BEYOND REALISM: REINTERPRETING GEORGE ELIOT’S ADAM BEDE THROUGH, FEMINIST, ETHICAL, AND SOCIO-POLITICAL LENSES

Abstract

This research offerings a complex reevaluation of George Eliot’s Adam Bede (1859), challenging its conventional designation as a realist novel by delving into its feminist, ethical, and socio-political layers. Uniting a broad spectrum of critical voices, from 19th-century reviewers to modern scholars, it investigates the novel’s portrayals of rural society, gender expectations, moral inquiry, religious doubt, and class relations. The analysis contends that characters like Dinah Morris and Hetty Sorrel reflect opposing Victorian outsets of femininity, while Adam Bede himself symbolizes the ethical difficulties faced by the laboring class. Engaging theoretical approaches such as feminist critique, ethical reading, ecological literary theory, and greeting studies, the work uncovers how Eliot’s account techniques and moral framework interview dominant male-controlled, theological, and judicial conventions. Through detailed textual examination and historical contextualization, the study stresses the text’s lasting importance in contemporary discussions around justice, compassion, and civic duty. In conclusion, this research situates Adam Bede as a text of lasting philosophical and moral depth, appealing a renewed appreciation of Eliot’s influence on Victorian fiction and modern critical discourse.