Silas Marner, the Weaver of Raveloe, by George Eliot, is a Victorian novel published in 1861. The book, like much of Eliot's work, is renowned for its realistic depiction of everyday nineteenth-century village life. Yet Silas Marner also is a sort of fairy tale, with certain fantastical elements and common fairy-tale tropes. Eliot's third novel is often considered more accessible than her other work, especially the lengthy Middlemarch, published a decade later. However, its brevity and fairy tale elements do not make Silas Marner a book for children. Indeed, deep themes and symbols exist within the novel.
Like Eliot's previous novels, Silas Marner experienced immediate success with both...
