This paper examines the metaphors of water in Eliot's writing as allusions to the relationship between brother and sister,
Tom and Maggie Tulliver. As a
relation of opposites that are inextricably connected, just as the river is pulled to the ocean, Tom and Maggie are powerfully drawn in similar conflicts of emotions. The author uses nature and a gradually maturing use of language, to provoke the tragedy of
inevitable death, where the inevitable is expressed as an unconditional relation.