Godfrey

• Self-loathing


  "Bitter rumination", muttering "curses" at his own "vicious folly"
• Irresolute


  Godfrey's "natural irresolution", oscillating between desire to do the right thing and fear of consequences
• Godfrey

  • Fails to confess the truth about his marriage even when given the opportunity
  • Prefers to 'go on sitting at the feast' rather than 'rush away into the cold darkness'
  • Fails to acknowledge Eppie is his daughter
• Moral coward


  Scared of the consequences of doing the right thing, fails to act
• Godfrey is the eldest son of Squire Cass, Raveloe's largest landowner, set to inherit his father's estate
• Godfrey has secretly married an opium addict, Molly Farren, who has born him a daughter, which he has kept from his father
• Godfrey sees Nancy Lammeter as the source of his redemption


  Hopes she will help bring out the best in him
• Godfrey's oscillation


  1. Desire to do the right thing

  2. Fear of consequences (losing inheritance and Nancy)

  3. Decides to continue hiding the truth
• Molly dies in the snow whilst walking to Raveloe to expose Godfrey, but Godfrey's daughter Eppie survives and enters Silas Marner's cottage
• Godfrey arrives at the scene, feels relieved Molly is dead, denies knowledge of both Molly and Eppie
• Years later, Godfrey confesses the truth to Nancy, who is deeply hurt but forgives him
• Godfrey and Nancy visit Silas and Eppie to offer to adopt Eppie, but Eppie chooses to stay with Silas
• Passive


  Fails to act, relies on chance to save him from consequences
• Decisive


  Resolves to tell Nancy the truth, declares he'll be plain and open from then on
• Resigned


  Accepts Eppie's decision to stay with Silas, acknowledges his mistake
• Essentially principled


  • Has a sense of morality, feels guilty when he falls short, tries to do the right thing
• Craving love


  Desperate for the love, goodness and moral guidance that has been absent in his life
• The state of the Red House reflects the slovenly and unloving atmosphere within the Cass family
• Snuff the dog's behaviour reflects Godfrey's aversion to his brother Dunsey and desire for love from his uncaring father
• Eliot's emphasis on the effects of Godfrey's loveless upbringing suggests nurture has shaped his character, but she also implies some of his character is inherent
• Godfrey and Squire Cass embody the idle complacency of the declining landed gentry in 19th century England
• Godfrey's inability to separate himself from Molly reflects the difficulty of divorce and reluctance to admit relationships across class lines in 19th century England
• Godfrey's self-loathing

  spends his time in "bitter rumination"

  regrets his "own vicious folly"

  sees his life of secrecy as one of "mud and slime"
• Godfrey's irresolute nature

  "natural irresolution"

  he is "determined to bear the consequences in what [he] has done"

  however decides that he "had seen the matter in the wrong light"

  "everything might blow over"
• Godfrey's moral cowardice

  "his natural irresolution and moral cowardice"

  prefers to live with the "sword hanging over him"

  he is concerned about "throwing away his happiness"
• Godfrey's passiveness

  "the iron bit that destiny had put in his mouth"

  he relies on "some unforeseen turn of fortune"

  and "trusting to some throw of fortune's dice"
• at the end of the novel, Godfrey becomes more decisive

  decides that "everything comes to light"

  tells Nancy that he has a secret that he'll "keep it from [her] no longer"

  "I'll be plain and open for the rest o' my life"

  decides to "go together to Silas Marner's this very night"
• At the end of the novel, Godfrey is resigned about what happens

  "Marner was in the right"

  realises that in "turning away a blessing from his door" he no longer deserved Eppie

  "I wanted to pass for childless once, Nancy - I shall pass for childless now against my wish"

  "I must do what I can to have her happy in her own way"
• Godfrey's craving for love

  his behaviour stems from "the need of some tender permanent affection"

  grew up where "the hearth had no smiles"

  sees Nancy as "the woman who made him think of the future with joy"
• Sees Nancy as a means to fix his lack of moral guidance

  Nancy is the "silken rope" to pull him out of "the slime"