To those who take
exception to this, it is answer more than sufficient that, as an artist,
it was necessary to present every typical phase of Jewish character and
life; and we confess there are other passages in the work we could better
spare than these delicious pictures of a London-Jewish pawnbroker at
home.
Of all the characters portrayed in fiction, there is perhaps not one so
difficult to analyse and define as that which stands out so prominently
in this wonderful work, Gwendolen Harleth. At once attractive and
repellent--fascinating in no ordinary degree, and yet, in the estimation
of all around her, hard, cold, and worldly-minded--bewitching, alike from
her beauty, grace, and accomplishments, yet a superficial and seemingly
heartless coquette,--she presents a combination of at once some of the
finest and some of the meanest qualities of woman. Her hardness towards
her fond, doting mother, and her contempt for her sisters, are
conspicuous almost from her first appearance. Her arrogant defiance of
Deronda in the gambling-house, and the fierce revulsion of pride with
which she received the return of her necklace, are entirely in keeping
with these characteristics.
Pages:
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143