The dear, young, round, soft, flexible thing! Her heart must be just as soft, her temper just as free from angles, her character just as pliant.Īnd for the man who may wish to marry Hetty: Returning to the male idealization of female beauty, she expresses what Adam and all men probably feel and think when they stare at Hetty: There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles, from the desperate to the sheepish but there is one order of beauty which seems made to turn the heads not only of men, but of all intelligent mammals, even of women. But Eliot recognizes that we all think like this to some degree, and for those who doubt it, she poses this question:Īsk yourself if you were ever predisposed to believe evil of any pretty womanĪnd this external female beauty may be idealized by women as much as men: Irwine’s approach to life might seem to be caricature. An ugly, piggish, or fishy eye, now, makes me feel quite ill it’s like a bad smell.”

If they make me shudder at the first glance, I say, take them away. I don’t want to know people that look ugly and disagreeable, any more than I want to taste dishes that look disagreeable. If I don’t like a man’s looks, depend upon it I shall never like HIM. “You’ll never persuade me that I can’t tell what men are by their outsides. What she really wants is to talk about beauty - to observe and question it, and to explore what might be genuine about it.įor some characters in the novel, external beauty is what counts, and in their view it always corresponds to inner beauty. Of course, I know that, as a rule, sensible men fall in love with the most sensible women of their acquaintance, see through all the pretty deceits of coquettish beauty, never imagine themselves loved when they are not loved, cease loving on all proper occasions, and marry the woman most fitted for them in every respect-indeed, so as to compel the approbation of all the maiden ladies in their neighbourhood.īut Eliot is not here to castigate Adam. This is a common and very human situation, as Eliot observes with extended irony:

He, in turn, loves Hetty but doesn’t understand her. Lowship, )/RD/Rect/Subj(Typewritten Text)/Subtype/FreeText/T(emigen)/Type/Annot>

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