
He hardly knew how the words had come to his lips: there are m om ents when our passions speak and decide for us, and we seem to stand by and w onder. They carry in them the inspiration o f crime, that in one instant docs the work of long prem editation (284).
T he evil w hich grows on the conscious and subconscious level crystallizes into a deed which defines the stage o f betrayal T ito has reached and determ ines the fu rth e r course o f his action. “T ito w as experiencing tha t inexorable law o f h um an souls, th at we prepare ourselves for sudden deeds by the reiterated choice o f good and evil which g radually determ ines c h arac te r” (287). T he ac t o f public denial brings in a new fac to r in T ito ’s life - it is fear which the painter again instinctively discovers and expresses in his picture o f B acchus. T h e fear o f being discovered and unm asked, the fear o f being killed by B aldassare prom pts T ito to tak e a new course. H e is on the defence, in the sense th a t he does no t w ant to kill anybody, but he defends him self by the lie which becomes the n atural atm osp here in which he breathes, and which kills love. T he denial in Rucellai G ard en s is a prem editated act in which T ito, at the height o f social success, defeats the m an w ho is w eak, unprotected, m entally d isarranged, obsessed w ith the idea o f unm asking his adopted son w ho had betrayed him. F e ar brings T ito to m oral and m ental slavery “ as if he had been sm itten w ith a blighting disease” (287). But even at this stage T ito “ winces u nder the sense th a t he was deliberately inflicting suffering on his fa th e r” . T hese con tra dictory feelings m ak e him attem pt to conciliate B aldassare in T essa’s hom e, w hich is a n o th e r p ro o f o f his desire to live a com fortable life while acting false to th o se w ho tru s t him . “ T ito longed to have his w orld once aga in com pletely cushioned w ith goodw ill” (376). It is n o t so m uch rem orse th a t he feels b u t he is n o t pleased w ith the final denial o f B aldassare and the open w ar which now lies ahead o f him. T h ro u g h o u t his false gam e against B aldassare, R o m o la and the politicians he does n o t w an t to recognise the fact th a t “ he had borrow ed from the terrible usurer F alseho od [...] till he belonged to the usurer, body and soul” (425). C onsequently the d ra m a o f betrayal finds its solution in T ito ’s death. T he final stage o f T ito ’s career is an illustratio n o f “ the price o f treach ery” : T ito falls into th e tra p he has prep ared for him self. A s with A rth u r D o n n ith o rn e and later in the story o f B ulstrode or G w endolen H a rleth th e consequences o f th e past c an n o t be avoided.
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T ito ’s relation to R om ola seems to begin like a lyrical love story - a gift o f kindly fa te to b o th young people. So it seems to the external w orld, to o . T he irony lies in R o m o la ’s to tal ignorance o f T ito ’s p otential for
betrayal. T ito ’s beauty is for R om ola “ p a rt o f the finished language by w hich goodness speaks” (251). T h e im age o f Bacchus and A riadne, T ito ’s w edding gift, seems to be the image o f their own happiness. R om ola reads her ow n tho ug h ts and nobility o f m ind in T ito ’s eyes, and D in o’s vision, th ou g h disturb ing and enigm atic, has for her no connection with her union w ith T ito. It is interesting tha t this love story is highly idealized and lacks the eroticism o f M aggie-Stephcn relationship. T he n a rra to r uses m usic similes and light im agery in presenting the atm osphere o f their meetings:
[...] W hen she was near him [...] he was subded by a delicious influence as strong and inevitable as those musical vibrations which take possession of us with a rhytmic empire [...] (170).
[...] R om ola’s deep calm happiness encompassed Tito like the rich but quiet evening light which dissipates all unrest (174).
She appeals to his hedonistic and pagan n atu re, she is com pared to a pagan beauty, her h air to the gold o f P actolus, yet she will soon reveal the ch ara cter o f A ntigone rathe r th an th a t o f a pagan goddess.
