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Article: Eliot's Daniel Deronda.
- Article from:
- The Explicator
- Article date:
- September 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In George Eliot's Daniel Deronda, the conflicted portrayals of women--whether meek and submissive or strong and rebellious--betray an inner struggle between Eliot's identification with her contemporary, conservative British society and her rebellion against it. In Mikhail Bakhtin's terms, Eliot's female characters reveal a dialogical struggle between "authoritative" discourse, that which represents what is acceptable to society in general, and "internally persuasive" discourse, a competing ideology which has become convincing for an individual (342). In the Jewess Mirah, Eliot creates a character who embodies authoritative discourse in her behavior but whose ethnic ...