|
I think that the problem was that Eliot was on a crusade, for want of a more appropriate word, to do battle with antisemitism. It was certainly a worthy cause, but worthiness doesn’t really make for a good read and/or an interesting plot. Hence everyone’s strong preference for the flawed but much more interesting Gwendolen and her difficult path through life.
She was a very real character, and the reader wonders how her life would develop. Daniel was a cardboard cutout by comparison, and his life after the end of the book would be bland and uninteresting, despite his attachment to Zionism. Too bad about the Palestinians, as we know now, but who were not a consideration back then.
|