R o m o la ’s disillusionm ent in the m an she loves, her discovery o f T it o ’s basensess and treachery com e gradually, m arked by dram atic m om ents o f the conflict betw een husband an d wife: the selling o f th e library by T ito, the first tra p laid by him for S avonarola and unexpectedly thw arted by R om o la, her m eeting w ith B aldassare, her discovery o f T essa and o f T ito ’s children, del N e ro ’s death. R o m o la ’s discovery o f tru th proceeds as in a Jam esian novel - it is a step by step revelation o f the m ystery o f the p ast with its inevitably disastrous consequences in the present. T he m eaning o f D in o ’s vision gradually unfolds itself, the blank face w hich, in the dream , takes the features o f the E ternal T em pter, becomes the face o f her husband.
R o m o la’s experience brings her to the fu ndam ental question o f the m eaning o f life. In no oth er novel did E liot present the search for G od in th e search for tru th and the m eaning o f existence, so d ram atically and poign an tly as in this one. R o m o la ’s story, in co ntra st to th a t o f T ito, presents a progress upw ard in the m oral and spiritual sense. It is no exaggeration to say th a t in R o m o la G eorge E liot creates - w itho ut realising it - the character o f a m od ern C hristian saint, a lay person dedicated to good.
T h e love story changes gradually to the d ra m a o f the d eterio ration o f m arriage. A s it was said, T ito m arries R o m ola for love; yet he loves her fo r him self and w ants to subject her to his plans and decisions. Since he m eets w ith op position the rift betw een them gradually w idens to end in to tal estrangem ent and m u tu al hostility. T he first conflict caused by his selling of B ardi lib rary m akes T ito aw are o f R om ola’s unforgiving attitud e once she discovers his capability for intrigue and betrayal. Since th a t m om ent they live a life ap a rt side by side, n o t together w ith each other.
F ew novelists can com pare with G eorge E liot in revealing the process o f th e d eterio ratio n o f m arriage throu gh m inute details - slight gestures, trifles which “m ak e epochs in m arried life” . W hen T ito sends R o m o la aw ay on th e afte rn o on he sells the library to the F rench he “ is ra th er disgusted w ith him self th a t he had n o t been able to look up a t R o m o la” . l i e shrinks from her n o t so m uch because he has scruples, but rath e r because he is n ot yet used perfectly to being false tow ard s her:
H e would have chosen, ir he could, to be even more than usually kind; but he could n ot, on a sudden, m aster an involuntary shrinking from her, which, by a subtle relation, depended on those very characteristics in him that made him desire not to fail in his m arks o f affection. He was about to take a step which he knew would arouse her deep indignation; he would have to encounter much that was unpleasant before he could win her forgiveness. And Tito could never find it easy to face displeasure and anger; his nature was one of those most remote from defiance or impudence, and all his inclinations leaned tow ards preserving R om ola’s tenderness. He was not tormented by sentimental scruples which, as he had demonstrated to himself by a very rapid course o f argum ent had no relation to solid utility; but his freedom from scruples did not release him from the dread o f w hat was disagreeable (344).
