The Eve of the Trial
- Back to Stoniton. We know this is the last place anyone wants to be, but it's where Adam Bede is taking us. Chapter 41 opens in an "upper room in a dull Stoniton street" (41.1). This is where a distressed Adam Bede and a concerned Bartle Massey are spending the night. Can't we all just go home?
- No, we can't. Because here's Mr. Irwine, at the door, with news for Adam. Bad news. Hetty refuses to see anyone, and "some fatal influence seems to have shut up her heart against her fellow-creatures" (41.12). This news whips Adam into another fury against Arthur. But, again, Mr. Irwine argues Adam out of seeking vengeance: "No amount of torture that you could inflict on him could benefit her" (41.20).
- Then why is Eliot torturing us? Get us out of here! We want grassy green Hayslope—not this Stoniton dump.
- The setting must be getting on Adam's nerves, too, because he won't stop harping on Arthur—who has "no right to expect anything but harm and shame" to result from his actions (41.24).
- Mr. Irwine, however, shows Adam how futile it would be to hurt Arthur. Remember when Adam punched Arthur in the forest? Mr. Irwine and Adam both do; a bigger fistfight won't set anything right.
- But there is a smidge of good news. Mr. Irwine remembers Dinah and speculates that "a gentle mild woman like her might move Hetty to open her heart" (41.31). Of course, they'd have to track down Dinah before anyone's heart gets opened. But they've got a plan. They don't have much else going for them, but they've got a plan.