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shǒuyè>> wénxué>> 现实百态>> qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè George Eliot   yīng guó United Kingdom   hàn nuò wēi wáng cháo   (1819niánshíyīyuè22rì～1880niánshíèryuè22rì)
dān ní 'ěr · dé lóng dá Daniel Deronda
　　chāo yuè shí dài de zhǒng zú yì shí héng héng lùn《 dān ní 'ěr · dé lóng dá》 zhōng de yóu tài guān huái zhāi yào： chuán tǒng pī píng duì qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè de zuì hòu yī bù cháng piān xiǎo shuō《 dān ní 'ěr · dé lóng dá》 de pēng jī jí zhōng zài qí yóu tài zhù tí yǔ rén wù sù zào， zhè zhǒng wù dú lái zì duì zuò zhě de chāo yuè shí dài de zhǒng zú yì shí de wú shì。 xiǎo shuō de yóu tài nèi róng bù jǐn cù chéng zuò zhě zài xù shì yì shù fāng miàn de tū pò， ér qiě shū zhōng lǐ xiǎng huà de yóu tài rén wù、 shēnqiè de yóu tài guān huái， yǐ jí duì qí wén huà shēn fēn yǔ zhǒng zú yì shí de guān zhù wú yí jiāng zuò zhě tuī dào lì shǐ de qián yán。 guān jiàn cí： yóu tài mín zú； yóu tài rén wù； yóu tài wén huà； zhǒng zú yì shí qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè shì wéi duō lì yà shí dài de zhù míng nǚ zuò jiā， zài yīng guó wén xué shǐ shàng zhàn yòu hěn zhòng yào de dì wèi。 tā de zuì hòu yī bù cháng piān xiǎo shuō《 dān ní 'ěr · dé lóng dá》 (DanielDeronda) yú 1876 nián 2 yuè zhì 9 yuè fēn 8 qī liánzǎi yú bù lāi kè wǔ dé zá zhì shè de《 ài dīng bǎo yuè kān》。 zhè bù miáo xiě yīng guó yǔ 'ōu zhōu de shè huì rén shēng de xiǎo shuō， shì zuò zhě wéi yī yī bù yǐ chuàng zuò shí dài wéi bèi jǐng hé zhù tí de zuò pǐn ②， yě shì yī bù zuì yòu zhēng yì de zuò pǐn。 yòu rén chēng zàn xiǎo shuō zài sī xiǎng yǔ yì shù shàng de xīn yì yǔ tū pò， rèn wéi tā shì zuò zhě de yòu yī chéng gōng jù zhù ③， dàn bù shǎo píng lùn jiā bǎ tā kàn zuò zuò zhě chuàng zuò yì shù dǐng fēng《 mǐ dé 'ěr mǎ qì》 hòu de yī gè bài bǐ， huò shì zuò zhě yòu yī cì “ bù xìng de ” huà tí zhuǎn yí。 jù shuō， xiǎo shuō de qián liǎng qī fā biǎo shí， hǎo píng rú cháo， shì tóu jīhū yā guò《 mǐ dé 'ěr mǎ qì》， dàn dì sān qī yóu tài zhù tí chū xiàn hòu， dú zhě hé píng lùn jiè de fǎn yìng kāi shǐ zhuànxiàng， zhǐ zé hé kàng yì shēng yuán yuán bù duàn [4】 2。 zài tā qù shì hòu de dà bàn gè shì jì lǐ xiǎo shuō yě pǔ biàn dé bù dào rèn kě， lián jìn hū chóng bài qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè de F·R· lì wèi sī ( yě jiàn yì kǎn qù yóu tài zhù tí nà yī bù fēn， zhǐ bǎo liú yīng guó gù shì。 dú zhě yǔ píng lùn jiā duì xiǎo shuō de biǎn cí zài hěn dà chéng dù shàng yào guī jiù yú xiǎo shuō de dú tè de xù shì shǒu fǎ， qí piān jiàn dào liǎo 20 shì jì 70 nián dài rén men kāi shǐ guān zhù yīng yǔ xiǎo shuō yì shù xíng shì shí cái dé yǐ jiū zhèng。 cóng xiǎo shuō de gù shì jié gòu shàng kàn， zuò zhě hǎo xiàng shì cóng《 mǐ dé 'ěr mǎ qì》 de xiàn dài de wǎng zhuàng jié gòu yòu huí guī dào chuán tǒng de shuāngchóng xiàn xíng xù shì。 shū zhōng liǎng tiáo gù shì zhù xiàn fēn bié wéi yīng guó gū niàn gé wēn dé lín · hā lì sī (GwendolenHarleth) de bù xìng hūn yīn hé yīng guó shè huì zhōng de yóu tài rén de shēng huó， liǎng gè gù shì yóu nán zhù rén gōng dān ní 'ěr · dé lóng dá chuàn jiē。 suī rán zhù yào chǎng jǐng dōuzài yīng guó běn tǔ jí qí 'ōu zhōu lín guó， zài mǒu zhǒng yì yì shàng， liǎng gè gù shì tóng shí fēn bié fā shēng zài liǎng gè wán quán bù tóng de shì jiè。 yī gè shì xī fāng de、 jī dū jiào de、 xiàn shí zhù yì de shì jiè， yī gè xiàn dài huà yǔ dū shì huà de 'ōu zhōu。 zhè lǐ， zài tōng xùn fā dá、 jiāo tōng biàn lì、 shāng yè shì chǎng guó jì huà、 zhèng zhì jú miàn dòng dàng bù 'ān de shè huì biǎo xiàng xià miàn， shì yīng guó zhōng shàng céng jiē jí de zuì shēng mèng sǐ、 huāng yín wú dù de shēng huó。 lìng yī gè shì dōng fāng de、 yóu tài jiào de、 làng màn zhù yì de、 lǐ xiǎng huà de shǐ shī shì jiè， yī gè yóu shén huà chuán shuō、 mín zú xí sú hé dà liàng de huí yì huò mèng jìng zǔ chéng de xū huàn méng lóng， mò shēng 'ér shén mì de shì jiè。 bì xū zhǐ chū， xiǎo shuō zhōng gé wēn dé lín hé yǐ dān ní 'ěr wéi dài biǎo de yóu tài rén de gù shì biǎo dá de bù jǐn shì liǎng gè wán quán bù tóng de zhù tí， ér qiě yùn yòng de shì liǎng gè wán quán bù tóng、 shèn zhì shì duì lì de wén tǐ。 zài duì yīng guó zhōng shàng céng shè huì de fǔ xiǔ duò luò jìn xíng xiàn shí zhù yì de pī píng yǔ jiē lù de tóng shí， zuò zhě jiāng dà liàng bǐ mò yǔ xīn lì fàng zài miáo xiě qī shēn yú pì lěng xiǎo xiàng hé yōu 'àn dǒu shì lǐ de bèi yì huà bèi gé lí de yóu tài yí mín de lǐ xiǎng yǔ zhuī qiú。 liǎng zhǒng bù tóng de sè cǎi yǔ wén tǐ gòu lè chū liǎng gè jié rán bù tóng de shì jiè， ér zuò zhě chāo shí dài de rén wén guān huái hé zhǒng zú yì shí chōng fēn tǐ xiàn yú zuò pǐn zhōng de yóu tài rén wù sù zào、 yóu tài zhù tí guān zhào， yóu tài yí mín wén huà shēnfèn jí qí mín zú yì shí děng fāng miàn。 yī、 lǐ xiǎng huà de yóu tài rén wù： duì yóu tài zōng jiào wén huà de jǐng yǎng xiǎo shuō de nán zhù rén gōng dān ní 'ěr · dé lóng dá wú yí shì yóu tài mín zú de dài biǎo rén wù。 tā de xíng xiàng ràng rén xiǎng qǐ zuò zhě bǐ xià de dài nà、 luó mù lā、 fěi lì kè sī hé duō luó xī yà ①， zhǐ shì tā bǐ tā men gèng lǐ xiǎng、 gèng wán měi， bù shǎo dú zhě yǔ píng lùn jiādōu rèn wéi tā fēi fán jiān zhī rén。 tā chū shēn yú yī gè yóu tài shàng céng jiā tíng， dàn cóng xiǎo suí yīng guó yǎng fù yǔ guǒ · mǎ lín jié jué yé guò zhe guì zú shēng huó， shòu guò liáng hǎo de yīng guó shēn shì jiào yù。 tā tóu nǎo mǐn jié， xiǎng xiàng fēng fù； wēn liáng qiān gōng， dàn bó míng yù； xīn dì shàn liáng， háo wú sī xīn； tā de xì xīn xiǎo dào duì shēn biān de rén yǔ shì wú wēi bù zhì dì guān zhào， tā de xiōng huái kuān kuò dé zú yǐ róng nà zhěng gè shì jiè hé suǒ yòu mín zú。 tā shì gè“ shén mì de”“ tiān cái”， yòu zhe chāo zì rán de néng lì。 bǐ rú xiǎo shuō kāi shǐ shí， dāng tā zhù zú guān zhù dǔ chǎng shàng chūn fēng dé yì de gé wēn dé lín shí， yuán běn shǒu qì shèn jiā、 héng sǎo yī qiē de gū niàn jiù kāi shǐ dǎo méi， hěn kuài lián běn dài lì shū gè jīng guāng； tā bù yòng dǎ tīng xún wèn， yī jiàn dào mò dí kǎi · lā pí dé sī (MordecaiLapidoth) jiù zhī dào tā shì mǐ lā (MirahLapidoth) shī zōng yǐ jiǔ de gē gē。 tā hái shì gè yé sū shì de jiù shì zhù， bù dàn cóng shuǐ zhōng jiù qǐ duō nián xún xiōng wú guǒ、 duì shēng huó jué wàng de yóu tài gū niàn mǐ lā， ér qiě yě zhěng jiù liǎo shī qù líng hún、 zài tòng kǔ zhōng zhēngzhá de yīng guó gū niàn gé wēn dé lín。 yǔ《 shèng jīng · xīn yuē》 zhōng de yé sū yī yàng， tā jīhū méi yòu guò qù，“ chū dào” shí yǐ shì yī gè xìng gé chéng shú de qīng nián。 nián jì qīng qīng de tā sì hū méi yòu pǔ tōng qīng nián rén de xuè qì， wú lùn shì miàn duì qiān jiāo bǎi mèi de měi nǚ gé wēn dé lín， hái shì jiāo xiǎo wén jìng de mǐ lā， hái shì gè xìng gāng liè、 liù qīn bù rèn de mǔ qīn， tā jīhū cóng lái méi yòu dà bēi dà xǐ huò bù néng chéng shòu de gǎn qíng bō lán。 tā de jǔ zhǐ yǒng yuǎn shì nà me cóng róng bù pò， píng jìng tián dàn； tā de huà yǔ zǒng shì nà me lǐ xìng， shuō jiào sì dì jī xiè píng hé 'ér yòu jù jù chù rén xīn líng。 tā yī zhí duì zì jǐ de shēn shì chōng mǎn yí huò， jìn rù qīng nián qī hòu duì zì jǐ de wèi lái gèng jiā gǎn jué máng rán； yóu yú sù bù xiāng shí de mò dí kǎi de yī xí huà， tā biàn yì rán zǒu shàng xún gēn de dào lù。 zài què dìng zì jǐ de yóu tài xuè tǒng zhī hòu， tā yòu guǒ duàn dì fàng qì gāo guì de yīng guó gōng mín de shēnfèn。 