Deronda, Daniel

The Jewish hero of the story; Sir Hugo Mallinger's ward, a handsome and gifted young man who passes as Sir Hugo's nephew but is mistakenly believed by many to be his son. "Rowing in his dark-blue shirt and skull-cap, his curls closely clipped, his mouth beset with abundant soft waves of beard, he bore only disguised traces of the seraphic boy 'trailing clouds of glory'... Look at his hands... they are long, flexible, firmly grasping hands, such as Titian has painted in a picture where he wanted to show the combination of refinement with force. And there is something of a likeness, too, between the faces belonging to the hands--in both the uniform pale-brown skin, the perpendicular brow, the calmly penetrating eyes." "His eyes had a peculiarity which has drawn many men into trouble; they were of a dark yet mild intensity, which seemed to express a special interest in every one on whom he fixed them, and might easily help to bring on him those claims which ardently sympathetic people are often creating in the minds of those who need help." "To say that Deronda was romantic would be to misrepresent him; but under his calm and somewhat self-repressed exterior there was a fervour which made him easily find poetry and romance among the events of every-day life." As a child he had been brought to England by Sir Hugo and educated as one of his own family. He is sensitive about his ignorance of his parentage, though much attached to Sir Hugo whom he believes to be his father, and his equivocal position makes him restless and unsettled. At the opening of the story he sees Gwendolen Harleth gambling at Leubronn, and his disapproval disturbs her then and influences her later, when, after her return to England, she marries Grandcourt, Sir Hugo's nephew, and she and Deronda are thus thrown together in the same social circle. While rowing on the Thames Deronda saves Mirah Cohen, a beautiful Jewess who is attempting suicide, finding a refuge for her with his friends the Meyricks and continuing to watch over her. In his efforts to trace Mirah's lost brother, Ezra, he forms a strong friendship with Mordecai Cohen, becomes interested in Jewish questions through him, and eventually discovers that Mordecai is Mirah's brother Ezra and falls in love with Mirah. Meanwhile he feels a different kind of interest in Gwendolen who, in the unhappiness of her marriage, appeals to him for advice and guidance. When his acquaintance with Mordecai and Mirah has thoroughly aroused his interest in the Jews, he is summoned to Genoa to meet his hitherto unknown mother, the Princess Halm-Eberstein, learns from her that he is a Jew, and rejoices in the information. While he is still at Genoa, Grandcourt is drowned in the Mediterranean, and Deronda supports Gwendolen in her remorse and despair, and later she turns to him as her one source of help. On his return to England he devotes himself to work for the Jews, marries Mirah, and with her goes to Palestine to try to realize Mordecai's dream of a revival of Jewish nationalism. According to Sir Leslie Stephen, Edmund Gurney (1847-1888) may have been, in sorne respects at least, the original of Daniel Deronda. Deronda's personal appearance was taken from the Christ in Titian's picture, the "Tribute Money", which haunted George Eliot for years after she had seen it in the Dresden gallery. (See Stephen, George Eliot, p. 191 ; Acton, Historical Essays, p. 299.)

<em>Daniel Deronda</em>

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