The Question of Convention and Stereotype in George Eliot’s Realism: Focusing on Chapter 17 in Adam Bede

Abstract

This paper examines the issue of stereotypes and conventions as constitutive elements of the realist form, focusing on chapter 17 of Adam Bede, which is most often cited when discussing the realist aesthetic of 19th-century English writer George Eliot. The emphasis on stereotypes and conventions is centered on Eliot’s observation of the still life. I argue that Eliot’s fiction aims for moral truth rather than mechanical objectivity in its representations in order to elicit reader’s sympathy. As such, Eliot’s realism emphasizes empirical observation while simultaneously embracing idealism. In addressing the often-debated “question of objectivity in the aesthetic representation of reality” in realism, the focus then needs to be on the word “aesthetic” as much as on “objectivity,” and this paper argues that Eliot’s aesthetic achievement is not sufficiently free from the constraints of convention and stereotype.