T h u s w hen the conflict ab o u t the library breaks o u t “ he winced under her ju d g m en t” , she is still “ the wife o f his love” ; “ he w ould have been equal to any sacrifice th at was no t un pleasan t” (345). In the process o f the de terio ratio n o f m arriage R o m o la’s nobility o f m ind gradually becomes inconvenient for him . H e rejects “ a stand ard disagreeably rigo ro u s” , which becom es a m enace to him , hence the sense o f grow ing repulsion on his p art. H is relationship w ith Tessa, a p a rt from sensual attra ctio n , is very well m o tivated psychologically: T essa is a “ refuge” from the norm s im posed by R o m o la and rejected by T ito, she is also the person w ho, in her naive sim plicity, adm ires and adores T ito - and this is w hat he needs. In her ignorance she creates a false im age o f T ito - “ a S an M ichele” , “ a saint from P arad ise” . T ro u g h o u t his double relationship with R o m o la and T essa T ito becomes a split personality. T essa brings ou t the soft and ten der side o f his n ature, he is, in his own way, fond o f her and w hen he is planning his escape from F lorence he w ants to a ba nd o n R om ola, b u t it never occurs to him to ab and on Tessa and the children. Paradoxically R om ola’a intellectual pow ers, her dignity, honesty and firm ness o f m ind which he a t first adm ires, challenge his resistance and only harden his nature. W hen R o m o la thw arts his first plot agains S avonaro la he sees her as an “ on-com ing deadly force” and he becomes afraid o f her. In the last stage o f their relation ship he feels no longer any tenderness for his wife:
The good-hum oured, tolerant Tito, incapable o f hatred, incapable alm ost of impatience, disposed always to be gentle tow ard the rest o f the world, felt himself becoming strangely hard tow ards his wife whose presence had once been the strongest influence he had
known. [...] R om ola had an energy of her own which thw arted his, and no man, who is no t exceptionally feeble, will endure being thwarted by his wife. Marriage must be either a relation of sympathy or o f conquest (492).
W hen he finds ou t th a t she know s the tru th ab o ut B aldassare he m ain tain s his lies, b ut he hardens tow ards her still m ore and the politeness o f his m an ners and speech gives way to a sarcastic tone.
T h e clash o f opposed wills, with R o m o la’s grow ing h o rro r as she discovers the extent o f T ito ’s treachcry, comes to a clim ax w ith B ern ard o del N e ro ’s arrestation . It is a d ouble climax, the intensity o f which derives from R o m o la ’s dou ble discovery: she has been outraged as a w om an on finding o ut T ito ’s relationship w ith T essa and she has every reason to suspect th at T ito is instrum ental in the im prisonm ent o f her g odfather, B ernard o del N ero. Significantly it is the third father betrayed by T ito . T here is now open w ar between them , though carefully m asked by T ito before the w orld. It ends in R o m o la’s flight from F lorence and T ito ’s d eath at th e h an ds o f B aldassare. T ito , at the beginning co m pared to pagan gods because o f his beau ty and charm , is now gradually presented th rou gh the dem on im agery. B ern ard o del N ero, as m entioned before, is the first to call him to R o m ola “ one o f th e dcm o ni” , w ho are “ o f no p articular c o u n try ” (252); R om ola, on discovering th a t he w ears the coa t o f m ail, says th a t it seems to her “ as if some m alignant fiend had chan ged ” his “ sensitive skin into a hard shell” (316). F o r B aldassare T ito ’s w ords sound “ like the m ock ing of a glib defying dem o n” (342).
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T h e historical-political them e o f the novel is a subject for a separate study. In the present p ap er we will confine ourselves to the m oral aspect o f T ito ’ political activity. W e w atch the struggle for a career and for im m ediate pleasure w hich is w ithin the grasp o f an egocentric individual. T ito is a m an w itho ut origin, un déraciné, ready to sell his services w itho ut an y sense o f allegiance to any cause. H is career, how ever, is show n w ithin a clearly defined political context. G eorge E liot app roached her subject equipped w ith a th ro u g h know ledge o f the political and historical events centring ro u nd the figure o f S avonarola, and, as in the analysis o f the m o ral d ra m a , she relentlessly pursues the m echanism o f the struggle for pow er. T h e n a r ra to r show s the cynicism o f the politicians an d the m eanness o f th eir agents w ith th e cool objectivity o f a m o de rn political observer - we are alm ost tem p ted to say - “ w ar co rresp on d ent” . She is devoid o f the ro m an tic tou ch which can be foun d in the w orks o f a realist she adm ired so m u ch - W alter S cott. In the ch ap te r, W hy Tito Was Safe, the analysis
o f T ito ’s political involvem ent is inevitably intertw ined w ith the psychological an d m oral assessm ent o f his m otives an d the secret springs o f the political gam e are ironically presented:
II was easy to him to keep up this triple game. The principle o f duplicity admitted by the Mediceans on their own behalf deprived them o f any standard by which they could measure the trustw orthiness o f a colleague who had no t, like themselves, hereditary interests, alliances and prejudices, which were intensely Mcdicean. In their minds to deceive the opposite party was a fair stratagem; to deceive their own party was a baseness to which they felt no tem ptation; and in using T ito’s facile ability, they were n o t keenly aw ake to the fact th at the absence o f traditional attachm ents which made him a convenient agent was also the absence o f w hat among themselves was the chief guarantee o f mutual honour. A gain, the Rom an and Milanese friends of the aristocratic party of A rrabbiati, who were the bitterest enemies o f Savonarola, carried on a system o f underhand correspondence and espionage in which the deepest hypocrysy was the best service, and demanded the heaviest pay; so th at to suspect an agent because he played a p art strongly would have been an absurd w ant of logic (556).
