Characters in Conflict in Adam Bede

Adam Bede, the masculine hero of George Eliot's novel by the same name, is by no means a Romantic hero. Though he possesses an admirable strength, vitality, and moral character, he possesses no vision, no extraordinary qualities which stretch our imaginations or lead us to question ourselves. Dinah appears to be a complement to his character. She is strong, passionate, and determined. She possesses an unbendable will to do what is right before God and encourage that same commitment from others.

The novel hints that the union between Adam and Dinah with which it closes is to be a happy and fruitful remedy to the painful events they experience. But the final chapters admit another reading. The tone of the final chapters of the novel is, as one critic has written, "dark and uneasy." The conclusion of the novel neglects all of the important events and processes of the novel. The fates of the two main female characters, Hetty and Dinah, seem entirely opposed to what we have been prepared to expect for them. Hetty's fate is unclear. She is the vixen of the novel, the woman of passion who is condemned by the community and by her own family. She refuses to be incorporated into the communal life of the Poysers and adheres to a life of reckless carnality. If the novel as a whole is a comment on sin, the figure of Hetty comes closest to a symbolic depiction of sin. Through her own discretion and naiveté, she comes to murder her own child and is convicted of that murder in a land far from home.

By the moment of her execution, the reader has come to expect her death as retribution for the pain she has caused, not only to her own child and family, but Adam most of all. Adam is the novel's moral compass, the heart most closely aligned with the allegiance of the narrator. Because she has so wronged his affections, we come to demand justice for Hetty in the form of her execution. But the last minute reprieve, occasioned by Arthur's intervention in her plight, destroys any hope of justice. As quickly as Arthur rides in with the stay of execution, Hetty's story is dropped from the novel. We read no more of her guilt, her remorse, her amends. This tension is grows as we consider the fates of both Adam and Dinah, whose story picks up the underlying concern with justice.

Adam's character is the moral foundation of the novel. As the influence of Christianity fades into the setting of the novel, moral guidance is determined by the example of Adam Bede, the new Victorian man. Determined, focused, single-minded: Adam is the figure of masculine action. Once he has a plan, he carries out that plan to perfect fruition. His character of mind can also be seen in his actions: his "habitual rapid pace" tells his neighbors and the reader that he is on a mission (277).

Adam articulates a belief in the essential nature of man and the importance he attaches to a man's actions. He belies that "There's nothing but what's bearable as long as a man can work . . . the natur o' things doesn't change, though it seems as if one's own life was nothing but change" (119). Indeed, of any character in the novel, Adam remains closest to being the man he is at the start of the novel. Adam is troubled by thinking too long on a matter because he is a man of action. After his father's death, he finds consolation in making his coffin. After attacking Arthur, he eases his guilt by doing simple tasks around the cottage, fetching water and lighting the lamp. He is always "relieved to have an active task" (293) to take his mind off of itself.

Adam is no visionary, no dreamer building castles in the clouds. He is governed by practicality and by his familiarity with his surrounding environment. Although infatuated with the enchanting Hetty, Adam "checked himself" for such nonsense: "A pretty building I'm making, without either bricks or timber. I'm up I' the garret a'ready, and haven's so much as dug the foundation" (205-6). As we can see, his metaphors are grounded in physical, manual labor, a working man's philosophy. Adam is defined by his community as a man of substance, not profound thoughts or words. Mr. Poyser tells Dinah that Adam is "not one o' them as is all straw and no grain" (145). Adam lives with the belief that "a man's plain duty" is to perform the task he was created to perform, a utilitarian philosophy in which man is defined by function.

Dinah has a similar personality to Adam. She is a woman defined by her action, in her case, her preaching to the multitudes. She is a proto-feminist in her decision to go against the standards of her community in an effort to deliver the word of God. Both she and Adam are openly and secretly admired by others: Adam by the general community and Arthur in particular and Dinah by Seth and, during and after her trial, by Hetty. The two characters are perfect masculine and feminine embodiments of the Christian doctrine of good works, proving that moral standing is achieved through action.

The tension in their relationship which closes the novel derives from Dinah's forced retirement from the preaching community. Her spirit is essentially active, communal, and passionate, much like Hetty's. The reader is at a lost to understand how and why a passionate and morally resolute woman like Dinah could give up her calling to become a wife to Adam. The major part of the novel defines her as a woman in charge of her own life who obeys God rather than man. Why she gives up her vocation is a mystery not elaborated by the narrator, who shares Adam's reverence for action. This inconsistency in the novel disrupts its formal integrity and impacts the reader's allegiance and empathy for the character of Adam.

Eliot, George. Adam Bede. New York: Penguin Group, 1981.