Adam Bede | Adam Bede

At a glance:

Author: George Eliot
First Published: 1859
Type of Work: Novel
Type of Plot: Social realism
Time of Work: 1799-1801 and 1807
Setting: The fictional towns of Loamshire and Stonyshire, near the Staffordshire-Derbyshire border in rural England
Principal Characters: Adam Bede, Hetty Sorrel, Arthur Donnithorne, Dinah Morris, The Reverend Adolphus Irwine, Bartle Massey, Seth Bede, Rachel
Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism
Subjects: Love or romance, Murder or homicide, Nineteenth century, Social issues, Rural or country life, Obsession, Pregnancy, Ministry or ministers, England or English people, Eighteenth century, Illegitimacy, Ethics, Carpentry or carpenters, Preaching, Fate or fatalism, Romanticism
Locales: England

Elaborated from a prison confession recounted by George Eliot’s aunt, Adam Bede began as a fourth story for Scenes of Clerical Life, but it grew to a densely realized novel of rural, semifeudal English life. For an audience conditioned to accept class subjugation and a double standard in sexual conduct, Eliot dramatized the sufferings of a dependent class when the economically powerful behave irresponsibly, emphasizing particularly the traumatic isolation of a young farm woman seduced by a wealthy “gentleman.”

Adam Bede | Adam Bede

At a glance:

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