zuì hòu， zuò wéi mò dí kǎi de chuán rén， tā yǔ yóu tài gū niàn mǐ lā jié hé， bìng lì zhì wéi zhèn xīng yóu tài mín zú shì yè 'ér fèn dǒu zhōng shēn。、 shū zhōng， yóu tài gū niàn mǐ lā bǎ tā dāng zuò gǔ lǎo dōng fāng shén huà zhōng wèile zhěng jiù 'áo 'áo dài bǔ de hǔ zǎi men 'ér zì yuàn xiàn shēn yú jī 'è de mǔ lǎo hǔ de fó tuó (Bud ． dha)， àn shì tā yǐ dá fó zhù de wú wǒ jìng jiè。 méi lǐ kè xiǎo jiě yě xì xuè dì chēng dān ní 'ěr wéi《 tiān fāng yè tán》 lǐ de kǎ mǎ lā 'ěr zhā màn wáng zǐ。 suī rán zhè zhǐ bù guò shì gè wán xiào， zhè gè chēng wèi què fù yú tā xīn de xì jù juésè， jí yī wèi yǐ zhěng jiù nǚ shì wéi shǐ mìng、 zuì zhōng yǔ bù dū 'ěr huáng hòu ( yóu mǐ lā xiǎo jiě bàn yǎn de ) chéng hūn de dōng fāng qí shì。 gèng jù yòu zōng jiào yù yì de shì dān ní 'ěr yuán lái de míng zì， yě jiù shì tā nà céng wéi yóu tài jiào lǐng xiù de wài zǔ fù de míng zì héng héng charisi， jí yīng yǔ de yé sū Christ， qí yì sī shì tì tiān xià yóu tài rén shú zuì de jiù shì zhù。 zài xiǎo shuō shì jiè de zhè chángrén shēng xì jù zhōng， yīng guó gū niàn gé wēn dé lín zé bàn yǎn liǎo《 shèng jīng》 zhōng de nà gè duò luò nǚ zǐ mǎ lì de juésè， shì dān ní 'ěr zhè gè yé sū zhěng jiù liǎo tā。 tā jiào dǎo tā bù yào ràng zì jǐ de guò qù chéng wéi wèi lái shēng huó de léizhuì， ér yào jiāng duì guò qù de chàn huǐ dāng zuò wèi lái de dòng lì。 tā de huà jiù xiàng shàng dì qí jì zhī shǒu， diǎn shí chéng jīn， qǐ sǐ huí shēng。 yě xǔ zhèng shì tā zhè zhǒng diǎn xíng de yé sū shì de jīng lì yǔ tè zhēng shǐ dé bù shǎo rén dà shī suǒ wàng。 zhí dào zuò pǐn fā biǎo hòu de bàn gè duō shì jì， rén mendōu duì gé wēn dé lín de gù shì zàn kǒu bù jué， ér pǔ biàn rèn wéi dān ní 'ěr shì gè lìng rén fá wèi de“ dào xué xiān shēng”， shì zuò zhě rén wù kè huà de yī dà bài bǐ。 xiǎo shuō zhōng zuì shén qí de rén wù dāng shǔ yóu tài jiào xiān zhī mò dí kǎi · lā pí dé sī。 zhè gè zuì yōu xiù、 zuì jù dài biǎo xìng de yóu tài rén yǐ qí yòu xiàn de yī shēng zhǎn shì liǎo yóu tài mín zú lìng rén jìng pèi hé chóng bài de tè zhì， yǐ jí yī zhí lìng xī fāng rén hàoqí de dōng fāng shén mì wén huà。 mò dí kǎi de wù zhì shēng huó zhù yào kào shǒu gōng láo dòng miǎnqiǎng wéi chí， shí fēn jiǎn pǔ qīng guǎ， ér tā de jīng shén shēng huó jí qí fēng fù。 tā bǎo dú shī shū， xué fù wǔ chē， bù guāng jīng tōng yóu tài jiào yì， ér qiě shēn 'ān rén jiān shì tài yán liáng。 tā shì yī gè shén mì zhù yì zhě， dàn yòu fēi chén nì yú chún xuán xué； tā duì yóu tài mín zú jǐ qiān nián de lì shǐ yǔ wén huà rú shù jiā zhēn， duì qí yáo yuǎn de wèi lái xiōng yòu chéng zhú， yǎn rán xiān zhī 'ài sài yà (Isaiah) zài shì。 tā de yǔ yán jīhū jiù shì cóng《 shèng jīng · jiù yuē》 shàng zhào bān xià lái de， cí jù jiǎn jié míng liǎo， ér yòu chōng mǎn shén mì de yǐn huì。 tā zhī dào dān ní 'ěr de guò qù， hái néng yù yán tā de wèi lái， shèn zhì lián tā de wài mào yě néng yù zhī。 tā zhào huàn dān ní 'ěr lái dào zì jǐ shēn biān， rèn tā wéi tú， bìng xuān bù zì jǐ sǐ hòu líng hún jiāng zhuǎn fù dào dān ní 'ěr shēn shàng。 tā tōng xiǎo kā bā lā (Cabbala) de② yóu tài jiào shén mì zhù yì tǐ xì hé zhōng shì jì xī bān yá shén mì jiào shī rén Jehuda héng ha héng Levi， hái shú zhī dān ní 'ěr de jiā zú de xī ( bān yá ) pú ( táo yá ) yóu tài hòu yì de chuán qí gù shì。 zhè xiē chuán shuō shè jí dōng fāng zōng jiào de líng hún zhuǎn shì shuō， qiáng diào dōng fāng wén huà zhōng de zhǒng zú yí chuán yǐ jí gè rén yǔ shè huì de mìqiè guān xì ¨ bà。 mò dí kǎi duì dān ní 'ěr de jù yòu zōng jiào yì yì hé tè zhēng de jiāo jiē yí shì， gěi dú zhě yī zhǒng shén qí de mó lì。 lín zhōng qián， tā duì dān ní 'ěr shuō， nǐ“ bù guāng shì wǒ de rén ( shǒu )， hái shì wǒ de xīn ( líng hún ) héng héng ( zài nǐ shēn shàng ) huì chū xiàn yī zhǒng shén qí de wán zhěng xìng。 xiāng xìn wǒ de zōng jiào héng héng yùn yòng wǒ de tuī lǐ héng héng huái bào wǒ de xī wàng héng héng zhù shì wǒ zhǐ xiàng de dì fāng héng héng kàn zhe wǒ yǎn zhōng de róng yào !” ⋯ mò dí kǎi de shēng huó yǔ xìn yǎng， yǐ jí tā zhè gè rén wù de zōng jiào yì yì， wú yí shì duì 19 shì jì 'ōu zhōu zì yóu sī xiǎng jiā men de shí zhèng zhù yì de kē xué lǐ niàn de tiǎo zhàn。 dàn xù shù zhě zì shǐ zhì zhōng duì tā wèi yòu sī háo jī fěng huò pī pàn， tā de xíng xiàng rú cǐ gāo dà shén mì、 rú cǐ lìng rén jìng wèi， tā de yī qiē sì hū dū nà me lìng rén xìn fú， wú kě zhì yí。 jù shuō mò dí kǎi de yuán xíng shì zuò zhě dāng nián zài lún dūn rèn shí de yī wèi jiào yī màn niǔ 'ěr · duō yī qí (EmmanuelDeutsch， 1829 héng 1873) de yóu tài qīng nián xué zhě。 tā céng fǔ dǎo qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè xué xí xī bó lái yǔ， bìng xiàng tā jiè shào yóu tài mín zú zōng jiào yǔ xí sú。 tā běn rén 1869 nián céng dào guò yóu tài rén de jiā xiāng bā lè sī tǎn， 1872 nián dǎ suàn zhòng yóu gù lǐ， jiēguǒ tú zhōng yīn 'ái zhèng sǐ yú 'āi jí。 èr、 shēnqiè de yóu tài guān ·： duì chuán tǒng zhǒng zú qí shì de fǎn bō guàn chuān yú xiǎo shuō jù yòu xiàn dài zhù yì tè sè de xù shì jié gòu hé lǐ xiǎng huà de rén wù sù zào de shì， zuò zhě duì rén shēng、 duì fǎn yóu tài fù guó zhù yì (anti héng Zionism) de bù tóng kàn fǎ hé zhù zhāng。 cóng kāi shǐ chuàng zuò shí qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè jiù yù gǎn shū zhōng de yóu tài qíng jié huì zhāo lái fēi yì。 dāng dú zhě kàng yì hū shēng sì qǐ， chū bǎn shāng bù lāi kè wǔ dé xiān shēng děng rén tí chū shān jiǎn yóu tài gù shì qíng jié shí， tā duàn rán jù jué①。 zài zhè zhǒng yuán zé xìng de wèn tí shàng， tā háo bù tuì què 290。 tā shuō：“ duì yóu tài jiào， wǒ men zhè xiē shòu jī dū jiào jiào yù chéngzhǎng de xī fāng rén yóu qí yòu kuì。 bù guǎn wǒ men chéng rèn bù chéng rèn， wǒ men zhī jiān jué duì cún zài zhe yī zhǒng zōng jiào yǔ dào dé qíng gǎn de tè shū lián xì⋯⋯ zhèng shì yīn wéi wǒ jué dé jī dū jiào duì yóu tài rén de tài dù tōng cháng shì héng héng gēn jù tā men zì jǐ xuān chēng de yuán zé， wǒ zhēn bù zhī dào gāi shuō shì gèng bù qián chéng ní hái shì gèng yú chǔn。 yīn cǐ， wǒ jué dé yīnggāi jìn liàng jǐyǔ yóu tài rén tóng qíng hé lǐ jiě。 zài zhě， duì yóu tài rén， hái yòu suǒ yòu yǔ wǒ men yīng guó rén jiāo wǎng de dōng fāng rén， wǒ mendōu shì yǐ 'ào màn jiāo héng， gāo gāo zài shàng de tài dù dài zhī； zhè shì wǒ men mín zú de chǐ rǔ。 rú guǒ kě néng， wǒ hǎo xiǎng huàn xǐng dà jiā de xiǎng xiàng， ràng tā men rèn shí dào nà xiē gēn wǒ men xìn yǎng yǔ xí sú bù tóng de yì zú tóng bāo yě yìng gāi xiǎng yòu zuò rén de quán lì 099v Ⅳ Ⅻ I2 zài mǒu zhǒng yì yì shàng， qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè duì yóu tài mín zú de gōng rán guān zhù hé tóng qíng shì yī zhǒng jù yòu huàshídài yì yì de xíng wéi。 zhòng suǒ zhōu zhī， zài yīng guó lì shǐ shàng， rén men duì yóu tài mín zú de miè shì hé chóu hèn yóu lái yǐ jiǔ。 suō shì bǐ yà xì jù zhōng xià luò kè (Shylock)， dí gèng sī bǐ xià de fá jīn (Fagin)② chéng wéi rén men xīn mù zhōng de yóu tài rén jīng diǎn xíng xiàng。 tā men de zì sī、 tān lán、 lìn sè hé wú qíng de zhí yè tè zhēng， shén mì 'ér guài yì de shēng huó mó shì， lìng rén kě bù de wài mào， hái yòu tā men xìn fèng kè shǒu de gǔ lǎo shén mì de yóu tài jiào， dū shǐ dà jiā duì zhè gè cóng dōng fāng“ liú wáng” guò lái de mín zú chǎn shēng yī zhǒng bù kě míng zhuàng de fáng fàn yì shí yǔ chóu hèn。 zhèng shì zhè zhǒng fǎn yóu yì shí zuì zhōng dǎo zhì 'èr zhàn qī jiān xī tè lè de hài rén tīng wén de dà tú shā。 