Table of ContentsReligionSuperstition and PrejudiceConclusionWork CitedIn this essay I will analyze religion and prejudice in Silas Marner by giving quotes from both the book and the articles. First, I will give some information about George Eliot and his views on religion. Next, I will summarize the religion of the Victorian era. George Eliot spent 21 years on a farm in Warwickshire. These years were useful for Eliot in knowing people. George Eliot did not have a strict attitude towards religion, morality and politics. Participating in the community of free thinkers allows you to find new ideas. Interpreting George Eliot's religious point of view is perhaps the only way to know Eliot's ideology and understand his works. According to some critics, Eliot was an atheist. Other critics said Eliot was a religious symbol of his time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayReligionIn the Victorian era, religion was very popular for a while. The society was very religious. Many churches were visited by people. They read the Bible in depth and organized their lives according to the Bible and the Church. They feared God. But after a while, people started questioning religion. This was because of industrialization and new scientific developments. The emergence of scientific ideologies was the main reason for the decline of old religious beliefs and superstitions. Thanks to this progress, the level of literacy has increased. People became well educated. After the industrial revolution, job opportunities grew and people from the countryside began to come to the city to work. Communication became easier and traveling was no longer difficult. Through these developments, people found solace and started moving away from religion and spirituality. Because they were blindly dependent on the Church, they could not see their right in the face of all the developments. After industrialization, the number of people wanting to become a priest or minister was too few. They chose to do business and scientific work. During this period, the Church lost its power and authority over people against science. Liang Zhang described the Victorian era thus in his article "A Moral World Without God: On George Eliot's Religion of Humanity in Silas Marner": "The Victorian period saw the emergence of diverse ideas frequently. In the field of science and technology, the Victorians introduced the modern idea of ​​"invention", the notion that man could create solutions to problems and create new ways to improve himself and herself. improve its environment. When it came to religion, the Victorians experienced a great era of doubt and people began to cast doubts on institutional Christianity on a large scale. In ideology, politics, and society, the Victorians created astonishing innovations and changes: democracy, feminism, unionization, labor, socialism, Marxism, and other modern movements were inspired. The most serious challenge faced by religion in the 19th century came from the field of biology. Evolution, progress and natural laws were intertwined in the understanding of nature. Darwin was a well-known name around the world. After all this information, when we check religion in Silas Marner, maybe we can say that this is the most complex religion theme everused in a novel. When we read a novel, we can understand that the narrator has already been exposed to pity events from superstitious people. He explains it in his novel: "Such strange and persistent echoes of ancient demon worship could perhaps even now be picked up by the diligent listener among the gray-haired peasants, for the crude mind hardly associates the ideas of power and benevolence. An obscure conception of power which, through much persuasion, can be made to refrain from causing harm, is the form which the feeling of the Invisible most easily takes in the minds of men who have always been close to the primitive needs and for whom a life of hard work has never been illuminated by enthusiastic religious faith. For them, pain and accident offer wider possibilities than joy and enjoyment: their imagination is almost devoid of images which nourish desire and hope, but is entirely nourished by memories which are a perpetual pasture to to fear. Through this quote we can say that the narrator tends to turn towards religion. He is against superstitions and not against religion. According to him, God, called “Invisible”, is a good and positive power. He believes that God is the one who brings “hope” to the whole world. This is why, if we think about it for a moment, we will understand that religion is not against “joy and pleasure,” as he said. Through this, “the ideas of power and benevolence” can be fully supported. Superstitions are the idea of ​​believing something that does not have a logical basis. These ideas have no real results, they are not proven. When we read the quote, it is clear that he is fighting against superstitions and that the "rude" mind of the peasant "was never enlightened by enthusiastic faith." The other expression shows us that the narrator is making a comparison between superstition and enthusiastic religious faith. Divine inspiration is the source of this idea. This quote gives us an opportunity to analyze religion and pushes us to make comparisons between religions and people. Apart from the narrator's ideas, the writer has also put his ideas through the novel. His idea was to replace religion with something new. Because she thinks religion is not the way to solve problems. When we look at Silas's ideas, we will see that the writer is partly right. Sila's connection to the church was emotional. He thinks his attitude towards religion is as simple as a child's love for his parents. He is not aware of the essence of religion. A quote reflects it thus: “His first movement after the shock had been to work on his loom: and he continued his work tirelessly, without wondering why, now he had arrived at Raveloe. He worked all night to finish Mrs. Osgood's table linens ahead of schedule, without anticipating in advance the money she would put into his hands for the work. He seemed to weave, like the spider, by pure impulse, without reflection. The work of each man, pursued with constancy, thus tends to become an end in itself and thus to fill the loveless chasms of his life. Examining this quote will give us the writer's idea. According to his religion, it should be replaced by something else. It gives us a message to escape from problems that cannot be solved by religion. Everyone should be busy with their work and concerns. George Eliot wants thinking without self-interest to also be a way of dealing with life's problems. He devoted himself to his work. While the other town considered him guilty, Silas formed a relationship while working atRaveloe. Working was a way to forget his past. He did his work for pleasure and for himself, to escape problems. Antti Nuutila explains religion in his article “The Function of Religion in Silas Marner and the Slave” thus: “There