Representations of Women in George Eliot's Fiction

This book focusses not just on the basic Victorian inhibitions regarding women and women writers, but gives additional emphasis on the fact that though George Eliot risked her reputation by exposing the slight sexual audacity in most of her novels, she was neither a feminist in the theoretical sense, nor an activist in the practical sense of the term. The contrariness in her treatment of women characters lies in the fact that though, she persistently worked at the central dilemmas of feminism in her time she did so without setting out to write feminist novels. Still, the importance of her representations of women trying to struggle free from patriarchal bondage, cannot be underestimated in the light of our modern day feminist movement of a more radical form. As a result, Eliot’s novels are dealt with not only in the light of recent criticism but also in relation to other ‘feminist’ writings regarding the ‘nature’ of women and their social standing.