1 ito s falsehood leads him to a blind alley since he w ants to play a treacherous gam e and still have a good rep utation in the w orld:
F o r Tito himself, he was no t unaw are that he had sunk a little in the estim ate of the men who had accepted his services. He had that degree o f self-contemplation which necessarily accompanies the habit o f acting on well-considered reasons, of whatever quality; and if he could have chosen, he would have declined to see himself disapproved by men o f the world. H e had never m eant to be disapproved; he had m eant always to conduct himself so ably that if he acted in opposition to the standard of other men they should not be aw are o f it; and the barrier between himself and Rom ola had been raised by the impossibility o f such concealment with her. He shrank from condem natory judgem ent as from a climate to which he could not adapt himself (560).
O n the oth er han d the F lorentines w ho chose T ito as their agent “ silently concluded th a t this ingenious and serviceable G reek was in futu re rath e r to be used for public needs tha n for private intim acy” . A n d the a u th o r com m ents ironically:
Unprincipled men were useful, enabling those who had more scruples to keep their hands tolerably clean in a world where there was much dirty work to be done. Indeed, it was n o t clear to respectable Florentine brains, unless they had the F rate’s extravagant belief in a possible purity and loftiness to be striven for on this earth, how life was to be carried on in any departm ent w ithout hum an instruments w hom it w ould no t be unbecoming to kick or to spit upon in the act of handing them their wages (559-560).
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F o u rte e n years after the publication o f R om ola George E liot w rote to Jo h n B lackw ood, her publisher, afte r rereading her novel:
[...] There is no book o f mine ab ou t which I more thoroughly feel that I swear by every sentence as having been w ritten with my best blood [...] and with the m ost ardent care for veracity o f which my nature is capable4.
H er “best blood and ard en t care” are evident also in the artistic dcviccs perfectly subo rd inated to her m o ral vision.
T h e stru ctu re o f the novel relics on co ntras t and irony - very trad ition a l devices used skilfully on several levels. C o n trast run s th ro u g h o u t the plot in the m o tif o f app earan ce and reality, illusion and d isa pp ointm en t - the clash betw een w hat T ito seems an d w hat he really is. T he c o n trast operates on the level o f ch aracters - a p a rt from the tw o protagon ists, there are tw o fathe rs, B aldassare and B ardi; tw o sons - T ito and D ino; the sons and the fath ers are sharply o pposed to cach anoth er. T h ere is a d ra m a tic co n tra st betw een tw o w om en - R o m ola and T essa, which determ ines the plot; and in the background stands the great figure o f S avonarola with his condem nation o f th e perverse R enaissance w orld o f F lorence an d contem p o rary Italy while ascetic life is offered as a rem edy against the im m orality o f the age.