are two different societies represented in the story, both Christian. The functions of a religious community are described from multiple perspectives. We are offered both an internal and external point of view. We are shown the effect of a man's expulsion from one religious community and his subsequent inclusion in another. Thematically, the novel has a lot to offer for a religion-based read. Religion is like a house: a construction that brings people together, allows them to live together comfortably, and determines the specific form that a community takes. Living conditions were not good, everyone wanted to get something from others. Each man looked after his own interest. This is why I cannot agree with George Eliot's idea. When people were this cunning, the only way to prevent immorality in public was a religion. If we rebel against God or run away from religion, it will never be sincere. Religion should be the first criterion to connect people to each other. Everything has a reason, if we move away from religion it will be a defeat for us. Because through all these problems, worries; we are in an examination by God. So we can say that through Silas, George Eliot showed all his feelings, beliefs and thoughts against God. For example; G. Eliot did not believe in the church because she believes that moral behaviors are not provided by religion or the church. This inspired Silas to G. Eliot. At the beginning of the novel, Silas goes to church and prays there all day. But then some pity events push him to lose his faith against religion and God. The strong link between Silas and religion is expressed as follows in the novel: “God will forgive me: I know nothing of the presence of the knife or the disappearance of the money. » Search me and my dwelling; you will only find three pounds five of my own savings, which William Dane knows I had these six months. William groaned, but the minister said, "The evidence is heavy against you, Brother Marner." In this quote we can understand that Silas had hope. There were no witnesses or evidence. All the evidence was against him. It is William Dane who will accuse him of the theft of money. There is a phrase Silas says repeatedly. “God will erase me.” William Dane is responsible for stealing the money and at the end of the novel Silas's sentence comes true. Silas never lost his faith in God until this time. He was still waiting for a miracle. It could be an angel or a sound. His expectation of divine intervention shows us the point of view of the people of that time. The religious person was very religious, the person who was trying to cheat was very cunning. The prosecutions were carried out secretly and publicly. Because they think other members of the church may be negatively affected. At that time, the church had a great impact on society. They did not want to lose their dominance over the public. They have used religion for centuries. They organized the domination of religion for their own good. If people knew about this situation, there would be a rebellion against them and their fame would be shaken. But all this was no problem for Silas. Because he was deeply connected to God and religion. In this quote, his faith in William Dane was the example of his faith in God. He always said "God will erase me" because he knew that God is the only one who protects people well and he believes that his innocence will only be proven byGod. No one believes him, including Dane, his best friend. Thomson Fred claims Silas's loneliness in his article "The Theme of Alienation in Silas Marner": "Not that Silas Marner is a tragedy. Certainly, the main outline of the second half and that of the end are of an opposite nature; but the passages describing Silas's exile, solitude, and deprivation are dark indeed.” Through this quote we can understand that the only culprits are people and not religion. Silas finds himself partly alone in the face of all these events. In my opinion, religion is not guilty on this point because God created all religions without any error. If Silas followed religion despite these problems, he would be happier than he is today. As Thomas Hobbes said: “Homo homini lupus”. This means that people are guilty in all situations. There are many selfish people, they will trip us up for themselves because humanity is always greedy. When they have something, they will want another. Unfortunately, this will never end. Using people to achieve your goals is the worst disease. Therefore, we should not move away from God or religion because people like it. Experiencing pity events should not be a reason to lose our beliefs or faith. We must rise again with stronger conviction, even if we are still defeated. It's not a cure for distancing yourself from people. The only one who will save us is God and our beliefs. If we wait for divine intervention, everything will happen fairly. Through these events, we are in an examination by God but it is a shame. People are led to certain tasks. We don't know what is good or bad for us. Sometimes we can be sick for example, we think that's why it happens to me, but sometimes illnesses are good for our health. A faithful person can run away from their beliefs. The faithful person is the one who knows how to deal with problems. He does his duty and leaves the rest to God. Ian Milner explains this situation of Silas in his article “Structure and quality at Silas Marner”; “Silas, at first, gives the impression of a presence and not of an individualized personality. When we are taken back fifteen years to Lantern Yard, we get a momentary glimpse of a pious but featureless young man, entirely absorbed in his faith. What matters and what stands out in the story is the wrong done to Marner - the cold malice of a friend who destroys his place in the community, ends his marriage and destroys his faith. (p.3) We can therefore understand that Silas's distancing was not contrary to religion. He devoted himself to his faith, beliefs and religion. Faith was his whole life. Humanity is the only one to corrupt all the beauties of the world and of humanity. David Sonstroem asserts this situation in his article "The Breakups of Silas Marner" thus: "All readers of Silas Marner agree with George Eliot's general statement: Silas "highlights the healing influences of pure and natural human relationships ". All also agree with David R. Carroll's authoritative essay which argues that the novel assumes "an extraterrestrial universe" and expresses an agnostic point of view. “Human relationships” then tend to soothe the ills of a life led in an ungodly world. But confusion and debate arise over the novel's many chance events. By granting so many good and bad turns to his characters – by acting as dea ex machina – George Eliot would seem to be enforcing that the universe is morally responsive and providential rather than an amoral and indifferent humanity. Superstition and prejudices At the beginning of the novel, the narrator uses certain words such as “superstition” and 2017.