wéi duō lì yà shí qī de yīng guó suī rán jiē shòu jù yòu yóu tài xuè tǒng de běn jié míng · dí sī léi lì pāi③ lián xù liǎng jiè chū rèn shǒuxiàng， dàn réng rán cún zài xiāng dāng pǔ biàn de duì yóu tài rén de zhǒng zú piān jiàn hé zōng jiào qí shì， fǎn yóu yì shí jīhū yǐ jīng shèn tòu dào gè gè jiǎo luò， shǐ shēng huó zài qí zhōng de yóu tài yí mín yǔ tā men de hòu yì shǐ zhōng bǎi tuō bù liǎo shuāngchóng wén huà shēn fēn de kùn rǎo。 xiǎo shuō zhōng， dǎ suàn tóu shuǐ zì jìn de mǐ lā bèi dān ní 'ěr jiù qǐ shí， zì bào shēn fēn shuō：“ wǒ chū shēng zài yīng guó， dàn wǒ shì yóu tài rén。”⋯ hòu lái bèi dān ní 'ěr dài dào tā de hǎo péng yǒu、 shàn liáng yǒu hǎo de méi lǐ kè fū rén jiā lǐ， tā yòu zì cháo dì duì fū rén shuō：“ wǒ shì gè wài rén， shì gè yóu tài rén。 nín yě xǔ huì rèn wéi wǒ shì gè xié 'è de rén bā。”⋯ tā de huà liú lù chū yīng guó yóu tài rén zì wǒ shēn fēn de qiáng liè yì shí hé duì yīng guó bái rén de zhǒng zú qí shì de miè shì hé tiǎo zhàn。 dāng shí dà duō shǔbái rén dú zhě duì zhè lèi miáo shù jí wéi fǎn gǎn， dàn yě yòu shǎo shù rén cóng zhōng kàn dào zì jǐ zhǒng zú qí shì de chǒu lòu zuǐ liǎn。 qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè duì yóu tài mín zú hé yóu tài wén huà yú yǐ de lǐ jiě yǔ zūn chónglái zì yú tā duì rén lèi lì shǐ de zūn zhòng， lái zì yú tā duì gè rén yǔ shè huì de xì xīn guān chá yǔ yán jiū。 zài wéi duō lì yà shí dài jī dū jiào xìn yǎng shòu dào gēn běn dòng yáo de dà bèi jǐng xià， duì rén wén hé zōng jiào de sī kǎo chéng wéi tā sī xiǎng tǐ xì de yī gè jiāo diǎn。 zài tā kàn lái， yóu tài jiào sì hū méi yòu jī dū jiào nà me jué duì， tā gèng kuān róng， gèng xiàn shí； yóu tài mín zú duì líng hún de guān huái， duì shè qū de lún lǐ jiào yù yǔ dé xíng guī fàn de zhòng shì， dū lìng tā gǎn dòng bù yǐ。 yīn cǐ， zài chù lǐ yóu tài mín zú rén wù huò wèn tí de shí hòu， tā dū kè yì huí bì xiàn shí shēng huó zhōng de nà xiē chōng mǎn zhǒng zú qí shì de 'è yì gōng jī hé fěi bàng de yán cí， xī wàng tōng guò zài xiàn tā men de shēng huó yǔ jià zhí， huò dé rén men de tóng qíng， shǐ rén men zūn zhòng yóu tài rén zuò wéi yī gè dú lì、 píng děng de mín zú de rén gé hé zūn yán， zūn zhòng yóu tài jiào， zūn zhòng yǐ chéng wéi yīng guó wén huà yī bù fēn de yóu tài wén huà。 shū zhōng chú liǎo wán měi de yóu tài mín zú dài biǎo mò dí kǎi hé lǐng xiù rén wù dān ní 'ěr · dé lóng dá， hái yòu xiǎo shāng rén 'āi cí lā de hé mù de jiā tíng shēng huó， mǐ lā de wú sī hé duì gē gē de guān 'ài， yīnyuè jiā hè 'ěr · kè lāi sī mò de zhèng zhí gāo shàng de zhí yè dào dé děngdōu shì lì zhèng。 dàn shì， zuò zhě de guān huái bìng fēi máng mùdì。 xiǎo shuō zhōng de yóu tài shè huì yǔ qí tā shè huì yī yàng， bìng fēi wán měi， lǐ miàn yǐ rán cún zài yú mèi、 lǎn duò、 qī piàn děng bù píng děng bù hé xié de xiàn xiàng。 lì rú， mò dí kǎi rèn zhēn nài xīn、 yī sī bù gǒu dì jiào fáng dōng de 'ér zǐ yǎ kě bù yóu tài jiào zhī shí， kě wán pí wú zhī de xiǎo nán hái duì mò dí kǎi suǒ jiǎng de yī qiào bù tōng， fǎn 'ér yī wèi xì xuè dì mó fǎng tā de yǔ yán hé qiāng diào； ér qí tā chéng nián yóu tài rén suī rán néng tīng dǒng mò dí kǎi de huà， dàn tā men zhǐ shì bǎ tā dāng zuò yī gè bùqiè shí jì、 yī gè rè zhōng yú qí tán guài lùn de shī rén 'ér yǐ。 zuì jù yòu cháo fěng yì wèi de shì mò dí kǎi hé mǐ lā zhè duì jìn hū wán měi de xiōng mèi jìng rán yòu lā pí dé sī zhè yàng yī gè méi yòu rèn hé dào dé zé rèn gǎn、 shēng xìng lǎn duò、 dǔ xìng bù gǎi de fù qīn， ér dān ní 'ěr zhè gè yé sū shì de yóu tài lǐng xiù rén wù de mǔ qīn jū rán bù shì xiàng shèng mǔ mǎ lì yà nà yàng píng hé cí xiáng、 fù yú bó 'ài hé xī shēng jīng shén， ér shì yī gè duì zì jǐ de mín zú hé zōng jiào chōng mǎn yuàn hèn， jù jué jiē shòu duì jiā tíng duì shè huì de yì wù de xiàn dài nǚ xìng。 yǔ cǐ tóng shí， yóu tài rén duì fù nǚ de qí shì yě shǐ rén men zhì yí tā men suǒ wèi měi hǎo de xìn yǎng。 yǔ qí tā dōng xī fāng de nǚ xìng yī yàng， yóu tài fù nǚ duì jiā tíng hé shè huì de yì wù， jiù xiàng zhōng guó fù nǚ dāng nián de sān cùn jīn lián yī yàng， shù fù liǎo tā men gè rén de fā zhǎn， xiàn zhì liǎo tā men de“ gèng dà fàn wéi de shēng huó” de kě néng xìng。 dān ní 'ěr de mǔ qīn、 yóu tài gōng zhù lì 'ào nuò lā · hā 'ěr mǔ yī 'āi bó sī tǎn (PrincessLeonoraHalm héng Eberstein) xiàng 'ér zǐ jiǎng qǐ dāng nián zì jǐ suǒ miàn lín de tòng kǔ jué zé shí， jī dòng dì shuō：“ nán dào chú liǎo nǚ 'ér hé mǔ qīn， wǒ jiù méi yòu quán lì dān rèn qí tā de juésè⋯⋯ wǒ yòu quán zuò yì shù jiā⋯⋯ bù⋯⋯ nǐ bù shì nǚ rén。 nǐ kě yǐ nǔ lì héng héng dàn nǐ yǒng yuǎn yě xiǎng xiàng bù chū dāng nǐ yōng yòu nán rén de tiān fù， dàn yòu bù dé bù rěn shòu nǚ xìng de nú yì gāi yòu duō me tòng kǔ。 nǐ de shēng huó mó shì zǎo yǐ zhù dìng héng héng ‘ yóu tài nǚ rén； nǐ bì xū zhè yàng， yīnggāi nà yàng。 nǚ rén de xīn zhǐ néng zhè me dà， bù néng zài dà， fǒu zé jiù bì xū xiàng zhōng guó fù nǚ de jiǎo yī yàng bèi guǒ dé xiǎo xiǎo de。 tā de gè rén xìng fú jiù gēn dàn gāo shìde， yī gè múzǐ lǐ chū lái de。 ’ zhè jiù shì wǒ fù qīn de yuàn wàng。 tā xī wàng wǒ shì gè 'ér zǐ。 tā bǎ wǒ dàngchéng lín shí tì dài pǐn。” gōng zhù de zì wǒ biàn jiě biǎo dá liǎo nǚ xìng chú liǎo wéi rén nǚ 'ér、 qī zǐ hé mǔ qīn juésè zhī wài de lǐ xiǎng hé gè rén shì yè zhuī qiú， tiǎo zhàn liǎo chuán tǒng de yóu tài jiā tíng hé shè huì guān niàn。 tā duàn rán jù jué 'ér zǐ hǎo xīn de“ lǐ jiě”、 tóng qíng hé“ zhěng jiù”， jù jué xiàng chuán tǒng fù quán wén huà tuǒ xié， chéng wéi xiàn dài shè huì zhōng dú lì、 píng děng、 zì yóu xīn nǚ xìng de diǎn fàn。 sān、 chāo yuè shí dài de zhǒng zú yì shí： duì yóu tài yí mín shēn fēn yǔ wén huà yí chǎn de guān zhù bù kě fǒu rèn， qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè duì shè huì duō mín zú duō yuán wén huà xiàn xiàng de guān zhù yǐ jīng yuǎn yuǎn lǐng xiān liǎo tā nà gè shí dài。 l9 shì jì hòu bàn yè zài dà yīng dì guó bù rén zì jǐ zhèng zhì、 jīng jì yǐ jí jūn shì dǐng shèng shí qī de tóng shí， tā qí shí yě zài yùn niàng zhe xīn de zhǒng zú yì shí、 wēi jī gǎn hé yīcháng mín zú zhèng zhì yùn dòng。 bō xuē jiē jí yǔ bèi bō xuē jiē jí zhī jiān、 zhí mín zhě yǔ bèi zhí mín zhě zhī jiān、 ōu zhōu bái rén zhǒng zú yǔ shǎo shù mín zú zhī jiān de chōng tū rì jiàn jiā jù， zì yóu、 píng děng、 dú lì de hū shēng yě yuè lái yuè gāo。 xiǎo shuō zhōng měi guó dú lì zhàn zhēng， yá mǎi jiā de nú lì qǐ yì， ōu zhōu de bǐ sī mǎ kè qún dǎo dú lì yùn dòng， hái yòu yì dà lì de tǒng yī yùn dòng děng lì shǐ shì jiàn bù jǐn pín pín chū xiàn yú rén wù de duì huà hé gù shì qíng jié lǐ， bìng qiě shì xiǎo shuō yóu tài zhù tí de bù kě fēn gē de yī bù fēn， qí tè dìng de wén huà、 zhèng zhì bèi jǐng zhǐ xiàng dāng shí xíjuǎn 'ōu zhōu dà lù de mín zú zhù yì yùn dòng hé shòu yā pò zhě héng héng yóu qí shì hēi rén hé yóu tài rén héng héng zhēng qǔ dú lì de dǒu zhēng。 dān ní 'ěr de fù guó jìhuà xiǎn rán yǔ xiǎo shuō lǐ qí tā mín zú zhù yì de jiě fàng dǒu zhēng dà bèi jǐng xiāng wěn hé gèng zhí dé guān zhù de shì， xiǎo shuō hái tí chū liǎo dāng shí miàn lín yīng guó yóu tài rén de wèn tí， jí ràng zì jǐ tóng huà jìn xī fāng wén huà， hái shì bǎo liú zì jǐ de mín zú yǔ zōng jiào shēnfèn。 mò dí kǎi yǔ tóng zú rén jí dí 'ēn hé pà shí děng zài“ shǒu yǔ qí” zhé rén jù lè bù guān yú mín zú fù xīng、 zhǒng zú jì yì、 mín zú wén huà jí qí yí chǎn， yǐ jí jiā yuán yì shí děng de biàn lùn jiù hěn yòu dài biǎo xìng。 