Characterization Of George Eliot In Novels is unforgettable for reader due to its realism and tragic effect. When we discuss and analyse most of the novels of George Eliot in detail, we come to know the fact that it is her power of depicting a character which makes any character life-like and real. For example, when we have a deep analysis, of her famous tragic novel “A Mill on the Floss” in which we come across Mary Evans in the character of Maggie, same like matter is here; when we read or discuss this novel, we also meet a very towering and overwhelming personality that is the father of Maggie in “A Mill on the Floss” named as Robert Evans.

Being the central character of the novel, we observe that all the minor and major other characters are linked with him. There is no exaggeration in saying this that the story of the novel has been written from his point of view and character. As far as the matter of fact is concerned, he is the close-pen portrait of the novelist’s own father; Robert Evans; because there had been observed the many resemblances between these two characters.

He is being a carpenter by profession, leads a very simple and humble life with his parents and a brother Seth Bede. Adam Bede is a man of supreme & dignified qualities and has a very unique and towering personality. He is always sincere, honest and good humoured, not only to himself but to others in his treatment and conduct. His honesty and integrity are always free from any doubt and suspicion. Because of these qualities, he is always the target of Mr. Bury who, being his proprietor, wants to see him as his son-in-law.

As he is an integral person and his egoism does not permit him to be a toy in the hands of his relative in laws. It is his self-respect which promptly rejects the heavy offer in spite of the temptation of being the business partner of Mr. Bury. Mr. Bury who without any condition, promptly makes him his partner after judging and analysing his strong character and dedicated personality. It is one of the traits of his character that he always takes his profession as a hobby. The reason being, he is a dutiful man who always feels a huge pleasure and satisfaction in his work.

He is God fearing person and honest and knows well that God’s all-seeing eye sees. He is a man of splendid moral courage and always thinks that whatever he does, should be well-done and should all be done in time. On the basis of these qualities, Arthur makes him the manager of the woods and Poysers feel that Hetty cannot do better than marrying Adam. Even they start feeling honoured and respected when he courts her and is engaged or betrothed to her.

His outlook is very broad and he is of the view that every person should seek God according to his own philosophy. When Seth is mocked at the time of being Methodist, he minds it and forbids the workers because he always considers the work as a part of his religion and he worships his duty. He is always a fair dealer with others and with their concerns and works and expects others to be fair too.

If he has a weak point in his character and that is only his love for Hetty. It is his passionate love which makes him blind to Hetty’s true nature.

That’s why he overlooks her weaknesses and faults in her love. Hetty is being loved by two persons at the same time; one is poor. Adam and the other are rich — expected to be Squire Arthur. She rejects the poor Adam and prefers the other. Even then she is ready to marry Adam after a quarrel between the two lovers. Adam forgets all this and is happy but when he comes to know about the illegitimate pregnancy of Hetty from Irwine that it was the result or fruit of her unfair relations with Arthur who was a rival of him; though, here he got upset but on the basis of humanity, even then Adam stood by Hetty in her trial and bore great pains. During the trial, Adam and Dinah got closed and this closing relation turned into love.

Here we see that though his love for Hetty is wholehearted one yet he transfers his love to Dinah and this very love gives him a new strength.

As far as the other side of his character is concerned, it is about his sense of righteousness and vanity that he has clarity of vision and can easily judge and see everything vividly and dearly while others cannot see it, is actually a basic flaw in his character, but we see that the course of the novel shows the gradual purgation of his flaw in the character.

He gets this purgation after facing the number of sufferings. It is his self-righteousness which is responsible for his bad relations to his father, mother, Arthur and even to Hetty. But we see the gesture of reconciliation between Adam and Arthur as proof that new Adam has recovered his fault.

After getting married to Dinah, he becomes or seems to be a more polished man than before. Gradually, he shuns off his pride in his own righteousness and attains a more apt and genuine but complex understanding of life. Step by step, he attains the virtue of humanity and finally becomes conscious of his own short-comings and in this way he becomes able to differentiate between the positive and negative side of life.Here we also observe that the novelist presents him in a process of education which can be clearly seen in his relations to the guilt of Hetty.

Though a change comes slowly in the strange character of Adam yet it does come. It is the influence of Adam‘s love and marriage with Dinah that he becomes absolutely a complete man and a fully integrated personality. There is no doubt that the power of love reforms all his faults and he becomes a new man after his marriage.

Some critics are of the view that there is a balance between Adam’s head and heart and some other coming critics express their opinion in the words that he is too good to be true. It is said that he is a perfect human being but the truth is different one.

To conclude this topic, we can say clearly and absolutely that in the beginning, he is not a perfect man but gradually he is totally changed through a process of love and suffering. It is the power of love which leads him to the fulfillment of his personality and the process of his growth and maturity is completed which makes his head and heart fully integrated.

Character Sketch of Clym Yeobright In “Return Of The Native” is on of the central character of the story. Whenever a reader of any literature, studies any literary composition as fiction, drama, novel, etc. He comes to know the theme, subject matter as well as the central figure to whom the whole story or action of the plot revolves round that is called later as a hero or heroine of that particular literary composition.

As far as the matter of “The Return of the Native” is concerned, here Clym Yeobright is the central figure or character who is the real life and soul of the novel. It seems that the story of the novel has been written from his point of view because all the major and minor characters are directly and indirectly linked with him.Actually, he is the “native” and whose “return” to Egdon Heath leads the destinies of the others to their finalization.

