Adam Bede Theme of Compassion and Forgiveness

We know what you're thinking. Compassion, in a book as merciless as Adam Bede? Really? It only takes a few chapters for Eliot to kill off poor Thias Bede. And almost everyone else has to endure alienation, failed romance, murder charges, exile, or some combination of the above.

The thing is, though, Eliot's characters have choices. They can let their injuries fester. Or they can understand the flaws and failings of the people around them and intelligently move forward. Eliot's narrator approves of Door #2: intelligently moving forward. As the narrator puts it, "my heart should swell at loving admiration at some trait of the gentle goodness in the faulty people who sit at the same hearth with me" (17.8). Forgiveness in Adam Bede is a form of understanding—not a form of amnesia.

1. Do any characters have standards of compassion and forgiveness that they fail to live up to? Are we supposed to think less of such characters, or pardon and forgive their inconsistencies?
2. Late in the novel, Adam wants revenge on Arthur, but Mr. Irwine recommends compassion and pity. Who seems to have the right values here, in Eliot's opinion? In your opinion?
3. Compassion is an important part of the theory of fiction presented in Chapter 17. But how important? Are there other parts of this theory that play a bigger role? Could Eliot have formulated better ideas without discussing compassion at all?

The theory of fiction that Adam Bede describes—and enacts—is rife with contradiction. Eliot's narrator endorses a doctrine of understanding and sympathy, but constantly undercuts these values by delivering harsh criticisms and assuming a lofty, unconsciously condescending tone.

Adam Bede depicts a society where flexible, forgiving people are respected. The characters who earn the disapprobation of Hayslope—such old Squire Donnithorne and the preacher Mr. Ryde—are fundamentally incapable of accommodating different opinions. They are just as incapable of accepting human weaknesses, including their own.