jí dí 'ēn hé pà shí dū biǎo shì fǎn duì mín zú zhù yì yì shí， tí chàng mín zú tóng huà shuō， mò dí kǎi zé zhù zhāng gè mín zú bù fēn dà xiǎo pín fù qiáng ruò dū jù yòu dú lì yǔ píng děng de quán lì。 tā rèn wéi yīnggāi zài chéng rèn hé jiē shòu“ chā yì” de jī chǔ shàng， jiàn lì qǐ yī zhǒng kě fēn lí shì de guó jì dà zǔ hé。 àn tā de jiě shì，“ měi gè mín zú dōuyòu zì jǐ de shì yè， dōushì shì jiè de yī fèn zǐ， dōuduì shì jiè yòu suǒ gòng xiàn” [11439。 zhè gè guān diǎn zài jīn tiān yǐ jīng chéng wéi guó jì zhèng zhì yǔ wài jiāo de hé xīn yuán zé， dàn zài dāng shí zhǐ bù guò shì jí shǎo shù rén de chī xīn mèng xiǎng 'ér yǐ。 fā shēng zài zhé rén jù lè bù de zhēng lùn bù jǐn guān xì dào nà gè shí dài liú wáng zài wài de yóu tài rén de wén huà shēnfèn yǔ shēng cún jià zhí wèn tí， zài jīn tiān quán qiú huà de bì rán qū shì xià， zài cì chéng wéi gè dì gè guó shǎo shù mín zú yǐ jí tā men de yí mín suǒ bù dé bù miàn lín de wèn tí。“ shēng cún hái shì huǐ miè”， zhè jiù shì wèn tí de běn zhì suǒ zài。 xiǎo shuō jié wěi shí， dān ní 'ěr yǐ jīng jué dìng dòng shēn huí dào zǔ xiān shēngzhǎng de dì fāng chóngjiàn yóu tài jiā yuán。 suī rán zhè zhǐ shì gè rén xíng wéi， dàn qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè yǐ jīng jiāng yóu tài mín zú fù xīng de huǒ bǎ diǎn rán，“ xīng xīng zhī huǒ， kě yǐ liáo yuán”【 1J5 fǔ， xióng xióng dà huǒ jiāng cuī shēng yī gè gǔ lǎo de xīn mín zú。 dāng shí de tā yě xǔ méi xiǎng dào bàn gè duō shì jì hòu yī gè yóu tài guó jiā guǒ rán zài tā men zǔ xiān de tǔ dì shàng dàn shēng， tā gèng méi xiǎng dào yóu tài mín zú de huí guī gěi jǐ bǎi nián lái yī zhí shēng huó zài zhè kuài tǔ dì shàng de bā lè sī tǎn mín zú， gěi zhōng dōng dì qū de gè mín zú dài lái liǎo wú jìn de lǐng tǔ zhēng duān hé zhǒng zú zhī jiān de máo dùn yǔ chōng tū。 zài qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè de zuò pǐn zhōng， xún gēn gù shì bù zhǐ yī cì chū xiàn。《 zhì gōng mǎ nán chuán》 hé《 fèi lì kè sī · huò 'ěr tè》 zhōng de 'āi bì hé 'āi sī tè dū zhǎo dào liǎo tā men de qīn shēng fù mǔ， dàn liǎng rén zuì zhōng dū jù jué liǎo zì jǐ de qīn shēng fù mǔ huò tā men suǒ dài biǎo de guì zú jiā tíng， ér xuǎn zé liǎo jiā jìng pín hán dàn qíng cāo gāo shàng de yǎng fù。 ér dān ní 'ěr yǔ《 xī bān yá jí pǔ sài rén》 zhōng de nǚ zhù rén gōng fèi dá 'ěr mǎ yī yàng， yì rán fàng qì yǎng fù mǔ jiā tíng de cái chǎn、 dì wèi hé shēnfèn， rè qíng dì jiē shòu zì jǐ de shēng fù hé jiā zú yǔ mín zú de zhí zé。 rú guǒ qián liǎng bù zuò pǐn gào sù wǒ men， wèile gǎn qíng hé 'ài qíng， wǒ men kě yǐ、 yě yìng gāi fàng qì jiā zú yí chuán de dì wèi hé cái chǎn， zhè bù xiǎo shuō què tōng guò dān ní 'ěr de lì zǐ 'àn shì jiā zú de zhēn zhèng yí chǎn bìng bù shì dì wèi hé qián cái， ér shì wén huà lì shǐ， shì jìng jìng dì liú tǎng zài xuè guǎn lǐ de mín zú yì shí， shì shēn shēn dì lào zài shēn tǐ shàng de mín zú shēnfèn。 zài xiàn dài shè huì zhōng， jiā tíng yǔ shè qū rì jiàn fēn liè wǎ jiě， yī gè mín zú de wéi xì yǔ fā zhǎn jiù qǔ jué yú rén men de“ gēn” huò xuè yuán yì shí。 dān ní 'ěr nà yǒu hēi de fū sè， shēn suì jiān ruì de yǎn jīng， huò xǔ shēn shàng hái yòu yóu tài zhī zǐ de gē lǐ shù de hén jì， zhè xiē bù kě gǎi biàn de shēng lǐ tè zhēng jué dìng hé gǎi biàn liǎo tā de wèi lái， yě dǎ pò liǎo rén néng jué dìng zì jǐ mìng yùn de shén huà huò huán jìng jué dìng mìng yùn de rén shēng guān。 āi bì hé 'āi sī tè de xìng gé qǔ jué yú tā men lài yǐ shēng cún de、 fù yú tā men jiào yù de shè huì， yīn cǐ tā mendōu zuò chū liǎo míng zhì de xuǎn zé， dàn dān ní 'ěr de mìng yùn què zǎo yòu dìng shù： tā cóng mǔ qīn nà 'ér dé dào de wài zǔ fù liú xià de yī xiāng zǐ wén xiàn hé mò dí kǎi de yù yán zú yǐ jué dìng tā de wèi lái。 tā de xuǎn zé bìng fēi qǔ jué yú huò dé de jiào yù， tā duì zì jǐ rén shēng de yí huò shì tōng guò yī lián chuàn de 'ǒu rán huò fēi 'ǒu rán de shì jiàn dé yǐ chéng qīng hé jiē shì。 tā de xún gēn zhī lù bù zài shì duì gè rén xìng fú de qiú suǒ， ér shì yòu guān mín zú cún wáng de dà yè。 jiǎn yán zhī， tā de mìng yùn qǔ jué yú tā de chū shēng yǔ zhǒng zú tè zhēng。 tā chéng jì de bù guāng shì yóu tài rén de shēng lǐ tè zhēng， ér qiě shì yóu tài rén de lì shǐ hé wén huà。 tā shēn shàng de mín zú wú yì shí cù shǐ tā qù jiē shòu、 yōng bào hé jì chéng yóu tài mín zú de guò qù； tā gè rén de chéngzhǎng yǔ mín zú de xīng wàng jiāo zhì zài yī qǐ， zì wǒ yì shí yǔ mín zú yì shí dé dào yòu jī tǒng yī， gè rén quán lì yǔ shè huì yì wù dá dào píng héng， shàn liáng de tiān xìng zuì zhōng yǔ chéng shú、 shàn sī de mín zú xí xìng hé qiáng liè de wén huà、 xìn yǎng zé rèn gǎn xiāng jié hé。 zhè zhǒng duì rén shēng de lǐ jiě yǔ zuò zhě zǎo qī jīng xīn chuàng jiàn de kē xué yì shí xíng tài hé“ yīn guǒ bào yìng shuō” dào dé yuán zé xiāng qù shèn yuǎn， yě biǎo míng bù rù wǎn nián de qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè suí zhe shēng huó jīng lì de fēng fù， zhī shí shì yě de tuò zhǎn， duì rén shēng de fù zá yǔ shén mì xìng yòu liǎo gēngshēn kè de rèn shí。 zài zuì hòu zhè bù xiǎo shuō lǐ， zhǒng zú jìn huà guān tū pò liǎo chuán tǒng jiā tíng gài niàn de zhì gù， shè huì lì shǐ guān fā zhǎn wéi yī zhǒng fēi cháng qiáng liè de guó jì huà yì shí； xù shì jiāo diǎn cóng rén wén jīng shén de hóng guān shì jiǎo zhuǎn yí dào duì gè bié zhǒng zú de“ chún huà” wèn tí de wēi guān zhù shì。 zhè zhǒng guān niàn de gǎi biàn hé shì jiǎo de zhuǎn yí， zhè zhǒng duì gè rén zhǒng zú shēnfèn huò wén huà shēn fēn de guān zhù， zài cì jiāng zuò zhě tuī xiàng xiàn dài wén huà yán jiū de qián yán。 zài guó jì zhèng zhì、 jīng jì、 wén huà wǔ tái rì qū píng děng、 rén lèi lì shǐ zhú jiàn bù rù quán qiú huà de jīn tiān， zhòng dú qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè de《 dān ní 'ěr · dé lóng dá》 jù yòu tè bié de yì yì。 wǒ men bù jǐn jīng tàn zuò zhě duì wén xué zhù tí yǔ yì shù yǒng wú xiè dài de tàn suǒ yǔ tiǎo zhàn， duì tā yán sù zhí zhù de lì shǐ gǎn hé chāo yuè shí dài de zhǒng zú yì shí yǔ rén wén guān huái gèng shì sù rán qǐ jìng。 tā duì yóu tài mín zú shēng huó hé xìn yǎng de guān zhù yǔ zūn zhòng cù chéng xiǎo shuō zài xù shì yì shù fāng miàn de tū pò， tóng shí yě shǐ zhī jù yòu míng xiǎn de xiàn dài zhèng zhì、 zōng jiào hé wén huà yì yì。 yīnggāi shuō， xiǎo shuō de yóu tài zhù tí yǔ xù shì de jīng jiǔ jià zhí yì chéng wéi 'ài lüè tè zài yīng guó wén xué lì shǐ shàng xiǎng yòu chóng gāo shēng yù de yòu lì zuǒ zhèng。 cān kǎo wén xiàn： Eliot， George． DanielDeronda[M]． (EdinburghandLondon： Wil héng liamBlackwood ＆ Sons， 1876)． Reprint。 Hertfordshire： WordsworthE héng ditionsLimited， 2003． Haight， GordonS．， ed． TheGeorgeEliotLetters[M]． 9vols． NewHaven： YaleUniversityPress， 1954 héng 78． Hanks， Patrick， ed． CollinsDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage[M]． London＆ Glasgow： WilliamCollinsSons＆ Co． Ltd．， 1979． Pangallo， KarenL．， cd． TheCriticalResponsetoGeorgeEliot[M]． London＆ Connecticut： GreenwoodPress， 1994． rèn jì yù． zōng jiào cí diǎn [z]． shàng hǎi： shàng hǎi cí shū chū bǎn shè， 1981．


　　Daniel Deronda is a novel by George Eliot, first published in 1876. It was the last novel she completed and the only one set in the contemporary Victorian society of her day. Its mixture of social satire and moral searching, along with a sympathetic rendering of Jewish proto-Zionist and Kaballistic ideas has made it a controversial final statement of one of the greatest of Victorian novelists.
