"Scenes of Clerical Life" is a three-tale novel by George Eliot, which makes her debut as a fiction writer.
First: "The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton" is about the well-meaning but maladroit
curate of Shepperton. He only acquires the sympathy and understanding of his parishioners after the death of his wife, Milly. Then very sadly, his curacy is terminated in Shepperton and he has to take a
parish in an ugly manufacturing town.
Second: "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story" centers on the tragic
Life of an earlier
clergyman still in the same parish of Shepperton. Maynard Gilfil falls in
Love with a talented singer, Caterina Sarti (Tina). His love is unrequited for Tina loves the feckless Captain Anthony Wybrow. When he dies, she becomes terribly unbalanced. Gilfil seeks her out and helps her restore her health and marries her. Unfortunately, her spirit is so broken that she
dies soon afterwards, leaving the curate to a lonely old age.
Third: "Janet's Repentance" is the last and the longest of the tale. It tells of the tragic story and the hostility of the drunken, no good lawyer, Robert Dempster, towards the Reverend Edgar Tryan of Milby. Dempster is joined in the hostility by his wife Janet, also addicted to drinking. Despite everything, Tryan helps her when she is forced to leave home. In the end, as as the curate lies dying, spent from work at his parish, Janet, now able to resist the temptation of alcohol, takes care of him until his death.
More reviews about the Scenes of Clerical Life