George Eliot
Adam Bede and Scenes of Clerical Life
Hardcover
(Frank F. Lovell & Co., New York March 15, 1888)
, Complete in One Volume. New edition
Adam Bede's plot follows four characters' rural lives in the fictional community of Hayslope-a rural, pastoral and close-knit community in 1799. The novel revolves around a love triangle between beautiful but thoughtless Hetty Sorrel, Captain Arthur Donnithorne, the young squire who seduces her, Adam Bede, her unacknowledged lover, and Dinah Morris, Hetty's cousin, a fervent Methodist lay preacher. Adam is a local carpenter, in love with Hetty. She is attracted to Arthur, the local squire's grandson, and falls in love with him. When Adam interrupts a tryst between them, Adam and Arthur fight. Arthur agrees to give up Hetty and leaves Hayslope to return to his militia. After he leaves, Hetty discovers she is pregnant. She agrees to marry Adam but shortly before their marriage, has second thoughts and leaves in search of Arthur. She cannot find him; unwilling to return to the village on account of the shame and ostracism she would have to endure, she delivers her baby with the assistance of a friendly woman she encounters. Later, she kills the child by abandoning it in a field, where it dies of exposure. She is caught and tried for child murder. She is found guilty and sentenced to hang. When Arthur Donnithorne, on leave from the militia for his grandfather's funeral, hears of her impending execution, he races to the court and has the sentence commuted to transportation. Ultimately, Adam and Dinah, who gradually becomes aware that she loves the carpenter, marry and live peacefully with his family. Scenes of Clerical Life , George Eliot's first novel, was published anonymously in 1857, it was immediately recognized, in the words of Saturday Review , as `the production of a peculiar and remarkable writer'. The three stories that make up the Scenes are, `The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton', `Mr Gilfil's Love Story', and `Janet's Repentance'.
- Pages
- 667
- Weight
- 32.0 oz.
- Dimensions
- 7.5 x 5.0 in.
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