　　
　　The novel has been filmed three times, once as a silent feature and twice for television. It has also been adapted for the stage, most notably in a production in the 1960s by the 69 Theatre Company in Manchester with Vanessa Redgrave as Gwendolen Harleth.
　　
　　Plot summary
　　
　　Daniel Deronda contains two main strains of plot, united by the title character. The novel begins in mid-story in late August 1865 with the meeting of Daniel Deronda and Gwendolen Harleth in Leubronn, Germany. Daniel finds himself attracted to but wary of the beautiful, stubborn, and selfish Gwendolen, whom he sees lose all her winnings in a game of roulette. The next day, Gwendolen receives a letter from her mother telling her that the family is financially ruined and asking her to go home. In despair at losing all her money, Gwendolen decides to pawn a necklace and debates gambling again in order to make her fortune. In a fateful moment, however, her necklace is returned to her by a porter, and she realises that Daniel saw her pawn the necklace and redeemed it for her. From this point, the plot breaks off into two separate flashbacks, one which gives us the history of Gwendolen Harleth and one of Daniel Deronda.
　　
　　In October 1864, soon after the death of Gwendolen's stepfather, Gwendolen and her family move to a new neighbourhood. It is here that she meets Henleigh Mallinger Grandcourt, a taciturn and calculating man, who proposes marriage shortly after their first meeting. At first open to his advances, she eventually flees (to the German town in which she meets Deronda) upon discovering that he has several children with his mistress, Lydia Glasher. This portion of the novel sets Gwendolen up as a haughty, selfish, yet affectionate daughter, admired for her beauty but suspected by many in society because of her satirical observations and somewhat manipulative behaviour. She is also prone to fits of terror that shake her otherwise calm and controlling exterior.
　　
　　Deronda has been raised by a wealthy gentleman, Sir Hugo Mallinger. Deronda's relationship to Sir Hugo is ambiguous and it is widely believed, even by Deronda, that he is Sir Hugo's illegitimate son, though no one is certain. Deronda is an intelligent, light-hearted and compassionate young man who cannot quite decide what to do with his life, and this is a sore point between him and Sir Hugo, who wants him to go into politics. One day in late July 1864, as he is boating on the Thames, Deronda rescues a young Jewish woman, Mirah Lapidoth, from attempting to drown herself. He takes her to the home of friends of his, and it is discovered that Mirah is a singer. She has come to London to search for her mother and brother after running away from her father, who kidnapped her when she was a child and forced her into an acting troupe. She ran away from him finally because she feared he was planning to sell her into an immoral relationship with a friend of his. Moved by her tale, Deronda undertakes to help her look for her mother (who turns out to have died years earlier) and brother and through this, he is introduced to London's Jewish community. Mirah and Daniel grow closer and Daniel, anxious about his growing affection for her, leaves for a short time to join Sir Hugo in Leubronn, where he and Gwendolen first meet.
　　
　　From here, the story picks up in "real time," and Gwendolen returns from Germany in early September 1865 because her family has lost its fortune in an economic downturn. Gwendolen, having an antipathy to marriage, the only respectable way in which a woman could achieve financial security, attempts to avoid working as a governess by pursuing a career in singing or on the stage, but a prominent musician tells her she does not have the talent. In order to save herself and her family from relative poverty, she marries the wealthy Grandcourt, whom she believes she can manipulate to maintain her freedom to do what she likes, despite having promised Mrs. Glasher she would not marry him and fearing that it is a mistake.
　　
　　Deronda continues his search for Mirah's family, meets a consumptive visionary named Mordecai. Mordecai passionately proclaims his wish that the Jewish people retain their national identity and one day be restored to their "Promised Land." Because he is dying, he wants Daniel to become his intellectual heir and continue to pursue his dream and be an advocate for the Jewish people. In spite of being strongly drawn to Mordecai, Deronda hesitates to commit himself to a cause that seems to have no connection to his own identity. Deronda's desire to embrace Mordecai's vision becomes stronger when they discover Mordecai is the brother Mirah has known by the name Ezra and has been seeking. Still, Deronda is not a Jew and cannot reconcile this fact with his affection and respect for Mordecai/Ezra, which would be necessary for him to pursue a life of Jewish advocacy.
　　
　　Gwendolen, meanwhile, has been emotionally crushed by her cold, self-centered, and manipulative husband. She is consumed with guilt for the disinheriting of Lydia Glasher's children by marrying their father. On Gwendolen's wedding day, Mrs. Glasher cursed her and told her she would suffer for her treachery, which only exacerbates Gwendolen's feelings of dread and terror. During this time, Gwendolen and Deronda meet regularly, and Gwendolen pours out her troubles to him whenever they meet. During a trip to Italy, Grandcourt is knocked from his boat into the water and drowns. Gwendolen, who was present, is consumed with guilt because she had long wished he would die, although after some hesitation she jumped into the Mediterranean in a futile attempt to save him. Deronda, also in Italy to meet his Jewish mother (whose identity Sir Hugo has finally revealed), comforts Gwendolen and advises her. In love with Deronda, Gwendolen hopes for a future with him, but he urges her onto a path of righteousness in which she will help others in order to alleviate her suffering.
　　
　　Deronda meets his mother and learns that he is the legitimate son of a famous opera singer with whom Sir Hugo was once in love. She tells him that she was the daughter of a physician and strictly pious Jew who forced her to marry her cousin whom she did not love, despite her resentment of the rigid piety of her childhood. Daniel was the only child of that union, and on her husband's death, she asked the devoted Sir Hugo to raise her son as an English gentleman, never to know that he is Jewish. Upon learning of his true origins, Deronda finally feels comfortable with his love for Mirah, and on his return to England in October 1866, he tells Mirah of his love for her. Daniel commits himself to be Ezra/Mordecai's disciple, and shortly after Deronda's marriage, Ezra/Mordecai dies with Daniel and Mirah at his side. Before Daniel marries Mirah, he goes to Gwendolen to tell her about his origins, his decision to go to "the East" (per Ezra/Mordecai's wish), and that he is betrothed to Mirah. Gwendolen is devastated by the news, but it becomes a turning point in her life, inspiring her to finally say, "I shall live." She sends him a letter on his wedding day, telling him not to think of her with sadness but to know that she will be a better person for having known him. The newly-weds then set off for "the East" to investigate what they can do to restore the Jewish nation.
　　Characters
　　
　　 * Daniel Deronda — The ward of the wealthy Sir Hugo Mallinger and hero of the novel, Deronda has a tendency to help others at a cost to himself. At the start of the novel, he has failed to win a scholarship at Cambridge because of his focus on helping a friend, has been travelling abroad, and has just started studying law. He often wonders about his birth and whether or not he is a gentleman. As he moves more and more among the world-within-a-world of the Jews of the novel he begins to identify with their cause in direct proportion to the unfolding revelations of his ancestry. Eliot used the story of Moses as part of her inspiration for Deronda. As Moses was a Jew brought up as an Egyptian who ultimately led his people to the Promised Land, so Deronda is a Jew brought up as an Englishman who ends the novel with a plan to do the same. Deronda's name presumably indicates that his ancestors lived in the Spanish city of Ronda, prior to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.
　　 * Gwendolen Harleth — The beautiful, spoiled daughter of a widowed mother. Much courted by men, she is flirtatious but ultimately self-involved. Early in the novel, her family suffers a financial crisis, and she is faced with becoming a governess to help support herself and her family. Seeking an escape, she explores the idea of becoming an actress and singer, but Herr Klesmer tells her that she has started too late, that she does not know the meaning of hard work, training, and sacrifice. Gwendolen marries the controlling and cruel Henleigh Grandcourt, although she does not love him. Desperately unhappy, she seeks help from Deronda, who offers her understanding, moral support and the possibility of a way out of her guilt and sorrow. As a psychological study of an immature egoist struggling to achieve greater understanding of herself and others through suffering, Gwendolen is for many Eliot's crowning achievement as a novelist and the real core of the book. F R Leavis famously felt that the novel would have benefited from the complete removal of the Jewish section and the renaming of it as Gwendolen Harleth. It is true that though the novel is named after Deronda, a greater proportion is devoted to Gwendolen than to Deronda himself.
　　 * Mirah Lapidoth — A beautiful Jewish girl who was born in England but taken away by her father at a young age to travel the world as a singer. Realising, as a young woman, that her father planned to sell her as a mistress to a European nobleman, to get money for his gambling addiction, she flees from him and returns to London to look for her mother and brother. When she arrived in London she found her old home destroyed and no trace of her family. Giving in to despair, she tries to commit suicide. Rescued by Daniel, she is cared for by his friends while searching for her family and work, so that she can support herself.
　　 * Sir Hugo Mallinger — A wealthy gentleman; Sir Hugo fell in love with the operatic diva Maria Alcharisi when she was young and agreed, out of love for her, to raise her son Daniel Deronda.
　　 * Henleigh Mallinger Grandcourt — Sir Hugo's nephew and heir-presumptive, a wealthy, manipulative, sadistic man. Grandcourt marries Gwendolen Harleth and then embarks upon a campaign of emotional abuse. He has a mistress, Lydia Glasher, with whom he has several children. He had promised to marry Lydia when her husband died but reneged on the promise in order to marry Gwendolyn instead.
　　 * Lush — Henleigh Grandcourt's slavish associate. He and Gwendolen take an immediate dislike to one another.
　　 * Lydia Glasher — Henleigh Grandcourt's mistress, a fallen woman who left her husband for Grandcourt and had his children. She confronts Gwendolen, hoping to persuade her not to marry Grandcourt and protect her children's inheritance. In order to punish both women, Grandcourt takes the family diamonds he had given to Lydia and gives them to Gwendolen. He forces Gwendolen to wear them despite knowing that they had been previously worn by his mistress.
