Date of Award
Fall 1980
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English
First Advisor
Thale, Jerome
Second Advisor
Boyle, Robert
Third Advisor
Roby, Robert
Abstract
Despite being an avowed agnostic, George Eliot was able to convince a large portion of her readers that the author of her fiction was a conventional Christian. This dissertation discusses the deceptiveness of George Eliot's rhetoric that allowed her to achieve this goal. The first part of the dissertation deals with George Eliot's "telling" of the religious or supernatural experience, the second with the author's "showing" of that experience. Her use of multiple personae and voice, ambiguity, transvaluation and irony are described as devices to allow her to achieve her dual purpose of not offending either her religious or non religious readers.