C o n tra s t is explored in the im agery o f beauty and joy - B acchus and A riad ne, E n dym ion, im ages o f opulence and p rofusion o f n a tu re and art - against the im age o f th e desert, stones and the E ternal T em pter from D in o ’s vision; th e w edding o f T ito and R om ola is im m ediately followed by the M ask o f D eath ; the im age o f “ poison in flow ers” (531) w hich com es to R o m o la ’s m in d, invites a com parison w ith Isabel A rc her w ho th in ks o f O s m o n d’s egoism hidden “ like a serpent in a ban k o f flow ers” .
It is no exagg eration to say th a t R om ola belongs to the m o st ironic novels in E nglish lite rature to be co m pared w ith B leak H ouse and N ostrom o. In th e first p a rt the read er shares the n a r r a to r ’s know ledge o f T i to ’s concealm ent o f tru th and then his falsehood is jux tapo sed w ith R o m o la’s en c han tm ent an d B ardi’s friendliness an d app reciation o f the yo ung m an . R o m o la sees T ito as “ a w reath o f spring” , he seems to brin g to h er life all th a t has been denied to her. T ito ’s ad m iratio n o f R om o la, how ever, is “ th a t o f a fleet soft coated dark-eyed an im al” , w hich looks “ as if he loved y o u” . T h u s T it o ’s hedonism is suggested, as well as his inability to love (as if he loved you). In the first m eeting betw een T ito and the B ardis the n a r ra to r intro duces ironic parallels: B ardi, a fa th er a ba nd on ed by his son, an d T ito - a son w ho ab an do n s his ado pted father; B ardi’s blindness has a sym bolic m eaning: he denies his son, a noble character, because D in o refuses to accept his values. W ith his w orsh ip o f the p ag an w orld he considers D in o ’s v oca tion an eccentric fan atic choice and a breach o f tru st tow ard s himself. T ito, p ag an at h ea rt, rejects C h ristian n orm s an d renounces
4 J. W. C r o s s , George Eliot’s Life as Related in her Letters and Journals, Vol. 2, ed. W. B lackwood and Sons, EdinbuTgh-London 1910, p. 439.
his filial duty: instead o f rescuing B aldassare w ith the m oney obtained for his gems - the value o f w hich is m ore th an “ a m a n ’s ra n so m ” - he places the m oney with a F lo rentin e ban ker and becomes B ardi’s secretary. B ardi, in his blindness b oth spiritual and physical, ad o pts a false m an as a son in place o f a tru e son he rejected. T h e conversation between the th ree charac ters, B ar-d i- T ito -R o m o la , is highly ar-d ra m atic in its ar-double m eaning; the ar-descriptive details o f T ito ’s appearance anticipate the future vision o f the E ternal T em pter:
[...] I have no need to add proofs and arguments in confirm ation of my word to Bartolomm eo. And I doub t not that this young m an’s presence is in accord with the tones o f his voice, so that, the d o o r being once opened, he will be his own best advocate.
[...] But before you go - here the old man, in spite o f himself, fell into a more faltering tone - you will perhaps perm it me to touch your hand? It is long since I touched the hand of a young man [...] Bardo stretched out his aged white hand, and Tito immediately placed his dark but delicate and supple fingers within it. Bardo’s cram ped fingers closed over them, and he held them for a lew minutes in silence. Then he said
-- “ Romola, has this young man the same complexion as thy brother - fair and pale?” “ No, father - Rom ola answered, with determined composure though her heart began to beat violently with mingled emotions” .
“The hair of Messere is dark - his complexion is dark”5 Inw ardly she said, “ will he mind it? will it be disagreeable? N o, he looks so gentle and good-natured” . Then aloud again - “ W ould Messere perm it my father to touch his hair and face?”
A nd w hen T ito readily assents, B ardo passes his han d over his head an d face and says:
“A h [...] He must be very unlike thy brother, Romola: and it is the better. You see no visions, I trust, my young friend?” (118-119).
T ito indeed is very unlike D in o and B ardi is totally un aw are o f the do uble m eaning o f his ow n w ords.