　　 * Ezra Mordecai Cohen — Mirah's brother. A young Jewish visionary suffering from consumption who befriends Daniel Deronda and teaches him about Judaism. A Kabbalist and proto-Zionist, Mordecai sees Deronda as his spiritual successor and inspires him to continue his vision of creating a homeland for the Jews in Palestine. Named after the biblical character Mordecai, who delivers the Jews from the machinations of Haman in the Book of Esther
　　 * Herr Klesmer — A German-Jewish musician in Gwendolen Harleth's social circle; Klesmer marries Catherine Arrowpoint, a wealthy girl with whom Gwendolen is friendly. He also advises Gwendolen not to try for a life on the stage. Thought to be partly based on Franz Liszt.
　　 * Contessa Maria Alcharisi — Daniel Deronda's mother. The daughter of a rabbi, she suffered under her father's dominance; he saw her main purpose was to produce Jewish sons. To please him, she agreed to marry a religious man, her cousin, knowing he adored her and would let her do as she wished after her father died. When her father was dead, she became a renowned singer and actress. After her husband died, she gave her son to Sir Hugo Mallinger to be raised as an English gentleman, free of all the disadvantages she felt she had had as a Jew. Later when her voice seemed to be failing, she converted to Christianity in order to marry a Russian nobleman. Her voice recovered, and she bitterly regretted having given up her life as a performer. Now ill with a fatal disease, she begins to fear retribution for having frustrated her father's plans for his grandson. She contacts Daniel through Sir Hugo, asking him to meet her in Genoa, where she travels under pretense of consulting a doctor. Their confrontation in Italy is one of the novel's important scenes. Afterwards, she tells Deronda where he can recover a chest full of important documents related to his Jewish heritage, gathered by her father.
　　
　　Literary significance and reception
　　Influence on Jewish Zionism
　　
　　Written during a time when Christian Zionism (called at that time "Restorationism") had a strong following, Eliot's novel had a positive influence on later Jewish Zionism. It has been cited by Henrietta Szold, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, and Emma Lazarus as having been highly influential in their decision to become Zionists.
　　
　　Some modern critics, notably Edward Said, point to the novel as a propaganda tool to encourage British patriation of Palestine to Jews. The novel is explicit in sending the non-Christians to a non-Christian land, and also in maintaining that "like may only marry like", i.e., Deronda can only marry his beloved if they are the same race/religion/ethnicity. Hostile critics have suggested that the book promotes a fundamentally racist view of marriage[citation needed]. However, the German-Jewish pianist Klesmer marries the Englishwoman Catherine Arrowpoint, suggesting that Eliot's views on this are subtler than these critics suggest[citation needed].
　　
　　In its day the Jewish section of the novel was met with bafflement by the non-Jewish reading public, which made up the majority of Eliot's readership[citation needed]. Looking at depictions of Jews in other novels such as Dickens' Oliver Twist and Trollope's The Way We Live Now, it is easy to understand why. In spite of having had a Jewish-born Prime Minister for many years (Benjamin Disreali was baptised when he was thirteen years old), Britain's view of the Jews at the time comprised derision, revulsion and prejudice, opinions expressed by several of the British characters in one scene. The fact that Eliot makes a point of comparing the world of the Jews favourably with the society of the British could only have served to heighten the hostile reaction to this element of the book. Some readers felt that the Jewish sections of the book were its weakest, and there were even efforts to rewrite the novel by excising those portions, leaving only the sections pertaining to Gwendolen and deleting references to Daniel's Jewish roots.
　　
　　Conversely, some Hebrew translations made by East European Zionists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries concentrated on the Jewish-Zionist parts and excised or greatly abbreviated the other portions.
　　
　　Needless to say, in the Jewish community of Eliot's time, Daniel Deronda was greeted with enormous warmth. It was the first time the community felt it had been represented fairly by a major British novelist.
　　Jewish Zionism in the novel
　　
　　Daniel Deronda is composed of two interwoven stories and presents two worlds which are never completely reconciled - indeed, the separation of the two and the eventual parting of one from the other is one of the novel's major themes. There is the fashionable, familiar, upper-class English world of Gwendolen Harleth and the less familiar society-within-a-society inhabited by the Jews, most importantly Mordecai (or Ezra) Cohen and his sister, Mirah. Living between these two worlds is Daniel, who gradually identifies more and more with the Jewish side as he comes to understand the mystery of his birth and develops his relationships with Mordecai and Mirah. In the novel, the Jewish characters' spirituality, moral coherence and sense of community are contrasted favourably with the materialist, philistine, and largely corrupt society of England. The inference seems to be that the Jews' moral values are lacking in the wider British society that surrounds them.
　　
　　Daniel is ideological, helpful, and wise. In order to give substance to his character, Eliot had to give him a worthy purpose. However, Eliot had become interested in Jewish culture through her acquaintance with Jewish mystic, lecturer and proto-Zionist Immanuel Oscar Menahem Deutsch. Part of the inspiration for the novel was her desire to correct English ignorance and prejudice against Jews. Mordecai's story, so easily forgotten beside the glitter and passions of Gwendolen's, nonetheless finishes the novel. Partly based on Deutsch, Mordecai's political and spiritual ideas are among the core messages of the book, just as Felix Holt's politics are the core intellectual element of his novel. In a key scene in Daniel Deronda, Deronda follows Mordecai to a tavern where the latter meets with other penniless philosophers to exchange ideas. There follows a lengthy speech in which Mordecai outlines his vision of a homeland for the Jews where, he hopes, they will be able to take their place among the nations of the world for the general good.
　　
　　It should be remembered that at the time, idealistic people all over Europe were caught up in the nationalistic currents of the era[citation needed]. Daniel Deronda is set during the 'epoch-making' Battle of Sadowa, the beginning of the end of Austrian hegemony in Europe. Eliot thus deliberately linked the events of the novel with major historical upheavals. Movements of national unity and self-determination were gathering steam in Germany and Italy and were seen as progressive forces at odds with the reactionary, old regimes of empires such as those of Austria-Hungary and Russia[citation needed]. Eliot's enthusiasm for the Zionist cause should be understood in this context. The evidence suggests that her view was that of righting a historical injustice at a time when progressive elements viewed national liberation as a positive.
　　Kabbalah in the novel
　　
　　A major influence on the novel is the Jewish mystical tradition known as Kabbalah, which is directly referred to in the text (cf page 406 OUP edition ISBN 0192817876, Chapter 38 in all prints). Mordecai describes himself as the reincarnation of Jewish mystics of Spain and Europe and believes his vision to be the fulfillment of an ancient yearning of the Jewish people. Many of the encounters between Mordecai and Deronda are described in quasi-mystical terms (Mordecai's meeting with Deronda on the River Thames). The inclusion of this overt mysticism is extraordinary in the work of a writer who, for many, embodies the ideals of the liberal, secular humanism of the Victorian age.
　　
　　Daniel Deronda is full of references to spiritual, archetypal, and mythological imagery, from the Kabbalism of Mordecai to the encounter of Lydia Glasher with Gwendolen among a group of standing stones and Gwendolen's reaction to the image of a dying man. Of all of Eliot's novels, this is the most mystical with an analysis of religious belief as a progressive force in human nature, albeit a non-Christian one.
　　Men can do nothing without the make-believe of a beginning. Even science, the strict measurer, is obliged to start with a make-believe unit, and must fix on a point in the stars' unceasing journey when his sidereal clock shall pretend that time is at Nought. His less accurate grandmother Poetry has always been understood to start in the middle; but on reflection it appears that her proceeding is not very different from his; since Science, too, reckons backward as well as forward, divides his unit into billions, and with his clock-finger at Nought really sets off _in medias res_. No retrospect will take us to the true beginning; and whether our prologue be in heaven or on earth, it is but a fraction of that all-presupposing fact with which our story sets out.
　　 Was she beautiful or not beautiful? and what was the secret of form or expression which gave the dynamic quality to her glance? Was the good or the evil genius dominant in those beams? Probably the evil; else why was the effect that of unrest rather than of undisturbed charm? Why was the wish to look again felt as coercion and not as a longing in which the whole being consents?
　　 She who raised these questions in Daniel Deronda's mind was occupied in gambling: not in the open air under a southern sky, tossing coppers on a ruined wall, with rags about her limbs; but in one of those splendid resorts which the enlightenment of ages has prepared for the same species of pleasure at a heavy cost of guilt mouldings, dark-toned color and chubby nudities, all correspondingly heavy--forming a suitable condenser for human breath belonging, in great part, to the highest fashion, and not easily procurable to be breathed in elsewhere in the like proportion, at least by persons of little fashion.
　　 It was near four o'clock on a September day, so that the atmosphere was well-brewed to a visible haze. There was deep stillness, broken only by a light rattle, a light chink, a small sweeping sound, and an occasional monotone in French, such as might be expected to issue from an ingeniously constructed automaton. Round two long tables were gathered two serried crowds of human beings, all save one having their faces and attention bent on the tables. The one exception was a melancholy little boy, with his knees and calves simply in their natural clothing of epidermis, but for the rest of his person in a fancy dress. He alone had his face turned toward the doorway, and fixing on it the blank gaze of a bedizened child stationed as a masquerading advertisement on the platform of an itinerant show, stood close behind a lady deeply engaged at the roulette-table.
　　 About this table fifty or sixty persons were assembled, many in the outer rows, where there was occasionally a deposit of new-comers, being mere spectators, only that one of them, usually a woman, might now and then be observed putting down a five-franc with a simpering air, just to see what the passion of gambling really was. Those who were taking their pleasure at a higher strength, and were absorbed in play, showed very distant varieties of European type: Livonian and Spanish, Graeco-Italian and miscellaneous German, English aristocratic and English plebeian. Here certainly was a striking admission of human equality. The white bejewelled fingers of an English countess were very near touching a bony, yellow, crab-like hand stretching a bared wrist to clutch a heap of coin--a hand easy to sort with the square, gaunt face, deep-set eyes, grizzled eyebrows, and ill-combed scanty hair which seemed a slight metamorphosis of the vulture. And where else would her ladyship have graciously consented to sit by that dry-lipped feminine figure prematurely old, withered after short bloom like her artificial flowers, holding a shabby velvet reticule before her, and occasionally putting in her mouth the point with which she pricked her card? There too, very near the fair countess, was a respectable London tradesman, blonde and soft-handed, his sleek hair scrupulously parted behind and before, conscious of circulars addressed to the nobility and gentry, whose distinguished patronage enabled him to take his holidays fashionably, and to a certain extent in their distinguished company. Not his gambler's passion that nullifies appetite, but a well-fed leisure, which, in the intervals of winning money in business and spending it showily, sees no better resource than winning money in play and spending it yet more showily--reflecting always that Providence had never manifested any disapprobation of his amusement, and dispassionate enough to leave off if the sweetness of winning much and seeing others lose had turned to the sourness of losing much and seeing others win. For the vice of gambling lay in losing money at it. In his bearing there might be something of the tradesman, but in his pleasures he was fit to rank with the owners of the oldest titles. Standing close to his chair was a handsome Italian, calm, statuesque, reaching across him to place the first pile of napoleons from a new bagful just brought him by an envoy with a scrolled mustache. The pile was in half a minute pushed over to an old bewigged woman with eye-glasses pinching her nose. There was a slight gleam, a faint mumbling smile about the lips of the old woman; but the statuesque Italian remained impassive, and--probably secure in an infallible system which placed his foot on the neck of chance--immediately prepared a new pile. So did a man with the air of an emaciated beau or worn-out libertine, who looked at life through one eye-glass, and held out his hand tremulously when he asked for change. It could surely be no severity of system, but rather some dream of white crows, or the induction that the eighth of the month was lucky, which inspired the fierce yet tottering impulsiveness of his play.
