Did you lose your copy of Silas Marner? Read the text online.

In Class WebQuest: Read "Ahead of Her Time: George Eliot" on the PBS website. Answer the questions that follow.

1. When and where was Mary Ann Evans born?

2. Who was Evans' closest companion in her childhood?

3. How did Maria Lewis influence Evans as a young girl?

4. How did Evans' faith change in her early twenties?

5. How did Evans' family (father and brother, in particular) and friends (Maria Lewis) react?

6. To what professional opportunities did Evans' relationship with John Chapman lead?

7. What didn't Evans marry George Lewes?

8. How did Evans choose the pseudonym "George Eliot"?

9. What is ironic about the way that George's wife was viewed versus the way that Eliot was viewed?

10. What seem to be the main themes in Eliot's novels?

11. Where is Eliot buried? Where had she wished to be buried?

How does Eliot's biography relate to Silas Marner? Note the theme of loss in Eliot's life. When she lost her faith, she also lost her closeness to her father, who left her little money in his will despite her having cared for him for years, and she lost her closeness to her brother Isaac, who shunned her until after Lewes' death. Upon Eliot's marriage to John Cross, Isaac sent her a note of congratulations.  "I have much pleasure in availing myself of the present opportunity to break the long silence which has existed between us," he wrote. Eliot experienced a certain degree of social isolation for her unconventional beliefs and choices, while others who had committed similar indiscretions, like George Lewes' wife Agnes, were treated with sympathy. As you read Silas Marner, note the roles that loss, isolation, injustice, religious faith, and family play in the novel.

Further Biographical Information

George Eliot: Biography . . . From Mary Ann Evans to George Eliot at the University of Virginia

George Eliot: 1819-1890 at the University of Texas

Novel Study

The text of Silas Marner online

Silas Marner Study Guide at Book Rags

Silas Marner Novel Guide

Brief Chapter Summary from the University of Wales

Study Guide: Download your study guide in Word from the Documents page. You may also access the questions at this link.