T h ere are several d ra m a tic dialogues, deeply ironic, between R o m ola and T ito as the conflict between them m ounts up to the climax. T ito is deliberately ironic, even sarcastic, as eg. in the dialogue after R om ola thw arted his attem pt to lead S av onarola in to a trap; T ito does no t yet know how m u ch R om ola know s ab o u t his past and he will never know th at she has discovered the truth ab o u t Tessa. H is w eapon against R o m ola is the th reat to B ernardo del N ero. T he final critical dialogue betw een them is to an extent a “ struggle in the d ark ne ss” since each o f them only suspects th e oth er w itho ut know ing the w hole tru th . T hu s the dram atic suspense is both in the situation and in the dialogue w hich results from it. One o f the high points in the n a r ra to r’s uses o f irony both situational and conversational, is R om o la’s unexpected discovery o f T essa w ho, in her naivete and ignorance, reveals the tru th to her. T he p oin t o f identification is T essa’s story o f N aldo, her husband. T essa shows R om o la a curl she h ad cut from T ito ’s hair:
” It is a beautiful curl” , R om ola said, resisting the impulse to withdraw her hand. “ Lillo’s curls will be like it, perhaps, for his cheek, loo, is dark. And you never know where your husband goes to when he leaves you?” “ N o”, said Tessa, putting back her treasures out of the childrens way. “ But 1 know Messer San Michele takes carc of him for he gave him a beautiful coat, all made o f little chains; and if he puts it on, nobody can kill him. And pershaps, if” Tessa hesitated a little, under a rccurrcnce of that original dreamy wonder about R om ola which had been expelled by chatting contact - “if you were a saint, you would take care of him, too, bccause you have taken care of me and Lillo” (548).
W e have m entioned already R om o la’s shrinking from T ito when she discovers th a t he is w earing the coat of m ail. T h e ju xtapo sitio n o f these tw o scenes, ignorance and naivete against know ledge, the shock o f dis-covery experienced by R om o la arc am ong G eorge E liot’s high artistic achievem ents.
Iron y is heightened by the device o f coincidencc which plays an essential role in the structural pa ttern o f the novel. Only H ard y could have used this m o tif w ith so m uch em phasis. Y et, the reader docs no t feel, as he som etimes does reading H a rd y ’s novels, th at coincidence has been handled in an arbitra ry way, or th a t credibility has been strained. In Romola coincidence and inevitability are very subtly interconnected. It is p ure chance th a t B aldassare should ap p ear in the cortège o f prisoners d u rin g the cerem ony o f welcom ing the F rench king in F lorence; it is coincidence th at R om ola and B aldassare m eet; or tha t R om ola m eets T essa and later discovers T ito ’s o ther family. It is coincidence th a t B aldassare is at the spot where T ito escapes from the pursuit o f the rabble, ready to kill him , ju st a t the m om ent w hen he seems to he past danger. But while H ardy presents the tragedy o f m an defeated by powers above him , E liot, the m oralist w ho reveals the d ra m a o f conscience, shows F ate op erating thro ug h m an. T here is no escape from the consequences o f the m oral choice m ade by m an. T he city o f 15th C entury F lorence is a confined w orld - no less th an L on don in B leak House - people are bro ught together by com m on interests, political events in which they participate, they cross and recross the paths o f one another. I t is therefore quite probable and possible th at R om ola should m eet Baldassare and T essa on her way. T h rou g h ou t the ac tion the read er has the sense of the inevitability o f the disaster caused by T ito ’s falsehood and betrayal. H e tries hard to kill his conscience, and yet B aldassare is present in his life from the m om ent he denied him until the m om ent o f his death. I f he rejects rem orse he c ann ot free him self from fear. M eeting B aldassare w hen he seems to have escaped danger in his flight from F lorence has alm ost a symbolic m eaning; it sum s up the total significance o f his m oral defeat: he stands face to face with his conscience. T here is no escape from the consequences o f his choice. T he m o m ent o f d ea th becomes the ultim ate revelation o f truth.