　　 But, while every single player differed markedly from every other, there was a certain uniform negativeness of expression which had the effect of a mask--as if they had all eaten of some root that for the time compelled the brains of each to the same narrow monotony of action.
　　 Deronda's first thought when his eyes fell on this scene of dull, gas- poisoned absorption, was that the gambling of Spanish shepherd-boys had seemed to him more enviable:--so far Rousseau might be justified in maintaining that art and science had done a poor service to mankind. But suddenly he felt the moment become dramatic. His attention was arrested by a young lady who, standing at an angle not far from him, was the last to whom his eyes traveled. She was bending and speaking English to a middle- aged lady seated at play beside her: but the next instant she returned to her play, and showed the full height of a graceful figure, with a face which might possibly be looked at without admiration, but could hardly be passed with indifference.
　　 The inward debate which she raised in Deronda gave to his eyes a growing expression of scrutiny, tending farther and farther away from the glow of mingled undefined sensibilities forming admiration. At one moment they followed the movements of the figure, of the arms and hands, as this problematic sylph bent forward to deposit her stake with an air of firm choice; and the next they returned to the face which, at present unaffected by beholders, was directed steadily toward the game. The sylph was a winner; and as her taper fingers, delicately gloved in pale-gray, were adjusting the coins which had been pushed toward her in order to pass them back again to the winning point, she looked round her with a survey too markedly cold and neutral not to have in it a little of that nature which we call art concealing an inward exultation.
　　 But in the course of that survey her eyes met Deronda's, and instead of averting them as she would have desired to do, she was unpleasantly conscious that they were arrested--how long? The darting sense that he was measuring her and looking down on her as an inferior, that he was of different quality from the human dross around her, that he felt himself in a region outside and above her, and was examining her as a specimen of a lower order, roused a tingling resentment which stretched the moment with conflict. It did not bring the blood to her cheeks, but it sent it away from her lips. She controlled herself by the help of an inward defiance, and without other sign of emotion than this lip-paleness turned to her play. But Deronda's gaze seemed to have acted as an evil eye. Her stake was gone. No matter; she had been winning ever since she took to roulette with a few napoleons at command, and had a considerable reserve. She had begun to believe in her luck, others had begun to believe in it: she had visions of being followed by a _cortège_ who would worship her as a goddess of luck and watch her play as a directing augury. Such things had been known of male gamblers; why should not a woman have a like supremacy? Her friend and chaperon who had not wished her to play at first was beginning to approve, only administering the prudent advice to stop at the right moment and carry money back to England--advice to which Gwendolen had replied that she cared for the excitement of play, not the winnings. On that supposition the present moment ought to have made the flood-tide in her eager experience of gambling. Yet, when her next stake was swept away, she felt the orbits of her eyes getting hot, and the certainty she had (without looking) of that man still watching her was something like a pressure which begins to be torturing. The more reason to her why she should not flinch, but go on playing as if she were indifferent to loss or gain. Her friend touched her elbow and proposed that they should quit the table. For reply Gwendolen put ten louis on the same spot: she was in that mood of defiance in which the mind loses sight of any end beyond the satisfaction of enraged resistance; and with the puerile stupidity of a dominant impulse includes luck among its objects of defiance. Since she was not winning strikingly, the next best thing was to lose strikingly. She controlled her muscles, and showed no tremor of mouth or hands. Each time her stake was swept off she doubled it. Many were now watching her, but the sole observation she was conscious of was Deronda's, who, though she never looked toward him, she was sure had not moved away. Such a drama takes no long while to play out: development and catastrophe can often be measured by nothing clumsier than the moment-hand. "Faites votre jeu, mesdames et messieurs," said the automatic voice of destiny from between the mustache and imperial of the croupier: and Gwendolen's arm was stretched to deposit her last poor heap of napoleons. "Le jeu ne va plus," said destiny. And in five seconds Gwendolen turned from the table, but turned resolutely with her face toward Deronda and looked at him. There was a smile of irony in his eyes as their glances met; but it was at least better that he should have disregarded her as one of an insect swarm who had no individual physiognomy. Besides, in spite of his superciliousness and irony, it was difficult to believe that he did not admire her spirit as well as her person: he was young, handsome, distinguished in appearance--not one of these ridiculous and dowdy Philistines who thought it incumbent on them to blight the gaming-table with a sour look of protest as they passed by it. The general conviction that we are admirable does not easily give way before a single negative; rather when any of Vanity's large family, male or female, find their performance received coldly, they are apt to believe that a little more of it will win over the unaccountable dissident. In Gwendolen's habits of mind it had been taken for granted that she knew what was admirable and that she herself was admired. This basis of her thinking had received a disagreeable concussion, and reeled a little, but was not easily to be overthrown.
　　 In the evening the same room was more stiflingly heated, was brilliant with gas and with the costumes of ladies who floated their trains along it or were seated on the ottomans.
　　 The Nereid in sea-green robes and silver ornaments, with a pale sea-green feather fastened in silver falling backward over her green hat and light brown hair, was Gwendolen Harleth. She was under the wing, or rather soared by the shoulder, of the lady who had sat by her at the roulette- table; and with them was a gentleman with a white mustache and clipped hair: solid-browed, stiff and German. They were walking about or standing to chat with acquaintances, and Gwendolen was much observed by the seated groups.
　　 "A striking girl--that Miss Harleth--unlike others."
　　 "Yes, she has got herself up as a sort of serpent now--all green and silver, and winds her neck about a little more than usual."
　　 "Oh, she must always be doing something extraordinary. She is that kind of girl, I fancy. Do you think her pretty, Mr. Vandernoodt?"
　　 "Very. A man might risk hanging for her--I mean a fool might."
　　 "You like a _nez retroussé_, then, and long narrow eyes?"
　　 "When they go with such an _ensemble_."
　　 "The _ensemble du serpent_?"
　　 "If you will. Woman was tempted by a serpent; why not man?"
　　 "She is certainly very graceful; but she wants a tinge of color in her cheeks. It is a sort of Lamia beauty she has."
　　 "On the contrary, I think her complexion one of her chief charms. It is a warm paleness; it looks thoroughly healthy. And that delicate nose with its gradual little upward curve is distracting. And then her mouth--there never was a prettier mouth, the lips curled backward so finely, eh, Mackworth?"
　　 "Think so? I cannot endure that sort of mouth. It looks so self- complacent, as if it knew its own beauty--the curves are too immovable. I like a mouth that trembles more."
　　 "For my part, I think her odious," said a dowager. "It is wonderful what unpleasant girls get into vogue. Who are these Langens? Does anybody know them?"
　　 "They are quite _comme il faut_. I have dined with them several times at the _Russie_. The baroness is English. Miss Harleth calls her cousin. The girl herself is thoroughly well-bred, and as clever as possible."
　　 "Dear me! and the baron?".
　　 "A very good furniture picture."
　　 "Your baroness is always at the roulette-table," said Mackworth. "I fancy she has taught the girl to gamble."
　　 "Oh, the old woman plays a very sober game; drops a ten-franc piece here and there. The girl is more headlong. But it is only a freak."
　　 "I hear she has lost all her winnings to-day. Are they rich? Who knows?"
　　 "Ah, who knows? Who knows that about anybody?" said Mr. Vandernoodt, moving off to join the Langens.
　　 The remark that Gwendolen wound her neck about more than usual this evening was true. But it was not that she might carry out the serpent idea more completely: it was that she watched for any chance of seeing Deronda, so that she might inquire about this stranger, under whose measuring gaze she was still wincing. At last her opportunity came.
　　 "Mr. Vandernoodt, you know everybody," said Gwendolen, not too eagerly, rather with a certain languor of utterance which she sometimes gave to her clear soprano. "Who is that near the door?"
　　 "There are half a dozen near the door. Do you mean that old Adonis in the George the Fourth wig?"
　　 "No, no; the dark-haired young man on the right with the dreadful expression."
　　 "Dreadful, do you call it? I think he is an uncommonly fine fellow."
　　 "But who is he?"
　　 "He is lately come to our hotel with Sir Hugo Mallinger."
　　 "Sir Hugo Mallinger?"
　　 "Yes. Do you know him?"
　　 "No." (Gwendolen colored slightly.) "He has a place near us, but he never comes to it. What did you say was the name of that gentleman near the door?"
　　 "Deronda--Mr. Deronda."
　　 "What a delightful name! Is he an Englishman?"
　　 "Yes. He is reported to be rather closely related to the baronet. You are interested in him?"
　　 "Yes. I think he is not like young men in general."
　　 "And you don't admire young men in general?"
　　 "Not in the least. I always know what they will say. I can't at all guess what this Mr. Deronda would say. What _does_ he say?"
　　 "Nothing, chiefly. I sat with his party for a good hour last night on the terrace, and he never spoke--and was not smoking either. He looked bored."
　　 "Another reason why I should like to know him. I am always bored."
　　 "I should think he would be charmed to have an introduction. Shall I bring it about? Will you allow it, baroness?"
　　 "Why not?--since he is related to Sir Hugo Mallinger. It is a new _r?le_ of yours, Gwendolen, to be always bored," continued Madame von Langen, when Mr. Vandernoodt had moved away. "Until now you have always seemed eager about something from morning till night."
　　 "That is just because I am bored to death. If I am to leave off play I must break my arm or my collar-bone. I must make something happen; unless you will go into Switzerland and take me up the Matterhorn."
　　 "Perhaps this Mr. Deronda's acquaintance will do instead of the Matterhorn."
　　 "Perhaps."
　　 But Gwendolen did not make Deronda's acquaintance on this occasion. Mr. Vandernoodt did not succeed in bringing him up to her that evening, and when she re-entered her own room she found a letter recalling her home.
　　This man contrives a secret 'twixt us two, That he may quell me with his meeting eyes Like one who quells a lioness at bay.
