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Scenes of Clerical Life

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Scenes of Clerical Life
Frontispiece of 1906 MacMillan edition of Scenes of Clerical Life drawn by Hugh Thomson
Frontispiece of 1906 MacMillan edition of Scenes of Clerical Life drawn by Hugh Thomson
AuthorGeorge Eliot
IllustratorHugh Thomson
LanguageEnglish
GenreShort story compilation
PublisherWilliam Blackwood & Sons
Publication date
1857
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBNNA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Followed byAdam Bede 

Scenes of Clerical Life is the title under which George Eliot's first published fictional work, three short stories, was released in book form. The stories were first published in Blackwood's Magazine over the course of the year 1857, before being released as a two-volume set by Blackwood and Sons in January 1858 [1] The three stories are set in and around the fictional town of Milby in the English Midlands. Each of the stories examines an aspect of religious reform and the impacts that change and differing beliefs have on the residents of Milby.[2]

Plot summary

"The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton"

The first story in Scenes of Clerical Life is titled "The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton". The titular character is the new curate of the local church in Shepperton. A pious man, but "sadly unsuited to the practice of his profession" [3], Barton attempts to ensure that his congregation remains firmly within the care of the Church of England. His stipend is inadequate, and he relies on the hard work of Milly, his wife, to help keep the family. Since Barton is new, and not all of the congregation accept him, he feels that it is especially important to serve the community. Barton's charity is strained when he meets Countess Czerlaski, who is beautiful and in need of a home. Barton and his wife accept the Countess, until Milly becomes ill and the children's nurse convinces the Countess to leave. Milly dies of her illness and Barton is plunged into sadness at the loss. Just as Barton reconciles himself to Milly's death, he get more bad news: the vicar in the region, Mr. Carpe, wants to be the pastor of the church in Shepperton, so Barton is given six-months notice to leave. Barton accepts the transfer but is disheartened because he had improved the church and had won the sympathies of the parishioners. Barton believes that the transfer was unfair because the vicar's brother-in-law is in search of a new parish in which to work. The story concludes twenty years later with Barton at his wife's grave with one of his daughters: Patty. Barton laments how things have changed, and that he is especially proud of his son Richard.[4]

"Mr. Gilfil's Love Story"

The second work in Scenes of Clerical Life is titled "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story" and concerns the life of a clergyman named Maynard Gilfil who died 30-years before the events of the previous story. Gilfil, later the incumbent of Shepperton, is chaplain at Cheverel Manor. The plot begins as Gilfil falls in love with a talented singer, Caterina Sarti, known as Tina. Tina is the ward of Sir Christopher Cheverel. Gilfil's love for Tina is not reciprocated because she desires the carefree Captain Anthony Wybrow, who only teases her with flirtation. Wybrow's uncle plans that Wybrow will marry a Miss Assher, a wealthy friend of his. Both Tina and Miss Assher end up living together with Wybrow. When Wybrow dies, Tina becomes terribly distraught. Gilfil seeks her out, helps her recover and marries her. Unfortunately, her spirit is so broken that she dies soon afterwards, leaving the pastor to die a lonely man.[5][6]

"Janet's Repentance"

Janet's Repentance is the only story set in the town of Milby (based on the Warwickshire town of Nuneaton)[7]. It details the experiences of Janet Dempster and her brutish husband, the lawyer Robert Dempster. Janet is rescued from her dependence on alcohol by Edgar Tryan, an evangelical clergyman who guides Janet toward redemption and self-sufficiency.[8]

Criticism

Scenes of Clerical Life was met with critical acclaim. In 1858 Charles Dickens wrote the following to Eliot to express his approval of the book. The letter is also noteworthy because Dickens was the first to suggest that because of the emotional appeal of the characters in Scenes of Clerical Life it was written by a female.[9]

I have been so strongly affected by the two first tales in the book you have had the kindness to send me, through Messrs. Blackwood, that I hope you will excuse my writing to you to express my admiration of their extraordinary merit. The exquisite truth and delicacy both of the humor and the pathos of these stories, I have never seen the like of; and they have impressed me in a manner that I should find it very difficult to describe to you. if I had the impertinence to try. In addressing these few words of thankfulness to the creator of the Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton, and the sad love-story of Mr. Gilfil, I am (I presume) bound to adopt the name that it pleases that excellent writer to assume. I can suggest no better one: but I should have been strongly disposed, if I had been left to my own devices, to address the said writer as a woman. I have observed what seemed to me such womanly touches in those moving fictions, that the assurance on the title-page is insufficient to satisfy me even now. If they originated with no woman, I believe that no man ever before had the art of making himself mentally so like a woman since the world began.[10]

References

  1. ^ Uglow, Nathan. "Scenes of Clerical Life". The Literary Encyclopedia. 30 October 2002.accessed 10 October 2008.
  2. ^ Eliot, George, and Jennifer Gribble. Scenes of Clerical Life. New York: Penguin, 1985.[1]
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ Scenes from Clerical Life
  5. ^ George Eliot: Review of Scenes of Clerical Life - Warwickshire Web
  6. ^ Scenes of Clerical Life Book Review
  7. ^ [3]
  8. ^ Scenes from Clerical Life
  9. ^ Crompton, Margaret. George Eliot, the Woman. New York: T. Yoseloff, 1960. Page 17.[4]
  10. ^ Moulton, Charles Wells. The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. Buffalo New York: Moulton, 1904. vol. 7, page. 181.[5]
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