T hu s the career o f the prom ising young m an we see at the beginning has ru n its full course - it ends in a calam ity he has broug ht on himself. A t the end o f the novel, in her conversation w ith Lillo, R om ola sums up the m eaning o f T ito ’s defeat, and suggests the irrevocability o f a w asted life:
[...] Lillo, if you mean to act nobly and seek to know the best things G od has put within the reach o f men, you must learn to fix your mind on that end, and not on what will happen to you because o f it. And remember, if you were to choose something lower, and make it the rule of your life to seek your own pleasure and escape from what is disagreeable, calamity might come just the same; and it would be calamity falling on a base mind which is the one form of sorrow which has no balm in it, and that may well m ake a man say, - “It would have been better for me if I had never been born” (675).
T he w ords m ay seem to verge on sheer didacticism , yet the n a rra to r-artist once again gives a pointed ironic m eaning to the w hole scene: Lillo listens to R o m o la astonished by w hat she says, ign ora nt o f the fact th a t the p o rtra it she presents to him is th at o f his own father.
G eorge Eliot did n o t intend to w rite a “ religious” novel in the sense th at M auriac or B ernanos are considered “ C atholic” writers. Y et the m oral d ra m a o f T ito is presented in agreem ent w ith the theological vision o f evil. T he n a rra to r also uses religious symbolism in the presen tation o f T ito ’s m o ral d eterio ration - it is introduced in the Biblical allusion o f D in o ’s vision and in the com m entary o f the n arrato r, notably in the epithet “d em on ” applied to T ito by different persons, in the allegorical figures o f the E ternal T em pter, G reat U surer F alsehood, in the im agery o f darkness and death. A ndrew S anders calls “ R om ola G eorge E lio t’s “m o st achieved, m editative novel”6. H er m editatio n on religious and m oral problem s is also reflected in an interesting way in her correspondence. Several years before R om ola was w ritten, after the publication o f A dam Bede, G eorge E liot w rote to M . d ’A lbert, a Swiss friend o f hers:
I think I hardly ever spoke to you o f the strong hold evangelical C hristianity had on me from the age of fifteen to two and twenty, and of the abundant intercourse I had had with earnest people of various religious sects. When I was at Geneva, I had n o t yet lost the attitude o f antagonism which belongs to the renunciation of any belief; also I was very unhappy, and in a state of rebellion and discord tow ards my own lot. Ten years o f experience have w rought great changes in that inward self. I have no longer any antagonism tow ards any faith in which hum an sorrow and hum an longing for purity have expressed themselves; on the contrary, I have a symphathy with it th at predom inates over all argumentative tendencies. I have not returned to dogm atic Christianity - to the acceptance o f any set o f doctrines as a creed - a superhuman revelation of the unseen - but I see in it the highest expression of the religious sentiment that has yet found its place in the history o f mankind, and I have the profoundest interest in the inward life o f sincere Christians of all ages. M any things that I should have argued against ten years ago, I now feel myself too ignorant, and too limited in moral sensibility, to speak o f
w ith confident disaprobation. On th at question of our future existence to which you allude, 1 have undergone the sort o f change I have jus t indicated, although my most rooted conviction is th at the immediate object and the proper sphere o f all our highest em otions are our struggling fellow-mcn in their earthly existence7.
T h u s her agnosticism seems open to revaluation and consequently the a u th o r herself - to spiritual evolution.
In R om ola “ the hu m an longing for pu rity ” is represented by R om ola herself w ho finds self-fulfillm ent in her dedication to her fellow beings and discovers the m eaning o f existence in love. F aithful to the ideas o f her age, in p articu lar to the positivist philosophy o f C om te and his idea o f the “religion o f h um an ity” the au th o r m akes R o m o la, to a great extent, the ex ponent o f her ow n faith. Y et the universal m eaning o f the novel com es o u t fully in the co n trast betw een R o m o la’s search for tru th and the “m ystery o f in iqu ity” represented in T ito ’s dram a. It is the study o f the d ar k e r side o f h um an n ature th a t intensifies the m etaphysical dim ension o f G eorg e E lio t’s w ork.