　　 This was the letter Gwendolen found on her table:--
　　 DEAREST CHILD.--I have been expecting to hear from you for a week. In your last you said the Langens thought of leaving Leubronn and going to Baden. How could you be so thoughtless as to leave me in uncertainty about your address? I am in the greatest anxiety lest this should not reach you. In any case, you were to come home at the end of September, and I must now entreat you to return as quickly as possible, for if you spent all your money it would be out of my power to send you any more, and you must not borrow of the Langens, for I could not repay them. This is the sad truth, my child--I wish I could prepare you for it better--but a dreadful calamity has befallen us all. You know nothing about business and will not understand it; but Grapnell & Co. have failed for a million, and we are totally ruined-- your aunt Gascoigne as well as I, only that your uncle has his benefice, so that by putting down their carriage and getting interest for the boys, the family can go on. All the property our poor father saved for us goes to pay the liabilities. There is nothing I can call my own. It is better you should know this at once, though it rends my heart to have to tell it you. Of course we cannot help thinking what a pity it was that you went away just when you did. But I shall never reproach you, my dear child; I would save you from all trouble if I could. On your way home you will have time to prepare yourself for the change you will find. We shall perhaps leave Offendene at once, for we hope that Mr. Haynes, who wanted it before, may be ready to take it off my hands. Of course we cannot go to the rectory--there is not a corner there to spare. We must get some hut or other to shelter us, and we must live on your uncle Gascoigne's charity, until I see what else can be done. I shall not be able to pay the debts to the tradesmen besides the servants' wages. Summon up your fortitude, my dear child; we must resign ourselves to God's will. But it is hard to resign one's self to Mr. Lassman's wicked recklessness, which they say was the cause of the failure. Your poor sisters can only cry with me and give me no help. If you were once here, there might be a break in the cloud--I always feel it impossible that you can have been meant for poverty. If the Langens wish to remain abroad, perhaps you can put yourself under some one else's care for the journey. But come as soon as you can to your afflicted and loving mamma,
　　 FANNY DAVILOW.
　　 The first effect of this letter on Gwendolen was half-stupefying. The implicit confidence that her destiny must be one of luxurious ease, where any trouble that occurred would be well clad and provided for, had been stronger in her own mind than in her mamma's, being fed there by her youthful blood and that sense of superior claims which made a large part of her consciousness. It was almost as difficult for her to believe suddenly that her position had become one of poverty and of humiliating dependence, as it would have been to get into the strong current of her blooming life the chill sense that her death would really come. She stood motionless for a few minutes, then tossed off her hat and automatically looked in the glass. The coils of her smooth light-brown hair were still in order perfect enough for a ball-room; and as on other nights, Gwendolen might have looked lingeringly at herself for pleasure (surely an allowable indulgence); but now she took no conscious note of her reflected beauty, and simply stared right before her as if she had been jarred by a hateful sound and was waiting for any sign of its cause. By-and-by she threw herself in the corner of the red velvet sofa, took up the letter again and read it twice deliberately, letting it at last fall on the ground, while she rested her clasped hands on her lap and sat perfectly still, shedding no tears. Her impulse was to survey and resist the situation rather than to wail over it. There was no inward exclamation of "Poor mamma!" Her mamma had never seemed to get much enjoyment out of life, and if Gwendolen had been at this moment disposed to feel pity she would have bestowed it on herself--for was she not naturally and rightfully the chief object of her mamma's anxiety too? But it was anger, it was resistance that possessed her; it was bitter vexation that she had lost her gains at roulette, whereas if her luck had continued through this one day she would have had a handsome sum to carry home, or she might have gone on playing and won enough to support them all. Even now was it not possible? She had only four napoleons left in her purse, but she possessed some ornaments which she could sell: a practice so common in stylish society at German baths that there was no need to be ashamed of it; and even if she had not received her mamma's letter, she would probably have decided to get money for an Etruscan necklace which she happened not to have been wearing since her arrival; nay, she might have done so with an agreeable sense that she was living with some intensity and escaping humdrum. With ten louis at her disposal and a return of her former luck, which seemed probable, what could she do better than go on playing for a few days? If her friends at home disapproved of the way in which she got the money, as they certainly would, still the money would be there. Gwendolen's imagination dwelt on this course and created agreeable consequences, but not with unbroken confidence and rising certainty as it would have done if she had been touched with the gambler's mania. She had gone to the roulette-table not because of passion, but in search of it: her mind was still sanely capable of picturing balanced probabilities, and while the chance of winning allured her, the chance of losing thrust itself on her with alternate strength and made a vision from which her pride sank sensitively. For she was resolved not to tell the Langens that any misfortune had befallen her family, or to make herself in any way indebted to their compassion; and if she were to part with her jewelry to any observable extent, they would interfere by inquiries and remonstrances. The course that held the least risk of intolerable annoyance was to raise money on her necklace early in the morning, tell the Langens that her mother desired her immediate return without giving a reason, and take the train for Brussels that evening. She had no maid with her, and the Langens might make difficulties about her returning home, but her will was peremptory.
　　 Instead of going to bed she made as brilliant a light as she could and began to pack, working diligently, though all the while visited by the scenes that might take place on the coming day--now by the tiresome explanations and farewells, and the whirling journey toward a changed home, now by the alternative of staying just another day and standing again at the roulette-table. But always in this latter scene there was the presence of that Deronda, watching her with exasperating irony, and--the two keen experiences were inevitably revived together--beholding her again forsaken by luck. This importunate image certainly helped to sway her resolve on the side of immediate departure, and to urge her packing to the point which would make a change of mind inconvenient. It had struck twelve when she came into her room, and by the time she was assuring herself that she had left out only what was necessary, the faint dawn was stealing through the white blinds and dulling her candles. What was the use of going to bed? Her cold bath was refreshment enough, and she saw that a slight trace of fatigue about the eyes only made her look the more interesting. Before six o'clock she was completely equipped in her gray traveling dress even to her felt hat, for she meant to walk out as soon as she could count on seeing other ladies on their way to the springs. And happening to be seated sideways before the long strip of mirror between her two windows she turned to look at herself, leaning her elbow on the back of the chair in an attitude that might have been chosen for her portrait. It is possible to have a strong self-love without any self- satisfaction, rather with a self-discontent which is the more intense because one's own little core of egoistic sensibility is a supreme care; but Gwendolen knew nothing of such inward strife. She had a _na?ve_ delight in her fortunate self, which any but the harshest saintliness will have some indulgence for in a girl who had every day seen a pleasant reflection of that self in her friends' flattery as well as in the looking-glass. And even in this beginning of troubles, while for lack of anything else to do she sat gazing at her image in the growing light, her face gathered a complacency gradual as the cheerfulness of the morning. Her beautiful lips curled into a more and more decided smile, till at last she took off her hat, leaned forward and kissed the cold glass which had looked so warm. How could she believe in sorrow? If it attacked her, she felt the force to crush it, to defy it, or run away from it, as she had done already. Anything seemed more possible than that she could go on bearing miseries, great or small.
　　 Madame von Langen never went out before breakfast, so that Gwendolen could safely end her early walk by taking her way homeward through the Obere Strasse in which was the needed shop, sure to be open after seven. At that hour any observers whom she minded would be either on their walks in the region of the springs, or would be still in their bedrooms; but certainly there was one grand hotel, the _Czarina_ from which eyes might follow her up to Mr. Wiener's door. This was a chance to be risked: might she not be going in to buy something which had struck her fancy? This implicit falsehood passed through her mind as she remembered that the _Czarina_ was Deronda's hotel; but she was then already far up the Obere Strasse, and she walked on with her usual floating movement, every line in her figure and drapery falling in gentle curves attractive to all eyes except those which discerned in them too close a resemblance to the serpent, and objected to the revival of serpent-worship. She looked neither to the right hand nor to the left, and transacted her business in the shop with a coolness which gave little Mr. Weiner nothing to remark except her proud grace of manner, and the superior size and quality of the three central turquoises in the necklace she offered him. They had belonged to a chain once her father's: but she had never known her father; and the necklace was in all respects the ornament she could most conveniently part with. Who supposes that it is an impossible contradiction to be superstitious and rationalizing at the same time? Roulette encourages a romantic superstition as to the chances of the game, and the most prosaic rationalism as to human sentiments which stand in the way of raising needful money. Gwendolen's dominant regret was that after all she had only nine louis to add to the four in her purse: these Jew dealers were so unscrupulous in taking advantage of Christians unfortunate at play! But she was the Langens' guest in their hired apartment, and had nothing to pay there: thirteen louis would do more than take her home; even if she determined on risking three, the remaining ten would more than suffice, since she meant to travel right on, day and night. As she turned homeward, nay, entered and seated herself in the _salon_ to await her friends and breakfast, she still wavered as to her immediate departure, or rather she had concluded to tell the Langens simply that she had had a letter from her mamma desiring her return, and to leave it still undecided when she should start. It was already the usual breakfast-time, and hearing some one enter as she was leaning back rather tired and hungry with her eyes shut, she rose expecting to see one or other of the Langens--the words which might determine her lingering at least another day, ready-formed to pass her lips. But it was the servant bringing in a small packet for Miss Harleth, which had at that moment been left at the door. Gwendolen took it in her hand and immediately hurried into her own room. She looked paler and more agitated than when she had first read her mamma's letter. Something--she never quite knew what--revealed to her before she opened the packet that it contained the necklace she had just parted with. Underneath the paper it was wrapped in a cambric handkerchief, and within this was a scrap of torn-off note-paper, on which was written with a pencil, in clear but rapid handwriting--"_A stranger who has found Miss Harleth's necklace returns it to her with the hope that she will not again risk the loss of it._"
　　 Gwendolen reddened with the vexation of wounded pride. A large corner of the handkerchief seemed to have been recklessly torn off to get rid of a mark; but she at once believed in the first image of "the stranger" that presented itself to her mind. It was Deronda; he must have seen her go into the shop; he must have gone in immediately after and repurchased the necklace. He had taken an unpardonable liberty, and had dared to place her in a thoroughly hateful position. What could she do?--Not, assuredly, act on her conviction that it was he who had sent her the necklace and straightway send it back to him: that would be to face the possibility that she had been mistaken; nay, even if the "stranger" were he and no other, it would be something too gross for her to let him know that she had divined this, and to meet him again with that recognition in their minds. He knew very well that he was entangling her in helpless humiliation: it was another way of smiling at her ironically, and taking the air of a supercilious mentor. Gwendolen felt the bitter tears of mortification rising and rolling down her cheeks. No one had ever before dared to treat her with irony and contempt. One thing was clear: she must carry out her resolution to quit this place at once; it was impossible for her to reappear in the public _salon_, still less stand at the gaming- table with the risk of seeing Deronda. Now came an importunate knock at the door: breakfast was ready. Gwendolen with a passionate movement thrust necklace, cambric, scrap of paper, and all into her _nécessaire_, pressed her handkerchief against her face, and after pausing a minute or two to summon back her proud self-control, went to join her friends. Such signs of tears and fatigue as were left seemed accordant enough with the account she at once gave of her having sat up to do her packing, instead of waiting for help from her friend's maid. There was much protestation, as she had expected, against her traveling alone, but she persisted in refusing any arrangements for companionship. She would be put into the ladies' compartment and go right on. She could rest exceedingly well in the train, and was afraid of nothing.
　　 In this way it happened that Gwendolen never reappeared at the roulette- table, but that Thursday evening left Leubronn for Brussels, and on Saturday morning arrived at Offendene, the home to which she and her family were soon to say a last good-bye.
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shǒuyè>> wénxué>> 现实百态>> qiáo zhì · ài lüè tè George Eliot   yīng guó United Kingdom   hàn nuò wēi wáng cháo   (1819niánshíyīyuè22rì～1880niánshíèryuè22rì)
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