Date of Award
1973
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
English
Abstract
George Eliot's world is a deterministic world. She believed that circumstances and conventions imposed by society control events in an individual life; nevertheless, in the inevitable conflicts between inner desire and outer reality, the individual is responsible for his own choices and the acts which they direct. Furthermore, only in a deterministic world are intelligent, moral choices possible. The explanation or this seeming paradox lies in education or the individual by experience to learn to make satisfying choices and to develop a strong will. Through experience, the individual learns both the hazards of the selfish choice and also the lasting values or the unselfish choice; through experience, he develops a strong will as he learns the satisfaction or doing his duty and or carrying out his decision, even though it involves self-sacrifice.
Recommended Citation
Sale, Elisabeth Even, "Determinism and freedom of choice operating through five experiences in psychological development in the lives of three of George Eliot's heroines" (1973). Master's Theses. 933.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses/933