Institute o f English Studies University of Łódź
Adela Styczyńska
R O M O L A G EO R G E ELIO T JA K O P O W IEŚĆ PSY C H OLO G IC ZNA - STU D IU M D EG RA D A CJI M O R A L N E J
Tem atem artykułu jest powieść psychologiczna i historyczna G eorge Eliot, w której znalazła wyraz filozofia m oralna pisarki i jej zainteresowania problem atyką zła. Filozofia George Eliot ukształtow ana przez filozofów angielskich X IX w. oraz w dużym stopniu przez pozytywizm A ugusta Comte’a m a swoje źródło również w jej purytańsko-protestanckim rodow odzie. W ybitny wpływ n a jej poglądy wywarli także teologowie i filozofowie niemieccy, których dzieła tłumaczyła: Strauss - The Life o f Jesus i Feuerbach - The Essence o f Christianity. M im o krytycznej postaw y wobec objawionej religii Eliot stawia w centrum swoich powieści zagadnienie odpowiedzialności moralnej i walki między dobrem a złem. W wizji Eliot postęp ludzkości jest uzależniony od postępu jednostki, toteż w powieściach jej występuje często postać ofiarnej entuzjastki, „żarliwej duszy” , gotowej d o wyrzeczeń w działaniu dla do bra ludzkości. Są to często kobiety i one to stanow ią o tym, że „świat staje się lepszym miejscem do życia” . Z drugiej strony, auto rka przeciwstawia im postaci egoistów, którzy ham ują postęp niszcząc otoczenie i siebie samych, w bezwzględnym dążeniu do własnych celów. Ilustracją tego procesu destrukcji jest historia T ita Melemy, męża Romoli, w analizowanej powieści. Jest to dram at upadku m oralnego i śmierci hedonisty, który dążąc do osiągnięcia sukcesu i przyjemności staje się ofiarą własnych intryg i zakłamania. Eliot przedstaw ia tę postać w potrójnej relacji - do
przybranego ojca, którego Tito opuszcza i zdradza; do dwóch kobiet - Romoli i Tessy, nieślubnej m atki jego dzieci, i w politycznej grze w burzliwych czasach działalności Savonaroli. D ram atycznej akcji, w której główna postać dokonuje konsekwentnie wyboru na coraz to nowym etapie zdrady, towarzyszy komentarz autora-narratora, moralisty i filozofa, analizującego potencjał zła w człowieku. Potencjał ten, raz wyzwolony i ukierunkowany, prowadzi nieuchronnie do sam odcstrukcji. Z drugiej strony, postać tytułowa, R omola, osiąga pełną dojrzałość m oralną w cierpieniu i oddaniu się ludziom.
K onstrukcja Romoli sięga do tradycji dram atu; auto rka wprowadziła ścisłą zależność przyczynow ą w akcji, antytetyczność postaw moralnych, któ rą m ożna w yprowadzić wręcz z tradycji moralitetu; posługuje się ironią zarówno w sytuacjach, w dialogu, jak i w komentarzu narratorskim ; w prowadza czynnik przypadkow ości (coincidence) umiejętnie przeplatając go z nieuchronną koniecznością wynikającą z logiki raz dokonanego wyboru.
W konkluzji autorka podkreśla chrześcijańskie źródła poglądów pisarki mimo jej agnos- tycyzmu. Problematyka wyboru m oralnego i jego konsekwencji przedstaw iona w twórczości G eorge Eliot znajduje swych znakomitych kontynuatorów w XX w., w powieści Josepha C onrada, G raham a G reena i W illiama G oldinga.
