Although Daniel's mother is only in two chapters of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda, she stands out as one of the novel's most memorable, and shocking, characters. Leonora Alcharisi completely obliterates any preconceptions that Daniel, and the reader, had about what his mother might be like. The crux of why she is so shocking is that her character is bereft of any motherly qualities. Leonora's renouncing of the role that society values most in women, that of mother, is emblematic of her rejection of every design that society projected on her. Leonora's struggle with the society that doesn't value her because she is a Jewess is embodied in her relationship with her father, Charisi. Her nature is one that needs freedom. This causes her to chafe under the constraints of her strict Jewish upbringing. Although she is only concerned with personal liberation and is thus not a true feminist, Leonora articulates many ideals that are very feminist in nature. By examining her successes and failures, the reader gains insight into the novel, and society as a whole.

Eliot describes Leonora's beauty as having "a strangeness in it as if she were not quite a human mo

Mrs. Meyrick inadvertently defines exactly what is at the heart of society's expectations of motherhood when she tells Mirah "oh, my dear, women are made to like pain and trouble for the sake of their children" (Eliot 556). Society expects women to sacrifice any dreams of their own for the greater good of others, be it their children, fathers, husbands, or communities. Leonora chose a different path. She

Because I had wants outside his purpose, I was to be put in a frame and tortured. If that is the right law for the world, I will not say that I love it. If my acts were wrong-if it is God who is exacting from me that I should deliver up what I withheld-who is punishing me because I deceived my father and did not warn him that I should contradict his trust-well, I have told everything. I have done what I could... I have after all been the instrument my father wanted. (Eliot 568)

Leonora invokes supernatural shadows and "apparitions in the darkness" as reasons for her bending to her father's wishes (Eliot 540). Daniel tells her that "the effects prepared by generations are likely to triumph over a contrivance which would bend them all to the satisfaction of self" (Eliot 568). In relation to his mother's will, Daniel sees what her father entrusted to her as an "expression of something stronger, with deeper, farther-spreading roots knit into the foundations of sacredness for all men" (Eliot 568). Daniel speaks the truth, though he does not comprehend all of what he reveals. The Jewish culture is an ancient one. When Daniel invokes its deep "roots knit into the foundation" of man as the reason for his mothers failure in defying his grandfather he does so as a way of vindicating its power. But what he also, unknowingly, expresses is that Leonora was made to struggle all her life against a role that society made impossible for her to escape. The customs that put limitations on "the size of a woman's heart" and have a "fixed receipt" for her happiness, are institutionalized (Eliot 541).

It may be said that Leonora's choosing to deny herself the ability to love another is a function of her not fitting the same mold as other women. But Daniel's acuteness allows to grasp "a sad sense of his mother's privation" (Eliot 571). Her unwillingness to "subject" herself to anything, even love, both liberates and binds her. She is both exalted and "deadened" by her lack of connection to anyone (Eliot 539). Although she is a strong character who will not accept pity, her inability to love makes her pitiable.

I am not a loving woman. That is the truth. It is a talent to love-I lacked it. Others have loved me-and I have acted their love. I know very well what love makes of men and women-it is subjection. It takes another for a larger self, enclosing this one... I was never willing to subject to any man. Men have been subject to me. (Eliot 571)

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2468
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)