Adam BedeThe English Midlands at the turn of the eighteenth century is the setting for George Eliot's moving novels of three unworldly people trapped by unwise love. Adam Bede, a simple carpenter, loves too blindly; Hetty Sorrel, a coquettish beauty, loves too recklessly; and Arthur Donnithorn, a dashing squire, loves too carelessly. Betrayed by their innocence, vanity, and imprudence, their foolish hearts lead them to a tragic triangle of seduction, murder, and retribution. With emotional sincerity and intellectual integrity, George Eliot probes deeply into the psychology of commonplace people caught in the act of uncommon heroics. Alexander Dumas called this novel "the masterpiece of the century." |
Contents
ADAM BEDE | 1 |
The Workshop | 7 |
The Preaching | 16 |
After the Preaching | 35 |
Home and its Sorrows | 41 |
The Rector | 56 |
The Hall Farm | 72 |
The Dairy | 84 |
The Delivery of the Letter | 320 |
In Hettys BedChamber | 332 |
Mrs Poyser Has Her Say Out | 341 |
More Links | 350 |
The Betrothal | 357 |
The Hidden Dread | 362 |
BOOK FIFTH | 369 |
The Journey in Hope | 371 |
A Vocation | 89 |
Hettys World | 97 |
Dinah Visits Lisbeth | 104 |
In the Cottage | 115 |
In the Wood | 123 |
Evening in the Wood | 134 |
The Return Home | 139 |
The Two BedChambers | 148 |
Links | 161 |
BOOK SECOND | 175 |
In Which the Story Pauses a Little | 177 |
Church | 186 |
Adam on a Working Day | 208 |
Adam Visits the Hall Farm | 215 |
The NightSchool and the Schoolmaster | 232 |
BOOK THIRD | 247 |
Going to the Birthday Feast | 249 |
DinnerTime | 259 |
The HealthDrinking | 264 |
The Games | 272 |
The Dance | 280 |
BOOK FOURTH | 291 |
A Crisis | 293 |
A Dilemma | 304 |
The Next Morning | 312 |
The Journey in Despair | 380 |
The Quest | 392 |
The Tidings | 406 |
The Bitter Waters Spread | 413 |
The Eve of the Trial | 422 |
The Morning of the Trial | 427 |
The Verdict | 432 |
Arthurs Return | 439 |
In the Prison | 446 |
The Hours of Suspense | 456 |
The Last Moment | 462 |
Another Meeting in the Wood | 464 |
BOOK SIXTH | 473 |
At the Hall Farm | 475 |
In the Cottage | 484 |
Sunday Morning | 495 |
Adam and Dinah | 507 |
The Harvest Supper | 515 |
The Meeting on the Hill | 528 |
Marriage Bells | 533 |
Epilogue | 536 |
George Eliots History of Adam Bede | 540 |
The Germ of Adam Bede Hettys Story | 544 |
Notes | 548 |
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Common terms and phrases
Adam Bede Adam's allays Arthur Donnithorne aunt Bartle Massey beauty better Binton Broxton Burge canna Captain Donnithorne CHAPTER church Cranage dance Daniel Deronda dark Dinah Dinah Morris door ears eyes face feel Felix Holt fellow felt folks George Eliot George Henry Lewes give gone Hall Farm hand hard Hayslope head heart Hetty Hetty Sorrel Hetty's hope husband Irwine Irwine's isna knew Lisbeth live Loamshire look marry Martin Poyser Methodist Middlemarch mind morning mother never night niver pain parish paused perhaps poor preaching pretty round seemed Seth Seth's smile Snowfield sorrow soul speak Squire Stoniton stood strong Sunday sure talk tell thee there's things thought to-day told Totty Treddleston trouble turned voice walked what's woman words young
Popular passages
Page xvii - require a sympathy ready-made, a moral sentiment already in activity; but a picture of human life such as a great artist can give, surprises even the trivial and the selfish into that attention to what is apart from themselves, which may be called the raw material of moral sentiment ... Art is the nearest thing
Page xvii - life; it is a mode of amplifying experience and extending our contact with our fellow-men beyond the bounds of our personal lot. All the more sacred is the task of the artist when he undertakes to paint the life of the People. It is
Page xvi - our social novels profess to represent the people as they are, and the unreality of their representations is a grave evil. The greatest benefit we owe to the artist, whether painter, poet, or novelist, is the extension of our sympathies. Appeals founded on generalizations and