Silas Marner: Plot Summary
Silas Marner: Plot Summary
- Part 1 Chapter 1: Silas Marner, a weaver who has been wrongly accused of theft, moves from Lantern Yard to Raveloe, where he lives in isolation.
- Part 1 Chapter 2: Marner’s gold, which he holds very dear, is stolen by Dunstan Cass.
- Part 1 Chapter 3: Silas tells the villagers of the theft, and the town Doctor and Rector laugh about the notion that the thief will be discovered.
- Part 1 Chapter 4: Dunstan Cass disappears, leaving the villagers to wonder where he’s gone.
- Part 1 Chapter 5: Godfrey Cass, Dunstan’s brother, reveals he had lent his brother money and fears his father’s wrath upon discovering Dunstan’s disappearance and deceit.
- Part 1 Chapter 6: Silas is comforted by Dolly Winthrop who suggests that he should go to church and integrate more into the village community.
- Part 1 Chapter 7: On New Year’s Eve, Silas finds a golden-haired child at his door, who becomes his new hope and reason for living.
- Part 1 Chapter 8: Silas seeks help for the child’s mother, whom he found unconscious in the snow, but she is found dead.
- Part 1 Chapter 9: The townspeople develop theories about the foundling, and Godfrey recognises the child as his own.
- Part 1 Chapter 10: Godfrey fails to claim his daughter, deciding it best that she live with Marner, while resolving to confess his secret marriage to his current love.
- Part 1 Chapter 11: Silas grows increasingly attached to the foundling he names Eppie, finds happiness and makes efforts to become part of the community.
- Part 1 Chapter 12: Eppie creates significant changes in Silas’s solitary life, bringing light, companionship, and gradual assimilation into society.
- Part 1 Chapter 13: Godfrey and Nancy, now married without children, see Eppie in a church and Nancy expresses the desire to have a child like her.
- Part 1 Chapter 14: Life in Raveloe continues, with Silas and Eppie forming a happy family unit, and the villagers accepting Silas as one of their own.
- Part 1 Chapter 15: At the end of Part 1, the discovery of Dunstan’s skeleton and Silas’s gold is revealed in the bottom of the Stone-pit.
- Part 2 Chapter 16: Begins with Godfrey’s confession of his secret marriage and fatherhood to Nancy, who refuses to claim Eppie as their own.
- Part 2 Chapter 17: Silas decides to visit Lantern Yard to exonerate his name, only to find it transformed beyond recognition.
- Part 2 Chapter 18: Silas and Eppie return more bonded than before, with the mutual agreement that they are each other’s family.
- Part 2 Chapter 19: Godfrey and Nancy make a futile attempt to claim Eppie, who asserts her loyalty to Silas.
- Part 2 Chapter 20: Eppie gets engaged to her suitor, Aaron Winthrop, deciding to marry only if they can live with Silas.
- Part 2 Chapter 21: Concludes the novel with Eppie’s marriage to Aaron, and Silas content with his new family and community, proving loss can lead to greater rewards.