Religion and women in George Eliot`s Adam Bede

m ABSTRACT Since her childhood George Eliot was a keen observer of her time in terms of human relationships, woman's status in society, and the concept of religion. Eliot reflected her observations in her novels by stating her views on the place and importance of religion in human life, and by discussing the social problems of her time. She lived in Victorian society, which was characterised by limited mobility or very little flexibility in terms of social behaviour and rules particularly for women. That is to say, the norms of the Victorian Age might be interpreted as a difficult life for most of its people. As an incongruous individual of her time, George Eliot did not sacrifice her own ideals, her sense of religion, and social behaviour. She was radically different from the characters she depicted in her fiction; she did not reflect a traditional ladylike figure of her time inIV her real life. Her novels provided her with ample opportunity and great freedom to reflect herself freely because fiction was her domain where there were no obstructions, limitations, and rules. Eliot never tried to impose her own way of living to her readers in her novels. For instance, her novel, Adam Bede, includes strong religious faith and moral teaching which does not fall in line with her real life. Rather, through the protagonists she emphasizes over and over again the significance of religion and praises the value of religious doctrines. Eliot deals with the concept of religion in Adam Bede through several contradictory characters to show that religion provides lessons and enables man to find his way in his life journey. The novel also emphasizes that religion offers comfort in times of trouble and provides hope in the midst of despair. In brief, religion in the novel suggests that the world is not only permeated with trouble and confusion, it is at the same time a friendly home created for man by the Divine Essence.