He has his unique and most striking qualities in his personality which are his intense desire to serve his fellows, his deep love for his mother, her strong love for Egdon Heath, his pure and genuine passion of love for Eustasia, his outstanding capacity for endurance of misfortune. Clym is a man of worldly knowledge and experiences as he lived and traveled in the most advanced cities of the world. He is a man of deep observations and meditations.

He is of the view that “thought is a disease of flesh.” His philosophy of life is very apt as he says that beauty and philosophy do not go together. Same is the case with this handsome guy. During his stay in Paris, he even does not forget his native people in a single moment as he has always had a great love and devotion for his native town. He is not attracted by the artificial and pompous life of a metropolitan city of Paris rather he feels himself bored there but he feels joyful and happy in his birth place. He wants to lead his remaining life in Egdon Heath because he loves this place by the cores of his heart and considers this place as a paradise to live.

He even gets angry with his wife Eustasia when she speaks some ill words against Heath. It is his. In materialistic nature, he is not impressed by the materialistic and worldly trends of the people of Paris whose only aim is to gather the riches and wealth of the world. That’s why, he says goodbye to this life of worldly pursuits and returns to his native life which is much closer to spirituality and nature.

He makes the decision to come back to Heath so that he can open a school there in order to educate or serve the people there. Though he is not supported or encouraged by his mother in his plan yet he is determined in his purpose of educating the people of his native place.

As he is a man of knowledge and is highly qualified as compared to the other school masters in the area. Being sincere, faithful and selfless, he strictly adheres to his intention of serving the poor and ignorant subjects of this background area. In fact, he wants to impart and convey the true information and knowledge of the artificial life of Paris or big cities. Through his stay in Paris, he wants to tell the importance of simple, spiritual and natural life of the native towns. As we know that Clym is dead, determined in his purpose and decision and he does not give up his intention even when Eustasia urges him not to do so and go back to Paris.

Only it is his semi-blindness y or weak eyesight which compels him to close his educational project otherwise he would have carried for his whole remaining life. However, his zeal for such great human purpose is really praiseworthy.

Wildeve has rightly said about him;

 “He is an enthusiastic about ideas, and careless about outward things.” 

As he is a man of loving nature so he loves every body by the cores of his heart. It is very obvious that he is attracted by the beauty and charms of Eustasia and falls in love with Eustasia. Though his mother does not approve of his choice of Eustasia as his life partner and awares him that she is not suitable wife for him yet we see that he adheres to his decision. Eustasia has already informed him of her past love – affair with Wildeve so his mother’s arrow remains fruitless. He leaves his mother’s home and settles in a small cottage. According to his mother, he is obstinate and pig-headed.

Apart from these minor flaws in his character, he is also somewhat a man of romantic touch. After being allured and attracted by the charms & physical beauty of Eustasia, he says to her, 

“Let me look right into your moon lit face and dwell on every line and curve in it.” 

There is no doubt that his passion of love for Eustasia is genuine, pure, deep and enthusiastic but his passion is hurt or defeated when his project of educating the people is not only supported or encouraged but badly hated by Eustasia and his mother. Eustasia hates such kinds of projects and does not like that her husband should live in this backward atmosphere.

Eustasia, being an outsider, does not like living permanently in Heath but also wants her husband to leave Heath. On the basis of these differences of opinions, their marriage soon gets spoiled and ultimately they are separated from one another. Clym proves to be a thoughtful, reflective, contented and intellectual type of man while Eustasia is absolutely artificial, materialistic, discontented, weak-minded. and passionate. Clym is absolutely contented with the atmosphere of rural life while Eustasia is dissatisfied with it and always dreams of living and enjoying the pleasures of the life of Paris.

As Clym’s eyesight gets weak and he accepts his semi-blindness as a decree of fate and adopts a humble occupation of Furze-cutting to earn his livelihood. Eustasia does not like this occupation of her husband and feels more humiliated and degraded.

Fate also plays its role in the form of accidents and co-incidents in separating Clym and Eustasia. Eustasia is not only different from her husband temperamentally but also from her mother-in-law. It is his hard luck that he loses both his mother and dear wife. He tries his best to save them both but fate is dominant in both cases. He loves his mother devotedly and the sorrow & anguish which he expresses on finding her dead body, are beyond in describing in words. It is her death which breaks his heart and he holds himself responsible for the deaths of his wife and mother.

How fate plays its role so hard on him that he wanted to go to his mother’s house for reconciliation but unfortunately, she died on the same day. Clym is a man of keeping heart of an affectionable and considerate level and wants to do something of welfare and betterment for Thomasin. When she becomes a widow and he loses Eustasia, he even decides to propose to her just for her sake otherwise he is least interested in getting married again.

At the end of the novel, we see that due to his semi blindness, Clym becomes a preacher. As he has a great interest in educating his people with ethics and morals so, he, being a lecturer on moral subjects, shows a broader and liberal attitude and becomes a secularist in his creeds.

To conclude this topic, it can be said vehemently and forcefully that character of Clym Yeobright dominates on all the other characters. As a whole, character of Clym Yeobright plays multidimensional roles in this novel. All the major and minor characters are directly and indirectly connected with him. He was a careerist in Paris. In the whole course of the novel, he either plays.role of an educationist or Furze-cutting or as a responsible husband or as a preacher.